Perfect fishing conditions through out the North Island currently with most rivers being low and clear which is allowing anglers to access good water and find concentrated fish. I have been out on a few rivers running of the mountain in the last couple of weeks and have found rivers to be in good order and the fish happy to play the game. With low water conditions and summer weather warming the water slightly the rocks have become slimey and can be hard to navigate safely so be aware of that. If you can read water fairly well you will find locating fish fairly easy as they are holding where they should be trying to get the most of the oxygenated running water and the best food source. Backcountry fish are generally in very good condition currently the best ones being the maiden fish which will always fight till the last flick of the tail.

Local rivers are all low at the moment and are carrying some good trout depending wich sysytem you are on. I personally think the Tongariro is producing the best at the moment with some huge brownies throughout the river and the odd silver rainbow. Rainbows are a little thin on the ground currently and most fisherman are picking up skinny or recovering fish especially on the evening rise. There are quite a few smaller specimans which may have been this years juveniles making their way to the lake so take care with these…..apparantly brown trout like to eat them also??

I went for a quick few hours on the Tongariro over the weekend and found some good fish from the Stag up to Cattle Rustlers. I caught two or three rainbows before I was interupted by the release of the canal up river which made the river quite filthy for several hours. I had totally forgot about this and was now stuck on the true right bank with a long walk back to the Major Jones Bridge. I was’nt to keen on that walk so tramped up to Cattle rustlers where I noticed quite a few brownies laying close in the edge escaping all the dirty water and pumice which was by now making the river look like soup. Nek Minite I realized that they were feeding quite well on all the stuff dislodged in the water with the extra flow, the flash of white was the inside of their mouths as they picked off what they wanted. It’s not often I see this or see browns feeding quite so well during the day so I tied on my biggest ugliest nymph which was soon accepted by the largest of the fish I could see. A great battle of ten minutes or so and I had landed the brownie above which was a perfect specimen of what the river has to offer this summer, you just need to be in the right place at the wrong time it seems. Crossing back across was interesting and I was glad I was alone and not being watched as it may have made “I should’nt be alive” TV show.

Yesterday I was guiding Bruno from South Africa and as he was an experienced angler we headed into the hills and found some water which was quiet despite the long weekend which I imagined might have been busy. Again low conditions are perfect out here and I was fairly confident of a good few hours especially after the first pool produced a good conditioned maiden hen. As the morning drew into the afternoon the fishing got better and better with fish moving onto the nymph fairly well in most runs as long as the nymph was presented softly. With the river low we were only using very light nymphs , just enough to penetrate the first few inches of the river this was enough for trout to see them and move to take. I love this type of fishing and it is nice to see anglers control drifts and casts easily instead of struggling with heavy flies in the air which don’t fly quite so easily. I will admit we got punished in the fast water with the slimey rocks and simply could not make line back on some of the fish hooked which resulted in  lost fish and gear but it’s all good fun “better to be loved than not loved at all”.

Some  good days to be had with this weather guys

Andrew

Share/Bookmark

We have had some fairly good weather over the past few days which has altered the fishing methods for many anglers. The Cicada’s are going crazy all over the Central North Island and the fish are slowly realizing or remembering what this tasty treat can mean to them. Dry fly action is still patchy but on the right day with warm sunny conditions trout in both local and backcountry rivers are starting to react very well to Cicada type patterns. My favourite Cicada pattern is the Turk’s Tarantula with a black body, actually I’m not sure if it is supposed to be a Cicada pattern but it works really well. Of coarse I have been using this as a strike indicator also while suspending a Quasimodo or Biotic nymph underneath with both patterns working as well as the other.

The Tongariro for me has been fairly kind with a few spent rainbows coming to the net and some epic battles with good browns which seem to be scattered throughout the entire river. Some clients of mine fished without me the day before I took them backcountry and had some good fishing with Cicada patterns down river in the willows, not many landed but some nice fish hooked and lost.  The rainbows are slightly disappointing at the moment with not many fresh fish coming through but old spent fish on their way home to the lake till next winter. These fish are entertaining anglers especially on the evening rise but the brown trout are really the fish anglers are looking for at the moment. Brown Trout-what an amazing creature in so many ways. They are beautiful, smart, large, challenging creatures which have thrived in Lake Taupo over the past few years and in my opinion they have thrown a life line to DOC  as many anglers are now chasing them with excitement. There are a few whispers on the river at the moment that they may be eating all the young rainbow trout which could in the end wipe out the rainbows all together. I’m sure they eat some when they get  a chance but if they were eating that many would’nt they be really easy to catch? There are many Taupo anglers which have never caught a brown trout and I have never yet found a small rainbow in ones gutt, I would assume Black Shags may have a few in them though!!

