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Spring has sprung.
Wed 10th September, 2014
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Another pleasantly warm spell of Spring weather in Turangi and most days by mid-morning anglers have been fishing with shirt sleeves rolled up.
With the river low and clear we're still waiting for that really big push of fresh run fish to spread through the Tongariro and so far the consistent action continues to be from the road bridge ... downriver.
I fished with Kent Price on the weekend and after a pretty lean time on the middle river we hooked several reasonable fish in the Braids area.
With the warmer weather comes more insect activity and already anglers are reporting a few splashy rises along the river. These are probably recovering kelts eager to mop up anything that floats by and in the present conditions these fish make up the bulk of most anglers catches.  
This will likely change over the next couple of weeks because the summer like weather that we're currently enjoying doesn't usually last and September into October can see heavy rain-fall over Central North Island. I remember last year I was "rained off " a couple of times towards the middle and end of September.
In fact it was very similar to the conditions forecast this coming weekend. Rain ... combined with a recreational release ... and look at what happened then. www.tongarirofishingguide.co.nz
There are two scheduled releases over the weekend. Saturday 13th September from the Poutu Intake and Sunday 14th September in the stretch between the Rangipo Dam and the Poutu Intake.
Only Saturdays release will affect the lower Tongariro.
Its due to start at 9.00am and finish at 3pm and normally takes around two hours to reach the town pools.
Although it does encourage fish to move they don't like this murky water and to escape it get out of the main flow and head for the edges of the river. The extra volume dislodges some of the nymphs and larvae from the river bed and this usually sparks off some better fishing. But most anglers wait until the water begins to clear again before trying their luck later in the afternoon.
 
The river is often full of caddis and at the moment there are so many that I've been occasionally hooking them on my trailing flies during the drift. I've experienced this before and it illustrates how large the Tongariro caddis population is at times.
With more bug activity and a mixture of kelts and fresh rainbows in the river you can expect to find fish at all depths from now on.
Trout on their spawning runs will be near the bottom so the traditional combination of a heavy nymph { the bomb } with a smaller fly trailing on a dropper off the bend is the way to go. But if you want the best of both worlds tie in another shorter dropper with an emerger pattern a meter or so above the bomb. You'll have to experiment a bit with that distance but it can be very effective.
 
" The fishing " is late and we haven't had the numbers of quality trout that were around during the same period last year but they're forecasting a mix of rain and showers from Friday right through next week. It doesn't look as if its going to be anywhere near the deluge we had last September ... but you never know and every little helps.
Its a bit more difficult than it should be for the time of year but if you're prepared to adapt you will catch fish.
Best I've heard of was a 71/2 pound jack from the bridge pool stretch but there have been some nice fish caught ... and lost a little further down.
The runs will build and as fish move through they'll become more evenly distributed throughout the Tongariro, then the fishing on the middle and upper river will also improve.
Expect some great sport over the coming weeks.
Have fun guys.
Tight lines
Mike |
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