Cutting size of Taupo trout

Good news for anglers - bad news for trout at Lake Taupo.

The Conservation Department is considering reducing the legal size for catching trout by three centimetres amid concerns that drier winters are contributing to smaller fish in the lake.

Taupo fishery manager Glenn MacLean said research had shown the peak spawning period was now occurring later in the year, in October and November.

Unusually dry and unsettled winter weather in the past five to six years had caused lower river levels, delaying the spawning runs into the lake till later in the year.

As a result, anglers were catching younger and smaller trout, which were under the 45cm legal size, in the peak summer holiday season.

Mr MacLean said the catch rate during the summer was still high, but many of the fish were several months younger, and 5-6cm smaller, than previously at the same time of the year. As a result, anglers were forced to release much of their catch.

"Instead of being legal size during the summer, a large proportion of the catch is undersized at that time of year."