[Auckland day 2]

[Auckland day 2]

 

[Auckland day 2]

3 hours ago, AlbertW said:

Hey all,

Was planning on going for trout today but my mum didn’t sleep well and was still awake at 4 in the morning. So at 8am I picked up my plastics and went off to try some new spots. The morning ended with 2 kahwai ( Aussie salmon) being caught, I had to leave to get some more gulps as the kahwai, even though only around 30-40 cm would swallow the entire plastics along with my jighead.  Due to that another trip to the tackle store was in order and boy had I just realised how pricey stuff was. It was 14 NZD just for a packet of gulps and jigheads were also 13 NZD. Anyways, I picked out another pack of 4 inch nemesis curl tails and back to the spot I went. Another two kahwai were landed and that was that. I’m currently at a wine yard with my parents having some wine tasting whilst I’m sipping on some blueberry tea. Hopefully I’ll have some time to fish when I get back as well. Unfortunately no photos as the salmon were flopping all over the mud and I prioritised getting them back into the water as some of them were bleeding 

 

thanks for reading

Albert

 

Hey everyone, just got back to the hotel and am finished for today, ended up with 6 kahwai and a snapper which is pretty amazing for me. All of them except for one kahwai were caught on the gulp nemesis but now I’m all out again . Thanks for reading,

Albert

[Lake mac mixed bag]

3 hours ago, Jo5hC said:

Hi all, my dad and I went out with a mate and his dad yesterday morning to lake mac. We had a boat hire from 8:30 to 12:30, and the conditions looked good. I've pretty much always fished land based, and my other experiences on boats have been in pretty bad conditions, but I was still hopeful that today would turn out good. Got to the boat hire at 8:15 for a briefing and was on the water by 8:30. We had done some prior research and decided to go to the artificial reef balls first up. No sounder on the boat or gps so don't exactly know where we stopped but according to google maps we were pretty close to the reef.

My mate and I started out with soft plastics going for snapper. I still had my small bream grub on as I didn't feel like retying at the moment, but as @AlbertW has shown, the snapper still seem to like it. Second cast on the drop I hooked on to what seemed like to be a good fish and my reel started going. Brought up my first legal snapper ever, at around 32cm. Mate then caught a small flatty and his dad a tailor in the mid 30s. After about 15-20 minutes since the first snapper, my mates reel starts screaming and I see his rod bent over. We were both using light setups, but he was using a large jerkshad. After a small tussle, a larger snapper comes into the net, probably going mid-high 30s. 

As I was flicking my grub back to the surface, I felt something grab it but not get hooked straight away, so I set, and immediately my reel started screaming, and I see a torpedo of a fish fly out the water. My rod immediately doubles over as the fish dove down. The ensuing fight felt like a lifetime, but probably was only 5 minutes plus. Still the longest fight I've had. Every time I felt like I was gaining some line, it immediately took all the line back. There were a couple of these cycles before I even saw my fish. I only had a 2-4kg rod, and it was bending over so much I thought it was about to break. Eventually we see it and it's a really fat salmon. My mate nets it for me and once it was in the boat, the net just snaps off the handle (albeit it was a cheap telescopic net). We also had pilchards out as bait, and ended up getting 3 good tailor, high 30s-low40s.  

The bite slowed down a little bit, and we wanted to try next to Pulbah island. Even after switching to a heavier jighead, I wasn't able to get the plastics down to the bottom, so resorted to dropping pilchards on a paternoster rig. Managed to get hit by many undersize snapper on every drop, but no bigger ones. Eventually went back to the reef but a bit further north. No more snapper caught but we did get one flounder. My mates dad also hooked onto the biggest octopus I've ever seen, and it got off at the surface. 

We had to go back in by then, but in total we had 2 snapper, 3 tailor, one salmon, and one flounder. Probably one of the best fishing outings I've had so far.

