Tongariro fires after the fresh., Articles and Reports

A guide to fishing the Tongariro river

River Reports

RIVER TALK

River Reports and contact

Fishing Tips and contact

ARTICLES

A little bit of a slow down but ...

Tongariro fires after the fresh.

Another good July fresh.

Cold ... but a good week.

New Season

MONTH
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
YEAR
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010

Tongariro fires after the fresh.
Wed 26th July, 2017

Tell a Friend

It seems it was the same story wherever you went on the river yesterday.

A great mornings' sport for these Taranaki anglers fishing the town pools.

As expected the Tongariro has switched on big time since last weekends fresh. Some of the rainbows caught the last few days are without a doubt some the best fish we've seen in the river for several years.

I was first in Judges yesterday and from the get go it was all on. By 9.00 am a few more anglers turned up and everyone caught fish while I was there. Most of the rainbows were in wonderful condition and gave the gear a really good workout. Inevitably when you get fish like this running not all of them were landed and most anglers lost fish at some stage.

The two Taranaki anglers pictured right took fish throughout the pool including a rainbow of 5 1/2 lb weighed.

I was on the river as soon as the flows hit 80 cumecs and was rewarded with this brown fishing close in away from the main flows. Thanks to local guide Bruiser Fullerton-Smith for his handiwork with the net

I was on the river as soon as the flows hit 80 cumecs and was rewarded with this brown fishing close in away from the main flows. Thanks to local guide Bruiser Fullerton-Smith for his handiwork with the net

Some good browns have also been caught. But word is out and you'll be pretty disappointed if solitude is high on your wishlist.

The end of July is always popular with anglers keen to get stuck into the winter runs. And a lot of clubs schedule their annual competitions from now on. Angling pressure has steadily increased the last few weeks and its more important than ever to put in a bit of effort and get away from the car parks. Even that doesn't always work out ... so try likely stretches that others walk past ...the fish have to swim through them.

Fish like this are not unusual at the moment. This pristine fresh run hen picked up the detached body bomb and after several spectacular leaps made a right ole mess of the rest of my tippet .

Fish like this are not unusual at the moment. This pristine fresh run hen picked up the detached body bomb and after several spectacular leaps made a right ole mess of the rest of my tippet .

...including globugs of all sizes. But you may find that as you venture further upriver smaller patterns will work better than the medium egg in this pic.

At the moment it doesn't seem to matter what you tie on the end ... but this will change the longer the fish are in the river. In the murky conditions this week I've caught them on Squirmy worms, caddis, black rubber legs, buzzers and small globugs.

More rain from late tomorrow into Friday but Saturday and Sunday look good. Depending on how much we get this will set it up again for the weekend. That means more fantastic fishing but its going to be busy out there.

Now a couple of "thank you's". First of all to Tom Bell from Sunray lines. After a couple of months use I had a problem with one of their early Euro lines. It was immediately replaced without hassle. Secondly To Barrie from Fishinginxs. I'd given one of their wading sticks a bit of a hard time, again a brand new stick was couriered to me within a couple of days at no charge. Excellent aftersales ... thanks guys.

So many good images since last weekend I'll upload a few more to tell the story. If you scroll over the right-hand side of each photograph you'll be able to get more text.

A fat hen from a quiet bypass thats not often fished.

A fat hen from a quiet bypass thats not often fished.

This one made it to shore ... but not all of them hooked on buzzers were landed.

I had a great couple of hours fishing buzzers. But the fish this year are incredibly strong and after a lengthy fight this was all I managed to land on a few occasions.

Judges received some landscaping during the fresh. The rest of this tree must be a little further out at the top of the pool and is already well decorated with anglers flies... be warned.

A lot of very determined fish in the river now and they'll try all the tricks to throw that hook. Matt Dobson is the owner/operator of Black Pearl Charters but loves trout fishing and at one time guided out of Queenstown. He was soon into them upriver.

During periods of unsettled weather we often get these glorious dawn skies...sunrise through the office window.

Enjoy guys

Mike