Fishing News index> August 2007

TARANAKI REGION TROUT FISHING – August 2007
Despite a couple of significant floods in May and June, it’s been a good spawning season in both the Mt. Taranaki and Waimarino areas, with plenty of trout and spawning redds seen and the rivers in great condition.  During the north Taranaki spawning surveys the benefits of riparian protection were very obvious, as the intense rainfall event on 23rd May (Figure 1) generally caused little damage to sections of fenced and planted streambank, while nearby grazed sections suffered significant bank slumping, undercutting and erosion.  Spawning areas, such as those in the lower Mangorei Stream, were little affected and most of the spawning occurred in the usual locations.

FIGURE 1.  Winter flows in the Waiwhakaiho River at Egmont Village.  The 23rd May event was much bigger than the 280 cumecs recorded by the NIWA recorder, which malfunctioned.  TrustPower measured the flood peak at their Mangamahoe diversion weir at 5 metres, which is a sizable (10 year +) event.

FIGURE 2.  Winter flood flows were a lot more benign in South Taranaki (see scale), with data from the Waingongoro River at SH45 shown here.

With spawning now over and water temperatures beginning to rise, the lower reaches of several ringplain rivers are open for angling and well worth a visit.  In New Plymouth, the Waiwhakaiho River from the sea up to the end of Rimu Stream extension (upstream end of the gravel track located to the right as you head down the hill) contains good pools and runs and the river clears very quickly following freshes (fishable within 24 hours).  Spin fishing while the water is tannin stained should produce fish, while nymphing will be the way to go when the river is clear.

In South Taranaki, the Kaupokonui Stream between the beach camp off Lower Glenn Road and SH45 is open for fishing.  While it receives a fair bit of use, anglers report pretty consistent catches of both brown and rainbow trout.  The Waingongoro River below SH45 is also worth a visit, either by walking upstream from Ohawe or downstream from SH45.  For the latter, park on the eastern (Hawera) side of the SH45 Bridge, clear of the quarry access route over the old river bridge.  Walk over the old bridge and ask the quarry operator for access to a pipe gate located in the fence at the back (downstream end) of the quarry.  Go through the gate and walk downstream through pasture to the pine trees and farm bridge.  Anglers can either fish back up to the quarry or cross the bridge and go further downstream, which gives access to a large river loop.  This is relatively big water with deep pools and runs that are ideal for spin and bait fishing, while short bouldery riffles provide areas of interest for flyfishing.

Ringplain lake fisheries, such as Lake Ratapiko, Opunake Lake, Lake Ngangana (at Waitara next to the Kart Club track off Joll Street), Lake Rotomanu (near the Waiwhakaiho River mouth) and Lake Mangamahoe should also produce fish.  Please remember that Lake Mangamahoe is restricted to fly fishing only with fly rod, fly reel, fly line and artificial fly and that the lake inlet is closed until 1st October.

In the Waimarino, the Manganui-o-te-ao is open to fishing downstream from the Orautoha Stream confluence.  Unless fishing at Ruatiti Domain itself, please ask the landowners for access and park well clear of gates, bridges and stock accessways and leave all gates as you find them.  This is a sensitive area during lambing, as disturbance can result in twinning sheep abandoning one of their lambs (sheep don’t seem to count), with potentially significant financial consequences for the farmers.  If this occurs, the whole of the Manganui-o-te-ao will end up being closed until October 1st.

Also in the Waimarino, the Mangawhero River downstream of the “golf course” bridge between Ohakune and Raetihi is open to all methods and worth a visit, as is the Tokiahuru downstream of SH49.

Allen Stancliff

Fish and Game Officer

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