Fishing Lake Taupo

In a country renowned for its trout fishing, the Lake Taupo region is the best of the best, and that’s saying something. This is trout heaven. At last count, around a million trout live here.

Wild trout are trout that breed naturally. Unlike most trout fisheries around the world, no artificial stocking takes place in the Lake Taupo district. The fish here don’t hatch in sheltered nursery tanks. They hatch far upstream in deep cold pools above thundering rapids. Only the strongest survive, and strong they are.

Anglers flock from around the world to fish for “rainbows” and “browns” - so big, the locals reckon when you catch one the lake level drops. A slight exaggeration maybe but most average between 2 and 3 kg and the current record is a little over 8kg (nearly 18 pounds)

Lake Taupo itself is the largest freshwater lake in Australasia. Millions of trout live in the lake, gorging themselves on so many fresh water crayfish (koura) their flesh turns pink like a salmon.

Lake Taupo has many rivers and streams flowing into it but the grand daddy of them all is the Tongariro at the southern end. Tongariro River trout are legendary for their condition and size. The township of Turangi on its banks modestly bills itself as “the trout fishing capital of the world” - understandable when you consider an estimated 750,000 trout swim past the town every winter to spawn.

On the Tongariro you can fly fish famous pools with such grand names as the Breakaway, Admirals, Major Jones or The Duchess (named after the Queen Mum who fished here back in the 1930s).

Other famous trout filled rivers flowing into the lake include the Waikato, Waitahanui, Tauranga Taupo and Hinemaiaia.

If your pockets are a little deeper you could also take a helicopter into one of the many back county streams and fish a stretch of crystal clear water that quite possibly has never been fished before.

But one of the beauties of Lake Taupo fishing is that you don’t need to be an expert. An almost guaranteed way for anyone to catch a trout is to hire a local guide. They know the many lakes, rivers and streams like the back of their hands and many actually guarantee you will catch a trout.

Keep in mind that you need a special licence to fish the Lake Taupo district.