Auckland / Waikato News > May 2008

Regional Update

Fish Releases: Lake Pupuke
Another 1000 two-year-old fish were released into Lake Pupuke.  The fish were smaller than last year, averaging about 0.6kg, with the occasional fish over a kilogram.  Unfortunately the weather for Trout Unlimited competition was atrocious, perhaps the worst day of the year, most disappointing and especially considering the effort put in by the organisers.

The fishing in Pupuke has improved with the cooler weather allowing fish to move out of the deeper water into the shallow margins.  One of the operators of the windsurfing school based at the Sylvan Park Reserve noted that when there was a strong south-westerly wind, there would be a lot of trout feeding along the shore at Henderson Park – should be worth a look but fly fishing in the wind could be fun.

Fish Releases: Hydro Lakes
The annual fish releases into the hydro-lakes will be carried out later this week.  The fish will all be fin-clipped (left-pelvic) and 500 will be tagged in both Arapuni and Karapiro.  Please report the capture of any tagged fish to the fish and game office either by phone (07 849 1666) or email (bwilson@awfg.org.nz).  The tag is yellow and located just below the dorsal (top) fin.  We’re still giving a free book to all those who report the capture of a tagged trout anywhere in the region. 

The last release of tagged fish into the hydro-lakes occurred in May 2005 when we released 500 tagged rainbows and 225 tagged browns into Lake Arapuni and 225 tagged browns into Lake Karapiro.  So far we have received 51 returns from the Arapuni rainbows but only two returns from the Arapuni browns and only one return from the Karapiro browns.  It would appear that releasing brown trout into the hydro-lakes is a waste of resources. 

Late Autumn flows
Flows in the region’s river are low with comparatively little rainfall over the last week or so.  Note that the minimum flow requirement for the lower Whanganui River finishes at the end of May, consequently flows in the Whakapapa will drop by about 50% in the headwaters and 30% lower down at Owhango.

Proposed changes to fishing regulations
Two changes are being considered to next season’s fishing regulations.  We are considering a request from several anglers to lower the bag limit on the Ohinemuri River down to two fish due to poor fish numbers in the river this year.  The low numbers were confirmed by last summer’s drift dive survey.

On a more optimistic note, we are planning to restore the bag limit on the Waipa River back to five fish.  The drift dive survey we carried out in the river last summer revealed a very good rainbow population and this was confirmed by angler reports.

If you have any comments/recommendations regarding the proposed changes please get in touch.

Ben Wilson
Fisheries Manager

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