Media release from Eastern Fish & Game

Fish & Game officers long trek to release fish in popular small lakes

Fish & Game Eastern Region officers are all set for a long distance road trip to stock up small lakes in the upper Wairoa River catchment on the East Coast.

The run from the hatchery in Ngongotaha with 700 one year-old fish - 500 rainbows and 200 brown trout - will be carried out tomorrow (December 14).

Fish & Game Officer Mark Sherburn says “this roadie to stock the lakes which are part of the Waikaremoana power scheme, Whakamarino (also called Tuai) and Kaitawa, is one to of the few the hatchery makes to the smaller fisheries in the Eastern Region.

“It’s certainly one of the furthest from base.”

He says that it’s a very important local fishery and some “massive” fish over 4.5kgs have come out of Tuai, predominantly big brown trout. “They sit under the hydro outlet and gobble up the food it delivers to them.”

Mr Sherburn says that Lake Waikaremoana, the largest lake outside the Rotorua lakes is not stocked by Fish & Game because it has ample natural spawning, and past work with tagged fish showed hatchery stocking added little to anglers' bags.

However the fishery is closely monitored, through both surveys of anglers and the use of a remote water quality monitoring buoy, which transmits data.

This summer, between December and the end of February 2013, a regular five yearly creel survey of anglers will be carried out at Lake Waikaremoana. Anglers will be asked about their catch rates and officers will also gather data including trout length and weight.

“This is the third of these surveys and should show some of the changes that have been reported by anglers over the last few years.

"We ask for anglers patience as we undertake this work which provides a snapshot of the how healthy the fishery is compared to earlier surveys, ” Mr Sherburn says.

ENDS

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