While temperatures have noticeably dropped, shoreline fishing is heating up.

Fish & Game staff say fly fishers staking out Fish & Game release sites, where spawning trout return to on Lake Rotoiti, Tarawera and Okataina, are starting to bag fish when the conditions suit.

Ben Todd from Rotorua.

'But as always, you need to crystal ball a little and pick your night, or morning, for best results,” says Fish & Game officer Mark Sherburn.

Mark advises anglers to take a ‘poor weather for the best fishing' approach.

'Really, when it's wet and horrible and the barometer is falling through the floor, it's likely to be a good night's fishing.”

April saw a slow start to spawning activity but May was an improvement to activity due to better conditions.

Mark says only two fish per day were recorded in the Tarawera fish trap in April but increased to nine per day over the first 19 days of May.

'Our runs are now ahead of last year, but so much does really depend on the conditions and trout can be really unpredictable.”

The Ngongotaha and Waiteti streams have had an abundance of solid browns running, with many tipping the scales and exceeding 3kg and there has been some trophy-sized fish weighing more than 5kg.

Anglers are travelling large distances to fish in the famous Ngongotaha stream, according to Mark, as the upper river is only open for another five weeks and closes after this time to allow trout to spawn undisturbed.

Fish & Game have been monitoring angling and fish populations at Lake Waikaremoana. Fish numbers running into the streams have been low up until mid-May but is on par with last season.

The lake levels of Waikaremoana have been low and lack of rainfall appears to have resulted in fish congregating at the stream mouths waiting for conditions to change.

Fly fishers using smelt flies or dark-coloured boobies are having success at Waikaremoana.

"Fishers trolling the lake during May reported super catches on yellow, black and traffic-light coloured Tassies.

'The fish are well conditioned and the flesh is ideal for the table," says Mark.