Reel Life April 2026 - Hawke's Bay

Hi and welcome to the last Reel Life for the summer of 2025/26 season.

Well, a week ago we were all on tender hooks as Cyclone Vaianu bore down on us from up in the tropics with the centre showing extremely low pressures down in the 950 -960 Millibar (hPa) range, which were similar to Cyclone Gabrielle. As it turned out we got lots of wind and some rain in Hawkes bay but nothing as bad as we feared, simply put “we dodged a bullet” again much as we did in February where the Wairarapa and Manawatu were badly flooded and we got a bit of a fresh by comparison. Most areas got a total of 20 - 40mm of rain which brought the rivers up but most have dropped again quickly, and things look to be rapidly on the improve; to the point that I expect that many rivers particularly the smaller spring fed ones in central Hawkes Bay should be fishable again the weekend of 18/19 April.

A look over the HB Regional Council river levels showed a short sharp spike in flows that peaked quite a bit lower than levels seen after the rain event in mid -January and most importantly levels are dropping again quickly. All we can say is make the most of it because the Autumn rain should arrive sooner or later and the rivers are more likely to be full, dirty and cold and you’ll be wishing you fished when you could.

Our staff were up at the Mohaka and Waipunga off SH5 on Thursday 16/04  and the Mohaka was up slightly and whilst not crystal clear still looked very fishable, a quick check on the HBRC river levels showed it at 29 Cumec/ sec, the Waipunga was up and carrying a fair bit of extra water but should improve quickly assuming no further rain. Just watch the weather because the Waipunga particularly is affected by rain from the west so, as with the Mohaka and Ngaruroro it’s wise to keep an eye on the Taupo and Turangi weather as well the hawkes bay forecast.

The lower water levels make such a huge difference to the fishing on the likes of the Ngaruroro and Mohaka, making wading depths and flows so much easier to manage, and so much more of the rivers being accessible  – the flip side is the increase in slime on the rocks makes good rubber soled and ideally studded wading boots pretty much a prerequisite, just remember you aren’t allowed to use felt sole wading boots due to the increased bio security risks they pose.

Women’s Fishing Weekend a Strong Success at Patangata

Seventeen women joined us at Patangata for a fantastic day on the Tukituki River as part of our recent Women’s Fishing Weekend. The group brought together a mix of complete beginners, curious to experience fly fishing for the first time, alongside others returning to the sport and keen to refresh their skills. The day was made possible thanks to our dedicated team of volunteers, who generously gave their time, knowledge, and encouragement. Their support created a relaxed and welcoming environment, allowing participants to learn at their own pace and build confidence on the water. From first casts to refining technique, it was great to see connections forming—both with the river and among the group. The enthusiasm and willingness to give it a go made for an incredibly rewarding day. While the approaching cyclone meant we made the call not to stay overnight, the event was nonetheless a valuable test run and a clear success. The positive energy and feedback have reinforced that there is strong interest in opportunities like this, and we’ll certainly be looking to run similar events again in the future.

Some great Tukituki rainbows for the Women’s weekend – Photos Dave Hern

Hawkes Bay Fish and Game open day

The 13 April saw another great open day at the Game Farm with record number of visitors attending , many came for a picnic, walk around the grounds, games and activities, good coffee or the sausage sizzle, or to see the trout and eels fed, but most came to fish.

It was great to see people of all ages and abilities here catching a trout, many gently released their trout, whilst others kept theirs to take home. What was so good to see was the number of families- grandparents, parents and grandchildren all brought together all with a common aim; to help a novice catch a trout whether they were a junior or mature angler. The other gratifying thing to see was the number experienced anglers helping other visitors enjoy the thrill of catching a trout, we saw several cases where an experienced angler hooked a trout and passed the rod to an as yet unsuccessful angler in a neighbouring family to have the thrill of landing it.

Rivers report 

Tukituki and Waipawa Rivers have continued to fish very well, with some great fish caught on the ladies angling event at Patagata on the Tukituki on the 11 April – the weekend Cyclone Vaiano arrived at the top of the country. We have heard of some great fishing with both high numbers and great sized and conditioned trout being caught on the Tukituki recently. The rain and cooler weather had cleared the weed and dropped the water temps, prior to the arrival of Vaiano these rivers had become very clear making spotting trout easier; with some great sight fishing in the shallower runs and on the drop offs into the pools with a combination of a big terrestrial fly fished in combination with a nymph fished on a dropper proving very popular and successful. Other anglers are reporting good success in the deeper pools as well with heavier nymphs, lures like bead headed woolly buggers, soft baits and spinners; we heard of angler catching over a dozen rainbows recently in a casual day all from easily accessible water.

A Nice CHB Rainbow – Photo Dave Hern

Tukipo and Manganuku recent rain should have encouraged some trout to move back into the likes of the Tukipo and Manganuku that had been very low and choked with cow cress over the middle of the summer. These trout will normally be big, smart, mature fish in prime condition, making them challenging to hook and land in these small rivers with plenty of snags; they make for exciting fishing, if you can outwit them. These trout are our  prime breeding stock, that are so important to maintain the quality and quantity of trout we like to see in our rivers, so if you chose to release them, please remember to handle them carefully and get them released and back in the water as soon as you can. If you want trout for dinner then maybe taking a younger trout from the main river might be a better option, just remember these smaller spawning streams do close over the winter to minimise disturbance to these spawning trout.

