Trout Fishing in the Rotorua Region
The lakes of the Rotorua region provide some great fishing. Lake
Rotorua itself offers a plentiful population of trout averaging about 3
pounds with some really large browns to be caught for the skilled,
patient or lucky anglers. The tributaries flowing into the lake have
some exciting small stream fly-fishing. Many of the lakes don't have a
lot in the way of suitable spawning habitat for the trout so that
stocks are supplemented by the release of fingerlings each year. The
management of this fishery has been very well done, they have selected
fish that mature later than others and therefore grow to a larger size.
With the plentiful food supplies in these lakes this sees fish growing
to very large sizes with fish over 10 pounds being fairly common. Lake
Tarawera and Okataina both have fairly low catch rates but the high
average size of the fish easily makes up for it. These lakes are great
destinations for anglers hoping to finally catch that 10 pounder.
Tributaries of Lake Rotorua
The Ngongataha and Waiteiti Streams are the two best streams for trout fishing. Both streams hold some very large trout. The browns especially can be enormous.
Lake Rotoiti
Quite a deep lake with great trolling and jigging. There is also some good shoreline fishing although this is usually only good at night.
Lake Rotorua
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The lake is shallow and warms up quite a lot over the summer. Consequently at this time of year there can be great fishing at the stream mouths as they provide a source of cooler water.
The lake is shallow and warms up quite a lot over the summer. Consequently at this time of year there can be great fishing at the stream mouths as they provide a source of cooler water.
Tributaries of Lake Rotorua
The Ngongataha and Waiteiti Streams are the two best streams for trout fishing. Both streams hold some very large trout. The browns especially can be enormous.
Lake Rotoiti
Quite a deep lake with great trolling and jigging. There is also some good shoreline fishing although this is usually only good at night.
Lake Tarawera
assets/images/tarawera-from-lookout.thumbnail.jpg">A Beautiful deep lake nestled amongst native bush. You get some great views from the top of the hill on the way to the lake. Catching trout from this lake is not easy and you'll most likely have to put in a lot of time between fish. But when you do catch one it's likely to be a good one. Te Wairoa stream mouth is one of the hotspots for shore based fishing as it is the only spawning stream for the lake, it's quite a small stream but large numbers of trout will gather here during the spawning season. Some of these trout are huge!
Lake Okataina
assets/images/tarawera-from-lookout.thumbnail.jpg">A Beautiful deep lake nestled amongst native bush. You get some great views from the top of the hill on the way to the lake. Catching trout from this lake is not easy and you'll most likely have to put in a lot of time between fish. But when you do catch one it's likely to be a good one. Te Wairoa stream mouth is one of the hotspots for shore based fishing as it is the only spawning stream for the lake, it's quite a small stream but large numbers of trout will gather here during the spawning season. Some of these trout are huge!