Rotorua Fly Fishing Report - 5th April 2012

Four colours of lead and a clown tasmanian devil dragged along the drop-off has been good enough to secure more than a couple of fish early in the morning over the weekend. It seems that a lot of fish are holding in close, and in less than eight metres of water around the shoreline of Lake Rotoiti. The condition of most of the fish being caught has been very good so shore based anglers fishing this winter should reap the results of fish having plenty of food available to be able to pick up condition over the summer. The jury is still out on whether there will be plenty of fish coming back to spawn but those that do should be mainly in the impressive category.

Early season runs up the Te Wairoa Stream on Lake Tarawera are a pleasant surprise and there seemed to be quite a few fish holding off the mouth last Sunday, just waiting for a bit of rain to get them move upstream. Heave and leave fishing has been a little more successful than using traditional fly fishing methods, especially for those using white boobies. With the lake level still higher than normal at the moment it is somewhat of a challenge to find room to get a decent back cast in at spots like the Orchard and the Waitangi Stream mouth though casting at an angle to the shore line rather than straight out will allow for a longer cast. The easterly wind over the past week or so has been very challenging for flingers of the fly as well as this wind is almost straight in your face when fishing these areas. Good conditioned fish are being caught day and night at Rangiuru Bay as well with most fish taking over the weed bed at the edge of the drop-off. The higher lake level is keeping anglers from getting too close to the drop-off as any fish there won’t be pushed out into the deep by seeing anglers.

Trying to find a quiet spot that is out of the wind is a challenge during the weekends at Lake Okareka but it is worth trying to find such a spot. There are some very good conditioned fish feeding over the weed beds still, taking snails and smelt that seem to be in abundance. During the day a fairly fast retrieve of a jack sprat or ginger mick fly is likely to result in more fish being hooked than slow and easy, though after dark a more sedate retrieve is better, especially when using doll flies. Most fish are being caught from the shore rather than entering the water, especially in spots where the wed bed is close enough to cast over. Fly or spin fishing from a drifting boat should be a successful way of fishing this lake, especially if drifting over and along the weed bed as well.

While most of the rainbows feeding inside the channel are smaller than anglers would like, there are a few larger specimens around. After dark and out the front of the weir, when using an intermediate fly line, should pick up some of the larger fish. Brown trout are also feeding in the channel with most of the few being caught, being after dark or early in the morning.

Lake Okataina provided some great fishing earlier in the week, though a lot of fish were feeding on the surface, a number were caught by jigging and trolling in various parts of the lake. Casting a fly or spinner to surface feeding fish could be a very successful when the wind dies off or changes direction, though hugging the eastern or southern shore line might be possible, especially early morning before the wind gets up. With the lake being so high it is anybody’s guess as to how well the beach will fish this winter as the weed bed is quite a long way out. Fish moving along the beach should be easy to spot from the car park if conditions are right though.