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First good fresh for a while.
Thu 18th February, 2016
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The forecast rain and wind hit Central North Island overnight and already the Tongariro is high and colored.
After a brief lull this morning more heavy rain is expected right through until Friday morning before the front drifts eastwards and eventually clears. Mind you we needed a good fresh to shake things up a bit because it hasn't been easy fishing the river this past week.
As things settle back its no secret that's a prime time to be on the river. But a lot of anglers leave it too late to get the best of the fishing after a flood.
There's no need to wait until the levels are back to near normal and the color is dropping out. The fish will be there when the waters dirty and still up a bit ... they'll just be in different places.
Look for backwaters or sheltered spots near the bank well away from the main current.
Usually dry areas close the the river are now covered in knee deep, murky water and are great places to explore. There are all kinds of bugs, grubs and worms there which the fish can't get at when the river is flowing normally. The dirty water provides cover and the fish feel safe but wade carefully because they'll often be under you feet.
Browns love these flooded shallows and I've seen them taking insects off the top even though the water looks as if you could plant potatoes in it.
Try big dark dries with a larger than normal nymph on a dropper. Its not the tactic you'd normally associate with fishing a flooded river but these newly formed shallows will often have very little flow and fish will be patrolling them hunting out anything on offer.
Although fishing in these conditions is not exactly an uplifting experience, give it a go ... its better than sitting at home.
Prior to this fresh the fishing on the Tongariro had gradually become more difficult over the last couple of weeks and the fish above is typical of what most anglers were catching.
Still loads of six inch juveniles around especially in the faster runs and riffles but this flood should give many of them a nudge towards the lake.
All of the better fish I've picked up ( and none have been monsters} have been on the dry and dropper or the czech nymph.
Although more anglers are trying the latter many give up on it too soon.
There's no doubt it can be deadly in the right water if done properly ... but it takes a lot of practice.
When you watch someone whose mastered it you can be forgiven for thinking that's a piece of urine because they can make it look very ... very easy ... just lob it out and bingo!
But like many other effective methods there's a lot more to it and as always the more you practice these things the luckier you get.
Its not until you've been doing it for a while that you realize just how many takes you misinterpreted when you first had a go.
Fishing with such a light set up, with no fly line actually on the surface of the water means there is very little drag on the nymphs and as we know drag is the fly fishers nemesis. This allows much better presentation and enables you to fish awkward spots, for instance fast pocket water that would be more difficult with conventional methods. Because you only have a length of 6lb BS leader in the water {often under the rod tip} the heavy nymphs sink quickly. Almost immediately you're able to feel every tiny movement as the heavy nymphs drift downstream and the indicator section of leader above water helps you to spot any hesitation or tightening as they travel along the riverbed. I prefer to keep the rod tip just in front of the nymphs during a drift, leading them without pulling them. But "the takes" can be incredibly subtle and its learning to distinguish these from all the other things going on that that takes the time.
 For the Tongariro a good quality 10ft 5wt is most "czech nymphers" weapon of choice. In Europe they often fish this way with much lighter rods. A 10ft 5wt provides some insurance when you hook a good fish but also gives you the reach and "feel" needed to fish the method effectively.
When I fished with Roman last summer I was amazed at the amount of stick he was able to give those fish with his Sage 5wt even when standing in a fast run the middle of the river.
Since then, thanks to him I've managed some nice fish too but one of them did cost me a new top section when I tip loaded it in all the excitement. That's what you get for beaching a brown with a 5wt. My problem is I rarely use a net to land fish. On reflection a net wouldn't have helped in that particular situation. But when you're standing in the river catching run of the mill stuff a net is invaluable when you're czech nymphing. Its kinder for the fish and makes unhooking them a breeze. Most good czech nymphs are tied on extremely sharp barbless jig hooks which also helps.
Because czech nymphing is only just beginning to take off in New Zealand there isn't a huge amount of czech nymphing gear available yet. For instance unless you tie your own flies, sourcing good nymphs can be a problem and ordering from abroad is pretty expensive. Have a look at these guys AK Customs Czech NymphsI've been using their flies for around six months and they catch fish. If you talk to them nicely they'll also custom tie your own creations providing you supply them with a good image or better still send them the actual fly. They're great people to deal with, the flies are sensibly priced and you won't find their czech nymph patterns in any tackle shop ... well worth a look.
We've experienced one of the best cicada "hatches" for years but despite this the top water action hasn't so far lived up to expectations. Sure you'll get a few fish taking big dries especially if you happen to be on the river early and are prepared to move around. I've even had fish occasionally go for the yarn indicator when I've been nymphing. But considering the huge numbers of cicadas around you'd think by now that fishing a cicada imitation would produce much better results.
In fairness I haven't fished the lower river for a week or two and it might be a different story down there.
This years emergence probably peaked last week but adult cicadas live for around five weeks so don't give up on them yet.
I think the apparent lack of interest has more to do with numbers of fish in the river at present. Depending on where and when they spawned most post spawning fish are back in the lake.
This time last year we'd had some quite good runs come through in January and there were plenty of fish throughout the river. There were some silver two pounders getting caught a few weeks ago but most of them seem to be in the upper river now.
 Early last year the fish were bigger and there were more of them. This would also go some way to explain the very patchy sport for anglers fishing the evening rise. The fishing this week has definitely got harder and unless you keep on the move its not difficult to get skunked.
Even the brown trout fishing is a bit slow and I haven't had a fish over six pounds yet from the Tongariro ... but there are a few better ones about. You can see them from some of the vantage points and I came across a group of very excited drift divers who had just spotted several very big browns tight up against the cliff downstream of the Island Pool.
There have also been good reports from some of the stream mouths.
A friend who I bumped into this morning has been concentrating on these areas for the past few weeks with fantastic results. I won't tell you exactly how many browns he's caught but its a lot and he's not one for B S. Most of them have again been around the six pound mark with his best over nine ... so may be things are a little late this year as far as the river is concerned.
Looks like the worst of the wet and windy weather is over for us with just a few more heavy showers through into Friday. The river has been up and down all day but is currently hovering around 270 cumecs. An improving situation weather-wise as we head into the weekend and by then the Tongariro should be highly fish-able. I'm expecting much better fishing ... and will be out looking for some browns.
Tight lines guys
Mike |
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| COMMENTS |
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Greetings Mike,
See a lot of czech nymphing going on the rivers what are your thoughts on the barbless hooks being used apart from ease of release.
Is it worth while retying my flies to barbless.
Thanks, I would appreciate your input, will be over in August. Roger |
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| Farbee | Sun 21st February, 2016 | |
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