Meet Nathan.  SWMBO loves how he is trying to look restrained and cool and not smile too much!  Believe me, he was buzzing!

Nathan arrived at TRM, full of youthful enthusiasm, with his guide (aka Dad) to sneak in some essential casting practice before his Club tournament next weekend.  TRM love these occasions.  It is so good to see the younger generation fired up about something without a keyboard.

They had already explored the upper TT without success.   We suggested the lower river in our favourite spot, where they still struggled.  This was not unexpected after a long weekend when every pool had been hammered.  The river fishing conditions were not easy with a beautiful blue sky, fine days and the river low and clear.  But the competition on any long weekend was intense; the angler pressure made pool selection difficult for any novice.

On Monday morning, they eventually ended up on the Hine, where all the weekend warriors had gone home, so they almost had it to themselves.  Virgin pools full of trout they could even see!  He could not believe how the trout kept ignoring his fly, but finally found one desperate enough – or was it just competitive spawning behaviour?  It did not matter; it was still over 4 pounds.

So we got almost as much of a thrill from seeing him succeed.

Meanwhile we – Juno led me – on a tramp around the town pools early afternoon – see photos – to report nil in the Hydro, 1 angler in Breakfast Pool, 3 in Major Jones, nil in Island  Pool, nil in Judges Pools, 3 in Bridge (TRB) pool and 4 in Lower Bridge pool (TLB) where we watched one angler land a trout after a long battle.

That would be normal for school holiday traffic.  To avoid similar competing pressure, anglers need to walk away from the usual car parks to deserted pools.