Just got back from a great 2 night 3 day campout trip with two Australians Peter and Zig. The guys hooked around 50 trout averaging around 3 and a half pounds with a couple landed over 5 pounds and a few lost a bit bigger. We camped in the bush and awoke to good weather each day. The final day was pretty much solid dry fly with around half the fish sighted first. The majority of the fish were lost due to the difficult terrain and the power of the fish particularly in some very small water.

Tongariro Report

Barometer:

Cloud/Wind:

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Low and clear

Recommended Flies:

Fished some sacred water today with Ross Novak and Ross 2 from Alaska. We trekked 4 hours up a river yesterday through deep crossings, around slippery banks and bush-bashed up a ridge and down again which we avoided with a short swim on the way back. Yesterday we camped in a beautiful spot by the river and experienced a great evening rise. We caught a few trout yesterday afternoon but were more focused on exploring as far up this river as we could. This morning after a breakast of porridge and a cup of tea we started to fish in earnest. At first the fish were a little smaller than we had expected in the 3 - 5 lb bracket but after lunch we hit the jackpot. My voice is croaky at the moment from screaming up the river for the Ross’s to bring the @#$%* ..ing net and camera as when I saw the fish flip on its side in the shallows in front of me I realized it was probably over 10 lbs. Not being able to weigh or photograph it was a shame, but it was good to see it swim away to be hopefully caught again by someone in the future. Shortly after in a pool a little lower down I hooked what appeared to by a nice 8 lb (approximately) brownie. I again screamed for the camera and net and the duly chastised Ross & Ross came running to net and photograph what actually turned out to be a rainbow they estimated at a distance at around 6 lbs in comparison to some bigger fish they had “supposedly” caught in a lake the other day. When the fish came in I guessed it to be 2 - 3 lbs lighter than the unweighed fish and guessed it to be around 7 - 8 pounds. The scales said 9.5lbs with the net which I assumed to be wrong until we checked the scales digitally later at home which said they were actually weighing a pound light which was the weight of the net, hence the photo I have is of a 9.5lb rainbow which was checked 3 times before release. The photo doesn’t do the fish justice though as it only looks around 6 or 7 - photo coming when I get it off Ross’s camera.

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Falling

Cloud/Wind: Clear skies with a little wind

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Low and clear

Recommended Flies: Pheasant tails.

Another great day for James Vanderhoof from California yet again today. To give some different scenery we went into a wilderness fishery targeting the big ones with the possibility of getting none. James however pulled though managing to land 1 out of 5 hooked. 3 of the 4 that got off were 8 pound + browns, one was unseen and then there was this superb rainbow at just over 7 pounds. The last brown took a dry towards the end of the day but then the bought dry fly hook broke!

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Steady

Cloud/Wind: Blue sky clouded over this afternoon

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Clear we we were

Recommended Flies: Hare & copper, Sawyers pheasant tail

Another great day today guiding Chris who is a fisheries Biologist currently working out of Pago Pago in American Samoa. Chris wanted to chase some of New Zealand browns. Where he comes from 12 inches is a trophy and I assured him we could probably better that here. To be honest the brownies were a little thin today - normally the ration in the river we fished - river 4 beat 3, is around 3 rainbows per 1 brown but it took us until the 21st hookup to finally land a brown! The fish size and condition was excellent today averaging around 4 pounds with the biggest weighed at 5 and a quarter. The high point was the last fish landed, which was the 22nd hookup out of 23 which was a brownie feeding at the head of a pool in a few inches of water which we sight fished and took on a size 12 parachute adams dry fly. Chris is staying at Spot X tonight and has just finished a few beers while watching another great evening rise - though he is fished out!

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Falling

Cloud/Wind: Little wind or cloud

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Low and clear

Recommended Flies: Hare and coppers and sawyers pheasant tails

Went heli-fishing yesterday with Terry Pratley and his sons Dominque and George. The fishing was relatively hard but not too bad considering it was both Dominque’s and George’s first go with a fly rod. The late summer sun being low on the horizon made spotting difficult despite the crystal clear water, leaving the guys with a tough mission for their first ever fly-fishing experience, but they coped well. Dominique landed a beatiful silver 3 pound rainbow hen that was site fished to, and father Terry showed them how it was done as the helicoptor was coming in by making the pilot wait a few extra minutes as he skillfully played his 5 and a half pound Rainbow Jack to the shore for photographing before a quick release. George got the hang of casting and mending well but unfortunately the trout didn’t want to play ball, though with has natural ability he will certainly land his first trout on fly before long. In all a great day was had despite the fishing being a little tougher than normal.

