The Written Word
for February 2, 2000

Let me expand, if I may, on last weeks discussion of fishing I told part of the story of New Zealand fishing when talking about hatcheries. The story of trout fishing In New Zealand is interesting and somewhat hazy. There were no salmonids, that is trout, salmon, Pacific salmon or char, native to New Zealand though it is thought that there was a native grayling, a near relative, which became extinct. When British settlers came to Australasia they were homesick for their fishing and in the early 1880s Brown Trout from Britain were successfully raised in Australia and in 1886 roe taken from these fish, transplanted to New Zealand. They now are all over both islands though the proportion is much higher in the South Island than in the North. Around the turn of the century Rainbow ova were, after a couple of unsuccessful attempts, hatched in the Lake Taupo region of the North Island. Lake Taupo is New Zealand’s largest lake and is fed by some 40 streams and rivers and is the source of New Zealand’s largest river, the Waikato which enters the Tasman Sea at Hamilton. It is the only river draining the lake. At the time Rainbows were introduced, the lake was chock-a-block full of a type of crayfish called Kauri and the trout loved them.

These rainbows had not been brought from the Rogue River in Oregon as first thought but from Sonoma Creek in Northern California and were actually Steelhead, or sea-run rainbows and this is precisely how the fish behaved in Lake Taupo. They spawned in the many rivers then went back into the lake treating it as their predecessors had treated the Pacific Ocean. In fact I say that because there are spawning runs in January and February, the summer in the Antipodes, that they have developed a summer steelhead run.

For several years after they were introduced, the rainbows did famously on their steady diet of kouri and they grew to prodigious sizes. Then suddenly things went wrong. Trout started getting thinner and scarcer. What to do?

Well, these folks were not fish biologists and they did what came naturally – they brought barrels of smelt from nearby Rotorua and transplanted them in the smelt-less Taupo. And a miracle happened – the trout grew to prodigious sizes again and everybody was happy. Happiest, I suppose, were the kouri who, with some company as fish feed, restored their numbers.

Fishing in the Taupo area is very interesting because it is carefully regulated.

In the rivers and off the river mouths it is fly-fishing only and for nymph fishing, the size of the hook is #10 regular at the largest. Because the fish have been so plentiful, the notion of catch and release is only now slowly coming into vogue. I will still see a Kiwi shake his head as I release a nice five pounder.

There are Brown trout in Taupo as well but they are outnumbered 4-1 by rainbows and the catch of Browns is lower than that ratio because Browns are simply harder to catch, though not a patch on Rainbows when it comes to the fight.

I can’t leave the Taupo area without mentioning Lake Otamangakau, a man made irrigation Lake about 80 kilometers away. This lake has been planted with Browns and Rainbows and they are huge. Every year there is a 20 pounder taken and fish in double figures are not uncommon. My best is 10 pounds on the nose but I’ve had a lot in the 6-10 pound range and lost plenty bigger. The fishing is slow but when it’s on, it’s on!

Not only is it a great place to fish, the Big “O” is right under the volcanoes Ngauruhoe, Ruepehu and Tongariro all of which are active. It’s quite a sight.

There is much excellent trout fishing all over New Zealand but if, like me, you’re a little short of cash for that helicopter ride to a remote stream, the Taupo area and its rivers and streams are pretty damned good.