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Paul's not complaining.
Sat 2nd July, 2016
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  We've had plenty of rain since the last report and now, we're back to crisp winter mornings and cold sunny days. This usually sparks things off on the Tongario and while it did get some fish moving the river still isn't exactly "firing" yet.
Again I'm not having a moan here because I never tire of fishing this river but up to now the runs simply aren't as good as the previous few winters.
In saying that there have been some really nice rainbows and browns caught.
On Tuesday just as the color began to drop out I had a few cracking rainbows but since then things have gradually slowed down again.
I haven't got a crystal ball and I really don't like trying to second guess the Tongariro. But I still have a feeling this may pan out to be "one of those years".
I fish the river a lot ... probably a couple of hundred times a year ... more if my wife is really fed up with me! I meet and talk to dozens of Tongariro regulars and all of them express the same opinion. But boy are we spoilt or what! Look at some of the fish in this weeks report and tell an overseas angler the fishing isn't as good as we'd hoped for this year! See what I mean.
 
As another example, Gail and I were invited to dinner at Lord and Lady Fransham's on Friday night and the first of the four courses was a trout Mike had caught earlier in the day. Even with the tail removed it was still a tight squeeze to get it into the fish steamer. He'd found the recipe in one of the editions of Izaak Walton's " The Compleat Angler". This famous work was first published in 1653, and Walton continued to add to it for the next 25 years.
I'm not a fan of the taste of trout but I have to say this was bloody good. I'll post the recipe if Mike sends it to me but I do remember it contained "horse radish root" and "hard stale beer" which speaking as a Welshman I can only assume means English beer!
Here I am rattling on about the size and condition compared to previous years and yet each of the sixteen guests seated around the banquet table had a good size starter portion of fresh trout.
The poor old Tongariro just can't win!
Fly fishing techniques and tackle are evolving all the time. And it seems that every few months someone somewhere comes up with a little bit of kit to make life easier during a day on the river.
I'm not sure when these fly snap links first appeared but I was using them in the UK over fifteen years ago.
Many of the still-waters I used to fish had a one fly only rule. Because of this a day on the lake involved a lot of fly changes and I found these invaluable.
They received some bad press at the time with reports of them straightening when playing fish. But I don't recall this ever happening to me on any of the still water trout fisheries I used to fish.
I think I'd err on the side of caution if I was using them with a seven or eight weight outfit on the Tongariro. You can apply a lot of pressure with that kind of gear and I probably wouldn't use them in that situation. But I find them really convenient when I'm nymphing the river with the five weight.
They're a little bit fiddly when you first try them but you soon get the hang of it. Attaching the fly is easy enough, just grip the link firmly with the thumb and forefinger of one hand, place the eye of the fly over the bend of the link with the other and press down. But when changing flies you have to play around a little to get used to removing them.
 They're particularly handy when you're fishing a dropper on the trace and like loop knots allow heavy nymphs to move more "naturally".
Even if you start off with a fairly long dropper after a few fly changes there will eventually come a time when it becomes too short.
This would normally involve re-tying part of your leader but by using these you don't have to ... saving time and expensive fluorocarbon.
They're usually sold in three sizes:
* Small #16 - 14
* Medium #12 - 10
* Large #8 up
And no ... personally in most nymphing situations I don't think they put the fish off.
Talking of droppers. Now that more anglers are trying Czech nymphing, tying droppers on the trace itself {rather than tying them Kiwi style off the bend of the bomb} is becoming more commonplace.
When you tie in a trace dropper unless you use quite stiff line or keep them short, you'll inevitably get a problem with twist.
This is caused retrieving and casting between drifts.
To help overcome this simply incorporate a swivel on the trace above the flies. However you must match swivel size to line diameter. Its no good using a big swivel with thin line because thin line won't generate enough torque to turn the swivel and alleviate the twist.
Nowadays most good tackle shops stock these tiny swivels and I find them indispensable for all kinds of fly fishing rigs.
One other little innovation thats been around for a while is the micro ring. Again they received a mixed reception from anglers but I've used them for years and never had a problem.
 Because of they're tiny size I've found the easiest way to carry and use them is to load them onto a safety pin.
When you need one push it towards the pin clasp with your finger nail and leaving it on the still closed pin tie it to one end of your leader.
Don't try and pull the knot tight yet because you'll bend out the pin and the rest of your micro rings will end up in the drink.
Part tighten the knot, open the pin and slide the attached ring off. I know this is stating the obvious ... but close the pin. Now attach the other end of the leader, moisten both knots and tighten ... easy.
 
I notice a lot more anglers fishing the river late into the afternoon now. I mentioned a couple of reports ago that by staying on the river until dark I'd often done better in that last couple of hours than I had all day, by the looks of things I'm not the only one.
Ok the river still isn't producing like it can at this time of year but there are definitely more fish around since the rain.
For the last couple of weeks I've been deliberately fishing the same six spots between the Bain area and Big Bend... just to get some continuity and hopefully a better handle on the fishing. Nowhere has really stood out. But when I have been right place, right time I've had some half decent fish.
Jelly eggs and globugs are working well early and late and I'm getting a few on a fly called the Phantom, nymphimg with the dry and dropper.
A cold few days coming up with morning frosts. Then a brief wet spell before another cold snap next weekend.
Have fun out there.
Tight lines
Mike |
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| COMMENTS |
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Hi Mike,
I used these snap links when I fist started fishing 35 years ago here in NZ. I haven't seen them recently but they do exactly what you say. It saves chopping bits off your leader and spending time replacing same.
I really enjoy your site and still miss living close to the Turangi fishery. I'm looking forward to getting down for a couple of days shortly and CAN"T WAIT!!! Cheers. Joe |
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| beattie@slingshot.co.nz | Thu 7th July, 2016 | View 1 Replies |
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