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Red letter days.
Sat 26th August, 2017
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Still plenty of anglers enjoying the excellent fishing on the Tongariro and with more clubs in town its going to be another busy weekend.
The lower river and town pools get a lot of attention during the spawning runs, particularly after a fresh. And up until last Sunday when the flows were still in the forties parts of the old Braids in front of the lodge were still worth a try.
Its a little more difficult there now that things have returned to normal.
Fish will still use this stretch but its not the well established route it once was. Nowadays you need a bit of color and the flows to be between fifty and eighty for it to switch on properly.
 
With the river clear and flows in the thirties you need to change the setup a bit and use some caution to hook up.
Most of this stretch is fairly shallow, even during optimum flows. But a few still try and fish it "Tongariro style" no matter what the conditions.
I've watched a couple of anglers there this week standing in the middle of the old "Stones" fishing in two feet of gin clear water with a huge fluo orange indicator, and ten foot leader, striking every time the bomb snagged the bottom.
There's a lot of things to consider when deciding how far the indicator should be positioned from the flies.But as a rough guide you won't go far wrong if you use the "one and a half times the guesstimated depth" formula. Its been around for years so surely there's enough free information out there about leader length for fishos' to know better and work it out.
 
The stretch between Red Hut and the Blue Pool has fished well and by Thursday everyone seemed to be heading that way.
Boulder Reach has been pretty steady and the new rules seem to be having the desired effect because I've seen anglers take limit bags whenever I've fished there. I was first in the TLB on Wednesday but within an hour there were ten others...five on each bank ...time to go.
Fortunately the Tongariro is a big river with lots of less popular spots tucked away from the crowds. And on a beautiful late winter morning I don't mind re-locating to fish these places.
 
No shortage of fish again this week despite angling pressure. And with the settled spell predicted to continue for a little longer its going to be another very busy couple of days on the river.
A real taste of Spring the last few days. And although its a little cloudy with the chance of rain later its a lot milder than of late. Most mornings now we wake up to the haunting sound of bell birds ... a sure sign that winter is almost over.
  September is one of the best months of the year on the Tongariro and despite the old cliche that we often get all four seasons in one day its a great time to be on the river.
Fish numbers are high and with a mix of trout travelling in both directions anglers often have red letter days ... so keep that landing net handy.
Talking of which ... I was in Mitre 10 the other day and spotted this extra strong bungee complete with carabiners.
At under four bucks you can't go wrong.
Have a great week guys
Mike |
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