Eastern Region Fish and Game Council Rules Review

The Eastern Fish and Game Council are reviewing the freshwater fishing regulations for the upcoming 2026-27 season. This process provides the opportunity for changes to be made for biological and/or social reasons.

 At their February 12th Meeting, Council received four suggestions for change to the current regulations. These are as follows;

1. Open up lower sections of tributaries of Lakes Aniwhenua and Matahina (Whirinaki, Horomanga, Mangamako, Waihou, Waikopu Streams) to year-round fishing.

A suggestion was received seeking to create greater angler opportunity within the tributary streams of the lower Rangitaiki River system. The submission stated that Lakes Matahina and Aniwhenua contain high fish numbers and experience low angler usage. It sought to ‘Open up the lower stretches of the tributary streams to year-round fishing’. This will create opportunity for anglers whilst still protecting the spawning areas of the streams.

The recommendation is that the following sections of waters are opened to allow angling all year. Bag limit would be two trout per person per day. Fly and spin methods would be permitted. A move to open these lower stretches would provide greater angler opportunity.

The upstream sections of these waters would remain ‘All other Waters’ open 1 October to 30 June and closed from 1 July to 30 September to protect spawning values.

2. Create a new Lake Rotoiti Winter fishing area that includes “The 130m section of the SH33 shoreline from the Lake Rotoiti Control Gates at Okere Falls to the upstream end of the Public Jetty opposite the Okere Falls Store.”

There is currently one winter shoreline fishing area on Lake Rotoiti, situated down the Eastern end of the lake (Tapuaekura Bay landmark to Hinehopu landmark). There is very little spawning habitat available at the Okere end, with a little occurring near the Okere jetty. Opening a Winter Shoreline Fishing Area in this location (with year-round fishing) would provide additional participation through the winter period on Lake Rotoiti.

This Shoreline Fishing Area if developed, would essentially result in angling only from the Jetty on the SH33 side of Lake Rotoiti where there is suitable safe access to the water.

3. Defining a ‘softbait’ within the regional definitions. 

Currently a ‘softbait’ isn’t well defined within Schedule 1 (National regulations) or Schedule 2 (Regional regulations). As technologies and marketing develop, new preparations are made available for purchase. Some of these are malleable putty type preparations all being marketed as ‘softbaits’. The intent when allowing scented softbaits for use within Eastern Region regulations was that a minnow style soft plastic could be fished that imitates natural prey. Scented variations were made legal because packaging and foreign imports made it very difficult to discern what was scented and what was unscented. The new malleable putty type ‘Trout Bites” and “Corn” and other variants could lead to deeper hooking than a traditional style soft plastic minnow.

Other regions utilise wording in their regulations that says “A softbait must be actively fished so as to imitate a baitfish.” That is all very subjective, in what constitutes active.

Staff have recommended instead to place a new “Definition” at the start of the Eastern Regulations as below;

1. Definitions;
   “Softbait” means ‘A soft plastic lure that imitates a baitfish or crustacean/ koura’.

4. Make ‘All Other Waters Not Listed’ more prominently displayed within regulation guide. 

Any water not listed within the regulations automatically falls under the first entry in Table 3. Open Season, Permitted Methods, Daily Bag Limits and is assigned a 1 Oct-30 Jun Open Season, Fly/Spin methods and 2 fish per angler/day bag limit. This happens as we are unable to list all regional waters within the guide. As anglers may search alphabetically by the water they are seeking, they may miss this first entry in the table. To make it more prominent we are proposing making the text bold to stand out more clearly and repeating the entry at the end of the regional table.

 

Next Steps in this years Review Process

The Eastern Council will meet again to discuss the Anglers Notice on 12th March, then meet once more on 28th May to conclude the Anglers Notice Process for the upcoming season. The Eastern Fish and Game Council would appreciate hearing if you have any views with respect to these potential changes. All correspondence to this mailout must be received by 20th March 2026 so it may be presented to the Eastern Fish and Game Council prior to their May meeting.