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.