Fishing: Plenty in Tongariro but it's tough on beginners

The yearly spawning runs are building on the Tongariro, and if rain promised late this week eventuates, the fishing this weekend and into next week should be excellent.

Experienced anglers have been catching 15 or more fish a day. The less-experienced have not been faring so well, probably because they have been using nymphing gear that is too heavy for the low, clear conditions.

Trout have been landed throughout the day, but the mornings have been producing the best catches, up to six an hour in some cases, to both nymph and wetfly. Fish have been in superb condition, many around 3kg and one magnificent brown of 6.3kg landed from the Hydro Pool on a size 16 green caddis.

All pools from the lower to the upper river have been producing, the main holding areas being the Lower Bridge and adjoining Swirl Pools, the Hydro, and Boulder Reach in the middle river.

Most pressure has been on the Boulder Reach area. Some anglers seem to think that's the only part of the river worth fishing. In fact, it means a lot less pressure on the rest of the river where the fishing can be just as good and hassle-free.

If you are a beginner and you're not doing too well, rest assured that the Tongariro is a difficult river to fish and there are many in the same boat as you.

Beginners will find a floating line with nymphs easier and more fun than wetlining, even though the most exciting hits are with a wetfly on a shooting head, but that takes more experience.

So concentrate on nymph fishing first, and go to the pools that are easier for a learner to fish: the Lower Bridge Pool (cast from the left bank), the Judges Pool (both banks), Major Jones Pool (top part, right bank), the Breakfast Pool (lower half, left bank), the Upper Birch Pool (left bank, accessible from hatchery carpark), and the Blue Pool in the scenic upper river (left bank). After you've got a bit of casting experience into your arm, move on to Boulder Reach and the Hydro Pool.

Since the big flood of last year, which reformed the river, many areas have continued to shift and change, shallowing out or deepening and forming new trout lies as they settle. Some of the changes to the popular town pools at the back of Turangi include:

* The Lower Bridge Pool, which remains a magnificent holding pool, but the popular boulder bank along the righthand side is dangerously unstable.

* The Upper Bridge Pool, where flood-protection work has removed half of the popular main lie near the left bank, but it is still fishable. A new lie appears to be forming about 60m downstream.

* The Judges Pool, which has stabilised at the top and deepened along the right bank, forming a gut which is probably the most productive lie on the pool.

* The Island Pool, which remains a shallow shadow of its pre-flood days, but a lie well out in the fast water above the rapid at the tail often holds a lot of fish first thing in the morning or when runs are on. The middle pool flow is gradually hollowing out pockets where fish should lie.

* The Major Jones deepened along the right bank after the flood and there is a productive lie along here now, well away from the main current. Anglers often ignore it in preference to the main lie along the left bank, but it should be fished first, especially if the pool is relatively undisturbed.

* The Breakfast Pool has stabilised in the lower half and has been magic for the nympher.

* The famous Hydro, which shallowed out in the flood, lost its bouldery fish cover in the lower part and most of its right bank, has settled and continues to produce for its entire length, especially before noon. Nymphers have been having a ball in the top half. Right-handed casters now have limited access along the undermined right bank (which is unstable just downstream from the stream mouth), or can wade across from the left bank halfway up when the river is low.

The other Taupo rivers have also been providing plenty of action this season, especially the Tauranga-Taupo, the Waitahanui and the Hinemaiaia, the latter two coming back into their own after a couple of patchy seasons. Fishing at the Waitahanui mouth, which now flows straight out rather than parallel with the bank, has been sustained.

It's all go, and the main spawning runs are yet to come.