Reel Life December 2025 - Auckland Waikato

Christmas planning

It is time to plan your holiday fishing trip, and our rivers are in good shape. The Whakapapa has been producing some nice fish, and with temperatures rising this week, fish will be on the move to cooler water. It is time to start fishing the Pirongia streams and our higher elevation King Country water. The Waikato is now above 20 °C, so fish will be moving into the Mangatutu and upper Waipa over the next couple of weeks.  If you need help planning your next adventure, please check out our fishing access map.  You can also give us a ring (07 849 1666) or email our staff adaniel@fishandgame.org.nz, we are happy to help out.

Great kids fishing opportunity at Karapiro

Perch fishing at Lake Karapiro has been excellent with high catch rates all over the lake. Perch populations normally explode due to a lack of natural predators in New Zealand, so please kill as many as you can. This summer will be perfect for kids fishing at Lake Karapiro, and the warm water is terrific for a swim after fishing. Perch are very aggressive and like to hide under pontoons or near structures. Small soft baits and spinners work great, but if you want to sit and relax, a worm under a float will also work. If you don’t hook a fish, keep moving and cover ground, but it won’t take long to find them.  Perch are great to eat so you can prepare them like little snapper.

Tagged fish in the Whakapapa and Whanganui

The recent fly-fishing competition on the Whakapapa has enabled our tagging team to mark about 50 additional fish in the Owhango and Kakahi area. If you are fishing the Whanganui or Whakapapa, please be prepared to measure fish. The tagging team have also been active on the Mangatutu, and we have had several good tag returns already this season. If you don’t carry a tape measure, you can mark the fish length with tape on your rod and take a photo of the tag. Tag returns can be entered online or email the fish length, location and tag number to  adaniel@fishandgame.org.nz.

Live river flow and temperature monitoring sites added to the fishing access map

To help with planning your upcoming fishing trips we have added some of the Waikato Regional Council’s live monitoring sites to the new fishing access map. These provide up-to-date information on flow (m³/sec) and water temperature.

Awakino River has plenty of fish!

Although large floods like the one that hit the Awakino River last moth normally wipe out trout populations the river is in surprisingly good shape. Staff conducted a post flood drift dive survey this week and fond that the upper river still had over 30 large trout per km of river.  One large hole surveyed had 19 trout between 30 and 50cm.