So far the off season has been very mild and no major winter floods to disrupt spawning which is in full swing right now. I was over at Hotel California only last weekend and slipped down to the Mangahina Stream a wee tributary of Yeatman R. and spent a most interesting half hour observing a couple of 4lb rainbows doing their thing. The water they chose was only about 2 meters wide and wouldn't have been much over a foot deep. They were very busy indeed and I wished them well in their efforts. Hopefully in a couple of years my clients will be able to test their off spring and then the following year they will no doubt be spawning themselves.

Our wild trout fishery is heavily dependent on seasonal spawning coupled with available ideal stream environment. Most of our back country rivers and particularly tributaries seem to provide the right setting and over the years I have wiled away many an hour spread eagled on top of a bank overlooking tail water, watching spawning antics. The brown trout are always the first to get randy, generally about late April early May and during this period when the fish flash (often forerunner to mating), the actual hooking can be quite a challenge.

When an angler does hook up though the fight can be a beauty with the brownie using all his cunning and increased bulk and cunning to out fox the fisherman who is generally flat out trying to stay upright, waving his rod around in an attempt to avoid his line from being entangled in snags and all the while trying to be in control. Couple all this with a guide like me shouting encouragement, giving instructions as well, and whilst sometimes being useful, from an anglers perspective are damned hard to carry out with a mad trout thrashing about on the other end of the line. Throw into the equation swift water as well, plus a trout that is hell bent on heading out to sea 50 miles downstream. It is no wonder that a fair percentage of trout hooked are just that and not landed despite our fancy high tech rods, smooth as silk drag reels and superior knot strength leaders, plus of course studded supposedly non slip studded running boots - yeah right!

written by  benjamin on February 12, 2013 from Taupo, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand fly fishing guides
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