Central North Island - Freshwater
fishing report
October 7, 2021
Spring has “sprung” in Taupo and fishing on the great lake has been unseasonably good. Usually, October is associated with fluctuating numbers and condition of fish caught but this spring has been quite the exception. Harling has been nothing short of phenomenal this last month of September. Good numbers of fish have been caught but more notably the condition of fish has been outstanding with plenty of good solid silver bars from 4-6lb being caught.
Small size cobras and chinook lures are going best with traditional flies such as Green Orbit, Red bodied Orbits and a range of rabbit flies all working well.
The western bays especially have started firing really early this year with some great fish getting caught harling and lead line trolling.
Fish seem to be smelting earlier this year with guts full of smelt and spilling on to the decks. A great sign hopefully for the summer season.
As I write this the fly fishing has just started and the reports coming through have all been very positive. The Mohaka, Whanganui, and Whakapapa rivers are all in great condition for this time of the year and have fished well with good quality well-conditioned fish being caught mainly on the natural nymph patterns although there have been reports of good numbers of fish rising in the warm part of the afternoon coming up for mayfly and caddis hatches.
These hatches also seem to have started early this year with a small, one- hour window of activity just on dark being reported on most of the river mentioned.
The local rivers are all pretty much done with numbers of fresh fish now dwindling but the bigger rivers such as the Tongariro and the Tauranga Taupo still have plenty of runs yet to go through them.
It is also a great time of the year on the local rivers to fish for the returning spawning fish on the dry fly especially as we head into October and the warmer evening lend themselves for some great dry fly action.
Lake Otamangakau is always a big draw card for the start of the season but we are waiting on reports to come through as we speak.
I do know of a couple of keen locals who had a good start to the season with a brown of 8lbs coming to the net. I have always found that it fishes better later in the spring and it can be a lot of effort at this time of the year as the fish can still be quite dark and skinny as with the lake being at quite a high altitude the weather is cooler and insect activity takes longer to get going.
If you are passing through Taupo drop in to catch up with the latest fishing action and to check out the new renovations we kept ourselves busy with during the lockdown period.
Tight lines to all and if you want to check out some great quality central north island fishing follow the seasons on Insta with @garylyttleflyfishing.
Report provided by Hunting & Fishing Taupo
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