The Waitahanui is a jewel — a short, cold, spring-fed river that stays clear and fishable when the freestone rivers are blown out, holding visible rainbows and browns in its glassy pools. Its mouth is one of the most famous pieces of trout water in New Zealand, the 'Picket Fence' of wet-fly anglers fishing the rip into the lake. Upstream it is a clear-water river that rewards a careful nymph and a quiet approach to fish you can often see.
A short, spring-fed river rising from the pumice country south of Taupō township and running clear and steady to the lake, its lower reach famous for the 'Picket Fence' of anglers lined along the rip at its mouth. Cold, clear and stable where the rain-fed rivers run dirty, it holds visible fish and a long fly-fishing tradition.
Wading: Deep clear pools, slick pumice; crowded mouth — give anglers room
A spring-creek character with the same summer cicada draw as its Tongariro neighbour — DOC records big browns turning onto cicadas here from around Christmas; the river's own aquatic hatch calendar hasn't been separately documented from the wider freestone Taupo tributaries.
- River
- Volcanic
- Partly confined
- Spring creek
- River mouth