Thurs 29  Baro 1019hpa.  Wind, light airs.  Fine and sunny.  All rivers are clear. Still no sign of rain yet !!  However in saying that the fish are still there.  Very low clear conditions are proving challenging for some.  Plenty of nymph life in the rivers but I would suggest to hit the Tongariro where they have a bit more cover.  Seems to be no shortage of fish but it is just how you go about trying to get them that will give you the challenge.  That is part of fly fishing .... set it as a challenge as to how you can extract the fish!!

Lars & 8lb+

Wed 28  Day Off.

Tues 27  Day Off.

Mon 26  Baro 1015hpa.  Wind, light airs.  Massive frost to start the day today.  Fine and sunny.  All rivers are clearer than clear.  Once again another fantastic day similar to yesterday.  Bright blue skies and gin clear water are making it easy for anglers to spot fish.  Plenty of anglers are now taking out 4 & 5lb fluorocarbon nylon if they are nymphing.  First and last light may help you but it is not necessary to catching fish.  Try glo bugs at first and last light and if you get desperate during the day but I would look at small natural nymphs during the height of the day.  Be careful with your presentation and mending of the lines and don't slap the water to a foam. Don't wade up to your armpits as well as you will most likely stand on fish.  In the smaller rivers, fish the water before you move up to it.

Mon 26

Sun 25  Baro 1013hpa.  Wind, light airs.  Fine and sunny with a light frost to start the day today.  All rivers are clear. Spoke too soon about no one out there fishing on Friday.  Reports through yesterday of lots of people on the river.  Good to see.  The smaller rivers are very clear with people finding things a little tough especially when it comes to spooky fish that take off as soon as they see any sign of movement. There may be fresh fish in those smaller rivers that will sit there and let you throw whatever you have at them but the ones that have been in the river for a while will disappear at a great rate of knots to seek cover.  My suggestion would be to stick to the Tongariro as that has more places for the fish to hide and feel comfortable.  More broken water and riffles.  Some rain would probably be nice at this stage.  Had plenty of anglers from Auckland and Hamilton in the shop yesterday who were very surprised to see we had little rain.  It was just about bikini wearing weather yesterday.  The weather patterns bringing warmer air from the North.  Still waiting in anticipation when things change to the South and we get a real bite out of the Southern Ocean.  I hope we don't get a prolonged Winter again.  Sometimes the tail of Winter leading into Spring has a real nasty bite and we have even had snow fall on Mt Pihanga just behind Turangi about 3 days before Christmas Day before !!!  Still, so long as it is not windy then I don't care what the weather is, especially when it comes to fly fishing.  Reports of fish being caught in Lake Taupo that have huge smelt in them.  This is a good sign to keep the condition of the trout up.  The level of Lake Taupo has dropped again ... most likely due to the city slickers powering up their heat pumps causing the lake to drain plus a lack of rainfall.  This has made the mouths quite popular once again with White Boobies (mine are starting to get like this as they need some sunshine) and Heave and Leave glo bugs doing the trick once again.

Sun 25 Waiotaka River Mouth

Sat 24  Too busy in shop to get the website done today.

Fri 23  Baro 1006hpa.  Wind, light airs - may increase during the day.  Overcast with some clear blue sunny patches.  No reports on the northern rivers yet but the Tongariro remains clear and fishable.  Here in Turangi we seem to miss a lot of the weather extremes that the rest of the country seem to get.  I think it is possibly that we are surrounded by quite a lot of mountains that seem to protect us a bit, so no matter what direction the weather comes from it is usually exhausted by the time it gets to us.  Sometimes however we do get heavy rain and occasionally some strong wind, but in general I would call it an ideal climate. Also noticing that as I am leaving the confines of the workplace in the evening the days are getting a little longer now.  Got some good reports from the lower river yesterday mostly smaller fish reported.  A few people congregating in the popular areas but a lot of other anglers who have walked a  little bit have reported few other anglers. Great time to have most of the pools to yourself.  The good thing about that is the fish will most likely be rested and not thrashed and you will probably pick up fish in the first cast or five if you haven't waded out to stand on their heads or slapped the water to a foam!!!

I got this email yesterday from Jane Clements.  Jane writes:

Want you to know I think the photos of the Morepork are wonderful. Such detail. (Also enjoy seeing all the trout other people catch!)

Fri 23

Thurs 22  Baro 1011hpa. Wind, light airs.  Overcast with steady rain falling.  We got some nice steady rain overnight but as of 9:00am no report from the smaller rivers but the Tongariro is still clear and only looks to have come up three cumecs or so (drop in the ocean).  Good news from the mouths yesterday.  Had good reports from the Tauranga-Taupo Mouth, Waimarino Mouth and the Delta yesterday.  Think there may have been some fish gathering to run with the rain.  Fish like the ones in the picture below from John Toogood. We really needed the rain and a bit more would be nice, however there should have been fish run with this.  Most of this rain would have soaked into the ground as it has actually been quite dry. This rain should set the rivers up nicely for those wishing to fish here for the weekend.   

Thurs 22 -John Toogood Delta Fish

Wed 21  Baro 1019hpa.  Wind, light airs. Overcast.  All rivers are clear.  Seems a little warmer now.  The other day I noticed that the Cherry Trees and Rose Bushes were starting to bud up now.  I think it is only another month and a half and we are into Spring.  Still think there is a lot of cold weather to come though.  Haven't really seen much snow on the Kaimanawa Ranges and I would say we could be due for some in the next month or two.  There seems to be very few anglers out on the river at present (bugger just as I wrote that there were heaps that came into the shop - more in the shop this morning than I have seen on the river all week).  My suggestion if you do not like combat fishing is to come now and take your pick of spots you want to fish. It is quite nice being out on the river and being able to go virtually anywhere you want.  Just got a report from the weekend from "Higgles".

Wed 21