Tongariro River Flow: 22.4m3/sec
Weather: A few showers, possibly heavy, easing in the evening. Northerlies.
The fishing is still going strong, with lots of good quality fish being caught all over the Tongariro, for those who approach with light gear. As per usual, I have spent the past few days fishing in the back country with mates. Like Wayne in the above photo with a lovely brown trout who ate the Cat3 Red PT fly. Most fish on that day were caught on this fly- with few coming up for the cicada (Cat3 Woomfah), which was strange considering the noise they were making above.
Locally, fish are still moving, with good quality fresh fish getting caught often. Swinging flies downstream in the evenings is also working well on the difficult brown trout. I've seen good pods of browns collecting in some of the smaller rivers (although very hard to put a fly in front of). Photo below. They are responding well to dry flies at certain times of day. The fish are in between large cicada flies, or very small lace-moth, like patterns or even Adam's Parachute.
Down rigging on the lake is working well with the pink lightning bolt toby. Tim says, "you've got to get down deep between 40-60m", he also suggests smaller smelt patterns for jigging like Pat Swift Grey Ghosts. People are coming in with reports of great condition fish.
With the little rain and pressure drop we have had today, I'd like to think this could bring even more fish up the system.
Tight Lines,
Hamish & Tim