Some great fishing out on the lake this week, mainly on the downrigger at depths that vary from 80 to 130 feet. Top lures have been Spotty Gold and Orange and Gold Kiwis, another lure worth trying has been the King Cobra in Orange and Green. Best spots have been the Golden Mile and around Rangatira Point. Harling was also very productive early in the week especially around Waitahanui, Rotagaia Point and the White Cliffs. All fish responded to the flies as opposed to lures, top patterns used were the Yellow Lady and Taupo Tiger.

Jigging is still productive with the best depths at 25 to 45 meters deep, top flies will be Black and Brown Woolly Buggers, small Green Orbits and size 10# and 12# U.V smelt patterns. Best areas for jigging have been the South side of Mine Bay, Whakaipo Bay and the Moari Carvings, the Horomatangi Reef has also been productive on the calmer days.

Local fly fishing has had a greatly improved week after the rains, most local rivers responded well to the fresh, those that were lucky enough to be out on the receding levels had some very good fishing. Listening to the various reports as they came in last week we noted the amount of bigger fish that had been caught throughout most of the system, a very encouraging start to the winter runs this year. Top flies used this last week have been the Hare and Copper Bombs as the heavy fly and the Batman, Quasimodo, Flashback and Green Caddis nymphs in sizes ranging from 10# down to 14#. Most rivers will now be back at a normal level so treat accordingly.

We have more rain forecast for the beginning of the week my money will be on the T.T to preform well this next fresh, also the Tongariro will be worth looking at for some good winter sport. Take care out there, until next week, tightlines.

Some great back end fishing out there on the lake at the moment , change of light as usual still best though the evening seems to be the more productive time at the moment. Harling made a bit of a come back this week with some nice conditioned fish coming to a Fluo Parsons Glory fly, also the small spotty gold Cobra is worth putting on the point.

The downrigger has also been going well with top depths between 80-120 feet , chopping and changing your depth is the key to success at the moment. Top lures for the trollers this week is the King Cobra Spotty Gold, Orange / Black Barred Tazzie Devil, Red and Green and Fluo Orange and Green Kiwi lures also going well. Best areas to head for this week with the forecasted winds will be Wharewaka Point, Jerusalem Point and Acacia Point all these areas have fished well recently.

The Taupo Lake front itself has also been fishing well at the 80 foot mark well worth a go at the moment. On the whole, still fishing very well and still plenty of well conditioned fat fish to be caught. On the local fly fishing scene we are still waiting for rain to give us a real start to the winter runs. I really hope that its my day off when it fires cause when the rain comes it's gonna be awesome.

The Hinemaiaia and the Waitahanui have both has some serious south westerlies blowing up them over the last few days so I would be expecting to hear of some good reports from these rivers shortly despite the lack of rain. The Tongariro has been fishing reasonably well, still the odd good fish being caught, mostly chunky little resident rainbows being caught on nymphs. I would still be looking at small nymphs locally with the low levels , flies such as Hare and Copper, Cadillac, Tungsten Death and Da Hoova in size 16# and 14# .

The river mouths have been going quite well as we have had plenty of cloud cover this week, especially the Tauranga Taupo River mouth as the drop if is quite accessible with care. Fast sink lines and dark coloured Boobies with the glow eyes have been the go here

A week of light winds for the boaties during the middle of the week has helped sustain some good fishing on the lake this week. The forecast going into the weekend is much of the same , cloudy and sunny with light Westerlies, at the time of writing of course!
Top lure this week according to our friends at White Striker charters has to be a Yellow Tazzie / Kiwi lure with red and black spots this has been an outstanding lure this week .
King Cobra in Spotty Gold and also the standard Baby Brown have also been doing well.
Whareweka Point has been top spot fishing down at 40 mtres on the Downrigger. Dirty Duck Creek, 5 Mile Bay, Jerusalem round to Rangatira Point have all been good spots this week.

The change of light in the evening seems to be the best time to be out there at the moment. Jigging has been going really well this week with the light winds wev'e been having , some good quality fish being caught , Colin Davis of Taupo enjoyed a great day over at the Maori Carvings last week with Good Rainbows up to 2.4 kgs small UV Smelt patterns were the killing flies.

