Weather: Sunny at last! With a very cold start.
Tongariro River Flow: 34.5 cumecs (m³/s)
The winter runs are in full swing with anglers reporting great numbers of fish in the system! Plenty of silver bars have come to the net this week on large profiled, brightly coloured flies. The high flows have subsided after all the rain and swinging has been top of the agenda for anglers this week as good numbers of fighting fish have been hitting the streamers hard in higher flows. We are now heading into the main winter runs, with good conditioned spawning fish all around us. The peak of spawning fish are yet to come, with the middle reaches expected to hold high numbers of fish for at least the next 6 weeks.
All methods are providing the goods, with nymphing today being very successful with people reporting slushies, simons uglies, hare and coppers and green caddis being great options on the nymphing rigs. Remember to stock up on and keep floatant, tapered leaders, spare indicators, tippet rings and tippet with you to keep you on the river longer!
If you can't find fish where you are, stop and make a coffee on the river with the small portable Fire Maple Cook System and wait for the next pulse of fish to move up or jump in the car and move onto a new spot until you find the next pod.
Theresa has been out swinging runs with friends and having success, as she reports she's hardly fished a pool this year, having too much fun on water in-between!
Some of the Sporting Life family - Niamh and Tim have been out harling on the big lake today, landing some absolutely beauty fat fish on the Tassie Devil lures!
Josh and I hit the water earlier in the week, with our priorities on swinging streamers and we had a good handful of nice conditioned fish between us for the morning and watched acrobatic spawners moving upstream in the shallows.
Gary and Pete have been regularly plotting new streamer ideas and putting them to the test on the water! This is the time of year to get wild on the vice and tie some bright streamers of your choice, come see our excellent fly tying selection of goodies in store to make up your own unique flies. There's no better feeling than landing fish on your own ties!
See you out there guys and girls!
Rosie & Gary