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Another summer fresh.
Fri 2nd February, 2018
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The Tongariro peaked at 410 cumecs in the early hours of this morning after the remnants of tropical storm Fehi battered New Zealand.
As usual, once the torrential downpours cleared North Island, levels began to fall back quickly and the flows are currently at 133 cumecs and dropping fast.
When these get down to around seventy or eighty cumecs you should be in with a chance of a fish or two, particularly if your chasing browns.
Any of the well known spots are worth trying but until the river begins to clear stick to the margins and bypasses away from the main flows.
The wet line can be very effective when the river colors up but you don't have to use it.
 
The dry and longish dropper can also be a worthwhile method for exploring likely spots close to the edge. Stay out of the water wherever possible. Both from a safety point of view and because in some places the fish will be almost under your feet. Even large browns will be closer in than you think. Try very dark or black nymphs which are much easier for the fish to see in the murk.
In these slower flowing sheltered places {away from the main current} sediment begins to sink quickly to the bottom. And you may find the fish are holding above this. Suspending your flies rather than anchoring them off a bomb will often produce more takes.  .
The water will be full of all kinds of bugs and the fish should feed hard as the color drops out and they can more easily spot them. But I'll be trying my luck as soon as its around seventy cumecs.
This is the second big summer fresh in the last month. This one was nowhere near the size of the January flood, and typically after a 400 cumec fresh like this not too much would alter. But because "the river" hasn't had time to consolidate, more stuff will have been moved around, and I'm expecting more changes albeit not as dramatic as some we saw last time. There'll be plenty of new snags, and some of the lies may have changed. But in the short-term at least it should have a positive effect on the fishing. There'll definitely be more browns caught over the coming days and it'll probably have some effect on this years cicada fishing. But with much quieter weather forecast for the week ahead I'm looking forward to some great sport on the Tongariro.
Tight lines
Mike |
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