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Just when you thought ...
Mon 12th February, 2018
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Just when you thought you were starting to get a handle on things the Tongarariro flooded again. After hours of heavy rain, flows hit 283 cumecs overnight but have already fallen back to fishable levels.
This is the third significant fresh since January and that doesn't include the minor ones in between. The river just hasn't had time to settle down and as a result there are more and more changes with each passing flood.
Usually after a fresh of this size you wouldn't expect to see all that much difference out there ... but we'll see. I tried to get into the Stag yesterday before levels rose. But 65% of the track along the TRB has disappeared and most of the remainder is overgrown with blackberry and unstable. After this flood I expect more of it has been washed out and it really needs a new track to be cut well away from the rivers edge.
 
Prior to the flood I'd found the fishing was probably best described as "patchy". A couple of days before I'd had a none to easy morning but found some good fresh run fish downriver during the afternoon.
Wet liners definetly have the edge at the moment and when I popped down there again yesterday this angler had kept two out of half a dozen or so rainbows that had grabbed his wooly bugger.
It was the same story in Cattle Rustlers yesterday morning.
This is another pool that has changed and is now much easier to fish ... particularly if you enjoy swinging flies with a sinking line.
There were two anglers doing just that when I arrived and they'd both caught rainbows.
 
So a far from easy week but it looks as if the higher flows have encouraged some small runs which will probably continue with more rain forecast. Some computer generated models are suggesting that New Zealand could be in the path of the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Gita next week. But because these storm systems are so unpredictable Met Service is saying its too early to tell.
Still no particular stretch really standing out and its the "same ole same ole" ... keep moving until you find a few. Mind you when I was in the Upper Birch the other day a family out for a walk after a visit to the Trout Centre tried to make it as easy as possible for me. The very excited kids called me over to show me a pod of rainbows a couple of feet from the bank that were going crazy for the trout pellets they were feeding them ... anybody got a pellet pattern?
A little breezy this afternoon. But warm, sunny and very humid at the moment which could trigger the odd rumble of thunder later tonight.
Tight lines
Mike |
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