Reel Life March 2026 - Hawke's Bay

As at 23 March all of our Hawkes bay rivers were looking in great condition – although many of the smaller ones could probably do with a bit of top up, all of the bigger rivers spent much of February unusually full but have now all dropped to what we would consider normally late summer levels - the Mohaka at McVicars Bridge was down to 22 cumec/sec after being around 37 cumecs/sec this time last month. The lower water levels make such a huge difference to the fishing on the likes of the Ngaruroro and Mohaka, making wading depths and flows so much easier to manage, and so much more of the rivers being accessible  – the flip side is the increase in slime on the rocks makes good rubber soled and ideally studded wading boots pretty much a prerequisite, just remember you aren’t allowed to use felt sole wading boots due to the increased bio security risks they pose..

The Tukituki and Waipawa Rivers have continued to fish very well, although they have all been getting lots of angling pressure from both local and visiting anglers. The rain and cooler weather had cleared the weed and dropped the water temps, but it does appear the rain has moved some fish around and spread out some of the big concentrations that were seeking the cooler water around sides streams or back water springs. Both these rivers have continued to drop and have become very clear making spotting trout easier; although just because you can see them doesn’t mean you can catch them! We heard a report of 2 very experienced and capable local anglers seeing in excess of 100 fish in 1 day in the Tukituki and Waipawa recently and whilst they each caught quite a few, they also had plenty of laughs at each other’s expense when they spooked sighted fish or tried many different patterns on some that must have had their “mouths wired shut”. The likes of the Tukipo and Manganuku had been very low and choked with cow cress around Christmas, but the rain in January/ February has done a great job of clearing the weed and revitalising these streams, and we have had some good reports of improved fishing in these and all the CHB streams. The Cow cress is starting to grow back in places but there is still good, but challenging fishing to be had in these smaller streams.

Image above: A nice dry fly caught HB rainbow – Photo John Lumsden

The Mohaka has been fishing well at around Glenfalls, McVicor road and Pakatutu; the Glenfalls area was looking great this week with the river finally dropping to a nice low summer level, it’s still a big powerful river that demands respect. It has a good number of brown trout as well as great rainbow numbers, so it offers lots of variety and opportunity. The smashing explosive take of a big rainbow taking a dry fly off the surface in a fast Mohaka run is a memorable experience, but what makes it even more memorable is the next take maybe the gentle, subtle take of a nice brown, either way you know the trout is going to make full use of the powerful current and test you and your gear.

The Mohaka off “McVicors Bridge”

A nicely patterned Mohaka Brown.

The Ngaruroro and Tutaekuri have been fairly good, although the Kuripapango area was busy over the holiday season and summer period. Anglers have commented on how the fishing has been a bit variable in both rivers so far this season; the recent rain appears to have brought large numbers of juveniles downstream into some lower reaches of the Ngaruroro. Several anglers have commented that in the Tutaekuri; there didn’t seem to be as many larger fish as earlier in the season, this may be due to the trout becoming more educated or by a reduction in numbers due to harvest or poor handling on release.

We remind anglers to limit your kill and if you are releasing a trout, keep it in the water, use a knotless net and if you must take photos make sure it is out of the water a maximum of 5 seconds – that’s one photo then released.  The Tutaekuri and its major tributary the Mangaone were badly affected by Cyclone Gabrielle, which is why this river system only has a one fish limit, we need to protect as many of our mature fish , our prime “breeding stock”  as we can, so they can spawn and restock these rivers, so we recommend if you must take a fish for the table, you target the bigger rivers that have a 2 fish limit.

The smaller northern rivers which still have many active slips in their catchments and have remained dirty for long periods after the recent rains, making fishing difficult. On a positive note, it should provide greater protection for the remaining trout in there, maximising their chances of surviving, spawning again and restocking these rivers.

A Happy Angler with a fine HB rainbow Photo Dave Hern.

Sport Fly Fishing NZ has cancelled their Fishing Competition planned for the 28 /29 March .

Sport Flyfish NZ has cancelled their competition on the Tukituki River planned for Saturday/ Sunday 28/29 March and moved it to another region.

This would have been a catch and release event, so anglers can rest assured it would have had minimal effect on fish stocks.

It’s great to see SFFNZ with a strong biosecurity focus on their competitions, where it is a prerequisite for all competitors to declare where they have fished within the last month and to sign a declaration they have checked, sterilised and dried their gear prior to fishing another waterway. If anglers have fished in or downstream of “the clam zone” in the Waikato system within the last month, they prohibit any of these potential competitors fishing elsewhere. With the huge risk posed by Gold Clams to pristine areas particularly lakes, it is vital we all play our part to ensure pest organisms aren’t introduced here.

