Fishing News index>April 2007

Winter shoreline prospects for 2007 - by Rob Pitkethley

On Lake Okatainawe have seen that the trout growth over the 2006-07 period has been better than it was the previous year so expect the 2007 winter to produce fish a little bigger than those of 2006.Anglers might notice small decreases in their catch rate as the older fish from previous seasons die out, and the younger fish have been subject to more summer harvest pressure over the last 2 seasons compared to the previous three seasons when the high minimum size limit applied.The absence of older fish shouldbe noticeable with fish generally in better condition than the last few winters as less previous spawners will be caught.

On Lake Tarawera the trout growth has significantly improved since last year, so the 3-year-old trout on average will be larger thanthe last 2-3 winters. Catch rates will perhaps be influenced by how heavy the summer fishing pressure has been, but the catch rate has been relatively high over the last few seasons so expect more of the same.

On Lake Rotoiti the trout growth seen at last opening was excellent forthe 2005 autumn released fish (LpAd) but not quite as good for the spring released fish (Lp's). 3-year olds will probably show up with a wider size range than last year as these two seasonal groups will be more separated than usual. The summer fishing was not as intense this year compared to the 2005-06 summer so if this has any influence on winter catch rates it will only be positive.Overall on Rotoiti the catch rate should be a little better than last winter and the fish will be - on average - just a little smaller than last year. However the range of sizes will be widerthan 2006 so possibly a few more trophy LpAd clipped fish and a few more smaller Lp's compared to last years Rp 3-year-olds.

Anglers looking out for fin clips this winter should find that most fish will be 3-year olds from 2005 releases - Lp's from spring 2005(lots in Rotoiti as 15,000 liberated) and LpAd's from May 2005 release. 4-year olds from each lake will be Rp & RpAd's, as will be 2-year-olds too. There should be a marked size difference between 2 & 4-year-old fish so the smaller Rp &RpAd's will be the younger 2-year-old fish. Tarawera also has Ad only clips from the annual February releases. These clips will be seen on a wide size range of fish and it is more difficult to age this group but generally the larger ones are the older fish, most will be from the February 2005 releases.

For more information on fin clips and liberation follow this link to the Eastern Fish and Game web page.

Winter shoreline fishing, cold but productive!