Tongariro River Flow: 53.8m3/sec
Weather: Sunny and Windy
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It's a cool windy morning despite the sunshine so it's no surprise to see anglers dressed in their warm puffer jackets and fleece before heading out to the river. We have good stock of jackets to protect you from the weather, come on in and check them out instore or online https://www.sportinglife-turangi.co.nz/search?q=jackets&type=product
I have been spending more time at the vice lately, so yesterday morning I tied up a dozen small smelt patterns on a Ahrex Curved Salt hook #12 before heading out for an afternoon session on the lake edge.
The first fish spotted was targeting a school of smelt within 5m of the shoreline and while it was tough to see the smelt, I could make out their movement on top of the fine pumice. I placed the smelt fly ahead of the fish and it took the fly gently, so I was sure to set the hook well before it tore through the water with a few aerial displays before coming to the net. A few more were spotted and caught in the same manner and some made hard work during the fight. Once I exhausted the shoreline, I fished the drop off of a rip with a brown Viking rabbit streamer and slowly retrieved it over the lip, before recasting I would slowly lift the rod causing the fly to lift up towards the surface, and this proved to be successful.
A majority of the fish were on the lean side but none were undesirable, so it was a winner day for me! Seeing silver rainbows from the lake makes me look forward to the winter season ahead, so we all wait for that event as we enter Autumn.
