Rotorua Fly Fishing Report - 13th April 2012

While we have had a wonderful autumn so far weather wise, it is too little too late for those hoping for a late run of fish into the Awahou and Hamurana mouths. Lake Rotorua water temperature is slowly dropping, as are the other lakes temperature, and at just over 16 degrees C at 20 metres for Lake Rotorua there is only the winter run of fish to look forward to until next summer, should it even arrive. Lots of anglers fished throughout the length of the Ngongotaha and Waiteti Streams over the weekend with varying degrees of success. One Auckland angler landed 36 fish for the day last weekend using nymphs. The stream, being very clear in the upper reaches, made for very hard fishing as any resident fish were able to see anglers approaching as well as their tippets in the water. Lighter tippets and very small flies seemed to be the best option.

Lake Okareka continues to fish well after the hordes of boats and swimmers have gone. The more popular swimming spots were the best fishing spots as weed was disturbed and broken off, displacing snails and lava from their refuse. Boyes Beach is probably the most popular spot to fish at the moment, even with the moon being quite large and coming up after dark.

A few fish have been caught at the mouth of the Te Wairoa Stream mouth on Lake Tarawera, particularly early morning. Keeping at least three rod lengths away from the drop off has produced the best results as any closer will push the fish out and make them wary. Even with the moon being bright in the sky after dark there has been some success at Rangiuru Bay when the wind has allowed. Any fly that has some type of sparkly material tied into it will entice fish to take a serious look at your offering, more so if fluorocarbon tippet is used. Apparently there has been a significant run of early spawning and great conditioned fish through the trap, more than expected for this early in the spawning season.

Lake Okaro has also fished well, both from the boat ramp and the stream mouth. Rainbows between one and two and a half kilos have been caught on smelt patterns during the evening and into the night. Spinning has not been as successful at the moment.

Lake Ngapouri continues to produce fish from the boat ramp, though I suspect that the better fishing may be in the bay to the right of the boat ramp. The little stream that enters there is a magnet for trout wanting to spawn, some do so very successfully. Fishing from a drifting boat using a slow sinking line and a woolly bugger or small black marabou will also produce very good catch rates in this lake. A high catch rate can be expected from this lake, with fish between half and two and a half kilos.

Harling over the weed bed around the shore of Lake Rotoiti continues to produce fish early in the day, usually before the sun comes up. If there is any sign of surface activity out in the lake, casting a spinner or fly at these fish should result in fish being hooked. The area around Emery’s Reef and the Wai iti Stream mouth has fished particularly well when harling. A few fish have been caught at the Pipe at Hinehopu over the past week and with this rain there could well be more coming in for spawning. A walk along the lake edge at the Dump during the day is also worthwhile as should fish be in close for spawning you will either see them or the silver patches on the lake bed that the hens make from digging there redds. It easier to catch them after dark using doll flies or marabou flies on a floating line.

At Lake Okataina fish have been actively working the surface for a few weeks so be prepared to fish the top three to four metres below the surface rather than going too deep. In saying that very good conditioned rainbows up to 4.7 kilos have been caught jigging from various parts of the lake