Fishing Report 2022
The 2022 year .
From all accounts 2022 was an excellent year for anglers. The summer fishing at the river mouths and in the lake proved very successful.
In the rivers ,the trout were in good numbers and the runs up the Tongariro and the other rivers running into Lake Taupō were consistently good from early autumn to late Spring.
Many trout of six and seven pounds were caught. They were well proportioned and mostly bright orange or red fleshed - a sign of good quality.
The food chain was obviously very well balanced which resulted in the fish being of such a high standard.
Fishing Report 2020
Because of the Corona Virus which prevented fishing during the lockdown period, the winter river fishing didn’t start until mid-May. Whether or not there were some early autumn runs before then I cannot say.
However, the fishing since May has been superb. The condition and size were as good as or even better than all recent seasons. This view has been confirmed by many anglers. The fish didn’t seem to linger too long in the pools which meant that some days were rather lean, but the fishing during the following days, in the same pools, was often excellent. It was just a case of keeping at it.
The decision of DOC’s to reduce the length of the takeable trout to 35 cm and to increase the daily limit from three to six fish has obviously paid dividends. Even now in mid-October there are some very good fish being caught but, understandably, there are large numbers of spawning trout in the river too.
Richard Kemp
October 2020
Updated March 2023