Finally river levels had receded enough to do some proper back country fishing. We hit a river around lunch time and Jeremy had a fantastic day hooking 16 good sized trout – a mixture of browns and Rainbows averaging 3 and half pounds. There were even a few small ones that I didn’t count.

Managed to have a brief flick myself for 5 minutes while Jeremy rested and one time and hooked two in a spot I have never normally even bothered with.

The fishing had to be described as pretty darn hot – 16 not counting mine or small ones hooked for an afternoons fishing!

Am back guiding a few past regulars now and am really looked to the next trip with Philip Norman on Feb 17 where we a heli fishing and camping out for 3 nights and 4 days of hopefully fantastic sight fishing!

We started on the Tongariro this morning which had a feeling of being rather slow so after lunch we moved to the back-country where high water levels still made for difficult fishing but despite this, Jeremy still managed to hook 4 or 5 reasonable sized trout and a few small ones.

Strangely Jeremy rated a river fish later in the afternoon as being the high point of the trip rather than the trophy he caught yesterday. The 3 and a half pound rainbow did drag him down river through two rapids though so I suppose this could be called a challenge!

Guided Dave Betz and Rick Davis today back-country out of Spot X Lodge and had a pretty good first day. After a fairly latish start we hit the river around 9am and Rick was quickly on the board landing a nice 4 poundish Rainbow Trout. The trout weren’t easy but the boys still managed to hook 13 good trout averaging around 4 pounds though the landing ratio of just 3 from 13 leaves us room for some improvements in days to come. Heli fishing for the next 4 days so no reports until then.

Bryce Curle guided the other two of the four person group and managed a similar hookup rate but a higher landing ratio I am told. Bryce was guiding Larry Gordon and Bart Davies on his first fly fishing mission to New Zealand.

 

Went out back-country fishing today with fellow Turangi/Taupo guide and friend Bryce Curle. Conditions were a little flooded around the areas we went to explore so we fished a bit of water that we guide – normally we don’t fish over guiding water – and had a ball with 14 hookups on good sized 4 to 5lb trout out of 2 pools over 3 hours in the afternoon!

Guided Phillip Norman from Brisbane in the back country again today. We briefly fished the Tongariro in the morning but struggled in the windy conditions so moved out of the Taupo area for the afternoon. Phil had a great afternoon landing 4 out of 11 trout hooked in the 3 to 5 pound range which inluded one Brown trout and the rest presumably Rainbows.

Conditions in Turangi were a little rough weather wise this morning so rather than battling to cast heavy flies in strong winds I took Phil out to a back-country spot that he has fished with me before in the past.

The fishing wasn’t fast and furious but was still OK with Phil landing 7 out of 11 Rainbow Trout hooked in the 3 to 5 pound range.

Flies of the day were Hare & Copper and Flasback Pheasant tail.

Guided the Wartons for their 3rd and final day of their fishing trip based out of Spot X Lodge with us. Today was a casting tuition day and the Wartons really improved their casting significantly with Bruce comfortably double hauling and managing the line and mending by lunch time. Marj also did well and each landed a nice fish after lunch when we started fishing with Bruce landing this nice 3lb brown trout to finish the trip off

After a frustrating start for the Wartons – it took until the 7th fish before one finally hit the shore just before lunch for Bruce. Not long after lunch Marj hooked a fantastic trout which she controlled well and finally landed a fantastic 5lb Rainbow that actually bought tears of joy to her! Thinking that this wouldn’t be beaten on this trip was a mistake as within 5 minutes Marj was hooked into another trout of a complete different character. The trout took off like a freight train when it realised something was wrong with the nymph it had inhaled and had the flyline plus 30 meters of backing out within a few seconds. Marj held on and let it run even when lying flat in the water after stumbling before I was able to lift her to her feet. As she was lying in the water on the rocks trying to regain her balance in a light rapid I asked if she was OK and she replied “I’ve still got it .., Ive still got it!” After recovering the line and playing the fish further downstream to the near side of the river I finally netted for her a cracker 6lb rainbow perfectly proportioned and with a lbs all going well).

Guided Bruce and Marj Warton from Australia today – back at Spot X Lodge after nearly a year since their last fishing trip with us. Had a good day with 7 good trout hooked, the smallest landed was a 2lb Rainbow and the biggest landed by Bruce was a 4.5lb fish that nearly had all the backing out and took Bruce 60 meters down river before coming to the net after a long battle.

Picked up Tom Schenkenberg from Turangi’s only 5 star lodge “River Birches” this morning and headed off for some back country fly fishing. I was going to take him to a small little wilderness river a couple of hours drive away for some dry fly but heavy rain en route changed my mind and we took the safe option of blind nymphing a nearby river instead. Not long after arriving at our destination Tom managed to hook and land a cracker 4lb rainbow trout that took him up a rapid around some rocks and had us dancing over boulders for some time before coming to the net. If I had remembered the camera then I could have taken a photo of it rather than of Tom back at the car showing how big it was. Tom then managed a smaller Rainbow of around a pound and a half before being bust off by another and then landing another nice 4lb Rainbow Trout that was very stubborn about coming to the net. Around lunch time Tom landed another nice 3lb Rainbow before being blown away by a 4 lb-ish freight train of a Rainbow that hit “like a ton of bricks” to quote Tom, before steaming off down a rapid and down river with us in chase for 100 meters or so before losing us. The final fish was a debatable one that hooked when I took the rod from Tom to show him why his cast and then mend wouldn’t catch a fish and what he should do instead – of course a trout grabbed the fly and hooked up a split second after he handed me the rod before I could even strip it in and then jumped a few times before spitting the hook on me. Tom thought that was a great way to end a fantastic days fishing!