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The fish are still there...
Fri 24th November, 2017
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  Beautiful weather in Turangi this week with plenty of warm sunshine and much lighter winds than of late. The Tongariro has fished quite well, although one or two anglers are finding the summer-like conditions tough. But the fish are still there ... albeit in slightly different places.
When things warm up fish will spend more time in riffles and runs.
In these shallower stretches the water becomes agitated as it rushes over the rocks and stones.
This increases the waters surface area which helps promote the gas exchange we call oxygenation. Providing ideal conditions for most of the aquatic insects trout rely on.
A little further downriver the deeper water below a riffle often has all the elements a trout needs to survive.
Oxygen, shelter and food are all they need. And if you fish places like this in the right way you'll hook up in summer or winter. I've used Judges as an example but there are dozens of places just like this.
 Trout feel safe in the choppy water because they're not easily seen from above.
When you combine this with high concentrations of dissolved oxygen and a constant food supply dislodged from the riffles upstream its little wonder you'll often find fish in these spots at any time of day.
Try a couple of lightly weighted nymphs suspended under a small indicator or big dry.
This will better mimic any "naturals" being washed downstream and produce more confident takes.
 
Save the indicator and heavy nymphs for the deeper water of pools etc .... which is exactly what Jeff did when he fished the upper river.
On the odd occasion that I've fished the indicator most of the rainbows took flash-backs again this week.
But I have to say those green "peeking caddis" bombs' are also still taking a fish or two.
They don't look all that realistic but the rainbows seem to like them and I always have a few in my box now.
As I've mentioned before they're tied on keel hooks which helps minimise tackle loss because they snag up less often. Creel have plenty of them in stock.
I've spotted a few more browns again close in.
But the ones I've tried for weren't interested in anything in my box. Its still very early days because March through April is usually the best time if you look back at the reports. www.tongarirofishingguide.co.nz
Now that the weather has finally settled down friends tell me there has been a much better evening rise this week and more anglers are fishing into dark.
I've been put off a bit because of an incident on Monday.
I'd parked in Koura Street on my way back from Duchess. It was around 5.00 pm and there were other people about so I stupidly let my guard down and left some gear in the truck while I nipped across to take some shots from the bridge.
Leaving anything of any value in an unattended vehicle is something I normally never ever do but it was broad daylight in what I'd always regarded as a fairly safe car park.
When I returned several minutes later a concerned passer-by told me that some toe-rags armed with a set of bolt cutters had been disturbed by a local as they were about to break into my car. He chased after them but they had bicycles and tore off down the track.
The residents in this part of Turangi have an excellent neighbourhood watch scheme in operation and were all over it within minutes. The police arrived a bit later but by then they were nowhere to be found despite "watch members" searching the area.
I was very lucky. Had it not been for the intervention of that good samaritan things could have been a lot worse than a ruined tinted window. So once again a big thank you.
Be careful out there.
Mike |
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