Taupo trout upsurge predicted

"Some good quality fish being caught and lots of comments on the super condition found on most fish that are being kept."
That's a comment on recent trout fishing on Lake Taupo from the nzfishing.com website, which along with local anglers and the Conservation Department, is cautiously heralding an upsurge in the Taupo trout fishery.
Just two months ago DOC acknowledged that there was "considerable concern" among anglers and angling businesses over the state of the fishery.
That followed a difficult summer for anglers, with the fish hard to catch and a lack of smelt along the lake shore.
Smelt make up the large proportion of the diet of trout in the lake.
At that time, DOC said that after a good start to the lake fishing season last spring, the downturn in the number of fish being caught over summer was noticeable, although those that were being caught were in good condition.
It was thought that either the smelt had moved into the open waters and the trout had followed; or more ominously, that smelt had become scarce.
However Glenn Maclean, DOC's programme manager technical support, said last week that the fishery appeared to be on the improve again.
His views are backed up by reports of good catches by anglers on the lake and rivers.
Glenn says that DOC's regular harvest surveys interviewing anglers returning to boat ramps are showing that generally, catch rates are much higher than they were over period from Christmas until early February.
He has also had phone calls from anglers over recent weeks saying their experience has been that the lake is fishing well.
"The fish by and large are not huge, but they're in good condition and a very common comment is that the fish that they've landed and cut open are full of smelt."
Although most of the fish being caught are around 1.25kg (2 3/4lb) in size, Glenn says if the fish are feeding regularly on smelt, then they will also be growing quickly.
"Amongst the catch are some significant larger fish so we're starting to see more numbers of the fish that we would associate with Lake Taupo - getting up to about 2kg (4lb-5lb)."
Glenn says DOC staff monitor the smelt population using acoustic methods, but the population is continuously changing and it will take several years to work out what the optimum smelt population should be.
However the most recent monitoring last month showed "very significant" schools of smelt across the lake.
He hopes there is a good season ahead but it is still early days.
"At this stage it's still heading in the right direction and if it continues to go like that for the next few months the fish are going to grow significantly so there should be some good fish in the winter runs later on in the year. And if all the fish did spend the summer out in the middle [of the lake], the angling harvest wasn't as high as normal so we might hope that the winter runs might be bigger than they've been in the last couple of years."
After a disappointing summer season on Lake Taupo, Tauranga angler Meyric Bellerby was much happier with the result of his latest forays.
When he came to Kuratau late in November the fishing had been so bad that he had left in disgust after two days.
Meyric went out fishing last Thursday and Friday and he and a friend had caught 12 trout between them. Most fish went back but they kept three, which although small, were in very nice condition.
"We'll smoke them. They'll be lovely. They're in great order...it's enough for a feed and we've got another couple of days so we expect to get a few more."
But subsequent fishing expeditions last weekend were less to Meyric's liking, who says despite plenty of fish, none were big enough to keep.
Local fisherman Jared Goedhart, who has been fishing in the area for 16 years, says earlier reports of a decline in the fishery were exaggerated.
"Most of those writing to the papers were doom and gloom merchants, but right through from the start of the year we've had people catching good size fish in the Tongariro," he says. "I've got plenty of photos of some really good fish throughout the summer and if you're putting in the effort and not catching anything, you've got to look at yourself and your methods of fishing."
Jared says the impression he's got from talking to other anglers is that they are also catching some good quality fish.
And fishing guide Andrew Christmas says in his online fishing report that he and a Canadian client hooked 20 fish in the Tongariro only last week.
"It's nice to be able to prove to myself that the fishery is in good nic (sic) and we have nothing to worry about," he wrote.