River mouth fishing has been fun with the darker nights and still conditions. Again brown trout have been caught most nights and very early mornings before the sun is on the water some of which are very close to double figure trophys. A few good rainbows are getting caught in the current of the river mouths generally with Lumo flies or big Maribou patterns. There are so many options for night fishing at the moment like Waitahanui, Whakaipo, Western Bays and the good old faithfull Tauranga Taupo. Take care when night fishing river mouths as they seem to change weekly and could be deeper than expected so wear a belt and tell someone where you are going but dont tell them too much.

I had a fantastic day fishing this week with Ed and Emry Carr which are here fishing for a week from the USA. Emry asked me to take them somewhere slightly different with plenty of easy to catch good sized fish, just like you all ask!! Sometimes things work out perfectly and the trip of a lifetime happens and this day was one of those. Ed and Emry are both fairly new to fly fishing but are making steady progress fairly quickly learning new skills every day and achieving new goals with every outing. On this day out I was able to be apart of a great experience where they both caught their largest ever trout on fly and was able to show them some amazing scenery with good fish numbers. The trout in the backcountry have put on some great condition over the past few weeks and they are very alert to what is drifting on the surface which gave us some awesome sport. I took them to one of my favourite pieces of water which I fished a few weeks ago with Sven from Germany and as you can see we had another great day with trout on both the dry and nymph. This is one special trip.

I always offer my clients the use of my equipment but anglers which are on fishing trips will usually have their own preferred equipment which is great. When fishing this backcountry river a little bit of thought is put into things before I go as the weather has to be good , water level down, right gear packed and quite fit anglers. We used quad bikes to access the piece I wanted to get to which was both great fun and a good way to hopefully find some water which does not get fished every day. Ed and Emry set up their gear fairly quickly and we were into the first pool pretty quickly but I did’nt notice what gear they had till I went to tie on the fly or rig their line!! I should have asked or told them what they should be using but these guys were giving the fish a real fighting chance with #3wt and #4wt SAGE rods,my jaw dropped I did’nt even think. Most of us would not dream of fishing NZ backcountry with such light gear purely as we are going to encounter strong and most likely big fish which would blow the light gear away. As you can see from the pictures these guys can handle big trout on light gear and landed 80% of what was hooked simply with good striking on the take and rock hoping down the river until the fish was beat. I must admit some battles may have been shorter with a stronger stiffer rod and thowing larger drys may have been easier but they proved it can be done. All fish were released and went back very well and happy.

Backcountry is where it is at the moment and if anyone is thinking about trying to get out and find some good dry fly this summer I think you should go soon or atleast while the Cicada’s are still going stong as some of this fishing really is exciting. Have a great long weekend

Andrew

Share/Bookmark

The rivers seem to be fairly quiet for most with the Tongariro being the most reliable for dry fly action in the evening or stalking good browns during the day. There are rainbows about but finding them has been tricky for me the last few days anyway. If you are wanting to fish for a large brown now is as good as time as any with good numbers scattered through out the likely spots. If you are finding them hard to catch try fishing when they are feeding the most and that will be at night, this is when the best of them are caught.

I guided on the Hine yesterday and picked up four fish in the evening on the dry fly which was kinda fun.I must admit they were very small with the largest being about 1lb so not much to report in there again. The Waitahanui has got brown trout, here is a pic of one that I caught a few days ago which was about 5 lb again. There are not the numbers here which were here last week but if you walk slow enough and stalk the edges you will see a few, put your eyes on. Night fishing at the mouth would be the most productive especially at the moment with no moon and flat conditions.

I usually do not advertise Lake O very much as it has become quite a busy fishery over the past few years but I have had some wonderful outings in the last couple of weeks. The trout are in awesome summer condition and will fight till the bitter end if they don’t get you in the heavy weed beds first. This lake has a great food source which must be the reason they have so much energy and muscle about them. Some days on this lake it can be very very hard and I get dealt one every now and again but if you hit them right it can also be magic. Always pack plenty of clothing options as the climate can change in minutes leaving you cold, wet and stranded-typical NZ!

Make the most of the nice weather guys

Tight lines

Andrew

Share/Bookmark

Well the weather has left a nice gap and here at Taupo Trout Guide I am flat out trying to catch up with lost work or clients which have been promised the next best day, thanks for your patience. I must admit I have got the bug back and really enjoying being on the water at the moment especially with plenty of good fishing to have. I think the bad weather over the last few weeks and especially the holiday period has saved many fisheries from anglers and we sure are seeing these waters start to fire now.

Today was one of those days which I just love to be a trout fishing guide and to have the pleasure and priviledge to show Sven from Germany some very special water that I love to explore. The backcountry can be  a hard place to get right with water levels and access points but when it all comes together you can be left with some very special memories.

