Fly fishing Lake Otamangakau "The Big O" - New Zealand

Another clip from Saturday, some of my aussie mates state this fishery is very much like Tasmania with tailing trout a plenty, hope to fish Tassie one day in the near future. Andrew

http://youtu.be/JBEv41v7yfk

Fantastic Vid guys, incredible fish and setting, thanks for sharing.

Cheers mate, glad you liked it, it's fly fishing paradise alright!

Good stuff Aharding, I've got a sister inlaw who comes from near Turangi
she recons there is no better trout fishery anywhere
I think they also fish Taupo
Have you done much on the south island, my mate at work has a lake house Lake Benmore just up the road from Omarama
but he can't fish for love or money so I am looking for advice from someone who can
cheers

The fishery around Turangi, has this year particulary, bounced back quite amazingly! I have been fishing there for 25 years and it did used to be spectacular until the mountain erupted, since then has been average, but this year has been back to the fish size and numbers we had pre-eruption. It has been very good. the fish in the rivers are again averaging around 4lbs up to 6lbs.

Omarama, is a fantastic place to base yourself! You have a few of NZ’s premier fishing rivers on your doorstep like the Ahuriri and Tekapo minutes away, bot of these carry populations at times of around 300 fish per km of river and often reaching trophy size in the Ahuriri. There are Rainbows and Browns, also Sockeye Salmon. I have spent a lot of time fishing the SI, if you have a gander at my Youtube channel, much of the footage is around this area. March / April is a great time, probably the best, once the majority of overseas anglers have left.

Great vid! I'm so envious especially of your day on the TT. The smelt numbers must be up again this year. Glad to see that it's a cyclical thing and last 8-10 years was not an indication of a decline in the fishery as some has speculated. I am secretly hoping to go back for a week next Spring for some fishing as it's my favorite time of the year in Taupo.

Agree about the seasonal thing, used to be the main runs would be June / July, but now the best fishing is in September / October in my opinion, certainly the peak of the runs for numbers. On the plus side its much warmer! I have heard just today about good numbers of Smelt showing already - not THAT is an exciting form of fly fishing... watching up to a dozen large trout shouldering each other out of the way to smash a quickly stripped fly!