Hawke's Bay Reel Life September 2017

Spring has certainly arrived here in the Hawkes Bay with a notable decrease in rainfall and some very warm days approaching the mid-twenties.

The warm weather has produced a few decent hatches on the rivers and the dry fly action won’t be too far away.

After such a wet winter, anglers are looking forward to the warm settled weather that the Hawkes Bay offers.

At the time of writing this report, the long-range forecast for the week running up to 1 October doesn’t look great but hopefully it won’t come to much in the Hawkes Bay region.

Rangers will be out and about in the Hawkes Bay region on Opening Day checking fishing licences and making sure that everyone is following the rules and regulations.

Please ensure that you buy a licence before heading out to fish this season and please keep it on you while fishing. 

Anglers with families are reminded of the family licence option that allows the whole family to get involved in fishing for a discounted rate.

Youth are the future of our sport and introducing them to angling at an early age is a way to ensure that future generations continue to enjoy the angling experience. 

The postponed autumn release was completed at Lake Tutira and Lake Waikopiro in early September with just over 2,000 rainbow trout liberated.

About 500 rainbows were also released into Lake Waikopiro and some of these were tagged with yellow tags on their backs.

With a bubbler aeration system expected to be installed into Waikopiro in late September to help disrupt algal blooms, it will be interesting to see how these trout develop over the next two years.

Please report any tagged trout that you catch to the Hawkes Bay Fish & Game office.

A small release of 50 tagged yearling rainbows was also carried out at Lake Hawkston near Patoka to supplement this lake’s fishing opportunity.

 Please contact land owner Dave McPhee to access this lake to fish between November and March.

Some anglers have been fishing on the Tutaekuri River during September as this river tends to be the first to clear after a flood.

Small trout around the 350mm mark have featured among the catches of local anglers spoken to recently.

Small trout have also featured in the Tukituki this month around the Patangata area.  Please handle these small trout carefully if returning them to the water.

Ideally, keep the trout in the water and unhook them without touching them. Keep an eye on our Hawkes Bay Fish & Game Facebook page for a video showing best practice when it comes to catch and release.

The Mohaka can be worth a fish early in the season and browns can be caught around the SH5 bridge, especially early in the new season.

The wet weather this winter will have created new channels and changed pools in some of the rivers which creates new challenges for anglers this spring.

Don’t forget the lower reaches of the region’s rivers especially when the whitebait runs get fully underway.

Tight lines for the new season – and don’t forget to Check, Clean, Dry between waterways. 

 Back to Reel Life.