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Happy days are here again.
Wed 9th October, 2013
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Its no secret that I love fishing the Tongariro but this year has been more enjoyable than ever.
Anglers that went elsewhere for their fishing fix have been returning, lured back by the marked improvement in the condition and average size of the trout and you can sense that happy days are here again.
Although the main runs are probably coming to an end October and November are still good months, with a mixture of fresh fish and kelts providing plenty of action.
They say time passes quickly when you're enjoying yourself ... well I must be having a whale of a time because nowadays the months and years seem to fly by in a blur.
A couple of days ago I was fishing on a beautiful spring morning and began getting lightning quick takes which I kept on missing ... I know ... old age !
Until I eventually hooked up and realized what had been hitting the nymphs it never dawned on me that the culprits would be juvenile trout
These little guys normally show up a bit later in the year and hang around for months. It only seems like yesterday I was saying that "they were thinning out at last" and already they were back again.
I suspect the recent flood has hastened their appearance in the town pools and quite a few anglers have reported catching them.
When rainbow trout have finished spawning the eggs remain in the redds for several weeks before they hatch. It depends on the water temperature.
Once they hatch the alevins stay hidden in the safety of their gravel sanctuary and survive by feeding on the nutrients in their yolk sack.
Three to four weeks later when the yolk sack has been used up they move out of the gravel and into the big wide under-water world of the river. 
You'll see thousands of these fry shoaling up in the margins all along the Tongariro but many of them won't survive.
The young trout now begin feeding on the smaller aquatic insects that live in the river and eventually as they grow develop dark stripes on their sides. These are called parr marks and explains why they're known as parr at this stage of their life cycle.
When they're twelve to eighteen months old we call them fingerlings and these juvenile trout begin to swim downriver and head for the lake.
Once they get to Lake Taupo their diet changes again and they feed mainly on smelt. These were introduced in the 1930's to sustain the fishery after the native koara and koura populations that previously thrived there collapsed due to predatory pressure.
Rainbows reach sexual maturity at around three years of age and begin to congregate at the mouths of the feeder streams and rivers that flow into Lake Taupo. This signals the beginning of the spawning runs and their arduous journey past the hundreds of anglers eagerly awaiting their arrival further upriver. 
We'd never met before but one of those waiting anglers was Rob pictured above. Turned out he was from Paraparaumu just fifteen minutes drive from my own place on the Kapiti coast. Like many of us he'd lost a few good fish before I slipped the net under this one for him. He was delighted and told me later it was his best rainbow from the Tongariro for five years.
They don't even have to be big fish to make an anglers day on the river. I came across four lads from Auckland on a " boys weekend " it was their second day and they still hadn't had a hook up.
All of them were trying pretty hard but I noticed they only had four feet of leader under their indicators. I couldn't resist sticking my nose in and offered to set Warrick up and three drifts later he found himself attached to a rainbow.
My smiling fishing mate Mark Tomsett landed this good jack after getting busted off twice in the same stretch.
It must be one of his secret spots because a couple of days earlier I was a little further downriver trying to teach Blue that he doesn't have to follow me everywhere ... especially into the middle of the Tongariro.
Each time I waded out and was about to cast I'd feel a bump on the back of my leg and there he was desperately trying to doggie paddle and hold his position in the fast current.
Back we'd go to the shore and I'd give the shivering pup the sit-stay command. But the cold water must have made my super intelligent Border Collie deaf because every time I made my way back out, there he was again, blowing bubbles at my feet ... so after several failed attempts I gave up.
Little did I know that my so called fishing buddy was skulking in the bushes upriver, spying on our training session and p...ing himself laughing.
I received this email later the same day.
 
" Mate thank you so much for the fantastic entertainment this afternoon ... watching Blue's training. Could I suggest that when you say the word sit try emphasizing the T. Otherwise when you're on the river together it may be wise to invest in some doggy water wings or a small inflatable raft on a short leash ".
The next day I took Blue for a walk along the TRB above Red Hut to check out any changes and get him away from the comedians and nosy parkers downriver. On the way the track skirts a deep gin clear pool in the bypass that flows down from Boulder Reach. I know it as " the lagoon " and there are always a few fish in it ... usually good browns ... but since the flood its full of rainbows ... some of them quite big ones. Its unlikely you'd ever catch them and I've never seen anyone try but its great to spend a few minutes watching them on the way upriver.
The track used to follow the TRB of this backwater all the way around but its been washed out on one end. However they've already cut a new path through further back.
Some subtle changes both above and below Boulder Reach. The Cliff Pool has changed a little bit as well but that was already occupied so I didn't get a chance to check it out properly.
I did fish the Fan Pool which seems to be wider and a little quicker through the middle. This had been fishing well before the flood but I spent an hour there and never had a touch ... may be
I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
 
The river has been pretty busy again this week but its what you expect while the kids are home during the school holidays.
Most mornings if you weren't prepared to get up at " sparrows " the hotspots were soon taken ... something you only see when the river is fishing well.
Once the holidays are over and with the back country and other venues open, things usually quieten down again.
One group of anglers I spoke to told me they had been on the river the previous evening and witnessed a fairly good rise take place ... but it had been quite warm and settled.
It looks like a change for the remainder of the week with cooler showery weather and the winds all over the place.
I prefer to carry two rods, each one set up very differently. Over the next month or so the lighter setup will gradually begin to account for more of the fish.
There's a lot more to the Tongariro than just bombs and globugs.
Tight lines guys
Mike |
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| COMMENTS |
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Another great update, Mike. The river looks superb. And it looks like Blue was made for it!
Stay well. |
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| Jon Novoselac | Wed 9th October, 2013 | |
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