Just over the hill from Turangi is a little hydro lake with a very big reputation.
You know that any spot that gets called by nicknames has got to be great. The Big O, OT, Lake O.
This lake has produced a multitude of trophy sized rainbow and brown trout over the years.
With a back drop of Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe two of the stunning Volcanoes of the central plateau the scenery alone makes it a fantastic place to fish.
Generally fishing is done from boat, float tube or single man pontoon style sit on top, however there are places where shore fishing is viable but with swampy margins and a thick scrub shore line it is a often limiting.
Maximum depth of the lake I have noted on my sounder is 37ft, these deep areas are where the old stream beds use to be and these run in long strips which are easy to follow with a sounder.
Mostly the lake bed is weed covered and fishing the edge of these beds is the preferred option.
Water snails, Damsel nymphs and Blood worms make up the predominant food source.
Hatches of the blood worms to their adult form Chronomids, Damsels, Lace Winged caddis and on some years Cicada can make for some exciting Dry fly action.
Lake Otamangakau opens for fishing on th 1st of October and closes on the 31th of May.
It is currently a wild fishery (no stocking) and comes under the Taupo fishing license and regulations, but we recommend a catch and release policy (if you like to eat trout we suggest fishing Lake Taupo as they taste superb from there).
As early in the season many of the trout are in poor condition from spawning I don’t normally start fishing lake O until late December and generaly fish it up till the end of April.
Mostly we fish floating lines but also use intermediate lines and a fast sinking lines on occasion. Natural coloured lines and flurocarbon leadrer are a distinct advantage as with most large fish they can be very shy.
We often use a 16-24ft leader so good casting technique is very helpfull though not essential.
When the rainbows hit they generaly take off like a rocket with hard fast charging runs, the brownies will often just give the slightest tug and normaly come straight at you to start with then once they realise whats going on the lunge off towards the nearest weedbed and are hard to turn in fact some are as hard to turn as a tying your line to a train.