Good stuff mate, you gotta try the gulp plastics like i am haha, salmon and snapper will just hit them like crazy 

[Auckland day 2]

Hey all,

Was planning on going for trout today but my mum didn’t sleep well and was still awake at 4 in the morning. So at 8am I picked up my plastics and went off to try some new spots. The morning ended with 2 kahwai ( Aussie salmon) being caught, I had to leave to get some more gulps as the kahwai, even though only around 30-40 cm would swallow the entire plastics along with my jighead.  Due to that another trip to the tackle store was in order and boy had I just realised how pricey stuff was. It was 14 NZD just for a packet of gulps and jigheads were also 13 NZD. Anyways, I picked out another pack of 4 inch nemesis curl tails and back to the spot I went. Another two kahwai were landed and that was that. I’m currently at a wine yard with my parents having some wine tasting whilst I’m sipping on some blueberry tea. Hopefully I’ll have some time to fish when I get back as well. Unfortunately no photos as the salmon were flopping all over the mud and I prioritised getting them back into the water as some of them were bleeding 

 

thanks for reading

Albert

 

[First morning in Auckland]

9 minutes ago, AlbertW said:

Update another snapper was caught 😁 

 

 

 

 

 

[First morning in Auckland]

6 hours ago, AlbertW said:

Hey all,

Got on the plane to Auckland yesterday and after a few “minor” inconveniences( the bus got hit by an airport truck) we finally made it to Auckland at around 4pm Nz time. Woke up at around 4am today and just didn’t have anything to do so I got up at 6 and went down to get some breakfast at the hotel. At 10 I venture out into the harbour with my little bream gear and start chucking gulp grubs around. The guys at the tackle shop said that 4-5 inch plastics were a good size even for the little snapper. However I kept getting hits and taps and hooking up but then promptly dropping the fish, after cutting the grub in half I sent it back out there and first cast I had something big grab it, my little 2500 nasci screamed and off it went. Was thinking of a trevally at first but then I saw the red. So happy to be rewarded with a 30cm snapper especially with it being my second time fishing here in NZ and first time trying soft plastics for saltwater. I only had 4lb braid and 10lb leader so I was very hesitant to lift it up, but with no other options it actually handled very well, no abrasions on the leader but I’ll still change it up later. Chucked it back and off I went back to the hotel to write this report.

Thanks for reading,

Albert

Update another snapper was caught 😁 

[First morning in Auckland]

Just now, AlbertW said:

Hey all,

Got on the plane to Auckland yesterday and after a few “minor” inconveniences( the bus got hit by an airport truck) we finally made it to Auckland at around 4pm Nz time. Woke up at around 4am today and just didn’t have anything to do so I got up at 6 and went down to get some breakfast at the hotel. At 10 I venture out into the harbour with my little bream gear and start chucking gulp grubs around. The guys at the tackle shop said that 4-5 inch plastics were a good size even for the little snapper. However I kept getting hits and taps and hooking up but then promptly dropping the fish, after cutting the grub in half I sent it back out there and first cast I had something big grab it, my little 2500 nasci screamed and off it went. Was thinking of a trevally at first but then I saw the red. So happy to be rewarded with a 30cm snapper especially with it being my second time fishing here in NZ and first time trying soft plastics for saltwater. I only had 4lb braid and 10lb leader so I was very hesitant to lift it up, but with no other options it actually handled very well, no abrasions on the leader but I’ll still change it up later. Chucked it back and off I went back to the hotel to write this report.

Thanks for reading,

Albert

It looks quite small in my hands haha,

[First morning in Auckland]

Hey all,

Got on the plane to Auckland yesterday and after a few “minor” inconveniences( the bus got hit by an airport truck) we finally made it to Auckland at around 4pm Nz time. Woke up at around 4am today and just didn’t have anything to do so I got up at 6 and went down to get some breakfast at the hotel. At 10 I venture out into the harbour with my little bream gear and start chucking gulp grubs around. The guys at the tackle shop said that 4-5 inch plastics were a good size even for the little snapper. However I kept getting hits and taps and hooking up but then promptly dropping the fish, after cutting the grub in half I sent it back out there and first cast I had something big grab it, my little 2500 nasci screamed and off it went. Was thinking of a trevally at first but then I saw the red. So happy to be rewarded with a 30cm snapper especially with it being my second time fishing here in NZ and first time trying soft plastics for saltwater. I only had 4lb braid and 10lb leader so I was very hesitant to lift it up, but with no other options it actually handled very well, no abrasions on the leader but I’ll still change it up later. Chucked it back and off I went back to the hotel to write this report.

