With just a handful of days left before the opening of the trout fishing season on Rotorua’s renowned lakes, anglers are anticipating hooking up on some hard-fighting trout.

With October 1 just a week away, it’s time to check your fishing gear and make sure everything is ready for the kick-off.

Thousands of anglers are due to hit lakes Rotoiti, Okataina and Tarawera at 5am on Thursday next week.

The long range weather forecast for the Bay of Plenty is looking favourable, and NIWA expects the summer to be warm, which is great news for anglers.

Eastern Fish & Game officer Mark Sherburn said the fishing could be a little slow from 5am but it usually picked up when the sun hit the water.

“It’s good to have a game plan, Sherburn said.

“Shallow trolling with a ‘Tassie’ and a smelt fly is a productive way to begin. If it’s a bright day and there’s lots of boat traffic, expect the fish to move a little deeper as the morning warms up.

“If fish disappear from the fish finder early in the morning, try a deeper trolling method such as lead line, wire or downrigger.

“Fish to where the fish are; put your lure in front of their noses. As a choice of lure colour, it’s hard to beat orange early in the season, or something with a touch of red and don’t forget to try the ‘Old faithful’ black and gold- coloured Toby”.

Jigging and softbaiting are favoured methods from midday.The thermocline, a layer of cooler water, won’t begin to form until December but trout will still be found at depth hunting smelt.

Softbait lures are now very popular on the Rotorua lakes, and these versatile lure types can be fished in a wide variety of ways to catch trout.

Fished vertically, under and visible by the fish finder, they are great indicators of how the trout are reacting to them.

When trout are cruising shallow water, they are an extremely effective searching method and angling up and down off a drop-off will usually produce strikes.

Sherburn reminds anglers they should have given their motor a check over “and given it a test run before they get to the ramp”.

“It’s a great time to check all safety equipment such as radio, EPERB, anchoring, flares and life jackets. Maritime New Zealand rules are changing from October 9 so that every person on a boat of six metres or less must wear a lifejacket when under way.

Fish and Game said it was also important for anglers and other lake users to remember the Check, Clean and Dry message.

“Ensuring local waterways are pest-free is vital to our continued enjoyment of the resource and everyone needs to do their part,” said Sherburn.

“Pest species such as freshwater gold clam, catfish, koi and numerous invasive weeds could be extremely damaging to our lakes environment.”

A variety of trout licences are available now from the Fish & Game website or by visiting an agent.