Headed over for a wedding firstly in the Coromandel. Unbelievable setting,the coastline along there is just ridiculous. Anyway,was good to get the alcohol part of the trip over and done with and head down to Rotorua for the fishing to begin!
Stayed at a place just out of Rotorua on the bank of a little stream,called the Waiteti trout stream holiday park. Can highly reccomend it for anyone wanting to do a DIY trip over there. Very fisherman friendly,clean,friendly people,great prices,great facilities.
First arvo headed down to the Mouth of the stream where it enters the lake. Waded out a few 100 meters and began fishing. Were a few fish rising but not much happening. Then I hooked up and a huge explosion soon followed. After a 10-15 minute fight I landed a ripper 6.5lb Brown on a size 16 nymph! Wasn't a bad way to start the trip...I thought how easy is this going to be! Ended up being the only brown I landed in the lake,so in the end it was a total fluke.
Ended up fishing the majority of the time a few kilometers up at the Awahou stream mouth. The amount of rainbow Trout that were holding here was staggering. In the warmer months they head for the colder water of the stream mouths in the lake. The Awahou seems to be the pick of them. One session here I landed 19,all ranging from 2-4.5lb. It was first class fishing in my book. Catching that size fish on the fly was great fun,and as good of action as I've ever had. After dark you can catch even more if you want using lumo flies. Shine the torch on them and they glow,and the Rainbows just crawl all over them. Only did this once and landed 10 in 90 minutes. Caught a few in the waiteti stream as well...it was a pretty bizaar little place to fish,as it runs through peoples backyards,but they allow you to fish it. Spent one day for an hour or two sitting on someones emmaculatly mannucured backyard drifting small weighted nymphs catching 2-3lb rainbows!
I fished a wooley bugger tailed by an unweighted small nymph most of the time,with the nymph accounting for 90% of the fish. Black seemed to be the best colour,though any of the smaller one's were pretty deadly. The lumo flies were weird looking things,with green and red wool around the lumo bit,but after dark they smashed them
It could get a little crowded fishing the mouths,though I'd usually just walk in behind the 'picket fence line' and fish to the other anglers backs and catch just as many if not more. Then you don't have to worry about getting in anyone's way when you hook up,or putting up with the the usual small % rude crew that you encounter anywhere. Was like an international fishing world cup on the picket line. Anglers from everywhere,English,US,Canadian,Kiwi's. Was interesting to see the different techniques on show,some of them were pure artistry in there retrieval methods and appearance....think they were more concerned with that than the fish some of them
Back at the park he even has a fish smoker there to use for free,and he supplies everything,woodchips,sugar,salt,everything. So thought I'd have a crack at it. My first attempt wasn't to bad
Didn't really want to leave Rotorua, but had a ferry booked to the South Island. I'll be back to Rotorua for sure, great place for a batteling fly fisherman, provides so much action!
The South ended up being a big dissapointment. I did only fish the top half,but still,I'm not sure I came up with the goods with my research prior to the trip. Found acess to the rivers extremely hard if not impossible. And once there there was a strange lack of fish. I resorted to spinning,and could only conjure up some fingerlings. I even tried spooking fish along the crystal clear braided streams,but couldn't even manage to spot any. So i was pretty dissapointed to end the trip on that note, as after Rotorua I was expecting big things from the South. Ah well,live and learn. Next time I'll have to go further South I think
The scenery was still pretty good, and the accomadation so cheap. I stayed in cabins for $20 most of the way around! Far cry from the ridiculous pricing in comparison to some of the dumps we get in the NT,and the service is always friendly..
So there it is. I'll be back,great place for fly fishing,first class fishing destination. Didn't get to do any saltwater,but that is locked in on the next trip over. My friends do a bit of Kingy and Snapper fishing,but they were off on there honeymoon after the wedding,so next time.
