Looking upriver at the tail of Lonely Pool.

This is one of those little out-of-the-way spots that TRM has been reluctant to comment on but now, as it is included on the latest update to the Tongariro Bucket List – Fifty Pools to Fish Before You Die – map, anglers have asked for more info, so we are obliged to comment. I know some anglers would prefer we didn’t…

Looking upriver across Lonely Pool.

Now that the Bridge Pool is almost ruined, you can all share this pool instead as it is so close to TRM. Indeed, all these pools mentioned are top-producing pools with a common denominator – all are easy walking distance from TRM. The track is stony in places and a wading pole might be helpful.

A regular up or down circuit to the Lonely Pool is on most inmates’ must-do list as in ideal conditions it can be a top producer. But a warning – when the conditions are not suitable – when the river is low and clear the trout are easily spooked – then it may be a wasted hike. But after a ‘fresh’ when the river is still coloured, it can offer excellent casting.

Head of Lonely Pool where the shallow bypass runs in from Judges Pool.

TRM inmates can safely leave their cars at TRM and walk up to the SH1 road bridge to start the circuit. Usually, the lower bridge pools are occupied by the combat casting clinic wetlining so the route is then to cross under the northern end of the bridge and waddle in waders upriver to the Daisy Pool. TRM reports have covered this often before and it was on Tim’s report for Friday.

Above Judges Pool looking upriver towards the Doctors’ Pool.

If the popular Daisy Pool is not occupied then always have a flick in there first with either a nyphing rig or Euro rig. Heavier wet lines will only get snagged.

Looking down the TRB towards Judges Pool.

To walk upriver it is necessary to cross over the bypass. My red-band ankle-high waders were not quite high enough so I had to double back and go over the hill and via Judges Pool to get the photos looking up and down the pool. The setting is spectacular framed by the high cliff immediately north of the pool.

Judges Pool TRB just gets better and better – but keep it to yourself…

After the Lonely Pool the track emerges at Judges Pool and then on upriver to the TRB of Major Jones Pool. This circuit provides so many options on busy days when the main pools get crowded.

In the 1975 “Pools of the Tongariro” booklet by Allan & Barbara Cooper it is described as receiving this “Lonely Pool” name after 1955 when the Birches swingbridge was built and it was necessary to make a long walk downstream to fish the Lonely Pool. Back then this bypass carried far more flow and another pool described as the “Weir Pool” – named by R L Begg in the NZ Fishing & Shooting gazette in 1936 was located immediately above the road bridge.

On Whitney’s map of 1932, the area was marked ‘Daisy Pool now gone” but it has reformed since at the confluence of the main flow with the stream below the Lonely Pool. Confused?

Previously this was known as the “Weir Pool” – named by R L Begg in the NZ Fishing & Shooting gazette in 1936

On the official Lands & Survey map dated October 1955, an anglers access or walking track extends from the bridge all the way along the TRB. Under the cliffs this is now eroded completely and it is necessary to crisscross the shallows at both ends of the Lonely Pool, over and back to the island.