Sun, rain, sun, rain, sun, rain!!!!! when will it end?! Yesterday saw a bright blue skied day here in Turangi and the fishing on the Tongariro was on the up with people reporting good numbers of recovering rainbows and the occasional brown trout in the mix to spice things up. Both indicator nymphing and wetlining have been the most effective techniques in the river across the last couple days. Today saw the clouds roll back in across town and we have just been greeted with a couple claps of thunder this afternoon. The Tongariro is still holding steady at 43.2m3/sec and it only seems as though the rain is going to bother us over night before giving way to our first decent patch of weather for the summer.
Shop dad and I decided to start the day right and hit the water early this morning. A handful of fat rainbows were brought to the net, and I was lucky enough to intercept a nice brown as I was winding in my line to head back to the shop (better to be lucky than good). It was obvious that Neil was extremely jealous as I had to go open the shop while he had the day off and was able to continue fishing and in classic Neil fashion, he showed me up with a stunning 7 3/4lb brown!
This home tied smelt pattern was the ticket this morning catching both brown and rainbow trout. tied on a Ahrex minnow hook which has proved to be super strong and sharp with a body made up of Semperfli Cashmere monkey in white, Grey and Olive/brown. Finish it off with some stick-on eyes and a coat of Loon U.V Fly Finish and you have a fish catching weapon. Click the links to check out the materials.
It's good to see everyone coming into town as the Christmas break begins. Hopefully the weather forecast holds true, and we are in for some nice weather over the weekend and into early next week.
Tarn ><>.