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Going going gone!
Wed 23rd March, 2011
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Going...going...gone!
The last of the logs being loaded above the bridge. Shaz has been running a sweepstake from her coffee-cart in the car park opposite to guess the total number felled …the results came in today with over three thousand trees cut down… I wonder who counted them.
 Talking of “logs” there have been several large browns in the Lonely Pool for a couple of weeks and they were still there this morning even though there were bits of trees and branches raining down all around them …but put an indicator any where near them and see what happens. Anglers report sighting plenty of these big browns throughout the river from the lower reaches right up to the Blue Pool and there have been a couple in the Cliff Pool that have been driving clients nuts for weeks.
I've seen one or two smaller browns that have fallen to the dry and dropper but in general I think they have other things on their minds.
The hoards of small silver juveniles seem to be thinning out but are still rising in numbers from early afternoon onwards especially from Reed down. Their time is nearly over but Passion Hoppers (see image on right) are still a good choice when fishing the dry and the foliage particularly downriver can be covered with them. Fish can be really picky with the size and color when their tuned into these small terrestrials so carry a selection. Most days there have been some typical short Tongariro mayfly hatches and if you turn a few rocks over virtually any where on the river there will be all kinds of aquatic insects on the underside.
 When nymphing size 16 Quasimodo or Cadillac and small pink globugs have been producing results all week under the indicator. I've had a couple of reasonable fish in the Plank but there are very few good rainbows around and I think everyone agrees we are several weeks away from any sort of quality fishing on the Tongariro. I had Dan from Wellington out on the river for two days this week and best pools for him were between Upper Birch and Red Hut. Once more rain is forecast for the weekend and if we actually get any it may speed things up.
The last few weeks are probably the toughest that I have experienced on the river and I think that is reflected in the total lack of any sort of angling pressure. It's very early days and its easy to forget that we are still a few months away from the main spawning runs. As the weeks and months go by the fishing will gradually pick-up and these "harder" days will soon be forgotten.
But this is a great time to go walk about and familiarise yourself with areas that you may not get round to fishing when your favorite winter possie is chucking out fat silver bullets.
It won’t be long now guys.
Be Lucky
Mike. |
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