Central North Island - Freshwater
fishing report
May 13, 2021
Fishing on the great lake has been very mixed as we head towards winter. The fish have been a little harder to find with the thermocline breaking up as the water temperature drops. Those who have managed to find the magic spots have been well rewarded with some magnificently well-conditioned fish, big fit silver bars full of smelt.
It's amazing how Taupo trout can transform into such condition in just a matter of a few weeks.
The usual Pat Swift smelt flies are doing the damage but the depths at which we normally expect to find the fish has changed and is now spread from five to sixty metres.
You really have to stay on the move more then usual to find your fish but it is very much worth the effort.
Trolling has been going well as this method covers so much water and having 2 rods out you can cover different depths. The usual lures are doing well with the ever faithful Spotty Gold, Lemon and White, Traffic Light, and Licorice Tassie devil all going well.
Harling also has been firing with early morning producing well. Smelt patterns and Ginger Mick variants seem to be the flies of choice.
Fly fishing locally has been a little hit and miss with very low river levels holding back the early season runs we normally expect at this time of the year. Rain is on the way though and I hope it is enough to thoroughly clean out a lot of the summer weed and algae which generally gives the rivers a freshen up.
Only then we will start to see some signs of decent winter runs. As I say rain is forecast and I hope this winter is as good as last winter. I cannot remember a better season then last year for both numbers and quality of fish.
Winter 2020 was absolutely outstanding across all of the regions rivers.
At the moment we have reasonable numbers coming and going at the river mouths despite the low lake conditions. On the rougher days some of the mouths have been producing some quality fish day or night. On the quieter windless days it has been extremely hard going for the river mouth anglers.
The general rule of thumb on the main river mouths during the day is a fast sinking line with a booby or a muppet on a short leader hard on the bottom, and in the night time a floater or intermediate line with a rabbit or woolly bugger allowed to swim through the stream mouth currents.
All we can say is bring on the rain!!
Tight lines to you all from the team at Fly & Gun.
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