Went out this morning for a bit of a fish and had a stellar morning playing around 15 or 16 trout ranging from 1 pounds to this one here of around 8 or 9 pounds which after its first sizzling run I thought was going to pass the magic 10 pound mark. Called my guiding mate Mike Burgin up and he wasted no time in getting there and hooked into several in no time at all. Am sheltering from the hail storm inside my house now and am going to tie flies for the busy summer ahead.

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Dropping

Cloud/Wind: Good this morining but just clouded over and started hailing with thunder and lighening so guessing we might be in for some more rough weather.

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Low and clear

Recommended Flies: Pheasant tail and flashblack black hare & copper rubber legs.

A nice day staying at home out of the thunderstorms and tying a few flies. Picutured here is a new one I am using modelled off one that Chris from Judges Pool motel gave me last year in a certain spot for a certain situation that was kicking butt! I have altered the pattern by using silver tinsel for ribbing, black squirrel tail for the tail – cerci, a couple of wraps of lead for weight dyed black hare guard hair for dubbing instead of rabbit fur and rubber legs. The fly has a pearl mylar wing case and is tyed on size 10 hooks – I use Kamasan 175 10’s. The fly has been bringing more than its share of fish in amongst some time tested and tried patterns so it is cerainly worth tying a few. What the trout are taking them for I can only speculate, maybe black stoneflys – Austroperla Cyrene – or maybe though it doesn’t look much like them, Colobriscus Humerlaris mayfly nymphs. It may just be that to a trout it just looks insecty and tasty with plenty of supernormal factors on the fly – exagerated insect features.

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Steady low

Cloud/Wind: Windy, cloudy, some heavy downpours and thunder storms today

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Dirty

Recommended Flies: The one pictured and described here

Went to a local lake today for around an hour with mate and fellow guide Mike Burgin. I landed 2 out of 3 and Mike landed 2 or 3 out of about 5. Not bad considering the winds nearly knocked us off our feet a couple of times! Wind and cold eventually got the better of us.

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Rising

Cloud/Wind: Windy and cloudy

Water Temperature:

River Conditions:

Recommended Flies: Enhanced Chris

More unsavoury weather kept me at home today catching up on paperwork and computer work. My friend at TALTAC and other members there did have good day on the Tongariro but reported the Tauranga-Taupo is difficult.

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Falling at 10pm

Cloud/Wind: Some heavy showers and strong winds all day. Snow reported at lake Otamangakau

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Green

Recommended Flies: Glow bugs and wooley buggers

With the bad weather last night and both the Tongariro and Tauranga-Taupo rivers heading up this morning I went around to TALTAC to see my client for the morning Ken, and made a mutual executive decision to postpone the fishing to a more pleasant day. This is the first day this year that guiding has been deferred due to weather and though there were actually spots we could have fished today, it was more Kens goal to improve his Tongariro nymphing skills and it wasn’t the best day for this given that he comes down from Auckland relatively regularly and can easily go some time in better conditions.

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Rising slightly this evening

Cloud/Wind: Cloudy and gale force winds

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Dirty but clearing

Recommended Flies: Glow bugs, wooley buggers

Peter Neil an Australian client from earlier in the year enjoyed his fly fishing here so much last time that he booked the whole family into the luxurious River Birches Lodge again, this time for a couple more days guiding fly fishing in our back-country rivers. Unfortunately due to weather conditions and the back-country rivers being flooded he has had to fish around Taupo. Peter went with guide Ken Drummond yesterday as I was still guiding Lyndon and Judy Forrest and he had a ball out on the boat with Ken. From what Peter says, he hooked around 20 odd fish up to around 4 or 5 pounds and was stoked and surprised at Kens disappointment at the fish size! I was a little disappointed myself with the fish size this morning, fishing the same area as Ken did with Peter, the biggest was this fish of around 6 and a half pounds in an area where this is often the normal size. After landing 12 for the morning and losing as many we headed up the Tauranga-Taupo river in the afternoon where Peter landed a further 12 out of 23 hooked making 24 landed out of over 40 hookups for the day. Probably missed half as many takes again, so in the end an excellent day. Hopefully the weather will be better for Peters next trip.

