Thank you for such a thought-provoking interesting blog Harvey. TRM agree and disagree with The Trout Man’s remarks. I suspect he would be disappointed if I did not rise to the challenge to protect the reputation of the Tongariro.
First, in case you missed it, his blog:
The Trout Man
For 10 years now, since social media got into full swing, we have been subjected to hundreds of posed photos of anglers with big trout from all corners of the planet. There are only so many poses you can strike with a grinning angler (including me) pushing his catch into the face of the camera. You can be forgiven for thinking New Zealand is awash with 10-pounders and bigger — so big down Twizel way that some look like giant ruptured rugby balls. In fact, most trout in New Zealand’s waterways are 2lb to 3lb. Of course, it is wonderful to land a trophy fish but the repetitive nature of the photos means they start to get a bit tedious. You don’t have to catch monsters to enjoy yourself. If I had a choice between the crowded Tongariro with it’s big fish and a quiet back-country stream with small fish, I wouldnt hesitate to choose the stream and the lightest tackle I can get away with. Right now, on Lakes Rotorua and Taupo, schools of maiden hens are cruising the stream mouth areas. Between 2.5lb and 3.5lb, they are superbly conditioned, fighting fit silver bullets that can give aerial displays that you will long remember. Every summer they give me splendid action on a 5wt rod with 5lb tippet. Most of these I release but they can be excellent table fish. So no, you don’t have to bow to pressure and go to the famous big-fish regions. That little stream down the road near where you live can give you exhilaration you will never forget.
I sat here squirming at the very thought of posting a blog questioning The Trout Man’s blog. He is one of our heroes. I first knew of him when reading the NZ Herald fishing report over many years. He has to be admired. People like him were so influential in convincing me to abandon the urban jungle and “retire” (?) to Turangi over twenty years ago, purely to challenge the wide variety of trout fishing experiences available. With the wonderful benefit of hindsight, it was a far better late occupational choice than I could ever have imagined.
We take his comments seriously. On his own terms, The Trout Man has done more to promote fly fishing than most fishing clubs. Indeed, his distinct style was recorded at TRM about eight years ago in a brief video repeated below, when we tried to use social media to introduce and acquaint some of our inmates to readers. As a promotion, it was a failure for most interviewees as our primitive sound recording technique was inadequate. But some, like Harvey, shone through regardless. His determination and gritty character, which made him such a successful angler, is very evident.
So back to his comments… We agree with almost everything he has suggested. I cannot explain adequately the exhilaration of spotting a trout rising and then stalking and hooking up on a dry fly. Relatively, it makes all the other fishing methods so boring. But Harvey’s particular reference to prospective anglers targeting the Tongariro for the greater size of the trout deserves more explanation. Harvey suggests: “If I had a choice between the crowded Tongariro with its big fish and a quiet back-country stream with small fish, I wouldn’t hesitate to choose the stream…”
To explain, I refer back to defend my original choice of selecting the best place in NZ to retire and relax to enjoy trout fishing to the max. I spent several years and covered a lot of rivers and country comparing various venues before finally deciding that the Tongariro has it all. It was nothing at all to do with the size of the trout. It was more to do with the wider opportunities to fish wild trout all year in a river catering for every angler’s skills. Most of these other remote smaller streams are closed off for half the year for spawning.
To be brutally honest, novice anglers – like me – could never manage to navigate small streams and spot wiley trout and cast without spooking them. It is a refined physically demanding skill that takes years of practice. That is why the Tongariro is more forgiving and more popular, because it is so much easier. The trout are so much more compliant. Access is so much easier together with all the other supporting elements – a range of affordable accommodation, tackle shops, location halfway to everywhere, open all year round, endless choices of runs and riffles and pools, etc. decide for us.
I repeatedly remind our motel inmates that these Tongariro trout are not “river” fish. They are “lake” fish that have ventured up rivers and streams to spawn. They have lazily cruised around Lake Taupo for the previous three years gorging on arguably the healthiest diet possible – smelt and Koura. Hence the larger physical dimensions. When they warily take a couple of months or more to fight their way up the mixture of current and rapids and reducing volume in any of the Taupo tributaries they still have only one thing in mind. Even just to survive, they have to alter their habits and diet completely. They are hardly driven by food at all. i.e. One jack will look at a glo-bug and another will swipe it just to piss him off. It is called spawning behaviour. They are completely out of their natural environment.
Meanwhile, the beautiful small stream trout that Harvey refers to are usually “resident” fish that know every shadow and stream contour intimately. Their natural survival instincts are far more refined and “cunning”. They know exactly which wee insect or fly they are seeking. Even if the correct fly has been decided, one size difference, from a 12 to a 14, can make all the difference between success or rejection. (Comparatively Tongariro trout will attack an indicator! I know of anglers who include a hook in their indicator just in case…)
So the size comparison is not the issue. The simple basic aim that attracts so many anglers to the Tongariro River year after year is – surprise, surprise – to catch a trout on a fly. For the vast majority of anglers that remains the primary aim. If they were seduced more by size, they would all fish at Lake Otamangakau. In the last week we have heard of huge fat trophy Rainbows and Brown Trout caught varying from 7-8-9-10-11 and even up into the 12 pound range. Knowing some of the guilty anglers, I expect they will probably deny this. (TRM can only show the photos as they left yesterday, but have booked again for two weeks in January and two weeks in March – that indicates the level of dedication and practice required!) But the extremely high levels of skill involved, patiently learned from many years of frustrating experience, are beyond most anglers’ ability and endurance. It is simply too difficult for most Tongariro anglers.
So there you are. Just to support Harvey’s claims, compare the biggest trout we have seen landed in the Tongariro ten years ago, back in 2014.
