Rotorua Fly Fishing Report - 28th March 2012

As long as there isn’t a lot of boat traffic at the accessible parts of Lake Okareka there is a better than even chance of catching a fish or two as rainbows are feeding on the surface throughout the day. Smelt are still being rounded up and eaten over the weed beds, with a lot of the action happening within casting distance of the shore, even for novice flingers of the fly. A size eight ginger mick, jack sprat, green orbit or olive woolly bugger should take fish if retrieved with a fairly fast motion. Thankfully, with this lake there is somewhere to cast a line in safety regardless of the wind direction. Harling over the weed bed from a small boat should be successful and it is probably worthwhile to fish from an anchored boat as well.

 Blue Lake is another lake that tends to get overlooked by anglers, especially those with boats. Harling and jigging are only two of the successful methods used to catch some of the great conditioned fish in this lake. As long as there isn’t too much in the way boat traffic there is always a reasonably quiet spot to fish this lake. The size of the flies used is fairly critical as the size of the bait fish in this lake is relatively small compared to other lakes. Size eight to ten smelt patterns are best and the use of fluorocarbon, due to this lakes clarity, is very important also.

 Lake Ngapouri was fished fairly hard over the weekend and some very nice fish were caught as a result. Though carrying a bit of a sediment load and prone to algae blooms this lake is always worth visiting if you are passing by or have a small boat and have a few hours to spend. Though I haven’t fished this lake after dark I suspect that the catch rate and size of fish would make it worthwhile. It is a very challenging lake for shore based anglers to fish when the wind is from the South.

 Reasonably close by is Lake Okaro which should start to fish well anytime soon. The boat ramp and the inlet stream nearby are the two prime fishing spots over the winter but a walk around the track to the left gives anglers some extra fishing areas, especially if spinning. Small smelt patterns are best fished from a floating line in this lake and the use of doll flies after dark is usually very successful.

 Catch rates in the Okere Falls Arm is not as good as one would expect at the moment but then the water temperature is still a little high. Fishing should improve once the water temperature drops a couple of degrees and there is an increase in the volume of water. Ginger mick and grey ghost patterns have caught fish when they are there. During the day a fast retrieve is required to get fish interested but after dark a much slower retrieve works best. The wind has been something of a challenge, being from the South-East over the past few days. Little or no wind is a lot easier to fish in from the exposed position on the jetty. The water quality varies from day to day, though mostly is very clear with no sign of algae this year.

 I had the opportunity to fish parts of Lake Whakamaru during the week and was pleasantly surprised to find fish at almost every spot that I could get a cast into. Access from the shore is not easy on this lake but it is worthwhile hunting around to find some. The walking track along the lake edge is worth investigating as it runs the full length of this lake on the true right side and some parts are accessible from the road.  There are also several creeks of varying sizes entering this lake though most require some work to clear them enough to be able to fish easily. The biggest challenge is finding the lake at a reasonable level to fish as it drops enough to be unfishable from the shore at certain times of the day. Fishing around the weed beds and in between them should be great if using dragonfly nymphs as there are literally hundreds of them flying around and as there are a large number of koi carp in this lake there is the opportunity to try larger lures in green, gold or combinations of carp-like colours.