A nice Whanganui River rainbow.
Brian Willson NZPFGA member, professional guide and I Love Fly Fishing shop partner, brings us his weekly fly fishing report from Turangi for the Central North Island lakes and rivers. For up to date info, for what flies are working and if you want to call to the shop – 8 Wiremu Street – call Brian on 021667867. Brian fishes Euro/Czech, Dry Fly, Trout Spey, Nymph and Wet Fly.
Greetings fellow fly fishers,
I hope everyone is enjoying Matariki Weekend. There certainly are a lot of fishermen about at the moment with the combination of school holidays, public holiday and seasonal mid winter fishermen all thrashing the water. There are some nice fish being caught at different intervals, but it would be fair to say that the big runs are still to come. At time of writing, all rivers are quite low, and they just need a good fresh to get the fish that are hanging out at the mouths to get them moving up in some numbers. The Hinemaiaia River today was like Queen Street in Auckland. There were anglers of all types, young and old, experienced and not, at just about every possible position.
The anglers with the most success were those that were getting to the river early and hogging a preselected spot and then intercepting the early fish before they get too spooky. I ran into an angler at around lunch time, and he told me that he could see them, but they were just not interested in his offerings. This will probably improve a bit next week when the river will not be so contested. The river, also, was quite low and it will certainly fish better with a bit more flow. There has also been a lot of wind about this last week which hasn’t been the fly fisher’s friend, so hopefully this will cease shortly. Egg patterns are beginning to work quite well but the old favourites like Hare and Copper and Pheasant Tail are still catching their share of trout.
With such huge angling pressure on the rivers at the moment there is always the possibility of fishing etiquette not being followed correctly. In a lot of instances, genuine errors are occurring when a fisher is jumping into an area that is in the immediate path of another. If you are unsure about entering the water near another fisherman, then the best way of finding out is to ask first before you enter. Good communication is always the best policy and can be the difference between a pleasant day on the water and an unpleasant one.
The shop has been pretty busy again with the amount of people in the area and it is always a pleasure to see familiar faces coming back. For the repeat customers, I give you my thanks and hope I am assisting you getting tight lines.
As always, all your fly fishing and fly tying needs call and see me at the I Love Fly Fishing Shop in Turangi, 8 Wiremu St, phone 021667867. If there is anything you need, give me a ring and I will open up anytime (within reason of course 
), just call me and I’ll sort you out. 021667867.
