From Taupo Trout Fishery facebook:
Browns on the move – large brown trout have been moving into Taupo rivers for some time now and those who like to target them have been enjoying the challenge. These brownies have a well earned reputation for being hard to catch however they can be tempted. If you’ve not tried to catch them before you could be missing out.
The easiest way to connect with one of these elusive brutes is fly fishing at night around one of the many river mouths. Brown trout collect at these locations for various reasons – cool oxygenated water, food and the urge to spawn. The classic approach is to slowly retrieve a large dark fly such as a Wooly Bugger. These fish will often come in very close after dark and it can be a mistake to fish too far out.
While night fishing can be successful it doesn’t suit everyone. The good news is they can still be caught during the day, but you’ll need a very stealthy approach combined with accurate casting. You will also have to be prepared to pass a number of apparently comatose fish in search of those displaying a bit of activity or holding in a current. The trick here is to place a small nymph directly in front of the target fish… with a bit of luck it might decide to open its mouth!
In case you need more info for your weekend fix the following has been pinched from Sporting Life website blog – thanks Jared. The weather is much the same for the weekend:
Friday 23rd March 2018
Overcast, warm and humid. No wind as of 9:00am. The Tongariro is fishable but contains some colour. Boy did it rain again overnight!
A little bit of delayed coverage from Wednesday. Kjell and I decided to head to the Tauranga-Taupo River for a look on Wednesday. We had heavy overnight rain the night before and were quite surprised to find the river clear as gin.
Years ago Admiral Hickling said this was a great river ” Ideal for Children and Octogenarians “.
You can see in this picture that in most places the river bed is a sandy bottom. Care should be taken wading in the shallow stony places as the stones are quite slippery. The river has nice gentle pools and shallow riffle runs. A great river to fish on a sunny day which great for spotting fish.
We spotted plenty of good sized fish but they were super spooky.
(Below) Kjell actually caught one ! At first we thought it was a Willow Leaf on the end of his line and he tried casting it off … I noticed it wriggle a bit and said to him he had a ” fish on ” !!!
(Below) A nice river to be out and about on.
(Below) There were plenty of fish rising but most of them appeared to be smaller fish. I couldn’t see what they were taking but I noticed these things on bushes along the river bank. I was wondering if these were dropping off the bushes. Does anyone know what these are ? If you grab a bush and they squash on your hands then they leave a stain.
(Below) Some fish were rising and I convinced Kjell to put a dry fly on … something he didn’t want to do, but if they are going to hand themselves to you on a plate then you should change and do something about it. A few casts later this fish shot out of the depths and grabbed the dry fly.
In the shop we have encountered many anglers who only want to fish a specific way therefore limiting themselves as to what they can catch and what sort of fish they can catch. However here at Sporting Life we like to fish many different techniques depending on the weather patterns, river flows, times of the day or night. If you only want to fish a specific way you will severely limit your fish catching abilities. Also an attitude of “I only want to catch big fish”, or “I only want to catch fish on a dry fly” severely limits you as well. For me I don’t care what I catch or how many I catch so long as I am just out and about fishing. As we say … it beats working !
(Below) Kjell at the Office “working” on a stunning day at the Tauranga-Taupo River on Wednesday.
(Below) We headed off to have a flick at one of the mouths for a change of scenery. For those of you who like fishing for Bone Fish, have you ever tried catching one of these? This is a Lake Taupo Bone Fish … just a bit sluggish on the fight ….
I saw lots of dead fish at the mouths.
(Below) Look at that rip flowing into the lake !
(Below) Would you rather be here or working ?
(Below) I managed to land this fish on a smelt fly. It put up a good fight. When I landed it I noticed the tail looked funny. It was red and had chunks taken out of it.
(Below) I released the fish and it swam off happy.
Overcast, warm and humid. No wind as of 9:00am. The Tongariro is fishable but contains some colour. Boy did it rain again overnight!
A little bit of delayed coverage from Wednesday. Kjell and I decided to head to the Tauranga-Taupo River for a look on Wednesday. We had heavy overnight rain the night before and were quite surprised to find the river clear as gin.
Years ago Admiral Hickling said this was a great river ” Ideal for Children and Octogenarians “.
You can see in this picture that in most places the river bed is a sandy bottom. Care should be taken wading in the shallow stony places as the stones are quite slippery. The river has nice gentle pools and shallow riffle runs. A great river to fish on a sunny day which great for spotting fish.
We spotted plenty of good sized fish but they were super spooky.
(Below) Kjell actually caught one ! At first we thought it was a Willow Leaf on the end of his line and he tried casting it off … I noticed it wriggle a bit and said to him he had a ” fish on ” !!!
(Below) A nice river to be out and about on.
(Below) There were plenty of fish rising but most of them appeared to be smaller fish. I couldn’t see what they were taking but I noticed these things on bushes along the river bank. I was wondering if these were dropping off the bushes. Does anyone know what these are ? If you grab a bush and they squash on your hands then they leave a stain.
(Below) Some fish were rising and I convinced Kjell to put a dry fly on … something he didn’t want to do, but if they are going to hand themselves to you on a plate then you should change and do something about it. A few casts later this fish shot out of the depths and grabbed the dry fly.
In the shop we have encountered many anglers who only want to fish a specific way therefore limiting themselves as to what they can catch and what sort of fish they can catch. However here at Sporting Life we like to fish many different techniques depending on the weather patterns, river flows, times of the day or night. If you only want to fish a specific way you will severely limit your fish catching abilities. Also an attitude of “I only want to catch big fish”, or “I only want to catch fish on a dry fly” severely limits you as well. For me I don’t care what I catch or how many I catch so long as I am just out and about fishing. As we say … it beats working !
(Below) Kjell at the Office “working” on a stunning day at the Tauranga-Taupo River on Wednesday.
(Below) We headed off to have a flick at one of the mouths for a change of scenery. For those of you who like fishing for Bone Fish, have you ever tried catching one of these? This is a Lake Taupo Bone Fish … just a bit sluggish on the fight ….
I saw lots of dead fish at the mouths.
(Below) Look at that rip flowing into the lake !
(Below) Would you rather be here or working ?
(Below) I managed to land this fish on a smelt fly. It put up a good fight. When I landed it I noticed the tail looked funny. It was red and had chunks taken out of it.
(Below) I released the fish and it swam off happy.