Tongariro River Motel
  • Home
  • Booking
  • Location
  • Contact
  • Links
  • Daily Report
August 10, 2023

Books on Fishing the Tongariro River…

Fishy inmates have challenged TRM again as another Tongariro River history is about to be launched. i.e. Email from an Australian inmate: “Looks like you may have some competition for best published works?” We replied that they are not comparable – One is a serious factual history and the other is a more contentious mischievous entertaining ‘mockumentary’ fictitious yarn – aka pure BS. The TRM version of a fishy tale – “Tongariro Skulduggery“ – only used the Tongariro River setting as a reason to increase interest and $$$ sales… Any river could have been used, but as the motel is named Tongariro River Motel, there was really no choice commercially. I am sure you understand…

The Tongariro River book launch referred to above is for “Fishing the Tongariro” by Grant Henderson.

I have only just bought TRM’s copy so rely on the pre-release writeup as follows:

“The Tongariro River’s rich trout fishing waters aren’t exactly a secret, but there was never a single account of its history- until now.

Author Grant Henderson spent large parts of his 60-year angling career on the Tongariro River, and has now written a full retrospective of its relationship with trout and humans in the book Fishing the Tongariro: A History of Our Greatest Trout River.

The book traces the development of the Tongariro through the 20th century, from the first anglers on the water to the advent of the hydroelectric scheme and beyond.

Henderson set about writing the book because he was surprised to learn that no account already existed. “

(?) TRM’s books below offer a huge variety of other historical accounts.

Tongariro fishos will be aware there are numerous other historic accounts ever since Zane Grey established the reputation of the Tongariro River in the 1920’s in his epic “Tales of the Anglers Eldorado, New Zealand”. He was so impressed with the trout fishing he returned and tried to buy the river.

Most may have forgotten that for many years there was a giant question mark hanging over future fishing prospects of the Tongariro River. i.e. In “Fisherman’s Paradise” the well known author, O. S. ‘Budge’ Hintz (described in the introduction by the GG Viscount Cobham as the Izaak Walton of NZ) mentioned in 1975:

“The biggest question mark of all hangs over the largest and most productive tributary of the whole Taupo system, the Tongariro River. With its flow from mountains and ranges snow-capped in winter, the Tongariro pours into Taupo about half the intake of the lake. For several years it has been the scene of gigantic plumbing operations, with engineers blasting tunnels and canals to divert water not only from outside the Taupo catchment but also from the Tongariro itself into a small lake, Roto Aira, high up on the slopes of Mt. Tongariro, above Lake Taupo. Thence the water will pour down through a giant power station, but from the point of view of migratory spawning trout it will prove useless….. All may not be lost. By some merciful dispensation of Providence, it was apparently decided quite early in the piece that, in matters of fishery protection, the electricity and works planners should consult not with the remote controllers in Wellington but with the district Wildlife officers who were actually responsible for the angling management of the river.“

“Engineers basically are not unreasonable folk”… etc. Still well worth reading almost 50 years later.

Wonderful entertaining historical background information to appreciate what anglers now take for granted.

For those looking for historic accounts of the original river, pre Hydro scheme, there are many other options. Only this week TRM were contacted by an angler who has literally given up and joining many other Kiwis migrating for West Island. He is leaving his valuable collection of 23 years of trout fishing magazines to TRM for inmates to enjoy.

What is interesting to trout anglers is that there are probably more books written about the Tongariro River than all the other rivers combined in NZ. They are too numerous to mention them all but below are some of the other better known books about fishing the Tongariro River…

At TRM the most eagerly devoured Tongariro and Taupo region trout fishing information is from old copies of “Target Taupo” produced by DOC. They are still missed. DOC’s attempt to replace them online has not enjoyed the same success. Comparatively, there is still something magical about the written word in books. The iphone type digital stuff disappears overnight while a good book is used as a reference many more times.

The last comprehensive trout fishing book on the Taupo region was “Volcanic Trout” by Brendon Mathews published in 2003. TRM has proved conclusively how popular it is as we dare not leave our last copy in any of the motel units as all the others went missing many years ago.

“Trout of the Tongariro” by Tony Jensen was published in 1974 and is a good reminder of how much the river has changed and how good the fishing conditions were back then.

Freshwater Admiral by Vice Admiral Harold Hickling provides much of the history and in particular records his personal (x Navy style) observations such as the “fishing uniform” that women need to pack to qualify for the Tongariro River. Now it is almost comical.

We cannot provide a complete list of books as many trout fishing books may only have a chapter or so specifically mentioning the world famous reputation of the Tongariro River. But any book on the Taupo region would not be complete without a mention of NZ’s most popular and productive trout fishing river. Many of these are available to TRM guests.

But all these others cannot be mentioned without including the one and only “mockumentary” based on the Tongariro River – only available from TRM. Profits from book sales go to such worthy causes – like the seat below relocated on the anglers’ access track overlooking the lower reaches of the Tongariro River…

Previous StoryDoes TRM qualify?
Next StoryA storm in a political teacup?
October 2025
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Sep    
  • Home
  • Booking
  • Location
  • Contact
  • Links
  • Daily Report

Site and hosting by iConcept | Copyright © Tongariro River Motel