Tongariro River Flow: 28.5(m3/sec)
Weather: Fine, then a few showers from afternoon. Light winds.
It's been a cold couple of weeks in Turangi. The rivers have been receiving a fair a amount of snow melt, keeping the river temps cool.
People have been finding plenty of success in the last few days. The rivers are low and very clear, so the smaller glo-bugs or naturals have been doing the damage. Talking with Josh Hart (Local guide) recently, he found the fish were in good pods all throughout the system, and was having a lot of fun with his Euro set up (9'9" #4 Guideline LPX Tactical). It seems to be the least disturbance on the water, and lighter gear has been doing the most damage.
People who have been changing flies often, or using something completely different to what others are using, are fooling many more fish. Experimenting with other patterns is never a bad thing to do, specially when the fish see the same thing possibly hundreds of times a day.
We always suggest people place their indicator down their leader, rather than clip it straight on to their fly line. This massively improves the drift, and also means less disturbance on the water. We highly recommend the NZ Strike indicator system, which is also adjustable, allowing you to easily change your depth and fine tune your indicator to suit the water you're on. Paired with a bit of floatant, you'll be away.
For the fly tiers. We have just received a lot of great new Soldarini tying materials. A great range of dubbing and egg materials, in almost any colour. A personal favourite, being the Alpine Hare Fur Dubbing (Wally, if you're reading this, it's what you've been asking for), in a natural or dark brown colour. We also have genuine seal fur in a few colours.
Remember, the Auckland shop is opening this Saturday. So if you're not down here fishing and in Auckland, be sure to come in and say hi.
Tight lines everyone.
Sportinglife Turangi