Auckland / Waikato News Index

March News

The recent change in weather came at a good time for the annual Arapuni Fishing Competition run by the Te Awamutu Fish and Game Club on the weekend of 17/18 March. Up until that weekend the fishing in the hydro-lakes had been slow as trout stayed in the deep cool waters due to the long period of calm sunny days. But the cold, windy weather that struck in the week prior to the contest allowed trout back into the surface waters.

The weather over the contest weekend was quite wild with strong winds and heavy rain but this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the contestants, and indeed entries were similar to previous years. Overall the fishing appears to have been best in the upper reaches of Arapuni, upstream from the “sticks”. However one boat had good success in the open waters lower down the lake, “in the roughest water they could find”, where a smelt fly, trolled a metre or so below the surface was very successful.

Overall catch rates were up from previous years with plenty of rainbows 1.5-2.5kg. The only brown caught was an impressive 3.7kg.

Elsewhere the fishing was put on hold for a few days with high flows in most rivers. Despite the heavy rain, the flows didn’t produce any large floods presumably because the dry ground acted like a big sponge. Nevertheless we always recommend that you check the flows before you go at either the Environment Waikato site www.ew.govt.nz/enviroinfo/riverlevelsandrainfall/index.htm
or at Genesis Energy www.hydro.genesisenergy.co.nz/AllFlow.asp

Brown trout are now starting to move up into the upper rivers for spawning in April/May. This is generally the best time of year to plan a trip into the Waipa headwaters – perhaps upstream from Toa Bridge or one of the many streams flowing from Mt Pirongia. The browns will also be moving out of Lake Karapiro into the tributary streams, especially the lower reaches of the Pokaiwhenua River.

Rainbows are still present in plentiful numbers in most southern and western rivers. Indeed one of our Councillors, John Atkinson, and one of his fishing mates, Paul Fuller, recently managed to tag 47 fish in one day while fly fishing in the Waipa River. So there are still plenty of fish out there.

Help required
As noted in the previous newsletter, we are going to require some assistance planting flaxes and shrubs along the Mangatutu Stream. The time has now been confirmed as 10 a.m., Sunday, 27th May. We’ll provide a barbecue afterwards and we will also have a brief talk from F&G and Environment Waikato staff on the whole Waipa/Mangatutu management project. So this is a good opportunity to hear what is going on and have some input, as well as assisting the local landowners in the management of the river.

If you can attend please contact Ben Wilson at bwilson@internet.co.nz