In the ten years since the video of the Tongariro pools was posted there have been some changes. The popular easily accessed Hydro Pool, Breakfast Pool and Major Jones Pools are much the same but different… Only the trout can explain but they have not been interviewed yet.

Pools, like the well-known Bridge Pool which was previously the most popular river pool in NZ, have declined and other pools have improved to compensate. The visual evidence to tourists is the disappearance of the “Bro’s” combat casting team lined up along the beach most mornings.

The famous Bridge Pool on the TLB (Angler abbreviation for “True-Left-Bank”) has deteriorated, the easy wading from the beach has gone and has been replaced with more anglers now fishing the TRB below the park. Some of the changes came from Council bulldozers determined to change the river flow back in 2018. They claimed it was necessary as flood protection works. Anglers called it eco-vandalism.

More important to anglers was the improvement in the Daisy Pool, just upriver from the road bridge, below the confluence. The 2013 aerial photo below has changed as the increased flow under the bridge is now unfishable and the TLB beach has gone.

After the Judges Pool the main flow continues down the left with a bypass around under the cliffs on the TRB. They rejoin again just above the bridge as indicated above.

The Daisy Pool is particularly popular as it can be fished off the bank – see above photo – on the TRB or by wading in from the TLB. One warning – look out for snags close to the bridge.

Another pool that has improved is the Lonely Pool – under the cliffs in the bypass. The success rate is subject to increased flow when the clarity is coloured-up after rain. This can be crossed at the tail and back again at the head as the easiest walking access from the bridge to Judges Pool TRB.

The lower bridge pool has also changed since the video was originally posted. Other flood protection works include strengthening the stone wall at the end of Herekiekie Street in 2016. If anglers are agile enough they can clamber down to a track at the base of the stone wall and cast directly into the bubble line.

Above the stone wall on the elevated bank the kind residents of Herekiekie Street have added several park seats for weary anglers to rest and look over the lower Bridge Pool. TRM’s seat above looks suspiciously like a ski lift chair that has discovered a new life.