Rotorua Regional Lake Championships, Nov 2024.

Fished on Lake Rerewhakaaitu, there was a time when this competition struck fear into the hearts of SFFNZ members and stories of cold, windy days with large proportions of the field blanking most sessions abounded. Now, moved to a later part of the calendar, it is still extremely challenging and was certainly windy this weekend, but most anglers had something to measure and a large proportion of the 137 fish caught were sizeable, with a large number over 50 cms and the biggest fish caught were two 64cm Rainbows caught by Nick Lyon and Ben Henton.

Competition organiser and Sport Fly Fishing New Zealand President, Damon Taylor, said “It is always a tricky venue, exposed to the weather and with crystal clear water but it is impressive how the Fish and Game policy of stocking with significant numbers of fingerling rainbows which grow in the food-rich shallows of this lake produces such high-quality fish.

Individuals experienced wide swings in fortune from one
session to the next as the price of a missed take or lost fish was severe, but it made for a gripping contest”.
At the end of the first day, as at the recent Auckland Regional River Championships, Hamilton angler Tom Johnson, in his first year of lake competition, led after two very consistent sessions followed by several more experienced competitors and the question was always whether he could do enough to maintain that position, having struggled in the last session of the river event.
On the Sunday, a change in wind direction threw a lot of people’s plans awry, when they found that drifts that had produced the day before were no longer feasible. Tom stuck to his method, in a boat with experienced Fly Ferns Captain, Rachel McNae, and eventually managed to winkle out two sizeable fish to fend off the chasing pack, several whom fell by the wayside.

The rest of the podium was made up of the ever-successful Ollie Bassett, also runner-up in 2023, and Silver Flies Development Squad member Ben Henton, who won the last session to pip a few anglers who had a good last day and made a run up the leaderboard in the changed conditions.
Louise Stuart was the top female angler, having produced two exceptional sessions on Saturday to go into Day 2 in 2nd overall, and eventually finishing in sixth.

Tom mainly fished two streamers on a Di3 line with a short period on a Di5 in the worst of the wind, stripping steadily rather than quickly. He was grateful to his more experienced boat partners who took him to fishy areas. He said “It was great to get my first win. I had a lot of fun on Saturday and a bit more of a stressful session on Sunday but eventually got my second fish with about 20 minutes to go. I would like to thank Damon for running the event so smoothly and my boat partners, Hugo, Damon and Rachel for taking me to productive spots. I mainly fished a black bugger with dubbing and CDC collar and a green bugger with tinsel body (Shrek). I felt the key to success for me was keeping it simple and spending as much time as possible with the flies in the water. Also shout out to Charlie Abrahams for encouraging me to start lake fishing and enter competitions.”