Fishing: Tekapo brown trout biggest

This large brown trout came from a Bay of Plenty bush stream. Photo / Supplied

Reports of a giant brown trout caught in the Mackenzie Country this week are not surprising.

The canals at Tekapo have become the most popular trout fishing spot in the country, producing monster trout regularly and it was just a matter of time before a world record catch appeared.

The canals are part of a hydro scheme, linking Lakes Tekapo, Ohau and Pukaki and the many kilometres of canal attracts wild trout from the lakes. It's the perfect environment for trout, with cold running water and endless food where the key is the salmon farms set up inside the canals.

Salmon are kept in nets, and when they are fed protein-rich pelletised food many of the pellets sink through the netting and are snapped up by the trout waiting below, outside the nets.

Trout gain weight depending on the energy used to obtain their food, and in a wild stream they fight the current while picking up tiny morsels such as insects and nymphs.

In lakes, they have to chase smelt and small fish, so burning up energy, and they grow slowly, but naturally.

In the canals, they trout are literally being force fed and grow to unnatural proportions.

Catches of huge trout are common, and the chance of catching such big fish draws anglers from all over the country, and the world.

Fishing is open all year, and methods are not restricted as in other areas so some hopeful cast out baits such as prawns and sit waiting like a snapper fisherman. Others cast popular trout lures spinners and cobras, while others prefer the more old fashioned approach with a fly rod. All will catch fish, but those smart fly fishermen who tie an artificial nymph that resembles a food pellet can do very well.

Like all fishing, local knowledge is the key, for example when the current is flowing. But trophies of super fat rainbow and brown trout are commonly caught — often exceeding 10kg, and even 15kg at times.

Salmon which escape from the farms are also caught, and there is a limit of four fish a day, two of which may be salmon.

Another fishery where unnaturally large trout occur is below the spillway on hydro dams, and these have long been legendary spots for hooking large brown trout, particularly on the Waikato River system of dams.

The trout have learned to wait below the spillway and when it opens and the current is pouring out they feast on fish and other organisms carried down from the lake above through the turbines. Again, little energy is required to obtain a feed and so the trout grow exponentially.

If the report of a 24.9kg brown trout caught in the Tekapo canals this week is correct, and there seems to be some conjecture as the angler is keeping details of his catch to himself, it would be a world record.

But the fish would have to be weighed on official scales and confirmed according to procedures for checking world record catches and if this is not done the potential record will lapse. The reported weight translates to 55lb, which is i the heaviest reported.

For many years, the record brown trout was a fish caught in Loch Awe in Scotland in the 1890s and reportedly weighed 37lb. The world record for a brown was also caught in the canals in 2013 and weighed 42lb 1oz.

A lot of rainbow trout records are held in the US and Canada, where artificial situations are also involved. One lake in Canada, Lake Diefenbaker, in Saskatchewan, holds the most rainbow trout world records because in 2009 some trout which had been genetically engineered to grow extra large escaped from a fish farm and over two years one family, Adam and Sean Konrad, specialised in catching these giant fish.

They cast rapala and Mepps lures, and also bait like whole smelt and herring, and they hold seven world records for rainbow trout, on different line categories.

The lines used range from 3kg line (a 19.79kg fish), 4kg (15.65kg), 6kg (18.43kg), 8kg (16.9kg), 10kg (21.77kg — the largest rainbow caught and 106.68cm long), 15kg (17.29kg) and 24kg line (12.02kg fish).

But the way, the Tekapo canals keep producing huge trout it could just a matter of time before a rainbow trout larger than the record is caught.

Tip of the week

Large trout can also be found in the headwaters of rivers and streams in the mountain and bush of the Bay of Plenty, the central North Island and the South Island high country. But a lot of hiking is needed — or a helicopter. More fishing action can be found at www.GTTackle.co.nz.

Bite times
Bite times are 4.25am and 10.40pm tomorrow and 5.20am and 5.55pm on Sunday.