Plenty of fishing to be had over the last few days and indeed over the next week with rivers dropping slightly setting perfect conditions for fresh run fish to slip up the edges of the rivers. Both backcountry and local rivers have fished well over the past week by wisely choosing your water suited best to the conditions. Rainbows are in great condition this season and anglers are generally pretty happy with what they are seeing, some anglers are still running into the odd good brown too.

The TT and hine have all been fairly high for a week or so now but are still very fishable if you know the river and where to find the fish. With extra flow and winter conditions we are  now using winter Taupo methods which will mean plenty of weight and larger flies which can be picked up in dis-coloured waters. I have not personally fished the TT but there seems to be some fairly good fish coming out of this overlooked piece of water, it may be time to explore again? The Hine has been wonderful and I have not failed in here for quite some weeks now. The word is out and most rivers towards Taupo have been busy most mornings with anglers especially the Waitahanui while the westerly winds thump the mouth which should be pushing fish into the river. The Tongariro still to be fairly slow with anglers which has me confused as the fishing in here has also been ok most days.

The Tongariro generally will recieve it’s bigger spawning runs later in the season after the smaller rivers have fired. The Tongariro will always fish best after a good spell of cold weather or indeed higher water conditions as this will set the perfect stage for a safe run to the headwaters for our precious trout. I have fished the Tongariro over the past couple of days and managed fish in most pools but no big numbers like you may get in the Hine currently. I have actually had some good results using small naturals instead of large glo bugs which many anglers may go to at this time of year. With higher water flow there will be good numbers of fish which will grab a glo bug when it is plonked in front of them but you imagine how much Caddis and other small insect life which must be getting dislodged!! Trout will very rarely let a Caddis go past if it is presented drag free.

I also spent a day in the backcountry on Sunday just before the water started  to rise and found fish on most beats we used as there has been very little angling pressure out there since summer left us. Fish were not huge but are in very good condition with the older fish developing eggs and starting to sport their spawning colours. Again small PT nymphs and Quasimodo’s were the best fly for us and we ended the day with a dozen or so fish which was a good result for Jeff. We fished very public water all day on a weekend and we saw no anglers so now would be a great time to have some fun out there. Some of our backcountry rivers will be closing at the end of the month including some specialized lakes so make sure you are aware of what ones these will be to save embarrassment.

Finally with some low cloud and rainy weather my trusty Lab Rock has been able to fetch a few ducks back. With clear skies and warm conditions the ducks have been too smart for me and Rock  had nearly given up on me all together so it was nice to see him back and working doing what he does best.

Tight lines

Andrew

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Again it has been another busy week chasing trout in local rivers with clients and chasing those elusive ducks over the weekend. The ducks have been very hard to get at it with sunny clear conditions but the other species we watch out for had a bad few days. Trout numbers have been good in most local rivers for most anglers with some great little runs going through the smaller rivers.

Again the Tongariro has some good fish scattered through most pools but moving about is essential. Most fish are in pretty good condition with good silver shoulders and stocky wide tails which are providing anglers with some exciting sport. I have’nt come across big numbers in here but have picked a fish or two up most outings which is enough to keep anglers keen and interested. The river levels are still low and clear and fish are spooky in most pools during the day so I have been hitting the faster water most occasions. Glo bugs have been useless in most cases and all fish are taking the smallest naturals that you are happy to fish with-simple patterns are working best like Pt’s or Quasimodo nymphs. In some cases you may find going down to 5 0r 6 lb flurocarbon is necessary to get some attention in the clear waters.

My favourite river is still the Hine at the moment and I have had some awesome fishing in here the last few days, sometimes not moving away from the one pool. Most fish are in great condition and can be up to about 5lb which is a great sign that the lake and it’s trout are recovering well. Even better is that there is no anglers fishing and most of these small but frequent pulses of trout will be making it to the top of the river to spawn. I don’t want to hear that there was no fish in the Hine this spawning season because they are there now and you are not!! I have been fishing almost no weight on my natural flies and light equipment, great sport. Looks to be some rain on the way in the next few days so this should really fire this river up as well as push fish into the larger systems like the Tongariro. Hopefully it will also put some water into the rivers and raise the levels for the winter a bit.

