Check out Dave Ratcliffe's Tips For Autumn Hunting

Wed 10  Baro 1013hpa. Wind, light airs.  Fine and sunny.  A nice cool start to the morning.  All rivers are clear.  The nice sunny weather should keep the fishing going.  Nymphing should be good while it is nice and sunny like this as there is a heap of slime covering the rocks. This holds good nymph life.  Long may it continue.  The picture below is a friend of mine, Kjell Frank from Stockholm,  Sweden and a nice Tongariro Rainbow that he caught nymphing on Sunday.  Kjell arrived in Turangi on the 20th of February.  Up until Sunday Kjell had not had much luck in the river and most other anglers he had spoken to on the river were not doing very well either.   After spending a bit of time with him, he now believes there are fish in the river !!!  Most anglers fish at the S.H.1 bridge because they can "see the fish", a few may get caught but I said to Kjell "how many of these fish that we caught did we see?", "none he said", "so, I said how many fish did we catch that we didn't see?" ..... "all of them!".  I have noticed so many anglers will stand in one spot for hours on end waiting for the fish to come to them.  The idea to me of fishing is covering the water to find where the fish are.  Knowing what you are doing is very important.  Poor fishing is usually blamed on the fishery but the reality is - is it the fishery that is poor?  There is an abundance of fish in the river and it is up to you how to figure out how to get them.  As I have said before, it is the "nut at the end of the butt that waves the wand!".  If you are struggling to catch fish, seek good advice or hire a fishing guide to show you how to do it.

Wed 10

Tues 9  Baro  1019hpa.  Wind, light airs.  Overcast.  Cooler... feels like winter is on the way now !!  Bugger !!  Most anglers seem to have been enjoying the recent spell of nice sunny weather and the fishing that this has brought.  Looks like some fresh rainbows have just started making their way up the Tongariro.  My Swedish friend and I got some nice ones on Sunday and this report from Karl Woolcott of Wellington who came in to see me yesterday to get some flies looked to have done the same as well.  Karl writes:

Also looks like there had been some good fishing out on Lake Taupo with this report from Rex Walker of Taranaki.  Most reports from the boaties over the summer tend to indicate some nice fish that have been caught and as a result this year looks to be shaping up quite well for the river fishing as well.  Still, never count your chickens until they hatch and as I have said wait to see what comes - never compare otherwise you will set yourself up for disappointment (do I ever seem disappointed when it comes to fishing? I just love to fish).  Rex writes:

Tues 9

Mon 8  Baro 1014hpa.  Wind, light airs.  Overcast and very chilly start to the morning this morning. Cloud burning off early to produce a nice sunny day.  May get gusting wind mid afternoon.  All rivers are clear.  Had some really good fishing in the Tongariro yesterday.  I was nymphing with a friend from Sweden.  We got some good sized rainbows with one fresh one that we kept having very nice orange flesh.  We got quite a few juveniles as well.  The funny thing was the juveniles went for the #10 bomb while the bigger fish went for the much smaller nymphs.  They took a variety of nymphs from tungsten bead hare and copper bombs to flashbacks and green caddis.  There seemed to be no shortage of fish in the river, however my Swedish friend who has been in Turangi since the 20th of February reported fishing as quite slow for himself and nearly everyone else he has spoken to on the river found the same.  After showing him what to do he now realises there are plenty of fish in the river and what you do is very important to catching fish.  Good reports from Lake Otamangakau still continue.  See the picture and email below thanks to David McCleary from Australia who has been here for the last week or two.  David writes:

Mon 8

Sun 7 Day Off. Gone Fishn'

Sat 6    Had reports from the river anglers that there have been some mid afternoon rises on the Tongariro.  Still some reporting some nice browns.  Most reports indicate that the jiggers out on Lake Taupo have been getting some nice fish and that they have been full of smelt.  There definitely seems to have been more reports of smelt this year.  Lake Otamangakau still seems to be fishing well with some nice conditioned fish there. This has been very popular with anglers over the last two or three weeks.  This is a good time of the year as there are plenty of options available to the fishermen.  Small lake fishing / still water, river fishing either nymphing, wetlining or dry fly, Lake Taupo fishing includes the river mouths, jigging, trolling or harling. 

Fri 5  Baro 1013hpa.  Wind, light airs, may pick up mid day to quite strong.  Fine and sunny.  All rivers are clear.  Looks like the level of Lake Taupo has dropped quite considerably in the last week or three.  Seems to be in the middle of it's operating level at present.  This is good news for those wishing to fish the drop offs at the river mouths like the Tauranga-Taupo, Waimarino and the Delta. The lake level seems to be dropped as we head into winter and is usually at its lowest in the middle of the winter.  The main operating levels are between 356m to 357m.  It is usually hard for boaties to launch their boats in some areas when it is about 356.1m to 356.2m.  Still, I prefer the low levels for fishing the drop-offs as it makes for easier wading. 

Fri 5

Thurs 4  Baro 1007hpa.  Wind, light airs.  Fine and sunny.  All rivers are clear.  Heard a massive amount of cicadas down beside the river at lunchtime today.  This is good.  It is still worth flicking a Cicada Dry / nymph combo.  They may be a little sluggish first thing in the morning as it is quite cold early mornings.  Definitely noticing the poplar trees turning a golden colour now.  Hopefully the first runs of rainbows will come through with the Autumn rains.  Might pay to have a look at some of the smaller rivers while the dry fly action continues with this nice weather. 

