SWMBO had a specific request. How’s the fishin’?
If we admitted a weekend warrior from the Palmerston North/Manawatu Club landed 15 (True – not a typo – that is fifteen) on Saturday, we would be accused of overselling the Tongariro as most appear to have struggled. But that is not due to the fishing!
Even for Turangi, the weather has been atrocious. The wind particularly decided where you could fish. Nothing to do with pool selection. How fishos managed to achieve a natural drift last Friday is beyond me. Generally, only wet-liners cheating, trawling extra heavy gear, were successful.
For West Island viewers, the “official report” after the storm was: “Gale-force winds, swirling low-pressure systems, and a polar blast brought a mix of sub-zero temperatures, intense gusts, and snow across the Central Plateau. The persistent storm whipped up heavy, low clouds over regions like Ohakune and Tūrangi. It triggered multi-day weather warnings across the central North Island.”
These are only ever accurate after the event, of course.
Even AI is useless. They reported: The most recent Central Plateau weekend conditions were described by locals as featuring frosty, cold temperatures and stunning clear skies. With freezing nights returning, this alpine area brings classic, crisp winter weather across Tongariro National Park and Lake Taupō. So take your pick…
We were delighted that an investigative journalist, Ian Wishart, is taking legal action against the media for their continual misleading climate reporting. His reasoning is that trust in the NZ media is hitting its lowest levels ever recorded, and the regulatory agencies are not enforcing standards that – a generation ago – would have been seen as the minimum standards. He says his reason was to call out lazy journalism on extreme weather and put climate change reporting on trial. He has the support of all the trout fishos in this region.
Unfortunately, the weather reports emphasise any negative conditions, to avoid the risk of being caught out. TRM should not grizzle as the desperate wannabe campers all end up in warm, cuddly, comfortable motels to escape and survive the weather.
The only way we know of to get a really accurate report of river conditions is to interview the trout, but we do not know anyone who has done so yet. SWMBO is still working on it.
The few fish noticed being carried out of the river did not qualify for TRM reporting. They were just too rough, too ugly. To maintain some dignity, we prefer only gleaming, fat, silver, fresh-run straight out of the lake examples.
But there was another factor to consider. The map below says it all. So often after we survive a drought of unhappy anglers, we discover there have been a number of teeny weeny shakes somewhere in the North Island. They do not have to be in the central plateau to be felt by the trout. They are more sensitive than we can physically feel, but usually the trout get spooked for a day or two. 
In this central North Island paradise, there is enough volcanic activity without earthquakes adding to it. So it has not been easy lately. You might be able to identify any suspect fishy situation when TRM posts rave on about everything other than fishing.
Instead, SWMBO teases you with photos of giant trout from previous seasons (see below) and suggests that the main spawning runs have yet to appear and that now is the best time, etc. True!
Rather than being selective with the fishing reports, or just reporting the best results to mislead prospective fishos, TRM usually have a schedule of other interesting news being saved for a rainy day. Even those were used up recently.
They say that is why it is called “fishing”.
Today, Monday has dawned fine, blue skies, no wind, mild temperatures, the perfect time of the season before school holidays to ambush spawning runs when most stay away, you really should be here!