| |
|
|
| |
Back to reality.
Sat 28th April, 2018
|
|
|
|
 
Right!...back to reality after a couple of weeks in the Whitsunday Islands. We'd never been there before. But we had family over from the UK for the Commonwealth Games and had arranged to meet up in Brisbane after the closing ceremony. We then joined my brother and his wife for a vacation together on the chain of islands off the east coast of Queensland more popularly known as the "Whitsundays".
We'd been told by friends that it was a stunning part of the world and boy they weren't wrong. Some of the views were breathtakingly beautiful. I even managed to sneak off for a couple of hours fishing ... we'll be back.
 
I thought the fishing on the Tongariro might have improved while I was away but that doesn't seem to be the case. To be fair I've only managed to get out for a couple of hours to catch up on things ... and I see the Bridge Pool is still a work in progress.
For those of you that haven't seen it yet, the island has now been completely removed and the material from it used to fill in most of what used to be the fast run along the stone wall on the TRB. A new stone "beach" is being created along the bottom of the wall , so there is now a long run between the two Bridge pools.
This looks to have affected the flows and where the river divides below the "lower bridge" its now a fifty fifty split between the left channel into Vera's and the right channel down through the old "Braids". The flows through Vera's have slowed which should improve the fishing there because the last few years it was a bit quick and fish didn't hang around for long. The right-hand channel down through Spot X, the Stones etc. has deepened and widened and even though the river was only running around 24 cumecs both channels look far more fish friendly than they have for a while. And I have no doubt that when the runs start in earnest this entire stretch is going to be one of this winters hot-spots.
  The next couple of months offer anglers the best chance to do battle with a Tongariro brown. Peter and his wife are regulars on the river at this time of year and you'll often see them fishing together during the winter runs. He'd just caught this one nymphing when I bumped into him yesterday morning.
One of the big differences we noticed when we got back {besides the drop in temperature} was the glowing autumn colors. Something I've always associated with fresh run rainbows.
Ok things are a little slow but this happens most years on the Tongariro. Rain is often cited as one of the triggers that encourage fish into the rivers but in the unlikely event that we had no rain I have a feeling the fish would eventually still "run". Anyway, rain and wind the next couple of days with temperatures creeping up again.
Tight lines
Mike |
|
|
| Back to Top |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
