Picked up Sergio this morning from the Anglers Paradise motel in Turangi this morning for a few hours fishing and experieced the best weather conditions for 6 months or more. The weather, helped by Sergio’s excellent fishing skills enabled him to land 4 out of 7 trout hooked including two nice fresh runs. To end the trip, Sergio had a couple of takes on dry fly but did not managed to hook either trout.

Went over to Tauranga today to sight fish for Yellow Tail kingfish with Clark Reid and friend Kevin Dhillan. Though the Kingfish weren’t around yet, (they will arrive for the summer sometime in the next few days or weeks) we still had a ball with several Kahawai engulfing Clark’s flies. Conditions were perfect and the day was fantastic with the three of us having a great time on Clark’s customized fly fishing boat while we hunted for kingfish - doing it bonefish styles! I am looking forward to another trip across soon, hopefully when I get a chance and conditions are perfect again. Perhaps next time the kingfish will play ball - and looking at Clark’s photos from last season I am sure they will. For some reason, sight fishing a 30 - 40 pound Yellowtail kingfish on sand flats in New Zealand has more appeal to me than bonefish at the moment!

Guided Stewart and Michelle White from Santa Barbara in California today and had a great day. Initially the fishing was a little tough then we hit a couple of hot spots later on with 17 excellent fish of around 3 lbs or more hooked of which 7 were landed. Michelle manged two of these - pretty good for her first days fly fishing.

Guided Chris Skin again today on the Tongariro and had a pretty good time. The morning was a little slow as expected but the afternoon was fantastic with Chris landing 8, losing one or two, a few brief strike and wriggles and several missed takes on dry fly. Chris managed to land 4 on dry including being 3 for 3 at one stage which was an excellent introduction for dry fly fishing.

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 eventuallly 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.