“The trout in New Zealand are not like trout elsewhere. They are larger, stronger, and more sophisticated. To catch one is to have solved a complex problem in a beautiful place.”
— Zane Grey
Greetings, fellow fly fishers,
Well we are now well into the New Year and very soon it will be Christmas again! This week has been more settled weather-wise, although earlier in the week we did get a reasonable amount of rain which juiced up the rivers a bit, which was good for fishing. With the holiday season still in full flow, the rivers are seeing a bit of activity: not too many fishermen but increased sightseers, canoeists, and for those that are keen to brave the cold, swimmers. There are, however, plenty of relatively quiet areas where one can find a bit of solitude and throw a line.
The Tongariro continues to fish pretty well and is my pick of all the rivers at the moment. At the time of writing (Thursday), the Tongariro is running at about 25 cumecs, the “TT” is low at 0.2, and the Whanganui is running at about 17 cumecs. I spent a couple of days over in the Whakapapa and Whanganui this week and had some good success. One of the days I had a couple from Perth and we spent most of the time at the Whanganui River where the action was pretty steady and some really nice fish were caught. It was earlier in the week and the river was running a bit higher at about 25 cumecs and perhaps slightly more colour than I would like, but the river was dropping and after lunch it was looking a lot better and the hook-up rate improved dramatically.
It was in the morning, however, that was to be a hard-luck moment. One of my clients (Hannah) was hooked up on a very large brownie and must have had it on for a good couple of minutes before it spat the hook. The brown would just not come close enough for me to put a net under it and I didn’t want to take a risk and pull the trout into me, although in hindsight I wish I had. To see the fish slowly swim away was gut-wrenching. I knew Hannah had not set the hook on the strike, so I knew landing the brown was always going to be difficult. It was one of the largest browns I have ever seen in the Whanganui or Whakapapa for that matter. I went back to the Whakapapa myself yesterday and hooked into some nice browns and rainbows. I also had the pleasure of a rather large billy goat on the other side of the river (for a while anyway).
I am finding on the sunny days that any nymphs with a bit of flash in them seem to be working pretty well, and I was also having pretty good success with a pheasant tail variant that I tied up with a light blue bead at the head. Don’t know why, but it did the trick. The weekend weather is looking pretty good and there are more and more fish rising now, so the dry fly is becoming another option. Keep an eye on what is dropping on the water; no real cicada action yet but can’t be far away. Well, that’s it from me this week, so until next time, tight lines.
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 Johan, 021-02209719 or johan@iloveflyfishing.kiwi. You will receive your goods in quick order and at a great price.
Until next time,
Tight lines,
Brian – NZPFGA Member,
