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Hit or miss.
Sun 1st May, 2011
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The Tongariro has everyone scratching their heads at present so just a quick update.
After the rain earlier in the week that saw the river peak at 143 cumecs anglers were expecting to encounter a few spawning rainbows as levels fell and the colour dropped out. Even this good flush doesn’t seem to have triggered many of them to run the Tongariro but there are encouraging reports from a couple of the Northern rivers.
 
I’ve found it hit or miss over the last few days despite moving around.
The upper river looks in great shape and walking the tracks on a clear, crisp Autumn morning makes you appreciate just how lucky we are.There were fish in Duchess including a few browns and a couple of trout out of reach on the far side were rising occasionally despite the cool temperatures .
I had a good poke around the whole area but with no offers headed back to town.My favourite town pool continues to disappoint, thinking about it I haven't had a really memorable session in here since the browns earlier in the year.
The only place that threw up small numbers of fish was the Braids…it makes these reports sound like a stuck record.
Fortunately the fresh moved some of the silt out of Spot X dumping it a bit further down so there are more soft patches around the top of the Plank.
I’ve spoken to anglers who have caught plenty of fish in the Hydro but all of them turned out to be more of the small silver sprats that are really hanging around this year.
On Thursday I had Claude and his son Peter booked for a half day and to be honest thought it was going to be a tough call. It wasn’t even a full half day…if that makes sense. Claude and his family are on a whistle stop tour of New Zealand and desperately trying to cram in all the exciting Kiwi outdoor stuff that so many visitors enjoy. The morning was spent whitewater rafting the Upper river, which left about three hours in the afternoon for trout fishing. Neither Claude or Peter had ever picked up a fly outfit but despite the gusty south easterly they soon got the hang of water-loading the rod. Thankfully the fishing gods were kind to us. Between them they had half a dozen solid hook ups which kept them entertained and gave them a fish supper…well done guys.
Don’t tell a soul but “my darling” is fifty next week. Instead of suffering the humiliation of a fiftieth birthday party Gail has booked us ten days on a sunny Australian beach where she can lay pickled in gin and forget all about it. “So what” I hear you ask…well read on because I’m going to let you in on a secret.
After looking back through meticulously documented catch records, studying the moon phases and utilizing a state of the art computer generated forecasting program, I’m going to let you know the exact time and day of the biggest spawning run the Tongariro has seen in the last six years!
This long awaited event will take place at 6.00 am Thursday 5th May which is the precise moment the undercarriage of Air New Zealand Flight 869 to Brisbane leaves the tarmac…you heard it here first.
Leave some for me
Mike. |
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