FISHING WATER

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24102, 22 October 1941, Page 6

FISHING WATER

WAITAHANUI RIVER IMPROVED CONDITIONS The new mouth of the Waitahanui -River, running into Lake Taupo, has moved downstream some considerable distance since it was cut by the local Maoris a few weeks ago, and the indications now are that none of the accepted fly-fishing stretches will be lost. Prospects for the season, which opens on November 1, are stated by resident anglers to be good. The cut in the bank, which runs parallel with the lake shore, was made below the bridge where the main Taupo-Tokaanu road crosses the river, but its position was above a favourite stretch of water, known as the Xar rows, where good fly fishing can be obtained without wading. However, the mouth has now gradually moved downstream, so that its present position is opposite the Boat Pool; at the lower end of the Narrows. This pool was generally regarded as the first good holding pool above the old mouth. The cutting of the bank also created a swifter current in the lower reaches of the river, and this, according to local anglers, has scoured out many of the pools which had shown signs of silting up. Altogether, the opinion is expressed that the Waitahanui Maoris, in cutting the bank, did so with as much concern for the fishing prospects as they had for their own potato crops, which, they held, had been damaged by flooding.