by Allan Taylor

Created on: July 21, 2011

New Zealand is “The Home of the Trout”.  This tiny and remote South Pacific country offers the best fly fishing in the world amidst amazingly diverse  mountain and farmland scenery.  Anglers are attracted from all over the world and mix it with the locals to catch large rainbow and brown trout.

The management of the freshwater fisheries is by the NZ Government Department of Conservation (DOC) which excels at applying scientific fisheries research to the regulations so as to balance resource conservation with optimal enjoyment for the angler.

Essentially, there are two distinct fisheries viz., the Lake Taupo Fishery in the central North Island which is composed of Lake Taupo and all its watershed inflow streams and a short section of the outflow Waikato River.  This is managed as a tourist rainbow and brown  trout fishery and the rivers and lake river mouths are regulated as fly-only fishing. A special Taupo fishing license is required.  Outside of the Taupo Region are the District Fisheries in both North and South Island.  These are predominantly brown trout waters and have few restrictions on fishing methods, although each waterway is carefully monitored and usually have  their individual regulations.

Where to go for maximum excitement?  Undoubtedly you head for the Tongariro River which is the main inflow river to the lake and rises in the foothills of  Tongariro National Park with its often active volcanoes.  The Taupo rainbows are sea-run steelhead trout originally from California and acclimatized here about 1890.  They must think that Lake Taupo is the sea because they spend most of the summer months there feeding on smelt and crustacea.  Come autumn or winter (April to August) they leave the lake and run up the rivers to spawn in the highland sections of the rivers, which are closed to fishing during this spawning season.

After spawning the exhausted fish drop back down the rivers to the lake to recover and fatten up again.  During summer the resident fish in the rivers are few and not remarkable so attention is directed to boat fishing (trolling and jigging) in the lake which produces the bulk of the trout for the fishery. 

Fishing the river mouths is not for the novice.  The rainbows congregate at the mouths before the spawning run, waiting for darkness, or a spate of murky water, before making a dash up river. Often at favorable times you will see a “picket

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