The local river mouths have also fished well despite our super moon which has been very bright for the last few nights. I was chatting to Russel this morning which has been fishing the river mouths the last few mornings and evenings and reports a few good fish coming out on most outings. The hot fly at the moment is the never fail White Boobie and the good old heave and leave Glo bug in Orange and Red colours.

Tight lines

Andrew

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Last week was another good and busy week on the rivers for me and some very lucky clients. In general the fishing has been good and angling pressure low which is what every avid angler wants. All Taupo rivers are getting good numbers of fresh spawning rainbows which are entering most nights especially after a night of rain and westerly wind.The nights have been dark over the past week and this has given good cover and confidence to fish which may have been hanging at the mouth until perfect conditions.

I think the fish are still fairly small in general but are in good condition and are in good numbers most days. There are reports of a few bigger fish being caught like the one we posted on here last week but they seem to be few and far between and we did not hook anything this week which would have been over 3.5lb? These little fellas are full of fight and tear around the pool they are hooked in and in my opinion are alot more fun to catch than the last few years. I have not seen a slaby fish for sometime now.

I fished the headwaters of the Whanganui early in the week and as many of you may have read on TRM website we had no issues with catching trout despite the high slightly coloured conditions. Extra water in this system can mean the fishing can be challenging but our biggest problem was a few crossings which stretched the feet to tippy toes with not alot of free board. The fish in here are in good condition but are now starting to look for potential spawning grounds and partners as we saw quite a few fish coupled up and chasing each other around pool oblivious to us standing there.

The rivers of Taupo have been good but hit and miss. I have had some amazing fishing in the Hine over the past week but I have also had some hard disappointing sessions in there also. I fished with Doug and Bill early in the week and started on the Hine only to get skunked for the first few hours before we went back to the Tongariro  and had some great fishing in the middle reaches with high water conditions. The next morning I was picking up in Taupo for a day guiding so we stopped at the Hine first up an had no reason to leave as we caught fish from the second cast to the last cast at 4 pm??? Trout are moving into the Hine often but not every night leaving anglers guessing where and when to fish here. Once they are in the river they are moving like lightening and can be hard to keep up with as the river is so low and slimy due to very little flow for the past few months.

I had the pleasure of guiding Ken Barlow and his wife Gill which feature weekly in the English soap Coronation Street!!! Ok….maybe not but look at this fella from Te Puke he looks just like Ken Barlow-Coronation street is my favourite show at the moment and never miss it.  Anyway we had an amazing days fishing together on the Hine just after the first bit of rain we received on Friday night. We only fished about three runs and caught over 15 fresh trout. Merve and Gill had never fished before and had no casting skills whatsoever but had developed enough of a chuck and duck to hook the odd trout which were pushing through every half an hour or so. I could stand high on the bank and see groups of fish moving past the anglers every twenty minutes or so, they were not stopping at all but could be caught quite easily. This is the best day I have had this winter so far and will expect it only to get better in the next few weeks. Funny enough I could’nt get one to take the glo bug? infact they seemed to shy aways from the brightly coloured fly and were happy enough grabbing the bomb or a simple hare and copper with a piece of flash tied into it.

The river mouths will be worth a look in the next few days when the wind drops and allows anglers to fish the drop with boobie style flies.

Tight lines

Andrew

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Well if the fishing has’nt been much good we have been very lucky with some amazing weather over the past month. I cant remember the last good rain we got which has resulted in our rivers being fairly low and clear making fishing hard and challenging for most. The Tongariro is the dark horse and is flowing at double flow for the next week or so and should hold best numbers of trout with fresh fish trickling in most nights. The river mouths have been fishing well so they must be close to pushing through and it will be just a case of being in the right spot when they do.

The Tongariro once again has proved hard for me this last week with only a few average fish caught but I expect this river to fire the best when they feel the urge to run with the extra flows. I have heard good reports from other anglers that have caught some very solid fish in the last few days but they certainly have done well keeping away from me and clients. Angling pressure has been fairly high on this river by 10am but there does’nt seem to be too many early birds out and about so if your thinking of getting out go early!

