Eastern Reel Life Mar 2017

Autumn has rolled around quickly and seasonal changes are evident in the Eastern Fish & Game region. 

While daytime temperatures remain high enough to encourage insect activity and enable some late dry fly fishing, cooler mornings and evenings are a sign of things to come – smelting and then spawning activity isn’t far off.

The region’s lakes still have surface temperatures of about 19 degrees and the thermocline sits about 20 metres.

This is likely to remain for several more weeks until the surface temperatures cool even further.

At this time of year, mornings and evenings are a great time to try harling. A sinking fly line or one or two colours of lead line and a smelt fly slowly trolled over sandy bays and weed beds works wonders.

Autumn fish are often in prime condition too as they prepare for spawning over winter.        

The Ngongotaha Stream was hit hard with flood damage from the downpour that struck the North Island in March. Slips in the upper catchment left the stream running with a little colour but it’s recovering well, and reports of good fishing are coming in.

Lake edge winter fishing traditionally kicks off early in April with rain events and a falling barometer the triggers, so keep an eye out for these conditions to make the most of it.

Rotoiti and Okataina fish have both shown promise over summer and we’re expecting some big ones this winter.        

Eastern news tippets:

•  The first of our autumn releases has taken place. 1000 yearling rainbows to Tarawera, 250 to Okataina and 4000 to Rotoiti, all have been marked Lpad. More to come...
• Spawning runs aren’t far off. We’ve had reports of early run rainbows in the Rotorua tributaries.
• Thermoclines remain at over 20m on the regions deeper lakes.
• A reliable American angler has reported measuring a 32” rainbow in lake Rotorua this summer – that’s a whopping 813mm long. He said the fish was long but not overly heavy, but not slabby either!