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Falling

Cloud/Wind: Raining heavy outside now at 10pm – expecting rivers to be unfishable tomorrow

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Green and clearing today but probably rising now

Recommended Flies: Champagne and flame glow bug

Yet another great day out for the Forrests today, who learnt that fishing in a flood with rain and strong winds can actually produce a few trout. Lyndon and Judy both did excellently, landing 8 out of 9 trout ranging from 2 pounds to 5 pounds and included a mixed bag of rainbows and browns.

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Low

Cloud/Wind: Cloud, Rain, Wind, flooded rivers – Taupo tributaries receding

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Dirty brown and high though Tongariro becoming fishable

Recommended Flies: Black stone fly

Guided Judy and Lyndon Forrest again today for day 4 of their back-country fishing holiday out of Spot X but unfortunately due to 20mm of rain last night the already dirty rivers were filthy today. Rather than trying my dirty water techniques which normally dig out the odd trout we went and did some relaxing lake fishing instead. Static nymphing a local trophy wild trout lake Lyndon soon lost his biggest trout ever before Judy managed to get us on the board with a nice two pound brown. In the end the fishing has to be described as slow but we only fished for 3 or 4 hours and the Forests really enjoyed the opportunity to let the legs recover for a day in very peaceful and scenic surroundings, and to practice their casting while still catching the odd trout.

Pictured here is Lyndon who finally managed to sort out the frustrating mad evening rise here – obviously kidding – as the water is filthy due do last nights heavy rain but I am sure his method and fly choice would have worked!

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Rising

Cloud/Wind: Clearing but a bit of wind

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Filthy brown back country and don’t know about the Tongariro

Recommended Flies: 18 Sawyers and 14 black bead hair and copper tied with light grey hare underfur

Guided Lyndon and Judy Forrest and TALTAC Robyn out of Spot X Lodge today on river 3 beats 1 and 3. We took a fairly leisurely pace and started slightly later today. Conditions initially conspired against us and we were fishless until around 11am when conditions improved and Robyn kicked the day off with a fine 3 and a half pound rainbow. Later Judy managed a nice rainbow she estimated at around a pound and a half to two pounds. Lyndon did the best today with this fine specimen followed up a short time later with another similar sized fish somewhere over 3 pounds. Lyndon then hooked up in a tricky position next to some willows briefly. The evening rise was again frustrating tonight with lots of good trout that tonight were taking emergers – assumedly Colli’s. In the end, 5 good sized trout were hooked, plus a few babies. All the guys and girls casting and fishing abilities have improved drastically over the past few days making my job easier and easier.

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Low

Cloud/Wind: A little wind

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Low and clear

Recommended Flies: Flashback pheasant tail

Guided Lyndon and Judy Forrest and TALTAC Robyn again today out of Spot X. In total 16 wild rainbow and brown trout were hooked of which 11 were landed in the range of 1.5 pounds to 4.5 pounds with Judy hooking the biggest, a beautiful brown near the end of the day when unfortunately I had left the camera back at the lodge. The guys and girls enjoyed the relaxing nature of this fishing and have opted to fish the same water tomorrow rather than seeing something new.

There was a mass rise happening in the evening – the likes of which would drive any trout fisherman crazy. The rise was to Colobriscus Humeralis and unfortunately I didn’t have any suitable sized Kakahi Queen dries tied. It was frustrating to watch hundreds of good sized rainbows rising all around my dries within inches and refusing to even mistakingly take mine. The selectiveness was incredible for North Island New Zealand trout on an evening rise.

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Falling

Cloud/Wind: Cloudy with drizzle but little wind

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Greeny brown on river 3

Recommended Flies: Kaufmans flashback pheasant tails, Kakahi queens.