Fishing: Rotorua's seasonal itch

The three big Rotorua lakes, Tarawera, Okataina and Rotoiti, have been quiet and peaceful for the past 10 weeks. But at dawn on October 1 the serenity will be shattered as vehicles towing boats on trailers line up at launching ramps, outboard motors belch fumes and anglers from all over the country shout greetings to fellow fishermen they have not seen for 12 months.

It is the opening day of the new trout season, a tradition which is dying throughout much of the country as more and more water is opened to fishing through winter.

On the Rotorua lakes, most of the trout caught on opening day will be landed in the first four hours. A small percentage of experienced anglers know how to catch fish on the lakes, and they catch a lot.

They watch the weather and change their approach to meet the conditions, particularly the light. A bright or overcast day, or a choppy surface, will influence the depth at which they present their lures.

Many anglers will harl at Gisborne Pt on Rotoiti, or the Dogger Bank on Okataina, or over the wide shelves off White Cliffs (Moura Pt) and Kariri Pt on Tarawera for the first hour or two to target the trout feeding near the surface. Then they go deep trolling during the day, or take a rest until the evening when they return with the harling rods.

The water temperatures in early October are still reasonably cool and the fish have not been driven to the deep levels they seek in the heat of mid-summer. On opening day it is not necessary to use 100m of lead-core or wire line to get down 15 or 20m.

If using lead-core lines, about five colours, or 50m, is ample. But extra long traces should be added to get the lure well away from the boat. For fishing closer to the surface, harling lines or sinking fly lines are used with about 8m of 4kg breaking-strain leader to take the lures well back behind the boat.

One of the drawbacks of such a long line is the amount of stretch and resulting difficulty in hooking fish. Basically, the weight of the line in the water will be sufficient to set the hook, and hooks should always be super sharp.

This tackle can be fished at 3-6m of water up until about 8 am, depending on the conditions, and a floating line may also be employed on the middle rod to present lures at a different depth for the first couple of hours.

But once the sun has risen, deeper sinking lines are needed - faster sinking fly lines like a deepwater express, or shot lead-core lines.

If it is a fine, calm day the keenest fishermen will try jigging, globugging or trolling even deeper.

But if conditions are blustery with a broken surface diffusing the light entering the water, fish can be caught throughout the day by trolling at a depth of 10m with five or six colours of lead out the back.

Lures are another part of the equation over which endless discussion and argument can develop. But where the lures are presented to the fish is probably more important than the actual lures and flies tied on the end.

There are several standby patterns such as the black toby, green and gold and barley-sugar cobras and tasmanian devils. These can be fished on shallow lines as well as the more common deep lines, and most people use a lure-fly combination which can also be trolled at all depths.

For shallow harling, the bright fluorescent pink and orange lures are particularly effective, with a teaser fly replacing the hook and a large harling fly fished about a metre up the trace.

When trout are smelting, which comes on later in the season as the smelt move into the shallows to spawn, smaller flies are used for harling. On Tarawera and Rotoiti, late November and December are the prime months for smelting activity over the shallow shelves. At this time harling flies fished on shallow lines, or fly fishing from an anchored boat with slow sinking lines, can be deadly.

Smelt patterns should represent the smelt that is found in the particular water being fished. The Lake Rotorua smelt are dark, matching their environment, and are quite large. So a dark fly like a Ginger Mick or Parsons Glory tied with dark wing feathers will work well, in size four or even two.

When fishing near weedy areas, smelt flies should be dark, like a Green Orbit, to match the dark smelt in the area. Conversely, on a light-coloured sandy bottom smelt will be almost translucent.

Koura feature prominently in the trout's diet on Lake Okataina along with bullies and smelt, and a tandem rig with two large rabbit patterns with either orange, lime green, ice, red or yellow bodies works well. Later in the season, when trout are preparing to spawn, fluorescent orange patterns are worth trying.

Trolling speed affects the action of wobbling lures like cobras or tobies, and this can be critical. Most lures are designed to wobble or flick from side to side rather than revolve, and one check is to watch the lures beside the boat at different speeds to determine the best action. As different lures work best at slightly different speeds, some fishermen use only one type on all lines.