Lake Rotoiti has emerged as the 'most improved” of Rotorua's three popular trout fishing lakes – as anglers fished the first day of the new season this week.

The trout season is open.

The new trout season for lakes Tarawera, Okataina and Rotoiti, which have been ‘rested' for the last three months, began on Tuesday in picture-perfect, fine and clear conditions.

More than 800 fish were measured across the three lakes, some approaching the 4kg (nearly 9 pounds) mark.

Eastern Fish & Game manager Rob Pitkethley, who was stationed on Rotoiti, says the lake produced more fish per angler than seen for quite a few years – 'so there were some very happy anglers around”.

Eastern Fish & Game has released some initial findings from interviews it conducted with 1000-odd anglers at the three lakes, who were quizzed on catch rates and fishing methods.

Anglers on Rotoiti were not only more successful, but the fish were bigger than they've been for the last couple of openings. About 260 anglers interviewed had kept 250 fish that were measured by Eastern Fish & Game staff.

'Very few anglers were empty-handed, and generally the fish were in better condition than last year, with very nice two-year-old fish making up most of the catch.

Rob says while Rotoiti produced the best average fish on the day, overall Lake Okataina produced the highest success, 'although people need to bear in mind that catch rates do vary considerably from one day to the next”.

Deeper trolling methods seemed to work the best and with slightly warmer water temperatures than the same time last year.

'Successful techniques, including jigging, were more typical of methods that anglers would use fishing in November and December, so the summer season appears to have come a bit early,” says Rob.

The fish caught on Okataina and Tarawera were slightly smaller than last year's opening, 'but we know a good number were younger than normal, as they were released later in our new ‘staggered' approach”.

Since last spring, releases of hatchery-bred rainbow trout have been spread during a four-month period instead of a few big releases of many fish at a time, says Rob.

'Work on liberations has shown us that we get a higher survival rate from this new technique – we know there'll be more fish available to be caught this summer.”

The Ohau Channel, connecting lakes Rotorua and Rotoiti, appeared to have been fished reasonably well, with anglers commenting they'd never seen so many smelt in the water.

Fish caught from the channel had been very fat, with one tipping the scales at 3.5kg and another angler sadly losing a very large brown trout he'd hooked.

Rob says it is pleasing to see holidaymakers from other parts of New Zealand catching their share of fish, including 10-year-old Ruby Roche from Napier, who landed a 3.3kg rainbow trout 620cm long on Lake Tarawera, after a 20 minute battle.

Staff on duty at Tarawera saw some 'nice-condition” fish, showing good growth rates, including two year olds of about 50cm in size and weighing more than 2kg, with the biggest tipping the scales at 3.5kg.

Lake Okataina's opening was 'a very good one in terms of catch rates”, says Fish & Game officer Lloyd Gledhill.

'We had a ratio of nearly two fish per angler on the day.”

The two-year-old, hatchery-bred fish were showing good growth, but some of the older fish were still recovering from the stresses of spawning during winter, says Lloyd. The largest fish measured from Okataina was a 3.7kg rainbow trout.

Rob says Fish and Game still has notes from hundreds from angler interviews to process, so it'll be some time before a more accurate picture of catches and fish sizes can be compared with previous season openings.

'All the signs across these three lakes are pointing to a very good summer ahead; and with trout growing very quickly at this time of the year, anglers should get the most out of a full season across the region.”

Destination Rotorua Marketing (DRM) general manager Oscar Nathan says it is pleasing to see the opening coincide with the beginning of the school holidays. 'It was the perfect opportunity to get out on the water with the kids and create some lasting memories.”