A very cold start to the morning here today with the best frost of the year so far greeting us at 6.30 this morning! Frozen guides, lines, reels, nets and fingers was the order of the morning but with some lovely fish making their way to the net it was well worth the effort. Josh and Bre did a great job of dealing to some feisty rainbows in the early morning darkness, well done guys!
It has been a mixed bag of reports today, with the angler numbers high due to it being a weekend and school holidays. Please remember to follow the river etiquette! Don't jump straight into the river if others are already there fishing, watch and see if they are nymphing or swinging - if they are nymphing jump in downstream of them, and vice versa if they are wetlining. In any case, go and have a quick chat and come up with a plan that suits everybody and its happy days!
The Category 3 Carpet Caddis has been the consistent performer and has been the Sporting Life teams go to nymph over the past few weeks - I think we've even managed to convert Neil from his ever faithful C3 Hare and Copper so it certainly does the job! You can check them out here & here.
The rivers are looking absolutely beautiful, with a great amount of colour still in the Tongariro which will continue and hopefully will stay that way although we do have some rain forecast for next week so keep an eye on the flows. The big slip up the top of the river may cause a bit of mischief if it continues to come away but fingers crossed it behaves itself. The coming weekend could be a perfect time to come for a fish with a dropping river and chrome rainbows making their way upstream so call in to the shop on your way to the water and we will get you up to date with where is fishing best, what patterns have been working well and get you out there and amongst the action yourself! Take care if you are travelling home over the next couple of days as well, these frosty mornings can lead to some nasty black ice around the central plateau. Be safe out there!
Connor