He had brought his daughter Mylene, 3, out for the festivities and was due to be on the water at 5.30am today.
"I take her out quite often. It will be good fun, get a few fish and hopefully the weather will be nice. I always come for the haggis, the atmosphere and the blessing of the boats. Hopefully it's good luck for us."
The haggis has been a tradition at Lake Tarawera since the Landing Cafe was owned by a Scot, said current chef Peter Watson.
"There's different owners now but we keep that tradition going. We make up to 60 serves with parsnips and potatoes and have it with a shot of whisky."
Image 1 of 14: Opening of the trout fishing season at Lake Tarawera on Wednesday evening. Photo/Ben Fraser
The three lakes have been closed for three months. Fish & Game officers predict the larger fish will be found on Okataina.
"Because many of these young fish were released in different months in line with our staggered programme, there will be a real spread in the size of the catch," said officer Matt Osborne.
"Okataina will, we believe, continue the trend seen over the last few seasons and produce the largest fish, but this doesn't mean that large fish won't be caught on the other lakes."
Rotorua Daily Post fishing columnist Bert Robinson said he always looked forward to opening day, although anglers could fish all year round.
"We've got the cheapest fishing in the world I reckon - it costs 28 cents a day or something like that. That's pretty impressive."
He said he would spend the day at the control gates at Okere Falls. Downstream it's open all year round and he said judging by the size of fish caught there recently, Lake Rotoiti promises to be a cracker for fishing this season.
"There's going to be some amazing fish coming out."
He said the added lure of a $25,000 trout (tagged by Fish & Game staff) meant more people would get to experience trout fishing in the Eastern region.
