Thank you to Ian for the images of young Cooper Patterson from New Plymouth ambushing the spawning runs down the Tongariro River. It is encouraging to see so many younger anglers serving their fly fishing apprenticeship on the Tongariro River.
His father, Ian writes:
Hi Ross.
A few photos of Cooper….. this is just below the parade on the lower river, above what I think used to be Delatours. Crossed the river from the sandy car park….
At the bottom bend (Delatour???) there was a mob of around 5 wild pigs we watched for a few minutes. Once the saw us there was a squeal and they all took off!! I think Cooper has an average quality video of them…
But Cooper’s image above also illustrates another major problem that many anglers have been commenting on. The continual erosion and lack of any follow up by the ‘authorities’ after they destroyed much of the lower river by their “flood protection” works. Anglers still believe it was all more about gravel extraction converting selected river corners, out of sight of the general public, into metal quarries.
Which brings us on to Didymo Dave’s blog about the Hinemaiaia River erosion issues – they deserve repeating below
THE SILENCE IS DEAFENING……….A few years ago some young blokes n I were working to restore the native vegetation on the banks of the Hinemaiaia River. That meant any plants/trees not in the valley on the day the first signatures went on the Treaty of Waitangi were NOT welcome n we would kill them. One of the places we cut Willows down was in photo one n boy oh boy did the poo hit the fan from some fishermen! I got calls at night from irate fishermen n all hell broke loose. Waikato Regional Council had no issue with what we were doing or our techniques but we decided to leave the riverbank work to them n we would do restoration work away from the banks. So WRC go through a couple of years ago n continue what we started n clear the Willows for about 40 metres upstream as photos 2 n 3 show. Its very interesting why a bunch of young Maori lads n I copped so much abuse but Waikato Regional Council got none. I wonder why that was????
The lower Tongariro is experiencing the same issues but magnified about ten times more seriously as Turangi is not so fortunate to have a Didymo Dave equivalent to expose the ongoing problem. He does more than DOC or the councils to raise awareness and identify and address these critical conservation issues, which are being ignored by others in more responsible positions. That is why he achieves so much respect. Hint, hint…
Whilst it is encouraging to read the Waikato Regional Council (WRC) were active on the Hine about two years ago, meanwhile Tongariro anglers have patiently waited and relied on them to return to repair their damage from seven years ago. The continuing erosion and resulting aggradation destroying the most important brown trout nursery in the Taupo region and smothering spawning redds have become much more serious. Their Hamilton Head Office cannot appreciate the damage. As it is out of sight to the general public and located a long way from their office, it is ignored. They manage to find funding to remove the gravel from the river but never finish the job with essential tidying up and planting to replace what has been gouged out by their bulldozers. See 2013 images below:
