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June 18, 2016

Tongariro updates

Perfect winter fishing weather.  With the new moon the days start chilly and have soon warmed up to provide pleasant conditions.  Low angler pressure during the week.

Various fishing reports include:

Shane French:

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Hey all.

The trout are coming into the river with increasing numbers as the season kicks off. It may have been the warm Autumn we had in Taupo that made the Runs a wee bit later or it may be that we were just really spoilt last season and that is still fresh in our minds. The trout that are coming through have been very quick to make their way up into “Safe” water on all rivers, leaving big holes of empty water on all rivers at times. The quality of the trout is from one end of the scale to the other. Just as you are freaking out about catching small SKINNY fish a 5 pound beauty comes along as beats up on you. Then for the next 4 or 5 fish you catch 3.5 to 4 pound fat buggers!!! I guess the good news is that not all the trout are skinny horrible buggers. One reason for the increase in “Skinnies”, this season, maybe the large number of trout in all the rivers last year. Some of those fish, what maybe 25% of the overall winter run is made up of “Second Year Spawners”? If the season was so good last year, and it was, then there will be an increase of returned trout this year and if they still need a “feed” then maybe that is why we are seeing a few more Slabby trout. I have talked to a few boat fisherman and they have seen good numbers of smelt around the lake. IMG_0724 (2)

I had the pleasure of fishing Waihaha over in Western Bays last weekend. It had good flow from all the rain we had over the week and was “Ripping” out nicely. One other angler was in there when we rocked up and he had two fish on in the short time he was there. William left and my friend and I stepped in, thinking it was going to be Gold! Meeh, is all I can say. I hooked about 8 trout and was not impressed at all by both size and condition. In fact I hooked one Silver fish that was so skinny I can’t believe it was alive :( We Harled and Jigged the next morning and found all the trout to be either small and Fat or small and skinny. We obviously missed the good fish and that about sums it up on the boats. Good or bad, nothing to much in between.

here is a rundown on the rivers as of Today.

The Waitahanui had fish in the middle reaches yesterday. I fished a few of the lower pools and didn’t get a hit, then moved into the middle section and immediately, hooked up and saw trout. The upper reaches also had trout in most of the pools. I did well with Glo bugs in the middle reaches and then switched over to a Red Bead Raptor in the upper pools and hooked two more. Dave Cade and his group of Waitahanui boys have a done a great job of cleaning up the banks, hell I think there is more rubbish on the Hinemaiaia now. Thank you to all concerned there. I would also like to hear from the group of anglers who regularly fish the Nui as talking to DOC the other day, they believe they are on there every week checking licences!! I must just be missing them.

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The Hinemaiaia took a little while to fire but it now has a steady trickle of trout moving through. The fish from this system seem to be in relatively good condition. I hooked a great Jack the other day which dragged me downstream for 100 meters. It didn’t help that I had hooked it in the tail :(  As always on this grand little river please watch the spawning beds, they are really starting to show up and can be identified as clean rocks alongside the darker coloured ones. These are called Reed’s and if you stand on them the gravel is soft, this is bad, please try to avoid standing on the babies.

The Tauranga Taupo had a run go through with all the rain and the level took a wee while to drop this time. Some nice trout came out of the TT. I went in here with a pretty basic rig, split shot and Glo Bug, 8 pound leader of 10 feet all up. Trout were in all the deep pieces of water and although they weren’t in any numbers, they were certainly there. Most of the pools are clean of snags. With one or two more high water episodes the upper pools, (or above the rock wall) might deepen up again. I need to have a look just above the bridge to the car park sometime soon, I saw a post from Ross who was freaking out about snags. Pfft bro not all rivers can be long clean glides and deep pools :)

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Speaking of the Tongariro. I didn’t get to see this river this week. I fished it last week the day all the rain came in and I wasn’t really impressed with what we got or how long it took for us to get them. Both myself and Craig are pretty good fishermen and we smashed a spot pretty hard for one small skinny thing. It then felt very empty! Like all the other rivers the trout moving into the Tongariro are not hanging around, which means if you are not hitting them, move sections! I know trout are trickling in and I have seen some excellent trout in pictures from Ross and other sites but yeah I think we are still waiting for decent numbers to start rolling in.

