Tongariro Pools update:

On my regular bike ride ‘recce’ up the Tongariro River I always stop off at various higher points on the trail to check out the pools.

Then when we get asked before each weekend we hope we know – rather than guess – which pools are holding and which are barren.

We can even show images to inmates.  We have all the pools and anglers access blown up on the iMac monitor to help guide them to the more productive pools.

What we are also looking out for are drifting sand banks of pumice and ash that are pushed slowly down the river covering all the gravels.  When this happens the fish avoid the pool or run as the fine pumice annoys them when it penetrates their gills.

Well that is what we have been told by other anglers who know these things, although the trout have never been interviewed…

Obviously the sand drifts cover all the caddis and other trout food.  Often even good reliable pools stop producing and might take a year to recover.  Over the years it is quite noticeable that where there is sand there are no trout.

Some weeks the water is not so clear but at the time the Tongariro was flowing at around 22 cumecs – this is as low as it gets and probably the lowest flow we have seen in the last 12 years or so.

From the cliffs above Cicada Pool we can usually identify exactly where the trout are.  Then we might stop on our return ride knowing exactly where to cast…

At first there were only a few seen until a raft came down and then suddenly all these stones developed tails and started moving around.  There were trout everywhere…

Doug from Auckland (above) was casting into the head of the pool.

I yelled out to let him know there were about a dozen below me further down the pool.

He moved down and was soon hooked into a fresh run chrome jumper which flicked him off.

So I left him to continue to deal to them while I continued the splendid ride up to Red Hut and back down the TLB.

When I arrived at Stag Pool car park I was delighted to find Doug and his canine buddy returning from Cicada Pool with his rainbow dinner.

Then I cut through the old angler access track to Admirals Pool which was loaded.

The trout were even seen within easy casting distance from the shingle bank at the tail of the pool.

If you have a hard squiz in the image below the trout might be spotted as darker smudges close to the bank..

In summary there were trout and anglers in every pool.  It does not get much better than that.  What a great river supporting the best wild fishery in NZ.