After a very late start on day 1 of a 3 day camping/tramping fishing expedition due to there being multiple places in New Zealand with the same name (3pm rather than 9pm) we managed to hit the river around 4pm. The bottom section up to our first campsite - some distance shorter of the original plan - provided only two fish for us - 1 around 4 pounds and a smaller one around a couple of pounds on the evening rise. This was despite seeing countless brownies grubbing around in the shallower riffly tails of the pools with the tails and dorsel fins half out of the water - spotting them wasn’t difficult - catching them was!After a good meal of sausages over an open fire in the evening and a bottle of bourbon we retired for the day/night, mentally preparing for some great fishing the next day.

Day 2 started early with porridge and a cuppa before hitting the river again around 8am. We fished our way up to my normal starting position by 11am to find that two other fishermen had passed as around the outside on the track and were fishing 100m ahead of us! Needless to say plan B was put into action and after a further hour and a halfs hiking we arrived at the top camping site where very few people get to. Normally we would have arrived at the river at around 10am and started fishing from where we saw the other fishermen by around 11am and fish to 5pm before making our way to the top camp spot for the next two nights! We started fishing around 1 pm and quickly spotted a good 8lb plus rainbow. The fish closely examined our cicada and then went back to nymphing. By the time I had set up the nymph rod the creature had dropped back behind us and was no longer able to be fished to from where we were standing - fortuntaly we spotted a smaller one just ahead which obligeing took our offer of a H & C and came to the net at around 6 and a half pounds - the day was saved but not over! Following on from this we hooked and landed and lost a total of 9 for the afternoon including 1 on the evening rise, the smallest around 4 and a half pounds and the rest all over 5 pounds, probably averaging 6 pounds and loosing 1 monster definetly 8lbs plus but possible even around 10lbs. Didn’t land her as she blew Mike away after an Epic battle that ended under a tree branch around a rock. Dinner was around 9pm again over an open fire and we hit the sack ready for an early start again.

Day 3 started with our smallest fish for the top section at around 3 pounds out of the 1st pool. Followed by a bust off 50m ahead by a fish we had cast to and spooked the day before. Next Mike was bust by a ballistic 6 pounder in the dry fly pool. Then came a short hookup which didn’t hook well. Then several more bust offs and quite a bit of site fishing as conditions were good and the fish easy to see. By 1am when we started are walk back Mike had hooked 7 and been blown away by all but 1. In fairness the landing ratio was not down to anything but dirty tactics by the fish. Mike was a fantastic fisherman with a great cast and good mending skills despite originally claiming to have not done much nymphing for a while. After walking down the hill back to the river - an hour this time as easy going down hill - we stopped for a half way break where we had encountered the other fishermen the day before - and had a quick fish for an hour. Mike had 5 takes, 1 bust off and landed 2 browns, mainly site fishing dries. The biggest was around 5 pounds. After a quick swim and a good feed of blackberries we got back to the car around 6pm and headed for home - exhausted by happy!

H & C in sizes 10 & 12 were the winning nymph with Burgin Sawyers hooking none for a change. Mainly unbeaded but a few on black Tungstens. A lot of Nesameletus shucks so could have been the target otherwise caddis.

Went to a drive to wilderness fishery today fishing with my Alaskan friend Ross Novak. Between us we hooked 10 landing 1 of around 7 and a half pounds, 1 of 6 pounds, a couple around 5 pounds and losing the rest of which 3 were likely over 7 pounds. This river is easy to get to but requires a good level of fitness, casting ability and wading ability. The fish quality and size is fantastic - catch more 7 pounders here than anywhere else I know, and there are trophies in there too. There is less fish per kilometer of course as is the way with wilderness fisheries that have a high average size fish.

Had three good days fishing with friends Keith and Don from England. Flew in on the 27th of Feb and out on the 1st of March and stayey in a very nice DOC hut. The wading and walking was easy and the fishing was great, hooking around 20 rainbows between us per day (taking turns) mainly on cicada flies but a few on nymph. Spooked a deer on the second day.