Been up north having a holiday over the past week – and what does a fishing guide to on holiday – go fishing! Went up North to do a sea charter which I do for Northpower each year and to go in the Hoppin game fishing tournament in the Bay Of Islands with my uncle. The Northpower competions was called off due to weather but the Hoppin tournament conditions were quite good. Spent two days trolling lures for Marlin for no event but had some good fun speed jigging with knife jigs on Cape Brett where Steven landed a 26 pound Yellowtail Kingfish, and I got busted and lost his good jig in the process. We also had some good fun Salt Water Fly Fishing to Kahawai with popper flies (Australian Salmon)

Went on a charter with Justin Smith from Oakura Bay Fish, dive & Cruise and had a fantastic time with my mates Steve and Mike Burgin who was also up there staying at my bach and using my smaller boat to do some coastal fishing. With Justin we caught a heap of trevally and Kahawai and tried livebaiting for large Kinfish which we didn’t get but lost one live bait and the whold rig to a shark. Later on we went back to trolling lures for marlin and this time we saw a heap though none came up in the lures. We saw around 7 or 8 free jumpers and came within 20 meters of a striped marlin which was on the surface, it raise its dorsel and turned towards a lures before disappearing – never to be seen again!

Tongariro Report

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Guided the Normores today from Canada with the help of my colleague Steven Rowe a fellow guide over from New Plymouth. Steven helped seal a cracker day for the family who hooked around 40 trout mainly rainbows though a few nice browns as well. We fished my normal river 4 hot spot and the average size was around 3 pounds. The fishing slowed in the afternoon as the water temperature moved up to just below 19.5C where it fished better the other day at 17C.

Tongariro Report

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A little harder fishing today for Frank who is staying River Birches Lodge (Turangi’s only 5 star accommodation) but still some good fishing in the end. The day started a little slow and it took a while before frank landed a reasonable 2.5 pound rainbow in dry fly. After a bit more fishing Frank landed a small one and lost one other good fish after a fairly good battle. In the afternoon we headed to a local lake where Frank lost a nice 4 pound brownie on dry fly and then landed the fish of the day – this superb 5 pound rainbow.

The fishing in the Tongariro is certainly getting harder and I would guess that the low levels currently and warmer than normal temperatures are probably encouraging the remaining fish to drop back to the lake. I would expect the Tongariro to fish harder and harder for the next couple of months until the spawning runs start coming through again in May which will start to put good numbers of fish back in the river. The back country however is fishing good and will probably get better.

Tongariro Report

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Guided Stuart Nicol again today, back from Australia afer fishing with me earlier in the year. This time Stuarts goal was to enjoy some of New Zealands fine back country fishing, something he hadn’t done too much off during 20 years of fishing trips to New Zealand.

The day started fantastic and Stuarts doubts about blind fishing fast riffles with cicada dry flies were soon laid to rest with loss of 2 fantastic fish that blew him away. Shortly after with the first cast of a nymph he landed this fish, his first of several landed. This one was around 4 pounds and in fantastic condition.

Later in the afternoon we did some dry fly sight fishing to brown trout. We spooked around a dozen. Lined up on 4, and managed to get a cast to 2 unspooked ones of which both took the fly and the second one stuck which Stuart landed. In total I think Stuart hooked around 13 for the day and landed around half.

Tongariro Report

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Went out for a bit of a fish this afternoon to get away from the fly tying desk where I have been sat for the past couple of days. Mike landed a few including this nice rainbow. I sat on the sideline watching – more inclined to dream of the new and bigger boat I am about to buy half off with another fishing mate.

Tongariro Report

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Went out testing some more water that I often guide today and did quite well. I have been a little concerned with the water temperature and levels out back country as we are in the middle of a drought however the water temperature was down to 17C in River 4 on my most reliable beat and the fishing was pretty good with good fish numbers i.e. 15 in 2 hours. The fish were hitting the hare and coppers more so I assume they are predominantly feeding on Caddis now – probably Aoteaphsyche colinica. There is a lot of Algae but the water was actually pretty fishable though it does need a flood to give it a bit of a clean out.

Tongariro Report

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Went looking for fish in existing water today and did OK. I briefly fished one smaller river and had 6 takes on dry fly in about half an hour. The fish numbers weren’t as high as this time last year – to be honest I just flogged the usual hot spots quickly. The farmer reported hearing of a few dead trout and eels being found down river which I would guess is probably a result of the low water levels and high temperatures caused by the lowest recorded rainfall in history hitting the region. In saying this, there were still plenty of fish there to make a good days fishing of.

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I gave Mike Burgin a hand today with guiding a couple of Americans. It was an average sort of a day fish number wise but the quality of the fish was good with at least two of the lost fish going over 6 pounds. In all I think the guys hooked around 11 good sized fish of around 3 pounds or more + 2 or 3 smaller ones around the pound and a half mark.

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Went fishing with my mates Johan And Charlette today out on river 3 waterfall beat. We had a blast with Charlette starting off with a nice 2.5 pound brown Johan missed one then I landed a 6 pounder and lost two more. The next pool was fantastic. Charlette landed 1 and lost 2. Johan lost 4 including a possible trophy and I landed another 6 pound rainbow, and had a couple of others on that I can’t remember the result of. We fished another one more pool but the water was flowing a little too fast and dirty for this pool so we headed back to base early./p>

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Picked up Kit & Angela this morning from the 5 Star River Birches Lodge in Turangi and though the weather was looking a little dicy this morning it actually turned out ok with just a little drizzle.

The fishing wasn’t quite as hot as it has been lately but Kit and Angela did well any on their first ever fly fishing trip. Kit started off early with a nice rainbow of around a pound and a half and then Angela missed a take on dry fly to a good 3 pounder before landing a couple of dinks (small ones). Trying a couple of other spots, Kit had a nice rainbow around the 3 pound mark sip down the dry fly (sz 10 Parachute Adams) before it embarked on a fast journey around the pool and eventually got off. Further down stream Angela lost 2 more around the 2 – 3 pound mark and Kit lost 1 more before landing this fish of around 2 and a bit pounds.

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