Thanks for reading,

Albert

[Fishing in Auckland? Any tips appreciated]

3 hours ago, Volitan said:

Not convinced. No problem with them being hauled upstream at all. Lures are about critical stimuli,  not imitation, so the fish may have no problem with a baitfish or even an insect lure swimming upstream. Flies are a bit different because they are typically fished slower and are examined more closely so have more emphasis on imitation. Also a lure is unlikely to work unless it’s exhibiting something close to the action it was designed to have.

In any case, you have to mix things up and see what works. Try different strategies. The only constants are to fish light, wear dull colours or camouflage if you can, minimise movement and be stealthy near the streambank, fish small lures, minimise splashing, don’t intimidate the fish with your lures, spell a pool for a while if you get a hit but no hookup. Don’t spend too long flogging one pool, trout are the type of fish where the likelihood of getting a strike decreases with each cast - not like a barramundi where you can goad them into striking by casting over and over. But in contrast don’t ‘waste’ the pools either by not prospecting them fully.

the two soft plastics you have picked out look good choices.

ahh thats good to know then

[Fishing in Auckland? Any tips appreciated]

2 hours ago, Volitan said:

Good selection. Those celtas - the ones in the middle row - they’re one of my favourites for streams. Trout love the buzz they set up, sort of reminiscent of a cicada and an aquatic insect and a little fish all at the same time. Also, they are a good lure for small streams where you can’t cast far because their action starts immediately you begin the retrieve - unlike most lures where it takes them a meter or two to get into their action. That allows you to catch fish close to the opposite bank. The only thing I would add is some white soft plastics for fishing muddy water. We forget that often a fish doesn’t take a lure simply because it doesn’t see it - it’s not like they have some magical method of seeing everything in the pool - if they can’t see it they won’t take it or worse you’ll get just a hit but no hookup where they haven’t seen it well and blunder the take.

the hardbodies on the left are good too but remember not to drag them towards fish. Fish will be intimidated by another fishlike thing swimming towards them. I know there’s a big size difference but fish aren’t logical thinkers. It’s easy to spook trout with lures.

I'm guessing with the retrieve for all lured its just a slow roll downstream right? As if a baitfish or insect was swimming upstream it would look entirely unnatural because they wouldn't expend energy for no reason.

[Fishing in Auckland? Any tips appreciated]

2 hours ago, Volitan said:

Good selection. Those celtas - the ones in the middle row - they’re one of my favourites for streams. Trout love the buzz they set up, sort of reminiscent of a cicada and an aquatic insect and a little fish all at the same time. Also, they are a good lure for small streams where you can’t cast far because their action starts immediately you begin the retrieve - unlike most lures where it takes them a meter or two to get into their action. That allows you to catch fish close to the opposite bank. The only thing I would add is some white soft plastics for fishing muddy water. We forget that often a fish doesn’t take a lure simply because it doesn’t see it - it’s not like they have some magical method of seeing everything in the pool - if they can’t see it they won’t take it or worse you’ll get just a hit but no hookup where they haven’t seen it well and blunder the take.

the hardbodies on the left are good too but remember not to drag them towards fish. Fish will be intimidated by another fishlike thing swimming towards them. I know there’s a big size difference but fish aren’t logical thinkers. It’s easy to spook trout with lures.

Thanks so much for the feedback Volitan , I'm also looking at getting some green pumpkin zman larvaz to imitate a caddis or mayfly larva, also at the shad fryz in the smelt or pearl in order to imitate a little baitfish, with how light I can rig them I figure I can sort of fly fish and drift them through the current. However I'll have to buy them in NZ because I just had this amazing whim today and just realised how perfect they would be, I'm thinking of ordering off <vendor removed> and getting them to deliver to my hotel or maybe even collect it because my hotel is only a couple of minutes away.

[Fishing in Auckland? Any tips appreciated]

10 hours ago, Volitan said:

Yep. Walking and fishing along the Te Waihou walkway is great. It’s heavily fished and there will be other anglers there but don’t let that bother you. I’ve steered you towards the Te Wairoa track area because I’m assuming you won’t have a lot of time and will want to spend it all fishing not doing reconnaissance, so it’s important to go to a predictable spot even if it’s not the most productive. You could equally go downstream, or to anywhere else on the middle or upper Waihou or the waimakariri (a little further along state Highway 5) and you probably will be on your own and probably get better fishing.

