Ruamāhanga River

The Ruamāhanga rises in the Tararua Range north-west of Masterton and runs the length of the Wairarapa to Lake Ōnoke on Palliser Bay. Fish & Game counts more than 100 km of trout water. It is mostly a brown trout river, with a growing number of rainbows, and fish average about 1 kg with 3 kg fish not uncommon. Its best feature is range: wilderness fishing for a few big fish in the forest headwaters, a busy and productive middle river between Masterton and Martinborough, and slow lower water where trout and perch are taken on spinners, bait and from boats.

The middle river, from the Waingawa confluence below Masterton down to Martinborough, holds the most fish and gets the most anglers. It is a big river but still wadeable in many places, a run of pools, riffles and long glides over gravel, with large backwaters where trout cruise and frustrate you. Summer brings heavy mayfly hatches, and trout rise freely on warm evenings. Weighted nymphs in sizes 12 to 14 (Hare and Copper, Pheasant Tail, Prince, Willow Grub, Halfback) work all season. In the evening, fish size 12 to 16 dries such as a Royal Wulff, Blue Dun or Parachute Adams. Use beetles in early summer, and cicadas, hoppers and crickets from late summer into autumn. Small wet flies (Invicta, March Brown, Greenwell's Glory, Dad's Favourite) take fish feeding just under the surface at dusk. A 9 ft 6- or 7-weight suits the middle and lower river. In the clear headwaters, go down to a 5-weight and size 16 nymphs in midsummer.

The river between the State Highway 2 bridge at Mount Bruce and Mel Parkinson Reserve, north of Masterton, has an unstable bed and poor trout habitat, so skip it and fish the headwaters above or the water near Masterton below. Access is easy across the open Wairarapa farmland, and especially good around Masterton. The rules change at State Highway 2: above it the river is open 1 October to 30 April, and below it, all year. The Waiohine, Waingawa, Kōpuaranga and Makakahi are trout rivers in their own right if the main river is high.