Lake Johnson

Lake Johnson — Waipuna — is a small lake sitting at 399 m in the hills just north of Frankton, a few minutes' drive from the Queenstown Events Centre. Most visitors never hear about it and a fair number of locals have never been.

It is a shallow lowland glacial lake with no natural inlet or outlet. Water arrives by seepage and from temporary streams and channels, and leaves the same way. That, plus seventy years of development in a small catchment, is why the council classifies it as eutrophic: nutrient-rich, with poor water quality.

Fishing

This is what the lake is actually known for. Fish and Game stock it with rainbow trout from the Macraes hatchery — there are no natural spawning grounds here, so the fishery depends entirely on stocking. Perch as well. No boat fishing. The season runs 1 November to 31 May.

Fish and Game are direct about the drawback: the lake is subject to summer algal blooms.

Swimming

We would not send you here for a swim. The lake is eutrophic, blooms are documented, and it is not among the sites monitored for water quality — so there is no testing to tell you whether any given week is fine. Lake Wakatipu is cold but clean, and Moke Lake is twenty minutes away.

Access

An earlier version of this page told readers to head down a dirt road and climb a fence. We have taken that out, because we cannot confirm there is a formal public route to the water, and telling people to climb someone's fence is not advice we want to give.

If you are going to fish it, check the access with Fish and Game or the council first. There is reported to be crested grebe on the lake, which is another reason to tread lightly around the margins.

Nearby

Frankton and the Frankton Arm walkway are the closest things to do, and Lake Hayes is ten minutes further east with a proper loop track.