Actually I think the land around the walkway is private land, but DOCs or Fish and Game or whoever has negotiated access with the farmers so you are welcome as long as you behave yourself and shut any gates etc. You get that quite a bit in NZ, where anglers access has been negotiated and signposted etc. Elsewhere access is not a problem if you ask first - I don’t recall ever being denied fishing access in NZ. There’s also the ‘Queens chain’ law where the public has guaranteed access within 22 meters of any permanent waterway, which is an interesting right but most anglers think it’s important to ask regardless.

I spent a long day of about 14 hours on the Te Waihou starting at that car park you have highlighted and never got as far as the Blue Pool so it’s a long way when you are investigating every pool or run.

As I said, the river there is clear, the fish wary, the fishing pressure is quite high, so don’t expect lots of fish or big fish. Treat it as a lovely bush walk and an exercise in learning about trout and how they inhabit a river and exploit the resources in it. Learn how to sight fish by spotting fish in the water and presenting your lure without spooking them. Look at where they lie when they are feeding and where when they are resting. Learn their tolerance for close approach etc etc. It’s best if you have Polaroid glasses. Waders are good too, although not essential for lure fishermen, especially if you don’t mind crossing the cold river every now and then. Make sure you have very light trace material, and a range of lures, and make sure you have a lure or two that will get down deep very quickly as there are a few deep holes. Be biased towards small lures.

 

 

 I'll  be happy with just one fish haha, if not the view and the learning experience would already be worth it. Heres the freshwater lures my mate left me. 

[Fishing in Auckland? Any tips appreciated]

14 hours ago, Volitan said:

Isn’t Herries a park near Te Aroha. That section of the Waihou is in the ‘lower Waihou’ and its deep and sluggish and dirty water. It’s willow lined mostly. Fishing is unpredictable - I’ve read that it has some large fish but I’ve never met anyone who’s caught one. Plus your family won’t thank you for making them spend time in Te Aroha. That would be a struggle.

I don’t know what your family likes to do, but what I would try to do is sell them the benefits of a day out like this.

all get up a pearly and drive south.

Drop you off near Tirau, on the upper Waihou. Probably near the junction of Whites and a Leslie Rd, a short diversion of State Highway 5 to Rotorua.

They continue on to Rotorua, about another hours drive.

you fish the upper Waihou

On the way back to Auckland, you meet where they dropped you off and return to Auckland.

that way both parties do what they want to do without bothering each other. Rotorua is probably the number one tourist spot in the North Island with something for everyone. There are loop roads past various picturesque lakes, all that geothermal stuff like geysers and hot springs, plus they could have a nice leisurely lunch somewhere. They have a great day out and the only thing extra they are doing for you is driving a short distance up Whites Road. You get to fish for 6 hours or more. 
 

if they won’t come at that, then here’s another suggestion.

Go to the Middle Waihou around Matamata or Okaroire. This section is ‘middle’ in every way. Middle water clarity, middle current flow, middle terrain, middle water volume. It’s willow lined and flowing through farmland so you will have to ask permission from a farmer, but they rarely refuse. It’s also ideal spin fishing, rather difficult with a fly rod because of the willows, which makes the fishing under-utilised. It’s quite good fishing for good size fish. so maybe your family can drop you off at the river then go to Matamata which is a nice modern town, with some good restaurants for lunch. Matamata got a lot of tourists because it had that Hobbitown thing going on. Doing the Middle Waihou/Matamata will be much better then Lower Waihou/Te Aroha, I really recommend against that.

Cheers

 

 

After some further digging it looks like that I might have the whole place to myself as the blue springs is closed due to a rockfall at the Leslie road entrance

[Fishing in Auckland? Any tips appreciated]

2 hours ago, AlbertW said:

Ahhhhh I see it on the map now, is this the route you mean?  That entire river after that is public land right? If so that looks like fishing heaven...

Now that I've done some more research I'm able to fish till the end of the river right? Till the blue spring. I'll be using spinners and plastics then

[Releasing a Kingfish that had already been tagged]

1 hour ago, whiskey299 said:

Not much these days, especially when the kayak is more productive, fun and you get to fish all those spots which landbased ppl can't reach!