There is no real decent rain forecast now for a few days. The odd shower but nothing that should change river levels. The trout that are in the rivers have now all seen a trillion Glo Bugs so it may be time to start throwing Naturals around and dropping weight for stealth. My love of Fluorocarbon is well known amongst the friends I fish with and guides I have done. There seems to be a debate going on about whether this stuff actually does make a difference in catch rates. The arrogant bastard in me wants to jump out and say those who think it doesn’t make a difference, need to fish more. However the calm side of me not wanting to offend anyone says this. When the water has colour, yup it doesn’t make a difference what you use. However when the fish are wary and the water is low and clear, then Fluro is a must IF you want to maximise your chances of hooking up. 6 pound fluro is an awesome diameter to have for Tippets. I have used both Fluro and Mono extensively over  40 years of fly fishing and wouldn’t be without it at any stage while on the water.

Be safe all.

Regards Shane

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Rod & Reel Ltd.

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13466246_1115759481780564_3720110371348398041_nA quick report on the Taupo fishery, with Markus down there doing a bit of filming and fishing at the moment.

All the rivers are in great condition and there are some really fresh fish around. The Tongariro has some very fresh rainbow bullets as well as a smattering of browns at the moment. It is running very clear, so using eggs early and late and naturals through the middle of the day will usually give you the best results.
Tip – Try using smaller eggs, like the Otters 4mm soft milking eggs once the light hits the water – these have been deadly!

The Hinemaiaia has a good flow and had a slight colour in it yesterday. There are some very well conditioned fish in here at the moment and they are moving in pods. So, once you get one persist as there will usually be a few more in the same lie. Best flies here have been the 4mm Otters soft milking eggs and the NZ Hot Nymph.

13407104_1115759465113899_2806232501218652212_nTip – make sure you are getting down in the river. If you think you aren’t, adding split shot is an easy way to change up your weight without having to change your flies.

The Tauranga-Taupo has a good flow. Most fish are now in the middle to upper reaches, following the floods a couple of weeks back. Once again Otters eggs early and naturals once the light hits the water, are the go here. Smaller naturals, like the Hot spot pheasant tails and Caddilac nymphs were very effective here.

For those of you getting out for a fish this weekend, good luck! The weather is looking great and there are some fantastically conditioned fish around.

Taupo Fishing

13407141_1115759411780571_4772040916373704039_nCorrespondence:

Hey guys, (ladies are included in that saying, always).
I have just gone into Rod and Tackle and had a good talk to Matt Pate.

The conversation was about why we have so many God Damn small fish in the fishery at the moment. I believe that it is due to all the new methods of fishing the lake and rivers. Jigging and down rigging being the two main killers.  These two forms of trout fishing have enabled boat anglers to plumb the depths of Lake Taupo at depths never before accomplished, not even wire or lead lines could get down and that meant there was a sanctuary available for our big breeding fish. I believe that over the years we have wiped out the breeding stock of these big fish. I also believe that due to the natural cleanliness of lake Taupo and it’s low Nitrogen levels that it has a problem supporting a good stock of smelt.

13445324_1115759375113908_7173620994607866204_nThe food chain I believe goes Nitrogen, Zooplankton, smelt and then trout. Because we have low Nitrogen levels, (clean lake), our level of Zooplankton is not very high, so the poor old baby smelt that thrive on this stuff struggle for a feed and are not that big in general. In comparison the smelt in Rotoiti, (Rotorua lake) are much much bigger due to the HIGH nitrogen levels from all the human waste being dumped in lake Rotorua and filtering down to Rotoiti, over the years before the Rotorua council got their shit, (no pun) together.

Matt told me that there is a scientist doing some studies on what the trout have bee eating. They can take samples of the trout’s flesh, Liver and Fins to determine what they have been eating. He also mentioned that our lake is so clean, (because of a lack of nitrogen) due to the farmers all around the lake having a strict Nitrogen level monitoring system put in place some years ago. Hey i’m all for that as too much of the stuff causes algae problems. It is a huge lake and I believe that trout trying to recover may be finding it hard to get onto a good source of smelt and stay with them to fatten up. However I also believe that we need to be stocking our Lake with R strain from Rotorua to get that big fish gene pool back. Yes we have a wild fishery but hell if it needs help to bounce back then I am all for it.
What are your thoughts please.

Mike Hughes:

A busy Queens Birthday.
Thu 9th June, 2016

Last weekend was probably one of the busiest bank holiday periods I’ve seen in Turangi for quite sometime. The combination of fine weather and Queen’s Birthday weekend saw visitors and particularly anglers and their families provide a welcome boost for the local economy and some of the cafe’s for instance, reported record takings.
As you can imagine there were literally hundreds of fly fishermen on the Tongariro and the car parks were often chokka first thing. Despite this there were a few fish caught, although it wasn’t easy and you had to move around a bit to find them.

