Mangaohae Stream Trout Fishing

The Mangaohae Stream is a tributary of the Tawerau river located near Te Kuiti in New Zealand North Island. It holds good stocks of rainbows up to 5 pounds. The bush section can be accessed by following the track through farmland from the end of Were Rd. After about 20mins walking you will get into the bush soon after the river flows into a gorge. The track continues downstream to blackberry flat were there is a space cleared for camping. There is quite a variety of water in this bush section from turbelent rapids flowing over large boulders to long slow flowing sections. The faster water tends to fish better during the day with the slower sections coming alive on a warm summer evening. My favourite rig of a lightly weighted size 12 hare and copper with a size 14 on the dropper works very well here. Dry flies are productive over summer.

Though not as scenic down in the bush the section where the river follows Were Rd through farmland, there are still some very cool limestone bluffs around. The fishing in this part of the river is generally more productive, especially early and late in the season when

This is a fairly typical trout from the Mangahoe stream. It weighs about two pounds. The biggest I have seen in this stream was about five pounds. Often there is an abundance of little six inch trout in certain sections.

The pool at Pomerangi Rd Bridge fishes very well at times. During the spawning runs I think the fish often wait here for some rain before moving up further. The Pomerangi stream flows in on the right providing about a quarter of the flow. During a recent trip I managed to hook two trout at once in this pool. One came off after a short fight, unsuprisingly the line had broken between the two nymphs.

Upstream from Pomerangi Rd the river gets quite small, but the fishing can be very good after rain when there is a bit of colour in the water. Good spawning run up here late in the season. It tends to be easier to spot the trout in this upper section. Some good fish hold in the narrow tree lined sections, these are very difficult to cast to but well worth the effort.

Access

Access to this stream is from Were Rd. If you look at the map you can see the walking track its the light grey line that extends from the end of Were Rd. There is good fishing all the way from the juction with the Tawerau river down in the bush section up to the Pomerangi Rd bridge and beyond. Click on the markers for a description.

 

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