The local fly fishing continues to be a little hit and miss with the low levels. The Waitahanui has got plenty of fish in there at the moment but are very hard to tempt .
The Hinemaiaia has been having some good back end Mayfly hatches during the afternoons going into evening small CDC emergers and Parachute Adams in size 16 # and 18# will do the trick for most situations there. Some nice fish being caught on the nymph also from the Hine.

Some better reports from the rips this week, the mornings seem to be better than the evenings this last few days. Sinking lines and Black Boobies during those change of light periods seem to be a killing combination at the moment at both Hatepe and Waitahanui.

We are all now just waiting for the first good sustained downpour to give us a freshen up as quite a few fish will be starting to think about moving into the system for spawning now with winter round the corner. Talking of which , while we wait in anticipation , now is a good time to check the fly boxes and top up with your eggs and bombs. Till next week

Another good week out on the lake this week, sounds like a few anglers took our advice about getting on the water early this week thankfully it's been paying off for most. Still a great variation on the correct depth to fish, any thing from 20 meters to 45 meters deep.

Those brighter lures we spoke of last week are still going well , such as the Pink and Lemon , Lemon and White and Fluo Pink also the Baby Brown has made a comeback this week along with the Small Black Toby. Top spots the Golden Mile, Whakaipo, Mine Bay and Waitahanui to Rotongio Point onto the White Cliffs. The Horotamangi Reef has once again been producing some better quality fish, especially to the jiggers. The Harling has been a little slower again this week except for a few locals out at Waitahanui on the Kayaks very early in the morning.

The jigging is still probably top method at the moment for consistent day time sport , best depths between 20-40 meters. Top flies, small Pat Swift Green Orbits and Chartreuse Orbit on the bottom and size 10# and 12# epoxy smelt patterns on the top droppers.

Local fly fishing has been a little indifferent. The rivers are quite low for the time of year and this is making fish very shy and nervous especially with the added number of anglers on the rivers over the last week or so during the Easter break. Best performing river at the moment I would say will be the Hinemaiaia we have had some good reports of reasonable numbers of fish in the 3-4lb bracket being caught to dry fly dropper tactics.

The Tongariro has also been fishing reasonbly well with the odd good Brown showing to surprise some lucky anglers last week. Again dry fly dropper in the riffle and pockets is still producing fish. The odd fish are still coming up to look at the dry but mostly turning and taking the nymph now.

The river mouths are fishing reasonably well again after the last moon, just depends on the night. Hatepe has been producing some nice fish from a good looking rip at the moment floating line and Rabbits seem to be the go there at the moment.

Hopefully we have some rain on the horizon soon to help freshen everything up and get a few freshies in the system .

Fishing out the lake has been very good over the last week. Early mornings and change of light in the evening are very much better than the middle of the day as it really does start to go quiet during this time at the moment. The fish are starting to be found at greatly varying depths, any thing from 20metres to 40 metres deep so you really have to keep changing depths to stay in touch. Brighter coloured lures seem to in favour this week such as the Fluo Orange and Gold, Pink and Lemon, Lemon and White, also Pink and Lemon.

Top spots have been Rotagnaia, Wharewaka, Rangatira Point and the Reef has also been producing some good fishing wind permitting. Harling has started to slow down for many anglers now although the odd good fish is still turning up at Waitahanui for the early birds.

Those that have ventured over to the Western Bays have mainly bought back quite negative news in general the fishing definitely seems to be more consistent this side of the lake. Jigging is still very good, although the fish depths are varying greatly from 20 metres to 45 meters. Definitely a year of the brown trout for the fly fishing locally; it's been a long time since we have heard of so many good sized brownies in the system.

The Tongariro and Waitahanui both have good numbers of fish in them and now have some nice fresh rainbows entering the river now without the full moon. Some reasonable dry fly sport left especially on a mild evening on the Hinemaiaia. Most fish are now being caught on nymphs, small 16 # and 14# very drab and slim no flash , such as Da Hoova , black beaded Hares Ear and slimly tied PTNs. Dry fly dropper is still a good bet, although we are hearing of the odd fish getting caught in the deeper pools to eggs.

Good reports still from the Mohaka, Whanganui, and Waipunga, most rivers could actually do with a good rain now to freshen everything up. The river mouths should start to fish better as we head into April and hopefully that rain won’t be to far away.
Tight Lines everyone