TRM’s very unofficial comparison of fly fishing styles over the last week or so might be of interest.

Photo below is Mark Tomsett who returned with three Rainbows in splendid condition heading for the smoker caught yesterday. These would average over four pound and were typical of many other trout in the freezer or in the smoker over the last week. He repeated his success this morning. All hooked on nymphs. OK?

It is that time of the year when some anglers are so thrilled with the combination of conditions – the condition of the river and the condition factor of their catch and the weather conditions – without the dreaded wind. However, it is bewildering that some have been extending their stay while others were leaving early, disappointed with their lack of success. As they booked out they were asking why?

For the last week TRM have been booked out with anglers seeking their annual winter fix, so we tried to carry out a casual survey to identify any pattern or trend, to determine why some are staying and why some are leaving…

Naturally, their local knowledge and experience have to be taken into consideration at the same time.

From our Q&A interrogation of inmates booking out, a clear picture emerges of any common denominators. The first question is to discover their method of casting – floating line or sinking line, nymphing or trawling?

Recently, with the Tongariro low and clear, the Tongariro fishos nymphing definitely enjoyed more success than the wet lining dredgers. Those who have enjoyed landing well in excess of their limit every day were all nymphing.

On Saturday some dirty weather arrived and the flow suddenly increased up to about 40 cumecs. Other anglers have posted the sharp increase would indicate this had more to do with the power company flushing out the dam as the river coloured up quickly. That is when we expected the wet liners would usually have the edge.

But overall it is clear from so many TRM inmates that the nymph fishing has been more successful. Small naturals – #16 Hare & Coppers or Pheasant Tails – appear to receive more attention. When the river coloured up the glo bugs were more successful. Olive woolly buggers were the favourites on wet lines.

While all the surrounding regions have been wetter than usual, Turangi has been generally dry – see the three-month river flow graph below. All the mountains surrounding the central plateau and Turangi appear to attract any rain. After a long period without any real rain, the Tongariro experienced lower river levels for this time of the year and the migrating trout were spread throughout the river. No particular pools or reaches upriver or downriver were persistent or prominent. Anglers have been spread all over the river.

A sharp movement in barometric pressure and colder temperatures would have encouraged spawning runs as well. As reported by Didymo Dave manning the trap on the Hinemaiaia, last week one daily run numbered more than the previous week after the pressure fell.

A key for the more successful anglers was that they were more physical and determined – they waded and walked further with the BIG catch results from all those many usually neglected and overlooked runs and spots between the named pools. They simply worked harder and longer to achieve some outstanding results.