Geoff Thomas: Rain brings back smiles to trout anglers

A trout fisher on the Tongariro River. Recent rain has improved fishing on the river. Photo / NZ HERALD.

This week's stormy weather will be welcomed by fly fishers in the Rotorua and Taupo regions where cold, clear conditions have made the fishing very hard. It had been a winter of drought at Taupo, with rain bypassing the lake catchment until this week.

Fishing in the Tongariro River has not been easy, with the best results coming from a combination of 2kg fluorocarbon leaders on six-weight rods, and size 16 or 18 nymphs. Small pulses of trout have been running up the river, but the bulk of the fish are still in the lake. However, the mid-week rain triggered bigger runs of mature trout, with better angling in the coloured water.

After several years of disappointing quality in terms of the size and condition of the trout coming out of the lake, this has changed and bigger fish are being caught. This appears to be a result of a healthier smelt population in the lake, and experienced anglers comment that the smelt are much bigger than usual and resemble those in the Rotorua lakes. With the lake level very low the fly fishing at stream mouths has been good, and increased flows will attract more trout. The fisheries office of the Department of Conservation has called for submissions from anglers as it reviews the management policy for the Taupo fishery.

The change in the weather will also help fly fishing around the shoreline of the big Rotorua lakes, where it has been hard.

Winter fishing on the Manukau Harbour usually signals a change from snapper to gurnard as the popular quarry, but some unseasonal snapper fishing in the harbour has seen fish up to 5.5kg caught. This fishing has been "in strong currents, with a 20-metre trace, 10-ounce weights and skippie baits," said experienced South Auckland angler John Moran. But the exact location remains a well-guarded secret.

On the east coast out of Auckland there are some snapper being taken around the Noises, and north of Whangaparaoa on the eastern side of Motuora Island there are a lot of birds but they do not always have fish under them.

Kingfish are providing some good action to jigs on the outer reefs like Horn Rock and Flat Rock when fishing on the edge of the drop-off, and there are also kingfish reported along the eastern side of Waiheke Island.

Tarakihi, gurnard and small school snapper around 30cm are showing up in Bay of Plenty inshore waters, and it is similar in the Bay of Islands and Northland coastal areas where juvenile hammerhead sharks add an element of entertainment to the fishing. John dory can usually be targeted also with live baits, soft plastic lures or jigs.

While berley is commonly used when fishing for snapper, it is not regarded as necessary when fishing for tarakihi. But a technique employed by Wellington anglers fishing for tarakihi makes a lot of sense. At this time of year when the target species move in to shallower water, berley can be easily used to attract them. Steve Reed adds his own mix to the commercially-made product.

"We thaw a couple of berley bombs and add about five kilos of cooked rice. This turns two bombs into five or six berleys, which can be refrozen. Then we drop a berley bomb to about five metres above the bottom, and it works really well in attracting the tarakihi," he said.

Tarakihi are soft-mouthed feeders and they obviously like rice, but small cubes of bonito or pilchard, or shellfish tied to the hook with bait elastic, will trigger bites. These are fished on ledger rigs or flasher rigs with small recurved hooks around size 4/0. Attaching sinkers to the bottom of the trace with light line will allow them to break off if snapped in the rocks, saving the trace.

Deep water fishing off Tutukaka and the Bay of Islands has been excellent for hapuku and gemfish. The occasional frost fish, school sharks and barracouta may also turn up.

- NZ HERALD