Fishing the TLB of Judges Pool is now judged out-of-bounds. All access is banned until December.

It is barely accessible anyway. The recent flood washed out what remained of the access track to make it a precarious struggle for many anglers. But there is another reason…

Adjust your polaroids to carefully read the water – the buoyant bundles of fluff are so tiny they look like nymphers’ indicators – you might need glasses to spot them…

After posting the rave about Judges Pool on Thursday we checked it out. It is that time of the year when Spring has sprung. After the light morning drizzle eased off the gardens were full of local wildlife. The quail and rabbit on the front lawn ignored me. The tuis were back yodeling after stripping the Kowhais.

Juno led me walkies along Te Aho Street to the TLB – about three minutes walk from TRM to show me some of the spring blossoms… What a lovely place to live.

Only one angler was in the tail of the pool. I tested my iPhone again to make sure the magic TRM app was still functioning. I recognised the angler – Peter Scott is a TRM inmate from Unit 1. As usual, just as soon as I focused on him, he hooked up. This only happens with TRM inmates!

No doubt he will imagine I was taking long-distance photos of him. Sorry.

What we were focusing on was the new Judges Pool refugee resident family of Mum, Dad, and four blue ducklings. Other Blue Duck families are spread throughout the Tongariro River in most pools at the moment. So much for claiming them as an “endangered species”?

But that “engangered species” qualification by DOC is why all anglers are banned from fishing along the TLB until December, or until our little family has grown and fled their nest.

You have been warned – TRM’s savage guard dog, Juno, has appointed herself as their official protector. OK?

In case you could not spot the cute fluffy ducklings I pinched the photo below off DOC so you know what you missed… Thanks in anticipation from Bubs Smith – he is DOC’s Blue Duck man. Thank you from DOC too.