This is the place

Although the Whau Valley Dam primarily exists to provide Whangarei with drinking water, it's also the nearest place to town to fish for trout.

The dam was built in the early 1950s to harness water flowing from the streams and tributaries  of the native bush catchments of Pukenui Forest.  Its potential for trout fishing was soon recognised in the quality of the water and its temperature.  Trout were first released into the reservoir in the 1960s, with early liberations consisting of brown and rainbow trout.  These days there is an annual stocking programme of 300 rainbow trout, supplied from the Ngongotaha hatchery near Rotorua.  Brown trout continue as a self-sustaining population although there is less spawning habitat for them.  Rainbow trout caught average around 1kg while browns are reported as much larger but also much more difficult to catch!