I saw some amazing fish in the Waitahanui during the week but with bright conditions and the wrong fly I found these hard to catch which was a wee bit frustrating. The rainbows in here seem to be moving very quickly and are fairly flighty during the day so I will assume first lines through the pools in the morning will do best.Some rainbows we saw in here were upwards of 5lb so there will be some good fish to be had by the right angler There are still some nice browns holding in the lower river which seem to open there mouths from time to time and many have actually been taken on the good old glo bug. Anglers are catching a few small fish at the moment so be careful while trying to release these little fellas they already have the odds stacked against them without our interference. Duck season is just around the corner so I would assume the Shag population may seem less next month for some reason?? 

I had the pleasure of fishing with Tom this morning which lives in Montana but has been shooting Elk, Red Stag, Chamois, Tahr and Fallow Stag in the South Island. Tom only had a half day to fish with me which was a real shame as he was a very skilled angler with some great luck. I picked Tom up at 7am so we had a fairly early start on the rivers and should beat most other locals and guides to my preferred spots. Tom said he only wanted to land one fish for a photo to take home so he was always going to be a pretty easy to please client.

The Hine is still very low and clear with weed on every rock but I knew the odd fish had been coming through here from the lake so it was worth a quick flick in my best pools in hope that I would’nt have to travel to turangi to find that one fish. Tom was a great angler which listened to advice and soon was in a tangle with his first silver bullet which stormed of down the straight and broke the leader-”don’t worry Tom probably my knot” yeah right. It was a good sign to see a silver fish in the river and I felt there had to be more so we persisted.

As you can see from the awesome fish in the photo’s we had an absolute ball landing ten fish for the morning using small naturals. I am very impressed with some of the Jack fish coming into this system and it should be an amazing year if this continues. The condition of the fish are first class and the fight in even the smaller fish is startling. We fished this water from 7am or so till 12 and did not see another car or angler the entire morning, I could not believe it. With the river being so low and clear I expect these fish to really be moving quick and it will be just luck if you are in the right spot when they go through . If you are lucky enough to be here for some of this sport it will be the best day of your years fishing !! You wont catch them if your not out trying.

Fishing backcountry in the next few days with some Aussie lads so will get a report to you by the end of the week , im sure it will be good.

Andrew

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I have been out and about on a few of the rivers around Taupo on Saturday and Sunday with great kiwi clients. Saturday was an early start on the Tongariro with Stan from Wellington so we ensured we had first lines through the Stag which paid off for us pretty quickly. We spent most of the morning thumping this pool as it was giving up a fish often enough for us to hang around plus there were plenty of cars coming and going to all other easy access pools. It was a truly amazing morning with wonderful warm sunny periods and not a breath of air. The river is very low and now has developed a slimy bottom so a good rain and flood is in order for this river currently especially to trigger some fresh run fish into the system. After landing three ok rainbows and loosing a good brown we ventured slightly up river and fished the Silly pool which I have not looked at for quite sometime. This piece of water looks very good at the moment and offers some lovely deep drifts to nymph fisherman. Stan fished a small Green Caddis all morning and dragged another older jack out of the deep hole in the Silly pool to finish of a pretty good Saturday morning.

There has been quite a few browns still getting caught in the Tongariro especially by night fisheman but there numbers are slowing down. I spotted about 12 browns over the weekend and caught one fish on Sunday afternoon from Cattle Rustlers with Richard using a heavy nymphing rig. This may have been the last brown for the season I think as what is there now seems pretty spooky and shy, especially on bright weekends like we just had. As you can see this was a worthy fish of a picture and weighed about 6lb before he was released again to catch his breath. Richard had quite a hard day yesterday with his son and between them I could only find 3 fish for them, again the Tongariro was busy with anglers in difficuilt conditions.

River mouths are fishing well with the new moon phase and some good little bursts of trout have been going through the Waitahanui. I spoke to another guide yesterday and he reported catching a few fish using big glo bugs with his clients late on Sunday. I might pop down the rip this afternoon if the wind drops and heave and leave a glo bug of the lip-there are worst ways to spend an afternoon??

Tight lines

Andrew

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