Middle Pools

The middle pools of the Tongariro River.

Scoring System

Category Description Out of
Access 3 indicates good car and foot access; 0 indicates poor access. 3
Difficulty Reported difficulties getting the fly to the fish or finding the lie. 2
Setting Scored for natural beauty and pure enjoyment. 3
Reliability Indicates reliability as a top producing pool all year round. 9
Snags No likelihood of snags scores 1; if known for snag(s) score 0. 1
Wading If waders are not needed, score 1; if difficult to wade then 0. 1
Pressure If a pool is too popular and regularly crowded, score 0. 1
Total The closer to 20, the better overall rating the pool received. 20


Pool Access Difficulty Setting Reliability Snags Wading Pressure Total
Marks out of (3) (2) (3) (9) (1) (1) (1) (20)
Middle River Pools
Red Hut 2 1 3 5 1 1 0 13
Shag Hut 2 2 3 6 1 0 1 15
Shag 1 0 3 5 1 0 1 11
Duchess 1 2 3 6 1 0 1 14
Silly-RHS 0 2 3 6 1 0 1 13
Upper Birch 2 1 3 8 1 0 0 15
Sly Grog 0 0 3 6 1 0 1 13
Lower Birch-LHS 0 0 3 7 1 1 1 13
Barlows-RHS 1 2 3 6 1 0 1 14
Cattle Rustlers 1 1 3 7 1 0 0 13
Stag 1 2 3 8 1 0 1 16
Cicada-LHS 2 2 3 6 1 1 1 16
Admirals-RHS 1 1 3 7 1 0 0 13
Kamahi 1 1 3 8 1 0 1 15
Never Fail 0 0 3 7 1 0 1 12