    
David Pierce
Unregistered guest
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 19, 2001 - 7:29 pm: | |
Subject: Taupo Fishing report
As this is probably the first time many of you will have read a fishing report about Taupo, it will be useful for you to understand a little about the fishery to help put the comments into context. If you know the area already, scroll down to the next section.
Lake Taupo was created only a couple of thousands of years ago by a giant eruption, so it is brand new in geological terms. When the European settlers came to New Zealand in the 19th century, they introduced sport fish into the lakes and streams. Taupo was seeded with trout in 1898, and such is the supply of indiginous food that they have thrived and have not needed restocking since. The average size of trout in the lake is 4 1/2 pounds, and double figure fish are caught somewhere on the lake or incoming rivers every day. No one knows for sure how many fish are there, but the lake is probably home to between 3 and 5 million trout, mostly Rainbows that originate from the Sonoma creek hatchery near San Francisco, and a small proportion of Browns that were introduced from Tasmania. The Rainbows are steelhead stock, and treat the lake as the sea, running to spawn in April through to as late as October. Most fisheries are closed to fishing during spawning, but such is the abundance of fish that 7 of the 24 rivers flowing into the lake stay open for at least part of their length all year round. Many argue that the quality of this winter fishing cannot be beaten anywhere else in the world.
The Taupo region also has a number of other rivers that flow away from the lake to the sea, and flow through some of the most remote parts of the country, providing the ultimate wilderness experience. this is a very different kind of fishing, based on resident fish with very different diets.
Fly Fishing
As you will appreciate from the above, February is before the spawning season. The fish have been regaining condition well after the last spawning runs had record numbers of both fish running up and returning. Resident numbers in the rivers close to the lake are low, so the choice is go to the headwaters or stay at the lake itself.
Headwaters
The relatively cooler and breezier summer we have had this year has meant that evening hatches have been rarer than normal, but when they do occur, fish gorge carelessly, and I have even been able to take complete novices out and get then to land a fish on a cicada. For the rest of the time, technique is based more on our normal weighted nymph techniques, with the hare and copper being perhaps the most productive.
Stream Mouths
The stream mouths have been fishing particularly well, and the Parson's Glory and Green Orbit seem to be winning the most votes. Why? Again the slightly cooler weather than normal has delayed the smelt spawning in the margins of the lake from November/December until now. Consequently trout have been eating a higher than normal amount of koura (the local crayfish) which tend to reside on the lake bottom. This provides richer and larger morsels, and the pink pigment in the koura shell translates into deep pink flesh. They have also been eating bullies which have a greenish colour. This has been confirmed by the differing colours of fish we have caught and checked the stomach contents of. Top caught fish with predominantly smelt or bullies in their stomachs have been lighter in colour, while fish caught lower down have had rick dark almost orangey pink flesk, and are in fantastic condition. Parson's Glory is a good koura imitation, and Green Orbit is a good bully imitation. The Red Setter, while perhaps too dark to be a proper imitation is also working very well, especially in larger sizes.
Lake Fishing
The flies mentioned above can be fished from a fly rod from the shore or harled from a moving boat near the surface early in the morning or late at night. The smelt are now very much in evidence at the lake margins, and light long tailed flies, or any rabbit pattern works well.
For the rest of the day, you need to get your fly or lure down deep. Lures imitating koura (spotty gold, dark red and even orange) and Red Setters have been productive when fished down close to the lake bottom in areas high in koura, while spotty silver/plain silver/white/yellow lures imitating smelt have done well when trailed about 10-15 feet above the bottom.
Just after New Year we had a long period of strong westerly winds which forced all except the very largest boats into the confined area between Rangatira Point and Acacia Bay, although many of the visiting boaties just didn't bother. This area got thrashed, while the rest of the lake got a good rest. Consequently just about every other area of the lake is now fishing very well. The last outing I had yielded 6 fish all over 4 pounds, and we lost another 4, a couple of which felt considerably larger. Or was it just just poor knot strength or perhaps a poor batch of leader? Certainly the bend in the rods and the speed of runout indicated we had fish in the 6-8 pound category. Like I said, the fish we landed have been in excellent condition and all provided a thrilling fight.
Contact us at albion.fishing@paradise.net.nz if you ahve any further questions.
David Pierce
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