Yeah true haha, I put in 6-8 hours every sesh and have caught nothing except my first king haha

[Fishing in Auckland? Any tips appreciated]

11 hours ago, Volitan said:

Isn’t Herries a park near Te Aroha. That section of the Waihou is in the ‘lower Waihou’ and its deep and sluggish and dirty water. It’s willow lined mostly. Fishing is unpredictable - I’ve read that it has some large fish but I’ve never met anyone who’s caught one. Plus your family won’t thank you for making them spend time in Te Aroha. That would be a struggle.

I don’t know what your family likes to do, but what I would try to do is sell them the benefits of a day out like this.

all get up a pearly and drive south.

Drop you off near Tirau, on the upper Waihou. Probably near the junction of Whites and a Leslie Rd, a short diversion of State Highway 5 to Rotorua.

They continue on to Rotorua, about another hours drive.

you fish the upper Waihou

On the way back to Auckland, you meet where they dropped you off and return to Auckland.

that way both parties do what they want to do without bothering each other. Rotorua is probably the number one tourist spot in the North Island with something for everyone. There are loop roads past various picturesque lakes, all that geothermal stuff like geysers and hot springs, plus they could have a nice leisurely lunch somewhere. They have a great day out and the only thing extra they are doing for you is driving a short distance up Whites Road. You get to fish for 6 hours or more. 
 

if they won’t come at that, then here’s another suggestion.

Go to the Middle Waihou around Matamata or Okaroire. This section is ‘middle’ in every way. Middle water clarity, middle current flow, middle terrain, middle water volume. It’s willow lined and flowing through farmland so you will have to ask permission from a farmer, but they rarely refuse. It’s also ideal spin fishing, rather difficult with a fly rod because of the willows, which makes the fishing under-utilised. It’s quite good fishing for good size fish. so maybe your family can drop you off at the river then go to Matamata which is a nice modern town, with some good restaurants for lunch. Matamata got a lot of tourists because it had that Hobbitown thing going on. Doing the Middle Waihou/Matamata will be much better then Lower Waihou/Te Aroha, I really recommend against that.

Cheers

 

 

Ahhhhh I see it on the map now, is this the route you mean?  That entire river after that is public land right? If so that looks like fishing heaven...

[Releasing a Kingfish that had already been tagged]

Beautiful fish whiskey, do you do any shorejigging when the weather doesn't permit the yak?

[Fishing in Auckland? Any tips appreciated]

2 hours ago, Volitan said:

Hey Albert, I’ve just been reading this document https://fishandgame.org.nz/assets/Uploads/82808-FG-Fishing-Regs-NI-22-23.pdf

and noticed that the Waihou, Waimakariri and most of the Waipa are open year round. Not what I was expecting - I thought they had a closed season.

most of the other rivers in the district are closed till October 1 but I guess they have to keep something open for the sake of visiting anglers.

So it looks like you could fish a river if you wanted.

id be heading for the Waihou.

let me know what you decide and I can give more detail (as long as my knowledge is current).

 

Oh thats great, I'll definitely be going to waihou then, I'm thinking of the access at Herries Park in order to keep the family happy so they have something to  thanks in advance. I don't quite have the funds for a fly rod right now but a 2500 sized nasci with 4lb braid should be light enough for the river right? I'm thinking of using a slim swims with a little golden TT spinner attached to it.

[Little reddie]

Hey All,

Been a while since my last report because of assessments and all that, now with it being the last week I decided to get into the freshwater mood as of the upcoming trip to NZ this Friday. I had called @DerekD on Sunday morning and asked about the bass in manly dam. He promptly suggested spinners as they have been working for him there. I had recently bought all of Eesh’s gear as he had gone back to Canada and in his collection he had a small box of freshwater stuff as he was an avid canadian freshwater angler. So I tied on a mepps spinner and rolled them back to me. On the first couple of casts I realised that little greenish baitfish were following the spinner so I decided to change to a 3inch watermelon slim swimz with a spinner on it. A couple casts later whilst working the bank and I get smashed. It pulls a little bit of drag but I soon realised it was just a Redfin perch so the hunt for the bass continues!  Still, a 26-27cm perch is not bad for the early season especially since it was my first. The rest of the afternoon stopped to a halt as families piled in and seemingly everyone with kids had hopped in the water even though it was still quite cold. Drove up to a nearby tackle shop to pick up a new rod afterwards and went home for a quick poorly done haircut by my dad. (All my mates laughed their arse’s off at me on Monday)

