Weather: Good rain at last! Cloudy with periods of rain, heavy at times. Fresh northerlies, easing this afternoon.
Tongariro River Flow: 24.4 cumecs (m³/s)
We have seen a small spike in river flow with flows expected to increase slightly as the rain continues, but she hasn't budged as much as we were expecting with the cyclone hitting the north of NZ over the easter weekend.
As the river increases in flow and colour, so should the size, colour and shape of your flies, with slightly bigger brighter beads to catch their attention.
I hit the water yesterday morning before the crowds arrived and was pleased to find plenty of recovering fish and a few large freshies who evaded my net with their acrobatic boisterous behaviour! Stoneflies and copper/gold beaded hare and coppers were doing the damage on the nymphing rig. I have been loving using my grunty Behemoth reel on my 8wt for spey casting, which I also use on the salt as it has a fully sealed drag and a very strong drag at that.
The euro nymphing has been productive with conditions being low and clear. Wally and myself headed up the Hinemaiaia last week to familiarise ourselves to this technique, which we are going to continue practicing over the coming winter season. I was very pleased to land my first fresh fish on my euro set up on this mission. We have a great fully stocked range of Euro Nymphs in store to help get you straight down to the bottom and right in front of the fish. If you want to try it out this year, come see us to help you get started on this productive fishing style.
River mouths should be picking up soon with the fresh flush coming down to entice the lake fish closer to the mouths! Gary has been out there into the night getting into a few fish as always!
Not many reports from the jigging and trollers as the wind has prevented anglers getting out on the big lake the past few days. Those spinning from the lake shore have had success on the trusty black and gold & black and copper tobies.
We still have some good quality Simms rain jackets left in our sale range on display, along with outer layer rain jackets from Patagonia and Guideline to keep dry and fishing while out there. Come in store to try them out and get ready for the winter weather.
Great to see anglers of all ages out there having fun and finding good numbers of mixed conditioned fish! Thoma is pictured here, fishing with Dad & Uncle Ben having landed a nice conditioned Tongariro rainbow.
The winter runs are round the corner and we're excited to see all you winter anglers back in town for a good time!
Tight lines team,
Rosie