We have been greeted by an absolutely stunning day here in Turangi, much the same as yesterday with blue skies and sunshine, something we haven't seen much of these past few months! I took the opportunity to head down to the lower river from the Grace Rd bypass carpark down to the Reed Pool to see what the river structure is like now and it has changed immensely. The bypass that runs in front of the Tongariro Lodge looks like it will dry up once the flow drops which is a real shame as it was great fishing through there at times! There has been a massive amount of gravel deposited into what used to be the Bain pool as well which has all but destroyed it. The section of river between the Creek Pool and the Bain resembles the lower TT now with multiple large snags present all throughout, which I managed to donate more than my fair share of flies to as the water was still carrying plenty of colour and until they were hooked they were hidden in the depths! The Log Pool itself now has a foot plus in places of fine gravel deposited all through it, the lovely riffle that was at the head has all but disappeared as has the tree and drop off down towards the tail behind the overhanging tree on the corner as that whole section of bank has been washed away which is a real shame as it provided some fantastic fishing for hundreds of anglers over the past few seasons. I swung the whole length of the Log and then nymphed my way back up with not a single touch so I am not holding my breath but I hope that with time it comes back to how it used to fish! I have attached photos below of the changes around the Bain Pool area and will try to get some more pics of the lower river at some stage this week.
There have been plenty of new holes, seams, drop offs etc created that made for some great nymphing water which was absolutely loaded with fish yesterday, a mix of coloured/spent fish and fresh silver fish. As per usual the really solid models went straight into the logs and other snags dotted throughout but still managed to get plenty to the net with some great fish amongst them. Both naturals and globugs worked a treat - any colour globug worked it didn't matter at all they were smashing everything! The C3 Carpet Caddis with the pink bead was the pick of the naturals along with orange headed Hare and Coppers.
Looking upstream from the Grace Rd carpark into what was the Plank Pool
Karl checking out what is left of the Bain Pool, there is hardly any flow through there now!
Looking downstream from the gravel bar in between the main flow and the remnants of the Bain
Same spot looking upstream
Looking upstream from the true right of the main flow opposite the Bain, there has been a serious amount of gravel and dirt shifted! Snags galore which I'm sure the big browns will take full advantage of this summer!
There are plenty of anglers around and with both the TT and the Tongariro firing hard this week is shaping up to be one of the best yet this season! The crew are out and about doing what they do best this week so we will keep the updates coming as we find more changes to the river.
Connor