Thanks for reading,

Albert

 

[Pickles & Rosie 5]

41 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Well it’s been an eventful time in W.A. finished the state championships in both S.A and WA then whilst preparing for the Australian Championships over 3 days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) I did a face plant onto some rocks and broke my sternum & 3 ribs ending up in Northam hospital for 3 days. My mate Joe also had his dogs entered and kindly ran Rosie all 3 days, finishing  and awarded best non-champion dog and youngest dog to finish, a credit to her working ability as she has only ever been handled by me.

Broken sternum/ribs are very painful (even hurts to breath), so won’t be going fishing for a while, so looking forward to reading the reports.

That's very unfortunate pickles, I hope you get better soon. On the bright side congrats to you, Rosie, and Joe for pulling through though 

[Fishing in Auckland? Any tips appreciated]

55 minutes ago, Volitan said:

Two photos of the upper Waihou just above Tirau. Taken in 2003 although I doubt anything has changed. Fly fishing heaven.

 

just talking about it is making me jealous.

Looks stunning mate, shame that it won't be in season when I get there

[Fishing in Auckland? Any tips appreciated]

1 hour ago, Volitan said:

It all comes down to when you will be there vs what is open. Most of the rivers and streams will be closed till October 1. 
 

it also depends on what sort of fishing appeals to you. In my case i love dry fly fishing streams and small rivers - usually involving day-long walks upstream slowly fishing each pool. So I’m biased towards that sort of fishing - which may not be appropriate for everyone and seldom leads to either large fish or large numbers of fish.

I think if I had a day or two out of Auckland, and the rivers were open, I would go to the South Waikato and fish rivers like the upper Waihou (above Tirau, 2 hours drive from Auckland), the Waimakariri (nearby) or the Waiomu (near Matamata) These are on the way to Rotorua, but maybe one hour less drive. Be aware the fish tend to be on the small side and spook easy in the really clear water (spring fed mostly, although the Waiomu is quite dirty as it flows across dairy country). Fly fishing should be best but I imagine some of the rivers allow lures or soft plastics. If I had to pick one spot for one day it would be the upper Waihou. 

Alternatively, you could go south west instead of south east and fish the rivers verging on the King Country, like the upper Waipa near Otorahanga, which is just over 2 hours drive.

if the rivers are not open then you will need to fish a lake. Most of the many Lakes in the Rotorua district will be open. Karapiro, on the way to Rotorua will be open but I’ve never had much luck there. 

Rotorua is good because of the diversity of fishing environments. It is a long trip though for a day and will have you fishing in the less productive middle of the day times.

still, comparing fishing in Rotorua or South Waikato or King Country to fishing in Lake Pupuke is comparing the sublime to the ridiculous.

So we need to know what days you will be there to see what will be open.

 

 

 

 

I'll be there this friday to next Wednesday haha

[Fishing in Auckland? Any tips appreciated]

15 hours ago, Volitan said:

 bait.

usually in the quarry, not in Pupuke itself.

 

Now that I look at it, I might take that day and drive up to one of the lakes in Rotorua instead or do you recommend any other spots less than 2 hours drive?

[Fishing in Auckland? Any tips appreciated]

4 hours ago, Volitan said:

Be a bit wary about spending scarce holiday time fishing Pupuke. I used to live nearby and spent hundreds of hours fishing it for the massive total of two small rainbows. Fortunately there were enough rudd, perch, tench and wild goldfish to keep me occupied. On other occasions it’s fished quite well because for a while Fish and Game NZ stocked it with two year old hatchery fish every second year. These fish were used to hatchery pellets so they were pretty desperate in the wild - a lot of people got good catches if they fished after a release and didn’t care that their ‘trout fishing’ involved pursuing ex-hatchery fish slowly starving to death. In any case, Pupuke has little chance of sustaining a wild trout population so without recent stocking it would be coarse fish only.

Perhaps find out from Fish and Game NZ if they have done any recent releases there or try to talk to someone who actually fishes there.

otherwise, I’m not going to advise because my knowledge is too out of date.

I'll be happy enough with a perch or the others, did you target perch on lures and the others on bait?