Fishing: Trout running out of patience

The Taupo trout are ready for spawning and ready to run for the heads of the rivers but the lack of any decent rainfall has kept them in the lake.

Local experts expect they will take off in numbers any day now, regardless whether there is a good "fresh" or not.

The runs could be triggered by a fall in the barometer or other environmental change. But if there is no decent rainfall they will presumably continue to be hard to catch.

The Department of Conservation traps are showing steady movement of fish up the rivers. But anglers fishing the rivers are finding them hard to hook. Small, natural nymph imitations are the best bet.

"The fish will be getting to the stage where they have to run anyway and at some point soon they will just go," said DoC fisheries management officer Glenn Maclean. "It is difficult to predict when that will be if there is no rain."

In the lake, the fishing is much better at the north end than the south. All methods are working, including harling in the shallows, a measure of another unusual season and the earlier-than-usual signs of spring. Trolling and jigging both work out deeper, with fish scattered through the water column.

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Around Auckland, big male snapper are moving into the shallows. Manukau expert John Moran swapped coasts last weekend and landed plenty of fish in the 5kg to 9kg range in 3m of water to the south of Waiheke Island.

Fish in the 3kg to 6kg range have been in the shallows around Rangitoto. In deeper water, try the Tiri Channel, or the Motuihe Channel below the water tower where charter operator Eugyn de Bruyn has been scoring well. Use large, messy baits of fresh-caught mullet, kahawai or mackerel, or squid.

There have been lots of rat kingfish in the Hauraki Gulf, some the smallest you'll see, 1kg or less.

Kahawai have been schooling off Waiheke and further north towards the Mokohinaus.