Went for a reccy today and found river 4 beats 4 and 5 holding good numbers of both browns and rainbows. Hooked 10 in under 2 hours of fishing so nothing spectacular but only briefly flicked though a few pools so as not to wreck the water for a guiding on Sunday. Saw numerous other fish, this does not explain all the fish missing higher up but it is promising.

Explored some new water later on which turned out to be quite successful. The river (really a small stream) was very easy walking. The first kilometer held only a few juveniles, but then in the space of 100m I sighted 5 reasonable fish in the 3 to 5 pound range, 4 caught me unawares and spooked before I could get a cast to them, but the second one which turned out to be a nice 3 and a half pound rainbow jack took the size 16 parachute adams dry 1st cast. Later on I hooked 2 more of similar size blind nymphing on pt’s at the head of small pools. I really rated this spot – I would say it is my cup of tea. It is small easy going, the fish a few and far between but it is basically sight fishing to a mixture of both browns and rainbows in reasonable clear water. The stream runs through farmland also and was very safe walking and wading. Being a tributary of a major river I would guess the fishing will get better as winter draws closer. In 7 fish over 3 pounds were encoutered in 3 hours. Not masses – sometimes in some spots you can get a dozen out of just one pool, but nevertheless great fly fishing by most peoples standards.

Still struggling on river 3, tried the lowest beat on it yesterday and it was extremely slow although some local reports say improving, pressure is dieing off. Also tried the bottom of beat 8 on river 4 which had a lot of small ones but we also had a half dozen reasonable fish over 2 and a half pounds, suspect I also lost another couple of reasonable ones, only fished half a day. Neither spot was really suitable for guiding beginners although river 6 would have been ok for experienced fly fishers. Will try really high up a tributary of river 3 today and lower on river 6.

Still struggling away in river 3 at the moment which I havn’t been on enough lately to know where the fish are holding. Hooked 6 landing 5 of which 3 were small ones under 2 pounds n a quick half hour fish in section 2 and the other 3 consisted of one rainbow around 3 pounds, another around 5, and a brown around 4.5. Only fished for 2 – 3 hours in total so not too bad all things considered however this river is still far from its best. Am guessing the fish may be further down or further up seeking optimum oxygen or temperature range – havn’t cracked the code yet but still working on it. Will fish lower tomorrow and then lower and higher on Friday attempting to locate the main population. Am aware of one abnormally large congregation in a large pool further down and havn’t yet explored recently above this pool to see if they are mainly in this low section. Fish today were mainly on hoffmans flashback pt but a couple on size 10 h & c.

It was Ians first day ever fly fishing for trout and he chose New Zealand as the spot. It was great weather and the days started well fishing beats 1 and 2 on river 5. Ian landed a nice 3 and a half pound rainbow jack out of the first pool on a size 10 h&c before lossing another one similar in the next pool. Shortly after we sited a good brown of over 4 pounds in a surface feeding position in a difficult position ahead of a willow branch in a small pool. Ian stalked and cast well but the wily trout had disappeared before the first cast.

Later in the day Ian off another good rainbow but in fairness the drag on the reel was set a little tight by his guide and he was using 4 pound tipped. Another chance was missed on a free rising rainbow in the gorge before we eventually returned to base. The gorgey areas and deaper pools seemed to be holding the most fish with several groups of several fish spotted including the odd better brown, the fish in some pools were chasing each other so I am guessing they are turning more and more into spawning mode. According to my results for last year the better size trout will start appearing in this tributary soon.

All in all a pretty successful day for a first day and Ian was unlikely not to get another couple.

Went exploring some new water yesterday with Charlie from Spot X through a private farm. We caught a few smaller ones and a couple of OK ones but the fishing was a little tough – may be better early or late season. What was interesting was the fish were still keen to take dries (very keen) so am guessing green beetle time might be fanstastic with larger fish still in this tributary after spawning. Not a spot for beginners with little casting room but all in all quite nice surroundings and certainly no fishing pressure there for years I would say.

Conditions finally back to normal around the place, with the ew Kayak course finally completed between O and Rotoaira. O canel fishing OK but not great yesterday. Myself and fellow guide Steven Rowe when for a fish for a few hours and managed a few mainly smaller though Steven did manage one at 6 and a half pounds and I lost one similar. Flies of the day were small – 18’s. Was experimenting with the line Steven uses – stroft nylon 2.2kg as apposed to the fluorocarbon I am normally a staunch fan of. Could not draw any conclusions – it certainly still catches fish.

