Weather: Sunny, 22° with light winds up to 20kms.
Tongariro River Flow: 26.4 cumecs (m³/s)
The weather has been beautiful sunshine this week which has woken up the hatching insect life nicely and we have seen some nice topwater activity of fish taking small mayfly and caddis from the surface, along with green manuka and brown/bronze beetles on lake edges and under heavily vegetated banks. Neil reports that fish were taking terrestrial patterns yesterday, getting several Category 3 Woomfah eats throughout the day. Also lots of other good reports from anglers catching a few to a handful of rising fish on dry flies throughout the day and into the evening for the past week.
Jigging has been productive, seeming to warm up later in the morning through the afternoon and again at the depth around that 20 to 30m mark. Small Pat Swift smelt flies are the hot favourite as always. Josh and I headed out earlier in the week and caught some great conditioned maiden fish among the recoverers.
Fishing with smelt patterns and sight fishing to lake edge feeding fish, or blind fishing the stream mouths into the night has seen fish to the net in the past week. Niamh and I headed out for our first night fish of the season this week and found a few fish between us in mixed condition, using both smelt and lumo patterns. We have had a fresh stock up of headtorches to keep you night anglers tying knots and landing fish! Check out our Ledlenser range including the affordable HF4R Core Headlamp.
Some mixed conditioned brown trout have been seen and landed throughout the Tongariro river, the last flush of fresh water last week seems to have enticed a few of them up. Neil hit the big river this week and found a few browns to the net. Fishing to these cunning fish takes perseverance and stealth. Light long tapered leaders with small flies and precision casting is essential to not spook them as they often lie in the shallow edges and are easy to walk over and miss! So keep your eyes peeled.
The smaller lakes are still slow to start with higher levels and cooler temperatures, so only very isolated and small damsel hatches have been reported, but deep nymphing and pulling streamers on the windy days are providing the goods! Gary has been catching some great conditioned fish as always.
With Christmas around the corner, Vouchers are a great option for those who don't know quite what their loved one needs in the fishing department! You can purchase them online and also shop online with them too. Plenty of other options in store we can help you select for friends and family.
Keep enjoying the fishing team! We will see you on the water.
Rosie