Went for a brief flick in the Hydro pool of the Tongariro this afternoon and had no luck - though I only fished from one position for half an hour. Normally I do pick up a few fish there. Talking to a few others and the fishing has been very tough on the Taupo tributaries. The unusually dry weather hasn’t helped.

On a controversial note I am wondering if people should be killing every trout out of the Taupo system they can get their hands on. I am not suggesting doing this - just pondering the merits based on the smaller than usual size and the possibility of this being caused by good high numbers of trout because of good breeding conditions over past couple of years. The smelt population in the lake is known to be down and this can’t be helped by high trout numbers. The high trout numbers certainly aren’t in the Taupo tributaries yet but give it a few weeks and they will be. I am looking forward to it. Please feel free to leave comments in response to this controversial pondering.

Spent the last few days adding a new photo gallery system to the site which will allow the display and download of all my client photos. I have been working though the photos and uploading them as has Charlie from Spot X Lodge. It will take a couple more weeks to get them up but will mean if I have taken photos of your trip you should be able to search for your name - or part of your name in the gallery and find your photos. You can then download them, get them cleaned up by a professional if you like and print them out in high enough quality to print a poster sized photo for your living room wall or office. I have a friend up North who puts photos on canvas prints for a living and the look fantastic! My new camera is 10 Mega pixel so pretty good resolution and photoshop can fix what my poor photography skills achieve.

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Falling

Cloud/Wind: A little wind today but fishable

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Low and clear

Recommended Flies: Marcel at the new Riverway General Store and Outfitters accross the road has been recommending Green Stoneflies - a lot of his customers have been getting success on his custom tied Green Stonefly patterns.