I’d intended fishing downriver on Sunday but when I arrived at the Bain car park there were ten vehicles parked up, so I headed back to town.

When it’s this busy I usually stay away from the pools and try the less often fished water in between…and it sometimes pays off. By the time I got to one of the popular town pools there were already eight anglers lined up … but the short stretch a little further up hadn’t been touched. Its fairly shallow and isn’t really “indicator water”. Add to this, restricted back casting and overhanging trees along the lie on the opposite bank and it’s easy to see why most keep well away from it. You never catch heaps of fish here but when the river’s busy, trying little places like this can mean the difference between success and failure. I only had two takes both smallish browns. The first I lost in a snag but landed the second despite the “assistance” of my crazy Border collie.

When you’re a “frequent fisher” you notice little trends and over the last year, more and more anglers are trying czech nymphing. Often, when there’s someone fishing the method you’ll see other anglers stop and watch them for a while, obviously interested in what they’re up to.

I spotted several using it over the weekend and they all caught fish. When there’s a lot of angling pressure it enables you to fish places others can’t and is definitely worth learning. I’ll repeat it won’t work everywhere and it does take a while to get the hang of it. But if you try it … give it time …many don’t!

I think a lot of the problem, is that for the uninitiated, czech nymphing is surrounded with a sort of mystique. Anglers go into it expecting instant results with the “magic” method that’s going to transform their catch rate overnight. Unfortunately that ain’t gonna happen. It takes a lot of practice and time on the water before you begin to consistently reap the rewards. The hardest part, is learning to differentiate between a “take” and the nymphs bouncing along the riverbed. This difference can be quite subtle and its not until you’ve been using it for a month or two that you begin to realize just how many fish you missed during the preceding months.

There is heaps of information readily available online to help you with the setup, rigs, nymphs etc. And although its totally different to what most anglers are used to on the Tongariro … like everything else the more you practice the “luckier” you’ll get. It’s also a great excuse to buy another rod!

I often get asked why I attach my bombs or bottom czech nymph with a loop instead of a knot.

Its something I frequently do with heavy flies and first started in the UK when I used to fish for sea bass as a teenager. Mainly with lures and plugs like Rapala’s and later … Rebel’s.

These were not the huge bass you find in the Southern hemisphere.

Most of the bass caught around the British coastline are between one and five pounds and are a totally different looking fish. More streamlined and silver in color. We used to call the smaller ones “schoolies” because of their shoaling habit. A ten pounder was considered a specimen and once they reached that sort of size they became solitary hunters feeding almost exclusively on other fish.

They’re fantastic sport fish, highly prized by UK anglers and I think the current record is 9 kgs, caught {predictably} on a live-bait.

Anyway because we were attempting to imitate a live fish when “plugging” for bass, the advice given back then by the experts was to attach the lure with a loop knot. This allowed the lure to move more freely and “naturally” in the water.

When you add weight to a fly it kills any movement the fly may have so whenever I’ve used heavy nymphs I tend to use a loop knot. I don’t know for definite that it makes any difference but it doesn’t seem to do any harm.

The other advantage is better knot strength and tests claim 100% with some of the loop knots.

I remember reading somewhere that attaching tungsten bead head flies {or indeed any fly with significant weight near the eye } with a loop, instead of the more traditional knot, helped them sink faster. The thinking behind this was, because the loop allowed the fly to move freely it could easily up end and nose dive to the riverbed. I’m not sure this would make much difference on a river like the Tongariro but… hey! … every little helps.

Some “nymphers” think loop knots put fish off. But wet liners have been attaching streamers this way for donkeys years, so its nothing new. I’d have thought the great big metal thingy sticking out of the flies bum would have been more of a turn off.

If you’re not sure how to tie them here’s a link to a great web-site Animated Knots

Over the last couple of days things are a lot quieter on the river now that most people are back in work.

Its still not easy out there but I’ve had a few browns albeit nothing over six pound.

The fishing in general is very patchy and all this week I’ve been doing better staying on the river until late in the afternoon … packing up around 5.00 pm. In fact some days most of my action has come in that final couple of hours.

I’ve had a fish or two on globugs but the majority are still taking nymphs whichever way you decide to plonk them in front of their noses.

Noticeably warmer temperatures today but an unsettled outlook with rain or showers forecast for the next ten days. A weather warning is in place for Tongariro National Park tomorrow.

See you out there.

Tight lines

Mike

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