Why travel 6.5 hours just to catch some Fish?

Having, for years, heard about the Ruakituri and reading about it in books (the latest John Kent book for example), we decided enough was enough and the decision was made.

The Ruakituri flows out of the Uraweras between Gisborne and Wairoa to Te Reinga where it joins with the Hangaroa River and flows over the Te Reinga Falls to form the Wairoa River. The upper river in the Urewera’s is basically a separate fishery thanks to the Waitangi Falls, a mere 75 m. There is a 3-4 hour tramp from the Road end to get to the falls. Rainbow Trout only, but a trophy fishery.

Below the falls there are Rainbows and Browns with fish up to 10lb, the average being 2-3lbs. The lower section, and there is plenty of it, from Papa rock to bouldery runs, to rocks as big as cars, providing varied and interesting water to fish.

We left on Friday travelling via Whakatane through the Waiokutea Gorge (more good fishing) to Gisborne then across to the Ruakitui Valley. This sounds simple but it is basically a whole days travel, what with lunch in Whakatane, the necessity of stopping in Ohope for the book sale, 20,000
books. A good fossick found some trout fishing books at good prices. We had the contact numbers for a couple of places to stay on the Ruakitui, but had been unable to get hold of either of them, so it was going to be pot luck. Our luck was excellent, finding a farmhouse to stay in at $15 per night. The reason for no reply was they were all away on holiday.

The valley road basically follows the river up all the way to Pauni (Pa-puni) Station. The road through Papuni is a public road but access to the river is by agreement with the farm manager. In fact the majority of access is across farmland, so it's an idea to ask permission, which is usually given. If your into camping there are area’s such as Willow Flats and the Cemetery. These again are private property and permission should be requested. I understand that the owner of Willow Flat is asking that all campers have a chemical toilet.

The river was clearing as we arrived late into the evening so everything was looking good for fishing the following morning. Saturday dawned fine and clear with lots of promise for good fishing. We spent the first day fishing just down from where we were staying. The morning wasn’t hugely successful with other anglers on the same water. In the afternoon we fished the water a couple of guys from Gisborne had covered in the morning. We had a ball, landing several fish each and gotten broken off several times (we were using 6lb & 8lb respectively).

Over the following three days we covered a lot of the river fishing in the morning and late afternoon, it being extremely hot in the middle of the day. One day we spent fishing the Waipaoa tributary which is accessed through Papuni Station (get permission) On this small stream, which was made up of mostly small pools accessed by climbing over large boulders, we landed fish up to 4lbs, this is not a stream for a nice easy fish as walking up the river led to both of us slipping off large rocks and making a couple of controlled falls. The way out at the end of the day was however easy, being a nice walk back across the farm.

On what turned out to be our last day on the river we drove up through Papuni Station to Lockwood car park. This is the end of the road, the rest of the way up to Waitangi Falls is a tramp across the top of the Farm and then into the bush. We had thought about tramping up to the falls, but my back was playing up so we decided to give it a miss this time. Just as well as there were at least eight fishermen up there.

We tramped up the track a short way and crossed to the river (permission from the farm manager to fish on the property). On my first pool, on the third or fourth cast I hooked up and landed a good 4lb brown. That was about it for the day as the rain began and we decided that it would be silly carry on. We had already seen six fishermen coming out of the upper river.

I managed to fish for about an hour and a half in the afternoon in the rain before it became unfishable. Hooked five and landed two.

We had set out for a week fishing but in the end only managed four days before being rained out. The owner of the farm we were on told us that this was a good spell as they receive quite a bit of rain especially up in the Urawera’s and the river often colours up. Over those four days on average
fishing five to six hours a day we landed twenty-seven fish, both rainbows and brown, up 5.25lb. We also lost over thirty fish, many of them broken off.

All the fish except two I landed were in perfect condition. Small heads and large solid bodies. All the fish were released back into the river.  The has to have been the best fishing experience I have had over the last few years, and I will definitely be going back.

If anyone wants more information including accommodation options, don’t hesitate to contact me through the club website.

Stephen Martin