Sven is an exceptional angler and a perfect client to fish with on a back country river as I can move him quickly through pools and make difficult casts at fish which make up for good numbers over the day. Sven had no problem hitting 40ft casts but also fishing tight under trees which accounted for a few solid fish. As you can see from the photos there are some lovely maiden fish in the river which fight like trains but also some solid older fish which were edging around the 5lb mark.

Germany has some very nice fishing and Sven told many stories of some fantastic wild trout fisheries which he pays to fish but they could just not be compared to what we can offer here in NZ. After we had landed two fish Sven declared that his day was made up and aything more was just a bonus, I smiled and laughed as we were only two pools into the beat and I could see that the fish were on the go and were going to co- operate. I think we finished the day with over 20 good trout and the smile could not be wiped from his face.

The rivers still seem to be fairly high and some crossings today were a little deep but the clarity of the water is ok which is the main thing I think. Nymphing took all fish today and the mighty Quasimodo knocked them dead fished behind a medium sized front fly. I would say the fish will be on the surface when the sun is out but we had wet, showery, sunny NZ conditions so we stuck with nymphing but we did have a fish take the indicator while fishing one bubble line. Cicada’s did start chirping late in the day so with a few more hot days I think they will fire up and excite the trout.

I’m not sure how many fish were hooked and landed but we hooked fish in every single pool with some pools producing up to 5 fish in a run. Sven had never experienced so many big hard fighting fish in one day and said that his mates just wont believe him and he would’nt if he had’nt experienced it. I must admit we happened to hit things right and the fish had not been fished at for quite sometime so the perfect scene was set. Experienced anglers will realize that all days are not like this and most likely Sven’s next outing will be boring when comparing the two but I think he made the most of this one and walked away with some amazing photo’s and solid memories.

My best advice to you all is if you are trying to go fishing but the weather is putting you of as it is not perfect you are missing out- just run with the ball and get out there other wise you may miss out on some amazing summer fishing. Conditions look good for the next week or so and the river levels should stay right for us so get in contact and let’s go. If you are reading Mark Norton give me a ring!

Tight lines .

Andrew

Share/Bookmark

Well as promised the fishing has improved with the better weather and the big browns which I look forward to each year certainly have arrived in the usual spots. I have been out with several clients over the last three days and have hooked a brown on every occasion. I say hooked as they are so hard to deal with and the only result we have at the net is from a very skillful young fisherman from Taupo which landed a good 5.5lb hen from the Waitahanui lower reaches.

Heartbreak was felt twice in the middle reaches of the Tongariro over the last couple of days with knots finally letting go under the strain of big browns disappearing down the rapids to the next pool. I have had some fun with these in the past and the key is to just keep moving with the fish until he gives in, you can not muscle these fish and those who do will generally miss out on the photo. I have not been targeting these fish but simply fishing water which I have found them in from time to time while going about my guiding day just trying to get a few fish. I am fishing a #6wt rod and 6lb tippet which is plenty for the rainbows at the moment but a little light when it comes to trying to put the hurt on some of these larger browns.

I have not seen what is holding in the lower reaches but I would imagine it to be loaded with good fish , especially under the willows and tight banks. They will over time push into the middle and upper reaches which will give us some amazing options to see and find one of the smartest sport fish available to NZ anglers. There are a few tricks to catch up with these guys so stay tuned over the next month and I  will slowly leak what I know.

The Tongariro is generally fishing ok at the moment with slightly higher water levels which has pushed alot of recovering fish into the edges and into feeding frenzy’s. I have not really seen or caught any fish worth taking this week but have had fun with clients which are able to hook fish in most pools. Some days we get so concentrated on catching perfect trout all the time and forget about the time of year and why they are in the river, we need to remember that these recovering trout have been through a hell and still can be fun to catch!! 

So…where are all the big brownies?? The Waitahanui has plenty of browns in the lower reaches currently and I advise you to get dowm there and do your best to fool one of these beauties. I have seen fish from 3lb through to 8lb all in the lower river between the road and the Cliff pool. Some anglers or locals may think I’m mad giving away information like this but with anglers on the rivers these fish will stay safer than if the river was left quiet for a few days….if you get my drift. They are extremely stubborn trout and you need to find a trout which is feeding as the majority of them will be sitting dead in the water until the darkness of night. Once hooked good luck the next mission begins before they run you to deep water or have you tangled in structure which they seem to find very well.

The smiley young fella in the photo’s name is Ryan. Ryan is 13 years old and can throw a fly rod as good as most of us and will be a very good angler as he grows up. His passion , enthusiasm and willingness to learn is so refreshing and it was my pleasure to take him to the Waitahanui for a few hours, reminds me of what I was like growing up. My waders were never dry as a young fella and I annoyed the hell of anyone with a car just to drop me to the river for a few hours before or after school. This fish was in superb condition which any angler should be proud to have the chance to tangle with.

Tight lines guys

Andrew

Share/Bookmark