Lower North Lowdown Weekly Fishing Report - 9 January 2025

Best Fishing Of The Season Starts Now  

We're well into summer now and a switch has flicked on the fish.

It's likely been triggered by an abundance of insects around in the warmer conditions and longer days. Some anglers have even reported hearing the first of the cicadas for the summer too. 

Pictured above - Matt Schmidt with a ripper sea-run brown from the lower reaches of the Otaki River (Marsha Schmidt).

Soil-moisture levels through December have been okay with late rain, so hopefully it's going to be another good year for cicadas as they find it easier to hatch out of the ground.

A good cicada season means a good time for anglers too because trout simply can't resist these large protein packs when they hit the water. If these noisy insects aren't about in your neck of the woods they certainly won't be far off.

The fish are looking up anyway, happily feeding off the surface, with plenty of other bugs around including spiders, grasshoppers and beetles to name a few. It is often said that the best fishing of the season starts when the large terrestrial insects appear. 

Get out and make the most of it. Meantime, we'll be back to normal reports next week.

Hope to see you on the water.   

Get In to The Action! 

Jump online and get your licence the easy way - it only takes a minute.

Click the image above to get started. 

 

Here's the outlook for the weekend:

 

Hutt Valley

 

Hunting & Fishing Photo Comp - Win $300 To Spend in Store

Logan Wheeler with a lovely fat rainbow from the Mangahoa River.

Send in your favourite fishing photos from this season and you could be in to win a $300 voucher to spend in store at Wairarapa Hunting & Fishing.

We won't blow your secret spot, just include the name of the angler(s), photographer's details, and general location in the Wellington-Taranaki Fish & Game region.

  

Click here to submit your entry.             

You can send us as many fishing photos as you like. By submitting images to enter the competition you acknowledge that Wellington Fish & Game can publish and use the photos for publicity material.

Entries must be in by 5pm Tuesday, April 2, 2025. The winner will be announced in the Lower North Lowdown report on Thursday, April 4, 2025.

 

Video Of The Week

USA's Catch Magazine is a quality outfit and this short film they've put together of the crew fishing in New Zealand is an equally beautiful production. 

Click the screenshot above to watch.   

 

Grab Our Handy 'How-To' Guides

The team at Wellington-Taranaki Fish & Game have produced some handy ‘how-to’ guides to help you get the most out of your investment in a licence and catch more fish.

These cover tips and techniques that will help you get started, take your fishing to the next level, or trouble-shoot some common issues anglers encounter on the water.

Select from the links below to download the right resource for you:

- SPIN FISHING BASICS

- ADVANCED SPIN FISHING

- READING THE WATER

For any anglers visiting or new to the Wellington Fish & Game region, and have had the Hutt River on their bucket list, we've designed a dedicated brochure to help you be successful on this exceptional but challenging piece of water.

Although the fishery holds high numbers of trout, the Hutt isn't an easy river to fish. However, the rewards are exceptional with large hard fighting browns the prize.

- HOW TO FISH THE HUTT RIVER