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!

Fished a local Taupo river today with a couple of mates. Have been up north getting the boat ready for Salt Fly over summer recently so it was great to get back into some clean water.

Conditions wern”t 100% ideal but we still manged to hook 22 trout averaging around 3 lbs so the day was pretty good in the end.

Have a fair bit of guiding scheduled over the summer and it is great to be only 4 days away from back-country opening – an eagerly antercipated date!

Should have taken some photos but was too keen to get back into the water today and catch another after not fishing for a few weeks.

Guided regular client Phil Norman from Australia today and attempted to find Phil his first trophy. Conditions were good for most of the day so we took advantage and fished a local Trophy lake. We didn’t crack the magic 10 pound mark but Phil stil managed to hook 5 nice trout of which the biggest landed was 5 and a half pounds. Two got away and one was a very solid fish – so who knows!

Went out fishing briefly myself on the Tongariro this morning and managed to loose one fish on cicada and and 3 other close look but not takes. Went fishing with Andrew Christmas in the afternoon and hooked 15 between us in around an hour and a half or so before leaving the spot to some another fisherman and his son.

Well, day 3 arrived for the Good’s this morning staying out at Spot X and we were greeted by rain. A quick examination of the flows and last nights rainfall on some nearby major rivers meant changing plans from going to a large river due to safety issues and having a look at a smaller stream. Alas when we arrived we found that to be in a raging flood so we headed back towards Turangi and the Tongariro. After looking at and testing a couple of spots near Turangi we decided to call off day 3 though if Glen is reading this then I would recommend he fish the spot tomorrow morning that I showed him later on in the day!

Met some friends from Oakura Bay near Russell (in the Bay of Islands) this afternoon and went for a fish. Between us for the afternoon/evening we landed 5 out of around a dozen hookups – Glen will know the exact spot – we were just a little too early there earlier in the day as predicted!.

Guided Roger King today and conditions were pretty much perfect. Had a reasonably successful day with Roger landing 10 out of 13 hooked. There didn’t seem to be as many trout around as this time last year but the fishing was still OK with most people we came across having caught a few. Spent some time later after fishing showing Roger the “Tongariro Roll Cast” which I think he has picked the basics up of fairly quickly. Roger has been having some Spey Casting lessons with Chappie Chapman and I think this definitley helped a lot. I even picked up a minor adjustment to make on my Snap T from Roger.

Most reports on the Tongariro are for hard fishing. Several experienced anglers that I have spoken to have been catching far less and far smaller than they have in past years. I suspect the reason for the low numbers is that the season is probably even later again this year due to the long dry summer. I have noticed the fish in the past few weeks do seem to be smaller again than what they were a month ago for some reason.

kkk 

Tongariro Report

Barometer: No Change

Cloud/Wind: No significant wind

Flow:

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Low and clear

Recommended Flies: Sawyers Pheasant Tail and Hare & Copper.

.53 -.52. Fished the Tauranga-Taupo river today and did OK hooking 17 and landing around half of these – fished from around 10:30am to 3pm. Most of the fish were in excellent condition and there may have been three that broached 4 pounds of which I lost 2. It seems to me that the fish are improving in size and condition and I wouldn’t mind betting that the smelt population is increasing in the lake again. Most of the trout were around the 3 pound mark and of legal size.

kkk 

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Falling

Cloud/Wind: No significant wind

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Medium with a hint of green – 33 cumecs

Recommended Flies: Sallmon egg and flame glowbugs.

Went fishing briefly this afternoon with my mate Blair and landed one small trout, lost one a missed a couple of others – Blair finished much similar. The weather has been bad so I have just being sitting at home for the past few days tying flies ready for the year ahead.

Tongariro Report

Barometer:

Cloud/Wind:

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Low and clear

Recommended Flies:

Went out for a bit of a fish this afternoon to get away from the fly tying desk where I have been sat for the past couple of days. Mike landed a few including this nice rainbow. I sat on the sideline watching – more inclined to dream of the new and bigger boat I am about to buy half off with another fishing mate.

Tongariro Report

Barometer:

Cloud/Wind:

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Low and clear

Recommended Flies:

Went for a bit of a fish today with Mike Burgin at a local lake. We each managed 3 small ones around 2 pounds. There were quite a few moving around and conditions seemed pretty good.

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Low

Cloud/Wind: Overcast with some rain

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: A little high in the Tongariro today but fishable

Recommended Flies: Sawyers pheasant tail, hare & coppers