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 Russel 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 to early there earlier in the day as predicted!.

Guided Roger King today and conditions were pretty much perfect. Had a reasonably successful day with Roger landing 10 out of 13 hooked. There didn’t seem to be as many trout around as this time last year but the fishing was still OK with most people we came across having caught a few. Spent some time later after fishing showing Roger the “Tongariro Roll Cast” which I think he has picked the basics up of fairly quickly. Roger has been having some Spey Casting lessons with Chappie Chapman and I think this definitley helped a lot. I even picked up a minor adjustment to make on my Snap T from Roger.

Most reports on the Tongariro are for hard fishing. Several experienced anglers that I have spoken to have been catching far less and far smaller than they have in past years. I suspect the reason for the low numbers is that the season is probably even later again this year due to the long dry summer. I have noticed the fish in the past few weeks do seem to be smaller again than what they were a month ago for some reason.

Tongariro Report

Barometer: No Change

Cloud/Wind: No significant wind

Flow:

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Low and clear

Recommended Flies: Sawyers Pheasant Tail and Hare & Copper.

.53 -.52. Fished the Tauranga-Taupo river today and did OK hooking 17 and landing around half of these - fished from around 10:30am to 3pm. Most of the fish were in excellent condition and there may have been three that broached 4 pounds of which I lost 2. It seems to me that the fish are improving in size and condition and I wouldn’t mind betting that the smelt population is increasing in the lake again. Most of the trout were around the 3 pound mark and of legal size.

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Falling

Cloud/Wind: No significant wind

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Medium with a hint of green - 33 cumecs

Recommended Flies: Sallmon egg and flame glowbugs.

Went fishing briefly this afternoon with my mate Blair and landed one small trout, lost one a missed a couple of others - Blair finished much similar. The weather has been bad so I have just being sitting at home for the past few days tying flies ready for the year ahead.

Tongariro Report

Barometer:

Cloud/Wind:

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Low and clear

Recommended Flies:

Went out for a bit of a fish this afternoon to get away from the fly tying desk where I have been sat for the past couple of days. Mike landed a few including this nice rainbow. I sat on the sideline watching - more inclined to dream of the new and bigger boat I am about to buy half off with another fishing mate.

Tongariro Report

Barometer:

Cloud/Wind:

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Low and clear

Recommended Flies:

Went for a bit of a fish today with Mike Burgin at a local lake. We each managed 3 small ones around 2 pounds. There were quite a few moving around and conditions seemed pretty good.

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Low

Cloud/Wind: Overcast with some rain

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: A little high in the Tongariro today but fishable

Recommended Flies: Sawyers pheasant tail, hare & coppers

Guided Chad and Brenda today from Oregon. Picked up Chad and Brenda this morning from the 5 star River Birches Lodge as the rain continued to pour in much the same manner it had overnight and for the rest of Chad and Brendas New Zealand holiday. The weary couple from Oregon had arrived in New Zealand a week or two earlier and had managed to have a bad spell of weather following them around the country which had put the Tongariro Crossing plans in Jeopardy and forced them to fly fish a day earlier than planned. All the rivers were coming up in flood so we fished a couple of other options which for the first hour or two saw the couple get very wet. Around morning tea time we dropped Brenda off to warm up a bit in the hot tub at River Birches and headed to a spot not affected by rain where Brad managed to pull in his first New Zealand Rainbow trout on a dry fly. Later on the fishing picked up as expected and Brad manged to Hook another 5, landing another two including this one at just under seven pounds!

Tongariro Report

Barometer:

Cloud/Wind:

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Low and clear

Recommended Flies:

Went out on Lake Taupo with my friends today to take the boat for a run. After traveling up to the western bays and Waihaha, we found very little action with Johan catching a couple of small ones stripping smelt flies. There did not appear to be trout or smelt in any of the areas we were in.

Tongariro Report

Barometer:

Cloud/Wind: Calm, little breeze

Water Temperature: 18C on Lake Taupo at Western Bays

River Conditions: Low and clear

Recommended Flies:

Ross Novak my ace American fly fishing buddy arrived in from Alaska today. Picking him up from the airport I must admit to being more concerned with the contents of his bags than his person as he has access to Cabellas! After taking his bags and him back down to Turangi we unpacked all his new toys and went to the Tongariro to try out his new 6wt Sage SLT with his new Scientific Anglers Sharkskin line. I am impressed. We did a bit of dry fly on Tongariro and I landed a few and Ross landed around 5 and missed twice as many - out of practice. The shr

Awoke this morning to a rageing flood. Not expecting this after yesteraday afternoons light drizzle we were a little late getting away today and missed a good morning session at my normal dirty water first choice. After an hour James had this nice 4 pound rainbow to the shore and had lost another one and probably missed one other take. When the conditions changed to be rather unpleasant we called it early and did a sight seeing day, ending up at the pub later on for a couple of beers.

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Rising

Cloud/Wind: Heavy rain showers and strong winds

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Dirty

Recommended Flies: Pheasant tail - San Juan worm