Auckland / Waikato News Index> October 2007

Round-up October

Opening of the fishing season
Well the weather held off on opening day, and although most of the southern rivers were running high, they were certainly very fishable.  In the second week, conditions continued to improve and good fishing was reported from throughout the region.  But since then it has rained with more than 250 mm falling in the King Country.  The rainfall has been steady and although not producing any large floods, enough rain has fallen to keep the rivers discoloured.

We have already received two reports of tagged trout.  F&G councillor, John Atkinson caught a 48 cm rainbow from the Okauaka Stream that had been tagged in April 2005 at 45 cm.  And from the Ngakoaohia Stream, Ian Charlton reported the capture of a 54 cm (1.9 kg) rainbow.  This fish was tagged on 30 December 2005 by George Brocklehurst at 48 cm. At 54 cm, this was an exceptional rainbow for the Ngakoaohia, a small stream that flows from Mt Pirongia with a reputation for holding big brown trout but generally smallish rainbows.

Another interesting report we received was of a brown trout in the Tairua River – the first report of a brown trout in this catchment.  The presence of brown trout is certainly exciting, as the Tairua is a wonderful river to fish in terms of scenery and fishable water but the rainbows are not large.  The Tairua also offers great dry fly fishing on the green beetle with the large amount of manuka bush bordering the river.  The presence of brown trout, with their potential to grow to a good size, will certainly add to the river’s appeal to anglers.

Lahar on Ruapehu threatens Whakapapa fishery
On the evening of 25 September a small eruption on Mt Ruapehu produced a lahar down into the Whakapapa River catchment.  A lahar is a type of mudflow originating from a volcanic crater and consisting of ash, debris and water.  The last lahar event on this side of the mountain occurred in 1996, and was devastating to the Whakapapa trout fishery, which took ten years to fully recover.  However the recent lahar event was smaller and it only reached about half way down the mountain (about halfway down the Far West T-bar).  But it was still an impressive sight being about 30 m wide, 3 km long and about a 1-2 m deep.  Once the snow starts to melt, much of the lahar will be washed into the Whakapapa River.  The impact on the trout fishery will be dependent on how quickly it washes away. Although some discolouration of the river is expected, we’re hopeful that it will have only minimal impact.

Mangatutu Stream
We have received a complaint from the landowner above Wharepuhunga Road (upper reaches) that anglers walking across his paddocks are disturbing the cattle that are then running into and breaking fences.  So when you are fishing these waters please keep to the edge of the river and don’t take shortcuts across paddocks.  We will put some signs up soon.

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