Guided Wei Li from Auckland and his father-in-law from USA on Friday and due to duck shooting all weekend this is the first chance I have had to update my blog. The guys were due to fish with me last Wednesday but because of bad weather on Tuesday, I advised them not to come. The guys were keen and able to come later in the week and the weather played ball so here is the report.

The guys took advantage of my catch insurance scheme due to the higher water levels and lack of fly fishing experience which means an extra 10% premium but guarantees hooked and played legal size trout or your money back. Fortunately for me and for them, they each hooked and played several trout with Wei-Li landing this superb 5.25lb rainbow trout as well as a 4.5lb brown trout. Al managed a nice brown of 4lb and was bust-off by a bigger unstoppable rainbow. Wei-Li was bust-off once after a long fight and then dropped another out of the same pool before landing his first brown. Wei-Li briefly hooked two more before landing the good rainbow.

The end score was 3 landed over 4 pounds out of 7 hooked + 2 further definite brief hookups and a couple of other likely strikes.

My duck shooting was a little less successful but was great fun all the same. I stayed out at Spot X Lodge and shot with Charlie, their 10 year old son Jack and Nelly. We had a great time and had plenty of opportunities. We managed 3 ducks, a heap of turkeys and Jack also managed a few geese. Personally I managed to acclimatize the ducks to the harmless sound of loud bangs!

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Low

Cloud/Wind: Very light southerly wind, overcast and drizzly rain at the moment after raining steadily all night

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Dirty and coloured

Recommended Flies: Black gold bead wooley buggers