Quote for the week: It is to be observed that ‘angling’ is the name given to fishing by people who can’t fish. (Canadian author and humourist Stephen B. Leacock (1869 – 1944) succinctly wrote what most fisherman had been thinking for hundreds of years.)
Fishing the Whanganui River.
Greetings fellow fly fishers,
Once again at the risk of sounding repetitive, it has been a pretty rough old week. At the time of writing, I am in Palmerston North (Thursday evening) and whilst having a meal at a local restaurant I received an alert on my phone saying stay indoors as there is a massive fire underway around by the Fitzherbert Tavern. Curious, I took a bit of a tiki tour after dinner to check it out and came to where the police had blocked off the road. There were at least 8 fire engines on site, and it appeared that a lot of building was burnt to the ground. Significant to me because as a young man I was director of a building company that built most of the Fitzherbert complex (which is significant- several motels, bars and restaurants). I will have a closer look tomorrow before I head back to Turangi.
Anyway, back to the fishing. It has been pretty cold this week actually and like most of the country we have had our fair share of rain and wind, but it looks like the weekend is going to be a big improvement. The Tongariro River is running at about 36 cumecs and the “TT” is at a level of .6 so they are both very fishable and should be great for the weekend. As I came down to Palmerston North today for a family visit it was quite a site to see quite a bit of fresh snow on Ruapehu and the surrounding mountains, certainly a lot more than was there a month ago.
It certainly has been a rough old spring, but the fishing has generally been pretty good if you are prepared to get out and put up with the windy conditions. For much of the week, the Whanganui and Whakapapa Rivers have been far too high although earlier in the week, the Whakapapa looked quite good. The Retaruke River (tributary of the Whanganui) fished very well earlier in the week.
Italian client with a good bow from the Cattle Rustler’s Pool, Tongariro River & Fishing the Whanganui River.
I will be spending a bit of time in these rivers in the oncoming weeks when they settle down a bit. I like it when the Whanganui River is fishing between 18-25 cumecs as taken from Piriaka. Cleardrift Eggs are still working well as are the small nymphs like hare and copper and pheasant tail and variants of these. Soon the trout will be smelting, and silicon smelt flies will come into play, but I’ll talk more about that when it happens.
Well, that’s it from me this week so until next time.
For all I Love Fly Fishing gear check it all out out on-line at www.iloveflyfishing.kiwi and order what you need. Feel free to call Barrie, 021-925006 or barrie@iloveflyfishing.kiwi. You will receive your goods in quick order and at a great price.
Brian – NZPFGA Member,
