Reel Life November 2020

Recent freshes in central and south Taranaki ringplain streams in particular, have kept them in great condition for angling and with water temperatures still in the 15-18 ^OC range there is plenty of trout feeding activity occurring.

Nymph fishing to sighted fish in the middle and upper reaches of streams is proving productive, while spin and bait fishing in the deeper pools and runs is also taking fish.

Some good-sized perch have also been taken, with Carlos Vale sending in this photo of a ripper from Lake Rotokare.

Above: Carlos Vale and his Lake Rotokare perch.

Book your kids in for the Stratford trout fishing day

The Stratford kids’ trout fishing day is this year being held on Saturday 12^th December.

The booking sheet is now at the Stratford Information Centre, so call in or give them a ring on 0800 765 6708. Please note the start time of 8am, with the last time-slot at 12.45pm.

This event involves the release of 300 well-grown rainbow trout into the scout den pool in the Patea River within King Edward Park in the heart of Stratford.

Children will be able to fish from with help from Stratford Fishing Section members and volunteers.

All fishing gear is supplied, although donations of worms for bait will be gratefully received.

The beauty of this release is that the trout remain in the vicinity for several months, providing great fishing for novice and expert anglers alike.

Lake Rotomanu Family Trout Fishing day

Despite wind and rain from mid-morning, there was a great turn-out to the family trout fishing event at New Plymouth’s Lake Rotomanu on Saturday 31^st October, with more than 100 kids plus caregivers trying their luck.

While not everyone was successful on the day, there were good numbers of rainbow trout caught and some nice perch.

BBQ sausages and chocolate fish at the Inglewood Rod, Gun & Recreation Club’s tent meant no-one went away empty handed and Tarn Mack-McEwen from Taranaki Hunting & Fishing was on-hand to provide valuable advice and help with gear set-up.

With 420 two-year-old rainbow trout released into Lake Rotomanu for the event, there are still plenty more fish in the lake and they’re providing a great opportunity for budding anglers to come back and hone their fishing skills.

Lower Patea River trout release update

The fourth of five annual Trustpower-funded releases of 1,000 tagged yearling brown trout and 500 tagged rainbows went ahead on 29^th October 2020 and with moderate river flows and water temperatures in the 13-17 ⁰C range post release they should have established well.

An important part of the stocking trial is monitoring the success of the releases, which involves collecting data on the size and catch rate of the stocked fish and stomach samples to determine what they have been feeding on.

Spring and autumn are the best times to fish the lower Patea River and if you catch any of the released fish please record the colour of the tag, the year written on it, or whether it was fin-clipped, and report this to Fish & Game.

If you’ve kept the trout then a length and weight measurement would be invaluable and if possible, retain the stomach of any stocked or wild fish kept.

The easiest way is to put the stomach (or all the internal organs) in a plastic bag in the freezer and we can arrange to collect this. If you fish the area regularly, we can send you an angling diary to record data over the season.

Martin Powell from Hawera sent in this photo of two hatchery rainbows he caught recently in the lower Patea.

The smaller fish was around 1kg with a blue tag with “2019” on it – so last year’s release which had grown from 18cm to 44.5cm in 12 months.

The larger rainbow weighed nearly 2kg and had a right pelvic fin clip, which means it was from the October 2018 release.

In two years it had grown from 18 to 57cm, a pretty good growth rate which demonstrates the potential of the fishery.

There is 14km of fishable water in the lower Patea between McColl’s Bridge and Patea dam and anglers can park on the roadside away from gates to fish.

Power generation results in fluctuating flows below the dam, so check them out on the TRC’s website via this link. Best fishing is when flows are in the range 5 – 30 cumecs, with lower flows often occurring during weekends.https://www.trc.govt.nz/environment/maps-and-data/site-details/?siteID=28&measureID=9&timePeriod=30days

Tight Lines

Allen Stancliff, Taranaki Fish & Game Officer.