Met Mac and Jeff Ballantyne from Australie early this morning for a fly trip out to the back country. It wasn’t long before Jeff hooked into his first New Zealand trout and was met by an angry aggressive rainbow that blew him away in about three seconds. This happend twice more before Jeff after a long battle landed a nice 5 and a quarter pounder. His friend Mac who was trying fly fishing for the first time did great hooking 5 of the 12 hooked by the pair for the day and managed to land two nice trout including this superbly conditioned Brown Trout.

Guided Lyndon, Judy, and Robyn again for the last day of the wedding anniversary annual fly fishing trip and we certainly had to work for them! I suspect the water temperature was still a little cold at 11C as activity was a little slow. Despite the slow fishing – down to around 30% of normal the guys and girls managed to hook 6 and Lyndon eventuay saved the day by landing this nice 4 pound Rainbow Trout.

Went out to a new area today and caught one nice fish before the water strangely discoloured and turned filthy brown. When we left on the way back downstream the water was clear meaning that some event had occurred upstream just before we arrived causing the discolouration. After a quick lunch at Spot X Lodge we headed up from the Lodge to practice casting and hopefully catch a couple in water that was also still heavily discoloured from last weeks flood. Robyn managed a nice 5 lb (approximately) Rainbow on the wet line and one other strike. Lyndon lost one on the way back.

There was a fanatasic evening rise in front of the lodge last night and I managed a nice brown trout on dry fly mucking around myself for a few minutes – my first for the new season on dry fly.

Guided Lydon Judy and Robyn again today and had a fairly good with still slightly colored water after yesterdays flood. Lyndon started the ball rolling on about his first cast by landing a 3 pound rainbow followed up by Robyn losing a nice 5 pounder. Shortly afterwards Judy who was making me very proud with her casting (was double hauling nicely and hasn’t been fishing long) cast a beautiful straight long cast to the seam on the otherside of the river, mended perfectly and was rewarded with a cracker 5 pound Rainbow. Robyn was bust off again in an awkward position a little later by a 7 pound rainbow before landing this fantastic 6 pounder after an epic battle that had her chasing the fish down river 200 metres tripping over boulders before it eventually came in. Lyndon managed another nice brownie and a few others were lost and landed to make 5 landed from 9 hooked for the day.

Guided regular clients Lyndon and Judy Forrest and Robyn from TALTAC today on the Tongariro river. The morning was quite reasonable fishing with at least 6 hook and plays plus a few other possible missed takes and a couple of wriggles. Fortunately for all, Judy was able to land this nice 4 lb Jack Rainbow trout ending a run of break-offs. In the afternoon the guys and girls hooked a further 3 and were able to see dozens of trout in the lower Tongariro though casting to them and getting a drift in the strong winds wasn’t easy.

An early start and it was it wasn’t long before Andrew landed his first of many for the day. The trout averaged around 3 – 4 lbs with a few bigger and a few smaller. We fished several different areas on 2 different rivers and just fished the edges as the water was still high after yesterdays rain.

Guided Andrew Mongeon on the Tongariro today. Most options were unavailable due to heavy rain over night and flooding but Andrew still managed to land 3 out of 7 nice rainbow trout hooked for the day.

Had a great mornings fishing with Justin and Ngawai this morning with too many trout to count! The new fly I tied up similar to another pattern a friend showed me may imitate the Colobriscus mayfly nymphs that were being taking well and for a period of a least half an hour not a single drift went by on Ngawais rod without at least a strike!

Well, day 3 arrived for the Good’s this morning staying out at Spot X and we were greeted by rain. A quick examination of the flows and last nights rainfall on some nearby major rivers meant changing plans from going to a large river due to safety issues and having a look at a smaller stream. Alas when we arrived we found that to be in a raging flood so we headed back towards Turangi and the Tongariro. After looking at and testing a couple of spots near Turangi we decided to call off day 3 though if Glen is reading this then I would recommend he fish the spot tomorrow morning that I showed him later on in the day!

Met some friends from Oakura Bay near Russell (in the Bay of Islands) this afternoon and went for a fish. Between us for the afternoon/evening we landed 5 out of around a dozen hookups – Glen will know the exact spot – we were just a little too early there earlier in the day as predicted!.

Guided Glen and Theresa today and had a good day though the fishing was slower than normal. Glen managed a beautifully coloured and conditioned 4 pound brown and Theresa managed a cracker rainbow hen of 5 pounds out of the 5 good trout hooked for the day. In all the couple were happy with the day despite weather conditions and other factors impacting the fishing a little.