Thurs 4

Wed 3  Day Off.

Tues 2  Day Off.  Catching snapper, trevally and gurnard.

Mon 1  Baro 1017hpa.  Wind, light airs. Overcast.  All rivers are fishable.  Getting mixed reports from the boaties out on Lake Taupo.  Seems to be described as patchy.  Seems like the jiggers are getting the better fish with those trolling or harling picking up the smaller ones.  Still, it seems a bit up and down.  Could be something to do with the moon coming up to Full ?  River mouths should be good after extended periods of nice weather and as soon as the barometer drops and we get some decent rain, then things should be even better.   Possibly look at very late evening or very early morning before the sun rises.  I would possibly expect some of the earlier rainbows that run the Tongariro to be in quite good condition.  Usually early on there are not that many like in the Spring but last year I got some good ones around 5-6lbs.  You have to have your flies in the water to catch them though !!  Still favourable reports from Lake Otamangakau.  Short evening rises continue on the Tongariro with plenty of young fish around 6-20cm long feeding on the insects.  These will be feeding hard prior to the winter.  There are plenty of fish like this in the river at the moment. However if you beat the feet, anglers are seeing some monster browns in areas with some reporting pods of up to about 20 fish.  The old story is "you have to go looking to see".  Also still getting fish rising to the Cicada / Nymph combo but once again you have to move around to fish the water to get this to happen.  You might get nothing for a 200m stretch of water and then all of a sudden be into quite a few.  Looks like the Poplar leaves are starting to turn yellow now.  Another two weeks and the Red Deer should be starting to roar.

Mon 1

Fri 26  Baro 1017hpa.  Wind, light cool SW (welcome relief from the humidity).  No report from the rivers at this stage but hopefully they should all be fishable.  We got a massive downpour of rain yesterday morning that caused surface flooding on some of the local roads.  This may have caused a slight rise in river levels but being back to sunshine today they should all be worth a fish. Looks like the dry fly activity is still active but may be on the wane.  The days are getting noticeably shorter now and we are fast heading towards the ending of daylight savings.  If the weather stays fine and sunny dry fly activity should continue into next month but the weather can change to cold very quickly.  Still, the browns should start moving up-river along with possibly the first of the rainbow runs.  Had one angler in the shop yesterday that described Lake Otamangakau as like "Looking into a friggin' aquarium! Fish swimming everywhere".

Fri 26

Thurs 25  Baro 1013hpa.  Wind, light airs.  Overcast with light rain falling and humid. All rivers at the early stage of today are clear and fishable.  This bit of rain is good.  This should freshen up the rivers somewhat.  If it gets heavy and the rivers colour we may see possibly the first run of rainbows come up river and also more browns should come up. The picture below is Roy Bowers from Taupo and a nice rainbow that he caught on the Tongariro evening rise last night. When he hooked this one he thought it was a monster and let out a scream of delight.  The thing "pulled some string" off the reel. Last night the rise was quite short.  About 10 minutes but a few fish were coming up.  We went out a little earlier to see if we could get a brown on a cicada / nymph combo.  We think we got one but it got off.  There was a big explosion around the fly, the thing got hooked, the tail flopped out of the water and it stayed on for a wee while but then the hook pulled out. Think it might have gone for the small nymph suspended below the dry. We didn't see another angler in sight !  Prior to the rise I was having a bit of a nymph and hooked a few juveniles that are all about 7-8 inches (15-20cm) in length.  Juvenile rainbows will readily take a fly. They can sometimes be a bit of a pest as they are greedy little suckers that will probably dart out from beneath a bigger fish to grab your fly.  Still a bit of fun though and still seem to put a good bend on the rod.  As I said to Roy.... "to me any fish is a good fish!"

Thurs 25

Wed 24  Baro 1019hpa.  Wind, light airs.  Overcast in the morning with the cloud hopefully burning off mid afternoon to produce a nice fine sunny day.  All rivers are clear and fishable.  Colin went back over to Lake Otamangakau yesterday afternoon and reported that there are a few "hook straighteners" over there at the moment.  Landed 7 for the afternoon just fishing on the edges. The largest was 7 or 8lbs and the smallest was 1 pound.  He also got a nice looking brown.  He is only fishing the margins slowly and carefully mainly using damsel flies and small bloodworms. Conditions were perfect yesterday for spotting fish as they cruised along the weed beds and he observed them supping from the smorgasbord of nymphs available to them.  He reports a perfect afternoon with the only disturbance being a large group of kayakers from OPC.  He reports that fishing like that almost makes a man want to move back to Turangi!  Sometimes one needs to take a break from fly fishing to appreciate what is so readily available on my back doorstep.

Wed 24

Tues 23  Baro 1024hpa.  Wind, light airs.  Overcast in the morning with the cloud hopefully burning off mid day to produce a nice fine sunny day.  Still got a bit of humidity.  All rivers are clear and fishable. Plenty of overseas tourists are now turning up to fish locally now.  Nice pleasant summer fishing at Lake Otamangakau at the moment.  Some nice fat rainbows.  If the weather holds and there is not much wind it should be worth fishing in the next week or two.  Just need the time to get out and enjoy, too much to do and too little time to do it.  Got to try and squeeze as much in as possible before daylight savings ends.  The picture below is Colin Tecofsky and a nice fat Lake Otamangakau rainbow.

Tues 23