Check, Clean, Dry - protecting our trout fishing and the next generations Trout Fishing.

We remind all anglers to ensure they check, clean, sterilize, then dry to be sure – dry to touch inside and out , then leave to dry for another 2 days before using again, when moving between rivers and lakes, this is particularly important for anyone travelling in from the Waikato or the South Island, with their respective gold clam and didymo risks.  Once cleaned of any dirt, weed or other matter, all gear should be sterilised, Biosecurity NZ recommend soaking in a 5% bleach solution for a minimum of 1 hour, then dried as above. We have some great rivers, offering wonderful fishing in the north island, but the last thing anyone wants is someone introducing a pest species or organism. If you need any more information please check 'Check Clean Dry': help protect New Zealand's waterways | NZ Government

Twin Lakes Road and Carpark Closure with Alternative Route 

Pan Pac have advised that due harvesting in the area around the ‘Twin lakes carpark” the road and carpark will be closed from 15 February through to July 2026, stopping access to the Tutaekuri river and Mackintosh hut from this point. There is an alternative route from Timpson road which will allow access to the Kuripapango hill track and the Twin lakes, this access point is approximately 2 kilometres before the twin lakes carpark off the same forestry road.

What to use?

With rivers really clear with less weed and turbidity after recent rain, it creates challenges for anglers. If you are nymph fishing, you need a reasonable amount of weight to get down to where the fish are but still need fine leaders and smaller flies. As we head into autumn, we are likely to see more rain and an increase in flows and more colour in the rivers - weight, colour and flash are likely to help. With dry flies either big visible terrestrials or small traditional patterns should work well – no matter what technique you are using, being prepared to experiment with a range of patterns will often pay dividends, remembering that just because the last trout ate a particular pattern, there is no guarantee it will work on the next one!

Spinning and soft baiting are likely to be successful with the extra volume and particularly if there is some colour in the water.

A nice mature Hawkes Bay rainbow photo John Lumsden.

Low bag Limits and releasing trout.

With relatively low bag limits, and regulations that state an angler must cease fishing once the daily bag limit has been reached, Hawkes Bay anglers may find that they want to selectively harvest, meaning they need to release trout, so they can continue fishing.

All anglers need to be aware that how they handle the fish is critical to its survival after being released.

Here are our ‘Quick 5’ tips for handling fish with care:

• Always wet your hands before handling a fish and if possible, use a knotless landing net.
• Keep the fish in the water while removing the hook – a specialized hook remover or forceps readily available on your vest, will definitely help.
• Do not squeeze the fish and never touch the gills.
• If you feel you must photograph your fish, do it in or over the water and make it quick - the fish should never be out of the water for more than 5 seconds.
• Revive the fish by facing into the current long enough for it to regain its swimming strength.

In the unfortunate instance that a fish you intended to release does end up bleeding from the gills or cannot maintain itself upright, so long as you can legally take that fish, we recommend you should keep it as part of your bag limit and utilize it.

 If you want to harvest a trout for dinner we recommend you take a nice fat younger fish rather than a big mature spawner, as we still need them to help replenish our fisheries and let’s face it, a big mature trout is too valuable to be only caught once.

Non - Compliance and Poaching

We have had a couple reports of poaching recently that we are following up on and really appreciate anglers calling these incidents in. If you witness some illegal fishing or Gamebird hunting, please give us a call or email, if you are safely able to record; ideally photograph, vehicles with registration numbers and a description of the people involved that would be great – But please, only if you can do so safely.

Making the most of the rest of the season.

As at the 23 March, the rivers are all clear, the trout are in great condition and the lower levels are making access and travel up and down the rivers easier, opening up areas that have been out of reach for much of the season, so now is a great time to be fishing.

 The last two winters have been really kind to the trout and there has been a steady increase in trout numbers across the bay post Cyclone Gabrielle, so we look set for another great autumn for The Bays trout anglers. So Grab your licence if you haven't got one already, make sure you carry it with you, read the regulations and make the most of the good conditions. Fishing Licence New Zealand - Fish & Game NZ

Our ranging team have very active this season and will continue to be, we are looking forward to catching up with anglers on the rivers, to hear of their successes, share some advice and ideally be complimenting them for being 100% compliant.