This particular photo – taken in June 2018 – should never have been used for TRM’s blog on Tuesday about one of the future options for Turangi. Such a lineup in the old Bridge Pool is no longer possible. The crowding in this photo was not usual. It was a team learning event with casting lessons from a special TRM booking. Can you pick them? My apologies for any confusion.

Nevertheless, the following rant from a viewer – quote: “How the pakeha watch the locals and then try to cut them out at 4.30 am in the morning” deserves a response…

He was responding to the TRM blog about how to save Turangi and must have interpreted it as a fishing report.

The photo that inspired him was taken in June 2018. The pool had been recontoured – flood protection works – by yellow river gods disguised as Waikato Regional Council bulldozers.

The photos below that were taken five years earlier. Following the WRC flood-protection works (?), it no longer serves as a holding pool. It has never been quite the same since.

from Karauria Wall

Fukn miss this pool. We all use to mix and mingle down here. Arrogant people went for a swim. Good people sat with each other and laughed and joked. My fish was always the smallest lmao. I caught nothing nah lmao. This pool honestly needs to bloody hurry up and come back. All ethnicities was welcome if they had the right additude. Its funny how pakeha watch the locals, then try cut us out at 4.30am in the morning. We only fish 1 pool on the whole river. But they still come and try cut us out. I know first in first serve. But Whakatane. If you cant fish properly then why go to the business pool and play nuckle bones with your dropper. Ive seen some people go for a swim intentionally and not lol. Ive seen a 11lb rainbow pulled out of here. Ive seen 11 fishermen in this pool and they all have a fish ive been in this pool and caught nothing. Miss this pool. Awesome post and photo by the way. Bring back the bro pool.

I suspect he was referring to TRM inmates, Willy and Paddy – photo below with their keepers. They were back to TRM before the sun had risen. He decided they lacked the appropriate “additude”?

You may wonder about the peculiar feature of their sneaky camo gear: the Rustafarian-style headgear, complete with long black dreadlocks. They were in disguise! They were also in denial.

It all came about in the strangest way. The following is quoted directly from TRM’s classic TONGARIRO Skulduggery book published over five years ago: (Now out of print and fast becoming a collector’s item)

Chapter 21:

“Paddy, a farmer from Opanake, is one of TRM’s more regular inmates. He often meets with Willy from Lower Hutt. One morning a few seasons ago (August 2013), they planned to fish the nearby Bridge Pool. On that particular morning, there was already a queue of local “bros” formed up along the edge, wading up to their knees, thrashing the water to a foam. But when Paddy & Willy tried to join the end of the line, they were told in no uncertain terms to shove off. “This is our pool and our river,” etc., shouted the biggest Maori bro. No other angler would be foolish enough to argue legal rights with him. Except perhaps Paddy?

So Paddy and Willy were rudely shoved off. Naturally, they were more than a little peeved at not being able to join in the fun. When any Tongariro pools are too crowded, it is always wise to avoid them as the trout are usually spooked by then anyway. There are unstated traditional club regulations for “etiquette” in all other rivers in NZ, except for the Bridge Pool, which has its own set of rules. The locals nearly always win.

… But the popularity of the famous Bridge Pool stems from the convenient location so close within easy walking distance from TRM with a coffee cart nearby and plenty of parking.

… So Paddy and Willy hatched a cunning plan for the next morning. They gambled that to qualify as an honorary member of the local bros, they needed to look the part. They had to turn native. They went shopping for a disguise.

They planned to look a little different to the usual Tongariro uniform. They were disguised in Bob Marley style “rastafarian” hip hop coloured hats with long black dreadlock wigs attached so in the early morning gloom they might be mistaken at a glance as one of the bros.

The next morning, they were there first as the Maori mob arrived and soon discovered their disguise. Everyone had a good laugh at the send-up, and from then on, Paddy and Willy were welcome to join them as part of the team. In fact, they made such good friends that a few years later, Paddy attended the wedding of the biggest bro. That could only happen on the Tongariro.”

Some earlier history from “Pools of the Tongariro” by Allan & Barbara Cooper (1975 publication).

On the 1975 Lands & Survey Map it was shown as “Bridge Reach”. The original Bridge Lodge was built in 1931. It was popular with women anglers because it was not necessary to wade deep in order to catch good fish. It merged with the “Hut Pool”, named after ten huts built by Robert Jones. This was one of the earliest pools to be fished because of its accessibility. In later years it became a very social pool with a seat where anglers could wait their turn to start at the head of the pool. It was most productive water and many older fishermen fished it all the time. It was said that the three pools, the Hut, the Nursery and the Boat could take fourteen rods with everyone catching fish.

The pools described above were completely destroyed in the 1958 flood and one angler was heard to describe the loss as ‘a national disaster’.

I wonder what he might have commented on the bulldozers since reshaping the flow.