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Merry Christmas.
Fri 22nd December, 2017
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  The lead up to Christmas is usually fairly quiet, however this year every man and his dog seem to be making a bee-line for the river.
With temperatures often in the high twenties I don't blame them ... and its not only anglers.
Now that the holidays are upon us the rafting companies are busy and there are also plenty of kayakers enjoying the river. The kids make their own fun and its inner tube time on some of the town stretches. On warm days you'd better get up early if you intend fishing anywhere between the Rip and Major Jones because its a favourite stretch for families in summer.
Mind you since the last report the heat of the day has kicked off the odd afternoon thunderstorm and for most of this week we've also had to cope with a pretty cool and gusty southwester. This put a bit of a damper on emerging cicada nymphs. You can still hear the staccato chirping of the males when the sun comes out. But the majority are still underground. Even a handful of them can make a lot of noise. And a better indication of numbers above ground are the nymphs discarded skins left on host trees. Cicadas prefer settled warm weather with the odd shower and this past week hasn't been ideal. The experts call it yoyo weather ... hot one minute cold the next. And as a result there are very few cicada husks to be seen anywhere. But once things settle down again thousands of them will suddenly appear almost overnight. 
A few more silver rainbows turned up again this week, particularly if you were fishing the town and lower river.
Judges has been pretty busy all week. But after two failed attempts I finally managed to wet a line there yesterday ... and did ok.
The numbers of emerging cicadas may have slowed but there's plenty of other trout food in the river. And at the moment there are some big juicy caddis larvae under the rocks and stones of the riverbed.
Some of these are over an inch long so you won't be far off with a size 12 or even a ten if you want too.
If you turn over a few rocks you'll notice they come in all shades of olive/green through to dirty white/brown so its a good idea to carry a selection.
Nymph wise I've been doing well using patterns incorporatingLively Legs again.
As you know, I'm a bit of a fan of these things and they'll work off the bomb or under the dry.
They're something a little different and will often produce a take when the fish are ignoring the usual offerings. 
I'm still waiting for my first brown of this "season" to have its picture taken. I've had a couple of unsuccessful practice runs but I'm sure one will stick before long. Its a common occurrence when they first move up and I've heard lots of other hard luck stories lately.
Last year the fishing in general was the best for years but especially the brown trout fishing.
Its a fair bet that over the next month or two we'll see more of these magnificent trout in the reports. And I'm looking forward to March/April next year ...traditionally the best time for them.
More showers and cooler temperatures forecast for the next few days but I don't suppose it will make much difference. Turangi gets busier with every passing year and I expect it'll be no different this time. Have a Very Merry Christmas and tight lines if you're on the river.
See you out there
Mike |
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