ITTextra Tech/Music Blog and Hiking/Fishing Information

Date	Time	Stretch	Rules	Difficulty
9th February 2023	10.00am to 4.30pm	800m	$35 per day	Easy

Te Urewera, New Zealand

This is the first part of a series about my fly fishing trip to New Zealand's North Island. I managed to dodge cyclone Gabrielle and had some good days. This is my first day, where I explore a few streams in the Te Urewera region.

Access and Fishing Notes

The rivers and streams looked great in this region. Extremely clear water in all the sections I fished.

Access up and down the Whakatane river was not possible in the first spot I tried, but there seem to be plenty of other spots to fish.

The two side streams I fished were easily accessible from the road bridges and wadable.

Day fishing tickets are $35 per day for non-residents, from New Zealand Fish and Game. They last 24 hours and can start anytime, so with some breaks you can stretch 3 day tickets over 4 days.

Directions:	I accessed the region via the Ruatahuna road from the West. It seems like the only road in and has lots of twists and climbs. Pick up the road from Minginui. It's tarmac at first but has unsurfaced sections as you get closer to Ruatahuna.
Access:	I found easy access points at points where bridges crossed side streams. See the locations I've marked on the map.
Conditions:	Weather was warm and dry with some partial cloud cover. Slight breeze at first but that picked up in the afternoon and became quite strong.
Technique:	I used a 5-weight fly rod and floating, tapered line. Fished both upstream and downstream with nymph and dry winged patterns.
Fish:	I caught one decent rainbow trout, perhaps around 2lbs and several smaller fish, also rainbow trout.