Tips for catching the big ones

A beautiful rainbow trout, caught by James.

The winter fly-fishing is hotting up in New Zealand’s Taupo region as the trout begin to make their way upstream from Lake Taupo where they’ve spent the summer. They travel to the high reaches of the exact same river or stream they were born in, to spawn and start the life-cycle again.

Trout can give an exhilarating fight.

This trout is fresh from the lake, apparent by its silvery colouring. If a fish has been in the river for some time its colouring is much darker.

Fishing guide, Andrew Christmas carefully extracts the natural fly this trout has taken. We catch and release so it’s important to have wet hands before handling the trout.

Typically, the jacks (male trout) move up-stream before the hens (female trout) but no one is quite sure why. On route they congregate, holding-up in pools along the way. Fishing is best after rain or when the water has colour as the fish feel less exposed. The lack of rain early this season has made the fishing more challenging but this will change and the fish will start moving upstream after a couple of good rain storms and a drop in temperature. Despite this we had a great couple of days with good results followed by an excellent day with guide, Andrew Christmas.