Watch Out for Boats on Rotorua Lakes This Thursday Says Fish & Game

Fish & Game warns boaties to watch out for other boats on Rotorua’s lakes on the opening day of the Rotorua lakes fishing season on Thursday, 1 October.

Thousands of anglers are expected to head to Rotorua’s lakes this Thursday to make the most of the best fishing day of the year.

Three of Rotorua’s best fishing lakes, Lakes Tarawera, Okataina and Rotoiti, are open to fishing from 5am Thursday, 1 October after having been closed to winter fishing to allow fish to spawn and grow without pressure from anglers to ensure high numbers of good sized fish for the new season in spring.

“If the day is good, catch rates can be brilliant as the fish are naïve to the methods of anglers. The boat traffic is something to watch out for as many thousands of anglers get out and enjoy the start of the season,” says Rob Pitkethley, manager of Fish & Game’s Eastern Region..

Opening day on the 1st of October is the day of the year when the angler gets to target the maximum number of large trout during the season and Fish & Game, the organisation that manages most of New Zealand’s freshwater fisheries, expects thousands of anglers to be out on opening day morning.

The Fish & Game trout hatchery at Ngongotaha is having an open day on Wednesday, 30th September with kids’ fishing, demonstrations, filleting and cooking displays. Hatchery tours will be held to give visitors an insight to the work Fish & Game does to keep New Zealand’s lakes and rivers clean and stocked with fish. At midday, local experts will be giving tips on how to catch trout on Rotorua’s lakes. A Blessing of the Boats ceremony will be held on the shores of Lake Tarawera at 5pm on Wednesday, 30th September. For the past ten years, this ceremony has attracted hundreds of participating boats.

ENDS

About Fish & Game
Fish & Game is the statutory manager of sports fish (trout, salmon and coarse fish including tench, perch and rudd) and game bird resources and their sustainable recreational use by anglers and hunters New Zealand wide, (except in the Chatham Islands and for fishing in the Lake Taupo catchment where it is managed by the Department of Conservation). Fish & Game was established in 1990 to represent the interests of anglers and hunters, and provides co-ordination of the management, enhancement, and maintenance of sports fish and game (Section 26B of the Conservation Act 1987).
Everyone wanting to go sport fishing or gamebird hunting must buy a Fish & Game licence first and licence holders can stand for their local Fish & Game council and vote for the council’s members.

© Scoop Media