Rotorua, Ngongataha, and Waihou

Hi,
My wife headed the ladies trip to the Waihou and Waimakareri Streams. Downstream of where they were fishing the Waihou was closed off while they held part of the nationals that day. All the ladies caught fish, though as is usual for these rivers, they were quite small. However, they later found out that many of those fishing the competition blanked! I gave Vanessa a large number of spiders, which I've found work really well on the Waihou. 4 of her 5 fish were caught on them, so they were still doing the trick.

I, and a couple other fellows, went futher along to fish the mouth of the Waiteti stream, where it enters into Lake Rotorua. We arrived after dark, geared up, and set off. There were already a few fellows at the mouth, so we spread out along the bank. There's a weed bed just over half way to the far bank where the fish usually line up. I flicked out a "night cosseboom" (claret body and tail, gold rib, red squirrel tail, hackle 2 feathers, black in front of red) and on my 3 retrieve was into a real scrapper. It was in the air more than in the water! After brining it it and weighing it with the weigh net, it was just under 2lbs and 41 cm (16 inches) in length. I was surprised as I was expecting something a fair bit larger. Regardless, we quickly released it to get back into it as things were looking good.

And, that was the last decent fish for the weekend! The rest were all fingerlings of recent spawn. I drifted spiders, nymphs, dries, etc all through the Ngongataha the next day and nothing larger than 12 cm was interested. The pools are certainly holding lots of fish, but they were just not on the feed. Met a few people on the river, and nobody seemed to be having any luck at all. Tried Lake Tareawera as well, and nothing happened there either.

However, although the fish were not interested in comming to the party, the weather was perfect. Stars were out in full force, the day was warmish, though not sticky and humid. The river was clear, and I explored sections of the river I've not fished before.

Overall, a successful weekend I would say.

- Jeff