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Laughing in the rain.
Sun 16th October, 2011
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The Tongariro level spiked at over 340 cumecs this week then as it dropped back stuck at 120 cumecs for almost a day. Its slowly returning to normal and it looks all on for the rest of the weekend. Earlier in the week the middle and upper reaches gave up some good fish especially around Boulder Reach, Big Bend and the Boulder Pool. A few spots around town were also proving popular with fish moving quickly through the Braids. I fished with "Big John" again on Tuesday and we had some fun in the Stag and above taking several hungry kelts and a couple of fresher jacks gorging on mayfly nymphs. We dropped back to town later in the day but things were a little slow compared to recent weeks. Luckily we caught the tail end of a small run as it flashed through. But many of the recovering fish that have been a feature here for
a while have probably been knocked back to the lake after last weeks rain. That night the heavens opened and by Wednesday morning the river was high and dirty. Like many others we headed south west from Turangi to a well known secret spot which is the plan B destination for most anglers when the Taupo rivers flood. When we arrived around lunch-time there were
a dozen or so others there and a couple of them were hooked up. The water looked as if you could plant potatoes in it and with a pretty good flow the conditions were perfect. But although some nice fish had been caught and lost, it wasn't kicking off like it can. We found a place a little further up and with no clear ground behind us it was fortunate that John could roll-cast really well. It was slow going and nearly half an hour passed before the indicator was interrupted on its lazy drift downstream. As soon as John hit it we knew he was into a good fish as his 8wt soaked up some powerful deep runs in front of us. Then it just took off, first of all the fly-line disappeared through the rod rings quickly followed by half the backing. John realised there was no way he was going to stop it so palmed the reel even harder to go for the break. As the afternoon wore on the heavy showers continued and with sport still slow anglers began leaving. By 5.30pm everyone else had left so we moved to a more user friendly spot. When the level and flow dropped, and the water showed the very early signs of clearing the first fish started rising.
This was our cue to lighten things up a bit and change the tactics. Very soon John was getting into some fish and by the time we headed back he had landed a couple of browns and rainbows. With the Tongariro out of action John spent the next few days at this venue often getting some strange looks from other anglers with his choice of method. But it was working and his final tally over the three days was twenty seven fish. John and I have a lot in common, we've both fished most of our lives and enjoy experimenting and trying different stuff. This has often paid off for him during his career as the skipper of a big game charter boat.
Just because others aren't using a particular method doesn't mean it won't work. He told me how an angler walking past while he was fishing the canal remarked "you won't catch anything here using that mate" John thanked him because he had already landed five by then. Almost two weeks ago when we first met up John was a pretty fed up angler who after a couple of days on the river had only caught four fish. He has been keeping a catch record ever since. When he left for home this morning his tally for the eleven or so days he fished was one hundred and sixteen from the Tongariro and twenty seven from the canal. Of course he will be the first to admit they weren't all perfect four pound silver rainbows or trophy browns. But there were some very good fish in amongst them and I know "Big John" is now looking forward to his next trip. 
About a month ago we had Paul Anderson from Tasmania plundering our trout on his round the world fly fishing trip. He sent me this update :
"Hi mike.. just letting you know I'm in the US at the moment.. had a pretty awesome time in Iceland.. landed several big sea trout over 10lbs.. and a few smaller fish and some arctic char or brook trout as they are called in our parts.. saw a few salmon jumping but wasn't really targeting them.. we didn't get huge numbers of fish in Iceland.. mainly because we got hammered by the weather.. we spent quite a lot of time in the lodge enjoying the local delicacies, along with the usual tales of ones that got away.. I haven't had a chance to upload any photos myself yet.. but if your on facebook.. you can see a few photos uploaded by Iceland Angling Travel.. I believe they also have a website.. not sure if they uploaded them to their site yet though.. might have to google it and check it out.. although with your Internet connection in Turangi it might take you a while ha ha ha.
Anyways I better go and collect my laundry.. have to get that sorted before I head out on the town here in Los Angeles.. Tight lines Paul"
Paul writes for a Tasmanian fly-fishing publication but has promised to send me an account of his trip complete with pics which I'm looking forward to reading.
Although by Friday the river levels had began to fall back it was still unfishable. I was getting a little worried because I had South African anglers Richard and Johan booked in for Saturday afternoon and they desperately wanted to fish the Tongariro. It continued to drop but with heavy showers across the country it was still over 100 cumecs when we met up. Despite me explaining these were far from ideal conditions they wanted to go for it, so we went walkabout targeting the edges and little backwaters with globugs. We found some areas down by the Bain that looked promising and after a few casts Richard was into a rainbow. A little further downriver we put Johan into some similar water and as we waded into position a fish rose just in front of us. The river was still colored with very little flow in this backwater so I put on just enough weight to get the bug down. The fish rose again and after letting the flies sink in the shallow water the indicator went under as we slowly twitched them back. To Johan's delight it was a brown...not the greatest specimen to have been caught in the Tongariro but these guys were wrapped. Later Richard hooked and lost another rainbow and that was it for the afternoon. As we walked out past the Braids
I noticed anglers lined up on both sides of Spot X and I heard that evening that a run went through very late in the afternoon. Deep down I was thanking my lucky stars we hadn't got skunked. But that night after dinner the guys approached me for another go at them the following day.  
We met up at dawn the next morning and decided to try and find any fish that had moved up the previous day. Judges seemed the obvious choice and after a difficult crossing the guys were first through the pool. It was pretty quiet to start but then the color began to fall out and the fish came on the bite. Regular Tongariro anglers are used to seeing these sudden spells of activity when you can't put a foot wrong and you feel as if your the greatest fisho ever to pick up a fly rod. But for these overseas fly fishermen this was a dream come true and they told me several times how special this was for them. By the time we got back to the motel, they had landed twelve and lost half as many again. Not all of them fresh run but that didn't matter too much..."they had caught rainbows in the mighty Tongariro" and guess what... their coming back in January to get one of those browns they've heard so much about..jpg "Peter and his brown.")
That reminds me there were a number of smaller browns caught after this latest fresh, probably washed out of their hiding places upriver. Peter Knott from Sydney who was also staying at the Bridge Motel took this one near the Troll's Pool and Ross over at TRM also had reports of some caught. More unsettled weather to come over the next ten days or so. The river is hovering around the forty cumec mark and looks perfect with that slight greeny tinge. These conditions are spot on so once I've uploaded the images for this weeks report I'll head out...it will help take my mind off last nights result...GO THE All BLACKS!
See you out there
Mike. |
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