TRM reveals our secret recipe to catching more Tongariro trout… TRM often receive requests from keen trout anglers, particularly from West Island across the ditch, wanting to know when is the best time to go fishing. We understand that often they are trying to decide between locations as well. The standard answer has been whenever they can get here! It is not so much determined by the time of the season but by the weather pattern, particularly the rainfall. Usually, each decent rainfall usually triggers a fresh spawning run. This is not so obvious on lakes. The comparative merits of the locations are a no-brainer. The all year fly fishing for wild trout on the Tongariro wins in every way over canals stocked with trout fed on pellets in the remote parts of the South Island.

A few years ago we asked a TRM inmate to keep a tally of his catch rate from Lake Otamangakau. The fishing results on our best trophy lake have different determinants. This small shallow lake was created by the Tongariro Power Project about 60 years ago and the water levels and flow rely on the inflow sent north from the Whakapapa River. Often during summer months, when the inlet canal is not flowing, the lake heats up and fishing is more difficult. Over the period of the analysis we do not remember when it was not flowing. Since then, there have been several dry summers when there was no inflow for weeks at a time.

When a particular successful inmate offered to share his results, we were not expecting too much when his visits were limited to the peak tourist angling times of December-January and returned each Easter. OK – how many per day do you reckon? We were impressed, considering the excessive angler pressure compared to quieter months, such as April-May. His style or method of fishing Lake O is briefly mentioned as it was also quite different to most other regular lake anglers.

Compared to other Lake O anglers he could be described as a minimalist? He fished alone and only ever used his own hand-tied variation of a slightly weighted pheasant tail fly. He did not have any favourite spots with his hook-ups spread all over the lake in both shallow water and through the deeper gut. Instead of a traditional boat he used a surf ski that drifted down the lake and then paddled back up to try a different run. The wind and the gentle current dictated the general direction of drift. Over the one hundred visits he released all his trout.

If you can interpret my scribble, for 100 trips between 2012 and 2017 he caught and released 629 trout – that is an average of 6.29 per day. When I last caught up with him, he was up to 200 trips and had maintained a similar yield. For some strange reason, he prefers to remain anonymous – the same as for our latest analysis of the Tongariro River catch rate below.

Which brings us up-to-date with the latest 2025 analysis from the Tongariro River. From our experience in trying to measure any special ingredient to define the success of inmates – usually based on the results hiding in our freezer or in the smokehouse – both are very successful anglers with their own different techniques.

Fishy fresh water students will enjoy interpreting this latest 2025 analysis as all the likely questions have been answered – re: time spent fishing, river conditions, and how many were trophy sized trout, etc? i.e. He selected 36 over 5 pound that qualified. That reflects the great condition of early run trout in 2025. This also introduces another element when anglers deliberately try to target big trout, their catch rate falls. The graph results are obvious. The total catch over 38 days spent fishing was 174 = 4.5 per day. The other six non fishing days were for laundry and shopping and socialising.

For tourist anglers wondering about where to spend their fishing holiday, these graphs again reinforce the reputation of the Tongariro River as the best wild trout fishing river in NZ.

From our observations and what we could learn by applying SWMBO’s confessional torture contained in a few glasses of wine, it is that it is not so much about choosing which rod or line setup or pool that is of critical importance, but how they applied their knowledge. Their secret is to think like a fish!

Without actual photos of the anglers, you should be able to guess their secret clue, which is, without doubt, the most common factor seen on the more successful trout fishos, far too often to be a coincidence. They all wear distinctive hats that have been spotted all over the world. They confirm once again how effective TRM hats are. Now you know…