Weather: 10.9° Fine. Cloud developing for a time this afternoon. Southwesterlies developing this morning.
River Flow: 21.6 Cumecs (m³/s)
With a very breezy start to the day and temperatures lower than we have been seeing, it’s feeling a little more wintery than spring out there. The wind has been persistent throughout the day, although it is expected to ease towards the evening. It looks like it will pick up again briefly around midday tomorrow before settling for the weekend.
Luckily, we avoided the frosts that were forecast, so the morning was a little warmer than expected, making things more pleasant for those heading out early to the river.
Reports through the shop have been fairly positive, with Monday sounding like it was the best day out of the week so far. There is a real mixed bag of fish around at the moment, and with some rain possible tomorrow, we should hopefully see a few smaller pods continue to make their way through the system.
As we transition further into spring, we are starting to see more insect hatches and some fish beginning to rise. As temperatures continue to climb, we should see more fish looking to feed from the surface. With this in mind, switching out the indicator for a larger dry fly and dropping a nymph underneath could become a more productive way to fish over the coming weeks.
The river is still sitting incredibly low and clear, and it has remained reasonably tough to convince fish to eat. We are seeing some massive pods of fish holding in the runs and pools, but many have been quite coloured up or are in spawning mode.
Looking ahead to the coming weekend, school holidays are starting again, so we are hoping to see an increase in traffic both through the shop and out on the lake. For those heading out lake fishing, we have been hearing some positive reports, with success while trolling and harling starting to pick up.
The weather forecast for the next couple of days and into the weekend is showing some showers, which should ease by Monday. Overnight temperatures are expected to sit in the low single digits, with daytime highs in the low to mid-teens. Hopefully, the small amount of rain will keep things ticking over and encourage a few more fresh stragglers from the lake to move up into the system.
With Lake Rotoaira now open, and Lake Otamangakau and Kuratau opening on the 1st of October, we are very excited to get back out on the smaller lakes and into some classic lake-style fishing.
Importantly, from 8pm on the 1st of October until 5am on the 6th of October, NZTA has confirmed a road closure affecting major sections of State Highway 1 between Tūrangi and Motuoapa. Travel will be significantly disrupted between Tūrangi and Taupō, with the road closed for the entire period to allow major strengthening work to be carried out on the Waiotaka Bridge.
This will affect travel and access from Tūrangi to some of the other popular rivers, including the TT and Hinemaiaia. Unfortunately, access will be via the western bays during this time. The work is essential, and we understand that NZTA and the contractors initially tried to plan the work around partial closures. However, due to the large machinery required and the limited space along that section of road, a full closure is necessary.
We will still be operating as normal, but we encourage anyone planning to be here during this period to plan ahead and allow extra time for the detours and disruptions.
In the shop, we have been working hard to stock up for the holidays. We have also just received a big shipment from Guideline, so a lot of gear that has been out of stock for a while, including fly boxes, vests and rods, is now back in and available both in-store and online. We have also had a top-up of slushy material, which was running very low.
We look forward to seeing everyone over the weekend and throughout the holidays!
Tight lines, everyone!
~ Niamh (Bluey)