I have been reminded that it is time for a fishy update on the Tongariro. In fact, this is more about recommending rafting to access pools and places that anglers cannot get to by wading. During this week the fishing for some reason became much harder in the warm temperatures with the river flowing very low around 21 cumecs. All the positive signals were there with cicada husks on all trees and we were regularly getting buzzed so we had to test it.

Jason Klivington was at TRM for his usual extended summer holiday and brought with him a brand new lightweight (two and a half kg) inflatable canoe. We needed a trout river somewhere friendly to test it before heading off into the less friendly back-country wilderness.

So we decided to check out some of the upper river pools that are not usually fished as a raft or canoe is needed to float down to them. I cannot name them as they have no names. You can only find them by raft.

I hope the images do justice to the surroundings. The Tongariro was flowing at record low levels so the journey was much more “bumpy” than expected. The image of Jason Klivington above slicing through the riffles (rapids?) was above Waddell’s Pool.

A trip like this should be on every Tongariro angler’s wish list. It is more like discovering a new river as you can fish from new vantage points which cannot be accessed any other way. As the trout are relatively undisturbed, anglers will be surprised at how many fall for the big cicada patterns. I promise!

For this section of the Tongariro we floated down from the Blue Pool and came out at Stag Pool – a distance of about 6-7 km (?) I guess. At TRM we try to do this at least once every summer to remind us how beautiful the river is and to note any new changes. This summer the major difference was the low flow and how much more turbulent it was. As there has not been a real flood since last January 2018, the amount of silt and debris clogging up the river has changed many pools and runs.

If you look up river from the Red Hut bridge you will note a big pressure wave on the TLB below Waddell’s Pool. That mean white water flipped my little “water-strider” raft completely over to give me a good dunking, much to the delight of Jason and tourists watching from the bridge. Every trip leaves a special enjoyable memory to store… but that was not one. To avoid that happening always book a raft fishing trip with RaftingNZ – it should be on your bucket list.

How many trout did Jason land? Somewhere into double figures. OK? Go figure… Thank you to Jason for a most enjoyable day out.