Went out for my first real go on the Tongariro today and by all acounts did fairly well. Hooked 12, mainly borderline legal fish and most on 14BSPT and some on 10GBHC. Saw plenty of fish, in fact I would go so far as to say that the areas I ventured into were pretty much full. Only fished around half the day, so all in all pretty good. Conditions were low and clear, and I would imagine the fishing is going to hot up further next week if the predicted bad weather for the weekend arrives on time.

Fished river 4 beat 5 this morning with Charlie and the first pool which normally sees around 10 hookups only gave us one. The next two lies produced a few hookups and then the big pool above produced several for Charlie at the top – though only one legal one, and several for myself fishing the middle and back part of the pool which I don’t normally do.

After lunch which fished back down river on beat 4 and hooked around 10 browns in the 3 to 4 and a half pound range out of the first small pool. We followed up 2 pools down with three nice similar sized rainbows, and then ended with one more each out of the big corner pool and a couple of pools above. There were a few fish rishing late this afternoon and evening. In all we probably hooked around 25 trout for the day which was OK but not exceptional fishing. Surprisingly the first pool in the morning returned little whereas a week ago it was fantastic. Either the fish have moved on or they were in a different area due to the higher than normal flow and dirtyish colour – though still reasonably clear. The best fly of the day was 14BSPT followed by 10H&C

Spent most of the day fly tying with a brief interlude of an hour or so up at O. Landed three from 2 to 5 pounds, dropped two, and missed at least one other. Conditions were windy but bearable. Still not the fish I would be hoping for at this time of the year. There does seem to be a lot of fish killing going on there which is unfortunate given there is only a few thousand adult fish in the lake and if everyone kills one or two (or even three in some cases) every day then by this time of the season there isn’t much left! It seems to be part of a silly tradition here to kill the fish and take home to show off. If people really thought about it then they would realize that they are actually spending the money on petrol, flies and time to catch trout and it would surely be a better day to catch a dozen 8 or 9 pounders rather than just one or two 4 pounders. It seems clearly evident that fish numbers and size are lower than in previous years (no doubt DOC would disagree but I fear they are biased by license sales) and this is surely a result of the increased kill rate as a result of more fishing pressure on the lake by people who are yet to be educated on the benefits of catch and release. I wasn’t around fishing the lake in the old days but those who were are constantly reminding me of what it once was.

Again today conditions were looking favourable at O but probably not quite enough rain. It would seem to me that the bigger fish we are chasing never came out of the lake to feed. A few good fish were caught in between quite a lot of smaller ones. Personally I lost 1 around 4 to 5 pounds, landed 1 around 4 to 5 pounds and landed 4 smaller ones under 3 pounds. Only a week left to fish to O before it shuts for the winter so I intend to make the most of over the next few days.

The Tongariro was up last night and back down this morning. There will be a run of fish in it, similarly the Tauranga-Taupo which I will probably fish tomorrow.

Fished O yesterday after noticing the right conditions developing the previous day with the Courage’s from South Africa. When I arrived just after dawn Kevin Kakahi (a local O expert) had already lost a good one and landed one other small one. The water had already cleared considerable and we ended up catching most on the b midge. I ended with half a dozen or so smallish fish under 3 pounds and Charlie from the Spot X lodge turning up late ended with a couple of respectable fish – one around 5 pounds. Chris from Judges Pool motel in Turangi had landed a few and lost a few off the landing early on.

In the afternoon I stripped wooley buggers with Charlie on the lake in Charlies fantastic new bass boat. The lake was fairly dirty. I landed 1 of around 3 pounds and missed one that struck on the hang after following Charlies flies into the boat. Charlie missed a few hits on Nadines secret pattern.

Not the same number of trout today for the exhausted Courage’s from SA but still caught some nice fish river 3 beats 2 & 3 in the morning before rain pushed us out. They hooked 9 reasonable fish, 3 landed over 4 pounds, 1 lost 5 pounds +, and one lost that was a potential trophy brown i.e. deep slow moving submarine that we nearly got a look at before it decided to slowy head into the deep fast water and end the fight for Gavin. You know they are big when it doesn’t matter how much pressure you put on and they just keep slowy moving in the same direction with just the odd shake of the head. Early on 12BBH&C worked best, later on the 14fbpt claimed a few, and when the fishing was tough to a some sighted fish in the big pool, Michelle took a nice rainbow on a black 18fbpt that struck on the lift.

We ended the afternoon with a 2 or 3 strikes at O as the water was coming was rising.

Gavin and Michelle hooked 45 between them today river 4 beat 8. Took 17 from the first pool and were on 29 by lunch. Not too many over 4 pounds but a lot of cracker 3 pound plus rainbows and Michelle managed a few nice browns also. In the end the Courage’s were exhausted from casting half the time and playing fish the other half. Michelle even managed a few good breaks in between fish. The river has about typical flow and the fish were hitting 12bbh&C about half the time and 14fbpt the rest.

Took my mate’s father Jeff fly fishing today and had a relatively hard day on River 4 beat 9. The river was extremely low and the normal holding areas in riffly water were actually pretty low. Jeff hasn’t fished for 4 years. I caught 2 smallish rainbows of a 2 to 3 pounds, could see several in spawing mode chasing each other in the big pool. We didn’t fish this beat for two long and ended up spending more time walking and looking for fishable water as the low flow had limited the options a bit. We went to river 4 beat 4 after briefly and Jeff managed to hook a nice 3 and half pound rainbow in the 5 minutes we fished there – there was a group of people fishing above us who had probably already fished the water so we moved on. Finished up at O where I caught an OK brown and rainbow on the normal midge pattern. There was a little flow and low clear conditions.

Hot fishing river 4 beat 5 today. Guided Mark late last season on the Tongariro and had him again today for half a day with his friend and Neighbour Dwain who had never been fly fishing or even picked up a fly rod before. Mark was wanting Tongariro but not having confidence in the Tongariro at the moment They accepted my offer to take them back country for a half day instead – something I don’t normally do on half days due to the costs involved in the travel – however I prefer clients to be catching trout also!

Dwain took to fly fishing like a duck to water and had casting and mending sorted in the first hour and ended with 9 hookups and several nice fish including a brown at just over 5 pounds and a nice rainbow at just under 5 pounds. Mark added another 8 hookups and several nice fish landed between 2 to 3 pounds. We were back in Turangi just after 1 for lunch and I am about to join the guys for a dinner to celebrate a great first days fly fishing for Dwain.

Fished 3 hours in river 3 beat 2 today. Caught 12 of exceent size. Only 1 fish would have been below 3 pounds and the biggest was around 6. They seem to be stacking up in the predictable spots. Noticably since the same time last year some of the small pools and runs have disappeared and turned into rapidy pocket water which is difficult to fish and I havn’t yet been able to determine whether fish are holding in these areas at the moment. Virtually all of todays fish took a 14fbpt. 11 Rainbows and 1 brown. The fishing was still not as hot as it can be but certainly an improvement on recent months.

The Tongariro is still fishing hard although there are a few good freshies coming thru, and rumour has it (thru Steve at Creel tackle house) that someone got a 10 pound rainbow at of the hydro pool on the weekend. By the sounds of it the mouths are starting fish well also.

Guiding river 4 tomorrow.