Picked Chris and David Ohms up this morning from Tussock Lodge holiday home in Turangi for a days fishing – the day was looking ominous with rain over-night and strong winds forecast. After picking up our licenses while I debated the benificial use of the computer flows versus telephone river flow reports with my mate Steve in the Creel Tackle house, we headed to O for a quick try. Wind conditions were extreme and flow was low so after 15 fruitless minutes we headed to river 5 beats 1 and 2.

David started by long distance releasing a nice fish in the first pool and son Chris quickly followed suit with 3 more long distance releases in the next pool and 1 missed take. Shortly after on the start of beat 2 under the willow David got a little one and then Chris at last managed to land his first trout on fly ever which was quite a repectable fish just under 3 pounds. Shortly after David was bust off by another good rainbow before landing 2 nice ones still fishing through the gorge. Got nothing through the pocket water and returned to the second pool where David landed 1 and Chris lost one.

Overall I think 10 were hooked and played between 2 to 3 pounds (not huge but great fishing in this easy going spot through farmland), also at least 1 other take probably 3 or 4 but could only definetitly say 1, and David also picked up a little one.

Both David and Chris appeared to really enjoy the easy going nature of this river as well as the back-coutry farmland scenery and the absolute lack of any other human presence.

Was a tough last day on river 3 beat 2 for the Cambells hooking 3 good rainbows but bringing none to the net. One fish around 5 pounds got off a foot from the net while another bigger one got off down the bottom of the pool down the rapids out on the backing. The 3rd was a brief hookup later in the day that was only on for 5 seconds. Both Denease and John were casting well also and it was only due to the river not fishing well possibly due to temperature, moon, atmospheric pressure or the persistant abnormal high flow the river had been reciveing for a while – don’t know – more study needed! The day was also a little colder so insect life was lower although I did notice a lot of small mayflies around – possibly deliatidium vernale but without catching any it was hard to tell. The pool in front of Spot X several days earlier had been chocka with good rainbows – moving into spawing mode possibly or down in the deeper slower water now with temperatures cooling or else for some other reasons conditions suited that spot. I think Charlie counted 40 they could see.

The younger Campbells, Ben and Lindsay stayed home as Ben was sick and Lindsay needed to look after him. Later in the day Charlie from Spot X and myself helped them have some fun blasting away the shotguns at some clays. Lindsay turned out to be a fantastic shot and after a while never missed the first clay – just the second when two were put up.

In all we had a great night with the Cambells cooking dinner – some of my own venison amongst other things.

Fished an easier going river today to give the Cambells legs a break from heavy wading and unfortunately Denease had to take son Ben to the Doctor for a persistant stomach complaint the poor lad had been suffering with for a few days so it was left to John and Lindsay to do the fishing by themselves.

Lindsay started at 6am by herself determined to catch some of the fish plagueing the pool in front of the house at Spot X and got bust off on spinning gear – the same thing had evidently happened several times the previous evening as well!

In the first pool Lindsay got bust off quickly by a good one and then landing a smaller one under a pound.

John followed in the next pool landing a nice 3 pounder and then losing a 2 pounder, and Lindsay followed with a 4 pounder – a terrific fish for this river where they normally average around 2 and a half pounds.

Later on Lindsay managed another of around a pound and a half on nymph which also tried to take the dry.

A hard surface feeding rainbow twice took a 16 parachute adams but even after a good delay the second time managed to avoid being pricked and continued feeding but a bit more carefully.

John ended hooking but losing a nice brown over 3 pounds in pocket water dry fly nymphing.

Slow day beat 4 river 3. A relatively slowish first day for the Campbell family from New Mexico staying at Spot X. The day started well with daughter Lindsay catching a nice 2 and a half pound rainbow at the head of the first pool then slowed right down. In the end we hooked 4 good ones and landed two of them with son Ben landing the biggest of the day at around 3 and a half pounds. John and Denease hooked severeal small ones also. Looks like the fish may be turning into spawing mode so the may have to concentrate on the slower parts of pools and higher up in the Tributaries.

It was the campbells first ever fly-fishing experience and in fact Bens first ever fishing experience so 4 good hookups isn’t bad but the guys were getting some good casts out and some good drifts in riffly water so I would have hoped for a few more.

They all showed great ability with the casting but unfortunately my time had to be divided between the 4 and we will still need to do a little more work today before they can completely mangage the lines themselves and catch fish while I sit back and cheer on – thats the normal plan anway!

The Cambells are enjoying staying at Spot X and are looking forward to some clay bird shooting. After the slow day on the river Daugter Lindsay was enjoying a beer on the lawn and a cast with the spinning rod and managed to hook up. Not sure if she landed any after I left but the pool in front seemed to have a lot of good Rainbows in it as well as the normal browns indicating possible spawning mode – run.