The Mohaka, Ngaruroro and their tributaries have been fishing well with good numbers of younger fish caught and some big mature fish turning up too, its been pleasing to see numbers on the Mohaka around SH5 have really improved this season after the damage done to this area by Cyclone Gabrielle. We saw a photo of a proud young angler with a fine rainbow jack in the 2.5-3 kg range caught in the Ngaruroro near Hastings recently, this was one of several trout caught by him and his friends on spinning tackle, great to see these juniors out on the rivers and great for them to be having good success so close to town.    

The smaller northern rivers which still have many active slips in their catchments and have remained dirty for long periods after the recent rains, making fishing difficult. On a positive note, it should provide greater protection for the remaining trout in there, maximising their chances of surviving, spawning again and restocking these rivers.

Remember 2 May marks the start of Duck hunting  ( gamebird ) season, the open season for trout fishing comes to an end on 30 June; this is later than it was historically, where it ended on the 30 April, this change was made to maximise opportunity for anglers, but it is timely to remind anglers that there some risks with this later closing. The first is that the duck hunting season starts on 2 May, so anglers and hunters need to be aware of and show consideration to other users on the river, most lowland rivers will have lots of gamebird hunters, hunting ducks and pheasant on the 2nd and 3rd of May, so expect to hear a few gunshots! It may be a good weekend to try somewhere else, and if you are fishing in the early morning or evening in May or June, I would avoid fishing in front of an occupied maimai, because you won’t be popular frightening their ducks away.

The other consideration is that by the end of June some trout; particularly Browns maybe starting to spawn – so if you see a pair of fish together and particularly if they are by an area in the stream bed that has been recently disturbed, please avoid them and avoid walking over the redds; the freshly disturbed areas of gravel.

Time to Check the regulations 

It’s a good time to read the sport fishing regulations again, check the areas that are closing at the end of June; there are lots of areas that are open though the whole year so you can still go trout fishing, but many areas; normally headwaters and tributaries close for spawning.

We saw a online video recently of an angler actively trying to fowl hook spawning trout, so thought it timely to remind everyone that attempting to foul hook any sports fish, keeping any fowl hooked sport sports fish and disturbing spawning sports fish are all offences and carry a hefty fine.

The Mohaka at Glenfalls 16 April

Twin Lakes Road and Carpark Closure with Alternative Route

Pan Pac have advised that due harvesting in the area around the ‘Twin lakes carpark” the road and carpark will be closed from 15 February through to July 2026, stopping access to the Tutaekuri river and Mackintosh hut from this point. There is an alternative route from Timpson road which will allow access to the Kuripapango hill track and the Twin lakes, this access point is approximately 2 kilometres before the twin lakes carpark off the same forestry road.

What to use?

If you are nymph fishing, you need a reasonable amount of weight to get down to where the fish are but still need fine leaders and smaller flies. As we head into autumn, we are likely to see more rain and an increase in flows and more colour in the rivers - weight, colour and flash are likely to help. With dry flies either big visible terrestrials or small traditional patterns should continue to work well for a while yet  – no matter what technique you are using, being prepared to experiment with a range of patterns will often pay dividends, remembering that just because the last trout ate a particular pattern, there is no guarantee it will work on the next one!

Spinning and soft baiting are likely to be successful with the extra volume and particularly if there is some colour in the water.

Summer Angling Survey

We want to hear how your summer trout fishing has been this season, it is a valuable link that helps us understand how the fishing, the access and how other river users have been behaving on our rivers this season.

We really value your feedback and would appreciate you taking the time to fill in this survey.

Link to Summer Anglers Survey

Online Diary 

We want to thank all those who have been filling in online diary this season, it’s great to have regular updates on how your fishing is going and it is also easy discrete way of letting us know the good and bad things that you see going on out there.  We really appreciate you sharing this information with our field team.

Non - Compliance and Poaching

We have had a report of poaching with a set net recently that we are following up on and really appreciate anglers calling these incidents in. If you witness some illegal fishing or Gamebird hunting, please give us a call or email, if you are safely able to record; ideally photograph, vehicles with registration numbers and a description of the people involved that would be great – But please, only if you can do so safely.

Making the most of the rest of the season

As at the 17 April, the rivers were dropping after recent rain, the trout are in great condition, so now is a great time to be fishing.

The last two winters have been really kind to the trout and there has been a steady increase in trout numbers across the bay post Cyclone Gabrielle, so we look set for another great autumn for The Bays trout anglers. So Grab your licence if you haven't got one already, the discounted winter licence runs from 1 April through to 30 September so is now a good option, make sure you carry it with you, read the regulations and make the most of the good conditions. Fishing Licence New Zealand - Fish & Game NZ

Our ranging team have very active this season and will continue to be particularly with the Gamebird season starting we are looking forward to catching up with anglers on the rivers, to hear of their successes, share some advice and ideally be complimenting them for being 100% compliant.