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Up until the fresh.
Sat 23rd July, 2016
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Some better fish around since the last report but challenging weather conditions on the Tongariro for much of the week. The main feature has been the wind and overnight Wednesday it really picked up.
 It hadn't sounded too bad in Motuoapa. But when I arrived at the river next morning the place looked as if a bomb had hit it. The tracks and pathways were littered with splintered branches, downed trees and there was debris everywhere.
I bumped into a couple of cyclists as I headed up the TRB towards Kamahi and they told me it was even worse further up. Time for DOC to get the chainsaws out again.
With the school holidays in full swing more dads' on the river showing the kids the ropes but it wasn't over busy and there was plenty of river for everyone.
Small runs have continued all week but they're not not exactly queuing up to eat your fly ... so keep on the move and you will eventually "drop on" a few.
In saying that on Tuesday I couldn't buy a fish. No matter where or what I tried I ended up getting "skunked". But hey!... that's fishing and it happens to all of us now and again. With the runs still unpredictable and only small pods of fish making their way upriver you never know how your day is going to pan out. I fished the next day and hooked nine!
 
There are definitely more rainbows than of late and reports of one or two good browns. Best I've heard was an eleven pound fish from the middle river ... I have to catch two to make that weight!
I don't know what the trap monitoring is going to tell us ... and I'm only going on what I've seen caught or landed myself. But I think the average size of the browns seems to be down this year. A few years ago seven to nine pound fish were quite common and there's no doubt there are still some outstanding browns landed every year.
But in 2015 I only had one fish that tipped the scales at the magic ten pounds. So far this year my best is 8 Ib and most of the others I've landed or watched others catch have been in the five to seven pound bracket ... that's before they gain weight in the reports.
This is based purely on personal observation and nothing but that ... and I'm certainly not complaining about catching 8lb fish. But I'd be interested to hear the opinions of other Tongariro anglers regarding the current average size of browns they've encountered in the river this year.
I always make a point of turning over a few rocks when I'm fishing, just to see whats around.
I know the Tongariro is a spawning river and not a "match the hatch" fishery in the true sense of the phrase. But tracking data tells us that some of the fish are in the river for almost three months before they spawn and I don't believe for one second they don't eat during that time.
Wherever there are steel head rainbows, whether or not they feed when they enter the rivers has always been a contentious issue. I'll see if I can dig up some answers before the next report.
When they are feeding, trout will usually eat whats easily available to them and at the moment there is an abundance of horn caddis.
You can see in the pic above that on this particular rock they outnumber the lone net spinning caddis ten to one. So it may be worth trying a nymph that mimics a horn cased caddis larvae.
The "brassie" isn't meant to solely represent this particular insect ... but it'll do the job.
 Horn cased caddis are usually a sort of browny green color with a tapered case but the "brassie" nymph is near enough.
I used to wonder why this fly got its name because its tied with copper wire and there's no brass anywhere near it. It turns out, that when it was first dreamed up they used brass plated wire which is no longer easily available.
Luckily I don't have to worry about that because since my eyes packed up I have my own personal bespoke fly tier.
Mike of Fransham's Fancy Flies tells me he ties his horn caddis using old cassette tape and offers a money back guarantee if they don't catch fish. So I've placed another large order and I'll let you know if they're any good.
 
When Roman Moser popularized Bead Head flies in the late seventies they quickly became an "essential" in most anglers fly boxes.
At first tying flies with gold beads was all the rage but nowadays there are beads made in just about any color you can think of.
The most popular are probably gold, silver, copper and black. But for me, you won't beat copper bead heads' on the Tongariro. That's unless I'm fishing BH caddis emerger patterns ... I've always done better with black.
I'm pretty sure if you look back through a few reports copper bead heads will feature more than any other ... and are particularly effective on the Tongariro when you're czech nymphing.
So a bit of a copper theme this week.
 The skies have darkened in the last half hour and its pouring down as I'm finishing this.But there have been some stunning sunrises this week. Unfortunately " Red sky in the morning ... proved to be right.
I fished right up until yesterday evenings rain and as I mentioned there has been a gradual improvement in the fishing throughout the week.
At present the river flow graph has fallen back to 126 cumecs after last nights fresh. But is already climbing again.
More rain and showers forecast and it looks as if our friend the wind will be back as well.
The river levels may see saw all week so keep an eye on the graphs. It could kick things off ... but its so unpredictable this year ... who knows.
Expect a few changes and don't leave it too long to get out there once levels drop back.
Tight lines
Mike |
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