Was in town this afternoon in Sporting Life, re-stocking my business cards when Graham looked over and asked if I would be happy to take a 10 year old fly fishing, as the lady standing there- Nadine – had been trying to find a guide for her son and no-one would take him. Liking a challenge and realizing from past experience that kids actually pick things up better than some adults, I accepted. After putting Dylan into the smallest waders and boots I have, and his mother also kitted up to make crossing the mighty Tongariro safer, we went fishing. Crossing the river was no problem for the 3 of us and made it possible for Dillan to fish from the easy side for a right hander. As expected Dylan listened well and despite the windy conditions, picked it up fast. Getting Dylan to water load from a downstream position I only needed to explain once how to put the line under his index finger and to strip the slack line back. I also only needed to explain once how to mend and he got that instantly too.

The first 2 trout were unfortunately quite big and a little to aggressive for someone who had been fly fishing for only half an hour. After an epic 2-3 minutes each trout managed to bust him off. When the indicator went under for a 3rd time and Dylan struck, I thought he had the bottom and took the rod only to find he had actually stuck the hook home in the jaw of the very nice 3 pound rainbow trout pictured here. I handed the rod back to Dylan who tripped over in the excitement and then regained his balance to successfully play the fish by holding the rod tip high and letting go of the reel when the trout pulled hard. As simple as that. Dylan hooked one more trout which got off before we driven off by the freezing rain. 4 hooked, 1 landed in two hours!

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Low but Rising

Cloud/Wind: Windy and showery

Water Temperature: Pretty damned cold if you ask Dillan!

River Conditions: Low and clear

Recommended Flies: Sawyers pheasant tail. Zillions of mayflies coming off – assuming Deleatidium Myzobranchia from a distance