Having decided to run the
Winter Trip to the Tongariro over the weekend of
the 27th & 28th, the next thing to do was to see if Brian Apps wanted to go
down on the Monday for a whole week. Silly question!!We arrived around lunchtime at TALTAC to be greeted with the news that it was fishing hard and the average size was 3-4 lbs. Not what you want to hear at the beginning of the week.
We checked out the fishing shops and then went for a little dabble just to get our hand in. Brian had a go wet lining the Hydro while I nymphed the top end. Nothing happening. On the way back we popped in just above the footbridge. I’ve caught fish here before but there is no room to let them
go, so rein them in straight away.
Nothing for Brian on the wet line but just after the change of light I hooked up with the nymphs and landed a nice 4 lb hen. The fish had taken the “bomb”, which I dress like a normal nymph.
Back at TALTAC we joined the discussion and found that most had had a hard day but one group had hit a pod of fish below the road bridge and another lot had a ball fishing the Waiotaka up to the winter limit. All good information, which is one of the great things about TALTAC.
The rest of the week was tough with anglers constantly moving up and down the river trying to find the fish.. The anglers who had been fishing the river for 5 + years were catching fish but nothing to write home about. The rest of us struggled, although we had a good morning on the Duchess Pool,
Brian landing 2 and losing 2 and I landed 1 and lost one. All this happened over about an hour and then dead again.
We fished the Waiotaka one morning and though it had been hammered fairly hard over the previous days we both managed a few good fish each. My best was a fresh run hen of about 5 lbs which ran me downstream through about five pools before I stopped it short of a pool full of snags. With the snags and overhanging trees you need a strong leader to control the fish. The last
fish I hooked, launched itself like a guided missile straight past me, landed on the bank, bounced along about 4 metres and into the river where it took another 5 minutes or so to land it.
After a fish in the morning on Friday we moved camp to Sportsmans Lodge to meet up with all the others on the club trip. That night we all got together and laid down the sweep rules and discussed where everyone was heading to in the morning.
It sounded like a herd of Hippos were walking up and down outside at just after 5 am the next morning but your have got to expect that from fresh run anglers. The river was flayed severally all day with luck for some and hard work for others.
That evening before the Rugby and the election we sorted out the prizes. Lance Knighton, who was fishing with a mate from the Sth. Island, won the sweep with a fish of 5.4 lb. Three of them landed 30 fish from one area over the day, constantly changing flies and using big casts for maximum distance and drift.
John Davidson decided it was a bit hot, so he went for a bit of a swim. Luckily he’d done the wader safety course and was helped out by fish fishing buddy’s after wedging himself on a rock. Apparently he looked pretty impressive floating downstream with his rod clenched in his teeth.
Overall it was fairly hard fishing with fine weather and clear water. Those who experimented with naturals and fished different water with long fine leaders seemed to do the best, though we meet two guys on the Blue Pool who landed 5 fish in 1/2 hour but the nothing for the next two. Varying your fishing or the luck of hitting a pod of fish was what worked.
The word is that the best fishing will be into October, see you there.
Stephen
