I’m glad you asked. The fishing is fantastic. As for the catching? Some difficult-to-please fishos are complaining of a landing ratio of only 1 landed for every 3 hooked. We can’t win.

I was trying to time the photo above to catch the trout shimmering in sexual ecstasy. My polaroids were staring through the pool trying to penetrate the water as I was convinced there had to be trout in there, when their seasonal rituals revealed their location. They were flashing everywhere…

Two anglers reported this week produced their best results ever. These were experienced inmates who have fished here regularly for many years and are usually reluctant to show any enthusiasm and difficult to excite. They were in raptures.

That is one of the obvious advantages of fishing mid-week. Even so, the angler pressure in the usual popular pools was still maintained. These TRM anglers were more selective and almost impossible to find.

Naturally we cannot name these spots (as they do not have a name) and it is almost impossible to describe the wading/walking route. Suffice to suggest the upper river was the place to be. The photos might help – can you recognise these upper river pools?

Have another hard squiz to see if you can see any other anglers? They are there… i.e. The Blue Pool and the Big Bend car parks each had six vehicles parked up on Friday morning. So where were the fishermen?

Look at the weather! No wind, mild temperatures, just perfect fishing conditions. After such a long dry spell Turangi enjoyed the last two days overcast with only light rain which may have helped their results.

The river flow only increased about 2 cumecs – from 25 to 27 – but that seemed to be enough to get them moving and feeding. Any change to the barometric pressure should have triggered fresh spawning activity.

TRM inmates’ record-breaking PB’s were from natural drifts through riffly hard-to-recognise runs and flat spots in between the major obvious named pools. Difficult tramping/wading access plus bush-wacking ability combined with roll casting was the secret to their success. Then they were in a different world where they could focus more and enjoy some solitude.

All reports suggested smallest naturals were best – size 14 or 16 H&C or Pheasant Tail nymphs with enough bead-head weight to penetrate through the surface current.

What an incredible river.