As regular readers will know Ross (Laundry Manager at TRM) in in the South Island on the Great New Zealand Trek. He has managed to send a message back with a photo of the view from his tent.He also said:

“The fishing has not been exactly productive so far as the wet conditions make most places hopeless for fly fishermen. But I do not mind at all. I have had two days touring in places I have never been such as the upper Rakaia Gorge

The trek has been very social and enjoyable catching up with everyone from the last ten years or so. They are already scheming where we will continue to after we get to Bluff in another three years time. Some of us are just concerned about surviving that long but others are even looking further afield? “

The photo below shows how hard all the walking, horse riding and cycling can be on the trek.

Around the Units
Fishing has been patchy with lots of small fish plus a mix of larger fish but not many fat silver bullets yet. Some of the smaller fish have been great fighters. Unit 5 (from Melbourne – West Island) have caught a few fish and newcomer Matt managed his first Rainbow on fly. Unit 8 (from Noumea) have been catching a mixed bag with small ‘sardines’ and 40-50cm fish. Unit 2 (from Ballina, NSW) has been hot and cold with 3 nice fish to 55cm one day and then ‘sardines’ the next.

Wader removal
Do you have trouble removing waders with neoprene booties? This is a problem for some anglers, especially if they are older, or a little more rounded making bending difficult, or a combination of both. Ross (TRM Laundry Manager and Tongariro traitor(?) now that he’s fishing in the South Island) is sometimes called upon by motel guests to help remove waders. It’s not a normal part of TRM service. Your temporary report writer suffers from a bad back, knees and waistline and often struggles to get the neoprene booties off, until now. I’ve discovered a simple and relatively cheap way of making wader removal easier. I wear lycra socks (pictured). These are also known as flipper slippers of flipper socks or swim fin socks. I wear them under my waders and the wet waders just slide off over them when removing the waders. You can buy them at some surf and dive shops or on-line at quite a few sites. Mine are Ocean and Earth from a local (NSW) surf shop.

Cicadas
The cicadas are still chirping away on the river and many anglers have been observed using them , sometimes with a small nymph as a dropper. Tongariro River fishing guide Mike Hughes has commented that he hasn’t found the cicada fishing quite as good as some years. Your humble report writer has found that the ‘sardines’ in the river are quite happy to have a go at the cicada fly and I’ve even managed to hook a few larger fish. In the upper river I was surprised when a couple of fish literally leaped out of the water attacking the fly. Spectacular to see. What is also amazing is the large range of ‘cicada’ flies in the tackle shops. Some are foam bodied and look nothing like a cicada, others are very lifelike. I have found the lifelike ones tend to sink after a few casts, despite the application of floatant. One of the most popular cicada patterns features a black foam body, black wing, black and white rubber legs, and white wing/post. This floats well, is easy to see and must be popular – all the local tackle shops in Turangi and Taupo have sold out. Sorry, no photo – mine have all gone – see the next story.

Does this look like a cicada?

10lb double hookup
Your reporter managed to hook up a double 10 pounder. The trouble was the double consisted of a 2lb trout and an 8lb shag. The fish was hooked and played then suddenly the shag appeared dived and when it resurfaced it had the fish by the head. The shag was flapping, the trout was flapping and I was hanging on wondering what would happen if I landed both. Eventually the 8lb leader broke and the shag headed downstream struggling to swallow the fish. It eventually did, along with my cicada fly and small nymph. If you are fishing blow the lower Bridge pool watch out for the shags. They seem to wait there ready to ambush captive trout.