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More rainbows this week.
Fri 27th July, 2018
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Now that things have quietened down after the school holidays there seem to be a lot more rainbows around this week.
Last weekends mini fresh encouraged more fish to move up but not in the big numbers everyone was hoping for. However amongst the fish trickling through there were some nice silver rainbows...so no complaints from most anglers.
The first half of the week was a little slow again but the fishing has steadily improved and for the first time this winter I caught fish in three out of the four spots I tried today.
Now that the Braids is back its usually my first port of call at this time of year and despite the fact that its been a bit hit or miss since the weekend you can't ignore it during the winter runs.
I was expecting the same again this morning so was pleasantly surprised when the sighter registered a take second cast. It felt as if I had a pretty solid hookup but unfortunately dropped the fish after playing it for a minute or two.
 
This happens a lot {with fresh run fish} and not only to me. Yet no-one as far as I know has come up with a plausible explanation for it.
I just put it down to "one of those things" and after uttering a little bit of Welsh tend not to worry about it.
But I have witnessed anglers getting terribly upset ... even going so far as slamming their rod onto the water in frustration. Fortunately when fish are moving through you haven't got to wait that long before the next few turn up.
You can catch fish all through the Braids during their annual spawning migration. But Spot X has always been a popular stretch. It looks nothing like it used to several years ago but is a piece of water I've always enjoyed fishing and nowadays responds well to any of the modern nymphing methods.
 
Its currently one of Normans favourite spots on the river. And he does well here, preferring to fish it the traditional way. {with the Indicator}
When I met up with him again earlier this week he'd already landed a four pounder and ended up taking home a nice brace for the smoker when he left around lunchtime.
Norman has ten grandchildren and with the school holidays in full swing some of them have been spending time with "the grand parents" in their holiday home at the lodge. On Tuesday he took grandson Luke for a fish downriver and not to be out done by his grand-dad he caught his first ever Tongariro trout .. well done Luke.
  
I spent most of the week fishing less popular water around town and the middle river.
As I mentioned a report or two ago some of these places are awkward to get at and often difficult to fish.
In one particular run that I really enjoy {summer or winter} you have to stand bum deep, in fast flowing water, tight against the bank. The river bed is extremely slippery and with overhanging trees to contend with as well its little wonder it rarely gets fished.
Despite all this its a great place to Euro nymph and very rewarding. The downside is you lose a lot of fish here. Out of five hook ups on Tuesday I only got one in the net but for me its not just about fish on the bank anymore.
While I was enjoying myself in the Braids this morning it suddenly dawned on me that I hadn't been to the upper river this week so I headed back to the truck and drove up to Big Bend. The last few times I'd fished up this way it was patchy to say the least and when I got there the pool was empty...despite the fact there was a camper van already parked up.
I had a couple out of the top of the pool fishing a globug under the indicator and one in some shallower water further downriver on a jelly egg under the dry.
This suggests to me there is a more even spread of fish at last.
And this was reinforced later when I got back to the truck and spoke to some anglers I know who stopped for a chat. They'd fished stretches of the middle river before ending up above Red Hut bridge... and they too reported that they had caught fish in all of the spots they'd tried.
Its still nowhere near as good as it can be but it seems there are fish in most of the river now ... so it should get a little easier out there.
Showers continuing as we head into the weekend with cooler temperatures again on Sunday and Monday. Then all change with a chance of more persistent rain towards the middle of next week.
If you haven't fished the river for a while you should notice a big improvement in "the fishing" the next time you wet a line.
Tight lines guys
Mike |
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