After so many TRM inmates enjoyed excellent weekend fishing results on the Tongariro I was looking forward to Monday – after all the weekend warriors had gone back to work for a living and the river was all mine again. It is a much better environment when any angler pressure has gone. So I had a great morning. After a leisurely morning coffee I wandered down to the bridge pool but that was full. That was expected. Two anglers were returning from above the bridge with their daily limits. They could hardly carry them. I wandered – waddled in waders – further down river where there were eight combat casting and two more waiting to join them in the lower bridge pool – image above. So then I faced a longer walk to where I expected to have a nice little run all to myself.
That is the advantage of living here. We locals can choose the best times to go fishing when the crowds have gone. We get to know about these little spots or runs or reaches that are not big enough to qualify as a pool so don’t have a name (yet?) and are not on any maps and located well away from where 4WD can drive to. It really is as close to heaven as I am ever likely to get. To have a little stretch of water all to myself where the only sound is the bubbling flow is the best relaxation therapy ever. After escaping SWMBO and the TRM laundry I often just listen to the silence with nature adding a background symphony of bird melodies that can easily be missed – you have to listen for them. This is why we live here.
So late Monday morning it took about 20 minutes to walk down there to this secret (?) spot to discover six other anglers already standing in the middle of the lie, thrashing the water to a foam. One was a local guide who, just to complete my morning walk, set his savage dog onto me. Once upon a time I would have lost my biscuit… (Not really, Blue was just bored watching him and wanted to play…) Strangely, after waiting all weekend, I was astonished at my easy acceptance of the situation. It might have been just the joy of seeing so many TRM inmates relishing the brilliant Tongariro trout fishing at the moment. I bet the others all called in sick? I never even cast or wet my fly.
But that’s OK, I can return any time when all those other b____ are back at work. There is never any justification to “lose your biscuit’ on the Tongariro as even under such circumstances there are so many other opportunities and alternative choices available. On my slower return I popped into the Daisy Pool, TRB just above the road bridge, for a flick but the increased wind gusts prevented any effective accurate casting. Then to complete my morning pleasure, it started to rain really heavily – even hail, cold driving wet stuff. So about two hours later, bedraggled and soggy, I returned fishless to hot soup and composed this instead. It always make me feel better… I still enjoyed my compulsory brisk winter morning exercise.