Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 187 - Summer 2023/24 i Trout Fisher

ALL vessels and trailers that have been in the Waikato River within 30 days must go to “The Wash Place” wash station (338 Te Ngae Road, Lynmore – Ed), adjacent to the Gull Service Centre to be washed before going to any of the lakes in the Rotorua/Bay of Plenty Lakes. Payment facilities are available for debit and credit cards, and coins. Boaties are required to complete an online form (accessed via a QR code or website address provided at the wash station) to prove they have completed the required wash-down before they can enter the lakes. This is in addition to the gold clam-specific Check Clean Dry requirements for all boats that have been in the Waikato River. (F&GNZ/MPI: 10/11/2023; more info: www.thewashplace.co.nz) A pologies to those of you…

Hi Peter, I am very sorry to hear of the magazine’s difficulties and the need to cease publication of the printed version. I commend your desire to continue producing the magazine which for the time I have received it, I have always enjoyed. Your writers have generally written interesting, thought provoking and often rather amusing stories. An aspect I find of much interest and admire is that you have not shied away from important political and semi industrial issues affecting fishing, though I sometimes wonder if some will dislike discussion of these topics in association with their passion. However I still feel you are right to do this given the way fishing is being affected. I may have said this before but whilst in UK last year I fished at…

I can still remember being not much older than 5 when my Dad picked me up by the collar of my old school life jacket in an oversized wetsuit, threw me on his rubber ducky yellow Lancer and said, “Come on Kid, we’re off fishing.” Born and raised in Tairawhiti, Gisborne, that was the norm: gather a kai moana firstlight; share with the Rickard and Mclean whanau; and go home for a mid afternoon moi. Fishing was enjoyable and fun and I garnered a love of the saltwater, the rivers and the surrounding wilderness, from an early age. We lived overseas in Chile, South America and on the west coast of Canada on Vancouver Island, with these vast and deeply enriching cultural experiences and a deep love for the te…

The 1993-94 season began for me with more energy and expectation. The two issues that had impacted my fishing the previous few year were gone, my health was now more manageable and my university studies were at an end, with me graduating with a BAHons degree, something I still find a little hard to believe. While employment searching was still on going there was a lot more free time for the addiction. While thinking about and trying to remember what happened back then recently talking to my son Matthew and he related to me his first ever river run salmon catch. In those days I would take both Matthew and Jeremy out of school for a day to go fishing when the salmon were running. The schools were notified. This…

South Island angling pressure has had a lot of press lately with NZ Fish & Game implementing their Designated Waters regulations for 2023. Whether these will achieve much is yet to be seen but it is sure to spread angling effort far & wide… Last summer, North Island friend Johnny Gummer of Palmerston North (Altitude Flyfishing www.altitudeflyfishing.com)) and I went on an awesome fishing/camping adventure together in the heart of foreign angler fishing territory. My latest fishing innovation was a 4m by 7m tarp from TM Covers of Nelson (www.tmcovers.co.nz). Made of heavy grade industrial trucking material, with double eyelets spaced around the perimeter every 500mm, and the stealth grey colour, it makes for a poachers delight. Part of the idea is to be able to stay onsite while dominating…

2023/2024 kicked off much the same as most, in my 40 years' experience of Lake Tarawera. Unsettled weather, combined with below optimal feeding range water temperature, means plenty of water between fish and when fishing blind amongst those feeding casually it is impossible to know if they are rejecting or not without electronics – and yes, I too encounter more than enough days when NOTHING works, on the shoreline or out on the lake. Unable to predict 'good' fishing days accurately, my yardstick for this lake remains: if I have not caught something fishing blind in 30 minutes, I won't. Throughout October I was still getting better results shoreline fishing than open water and on 1 November that scenario solidified. Another dead morning out on the lake ended with me…

The start of summer brings on rapid growth and nothing grows quicker than horseradish. It is not that well known in the New Zealand garden and can sometimes be found growing wild, as it can get away a bit. Looking a bit like dock leaves it is best grown down in a corner where it can be let go somewhat wild but is easily dug up and removed should it spread a bit far. Horseradish is however one of the very best ingredients to use with trout or salmon and has been used as such for centuries. As horseradish grows and matures it grows a long skinny parsnip looking root. If you have no access to fresh horseradish, look for a good quality horseradish sauce in your local food store.…

Recent summer trout fishing have been frustrating here in Marlborough. Not so much for the aspects of guides and anglers exerting unceasing, injudicious detrimental pressure on unique back country rivers like the Wairau and a couple of once lovely tributaries, but for the weather. Damn it, climate change is unavoidable. I’m not referring to Man’s influence with emissions and the theory of global warming here, but to our El Nino/La Nina-driven weather patterns. You see a favourite time of my trout fishing begins around November, when the brown beetle hatch. Given warm, balmy evenings trout go dotty over the buzzing insects plopping into the river from bankside grass and willows. It’s a fantastic fishing time; three or four weeks at the most, but more or less. I say “more or…