As compensation for the sad news and to cheer up all those Reed Pool devotees who are pining away at losing their access track; tomorrow TRM will introduce you to the entirely new river – see photos.

We have taken the liberty to name it “The Breakaway” – a touch of nostalgia for another famous pool that was lost in the same upper river region after the BIG flood (over 1400 cumecs) back in 2004. This new Breakaway is still being created from the same flood last week that destroyed the access track to the Reed Pool. That proves once again that Tongariro anglers have someone looking after them – one hand taketh away and the other giveth… although there are some minor issues. Fishos will need to be patient. This river is so new that Trout HQ do not even know about it yet. By this time in 2023 it will have matured into an important spawning river with wonderful summer dry fly potential – it is telling us by the bubbly riffles and energetic flow just waiting to be discovered… Just wait and see.

Meanwhile, the Reed Pool and Jones Pools cannot easily be accessed after the walking track down from the Braids was washed away, so the obvious alternative is to try from down river and walk back up. Sorry, same story.

The first obstacle is vehicle access. It would be misleading to call it a road. As indicated in the photos, taken five days after the 600+ cumec flood, the puddles have grown and deepened into a series of small lakes. It would even drown rental cars. Only high clearance 4WD vehicles with snorkels should attempt it.

But anglers are so innovative. A new bypass (Turangi’s version of 1B – Jafas will understand!) has been smashed through the jungle to drive to what is left of the beach. You do not have to worry about potholes on this bypass. Warning – Even the toughest vehicle may still suffer from new tattoos along the doors. It is not worth the trip.

The names of the old pools here have merged as the river keeps changing shape. Where the road meets the beach used to be the “Bends Pool” but the river broke through about ten years ago to cut out De Latours loop. Now it has changed again. New tracks will need to be cut through the blackberry and scrub to walk up river towards Reed Pool.

Some refer to this beach above the old Bends Pool as Smallman’s Reach or the Parade. Now it does not deserve any name at all as that might suggest the trout are holding – spawning runs usually flash straight through as the huge sandbanks of sand do not contain any shingle for trout food – caddis etc. When combined with the difficult driving it may not be worthy of a name yet but it is still early days and the river was still settling a week after the flood.

The gravel beach upriver from the beach parking area is now about a quarter of the previous size and provides an indication of the size of these sandbanks that aggrade and slowly move down river. Above Turangi the river is more like a conveyer belt with sufficient energy flow to carry all the sediment down during flood conditions. Aggradation is the process of when the flow spreads out towards the delta and thousands of tonnes of sediment, sand, pumice, gravel, ash, are deposited along the river raising the bed and increasing the flooding. The biggest snag is a mature poplar swept away from the TLB of Reed Pool and now stranded in the middle of what used to be a popular beach picnic spot.

The walking track on the higher terrace up the TRB has been washed out about fifty metres up river preventing any walking access further towards the Reed and Jones Pools.

It may still be too early after the flood to make predictions but it does not look wadeable either as the current has shifted over to the TRB (True Right Bank looking down river). The Braids will provide more fishing opportunities now.

Perceptive fishos will again be impressed how TRM’s security manager, Juno always goes ahead checking for snakes. The rest of the West Island contingent has arrived at TRM (Welcome back Trev and Steve and Peter and Gary, with Peter Morse and his team arriving on Sunday). It usually takes them about three days to relax and stop looking for snakes so Juno checked it out before they arrived.

Tomorrow’s blog, to cheer you up, describes the new “Breakaway” river…

The Tongariro River is always so surprising. Every season we learn of new pools and runs and reaches that were not there the previous season. Fly fishos never stop learning…