NEWSFLASH:
(View looking down river from the Poutu Intake Dam)
Many Tongariro River anglers and TRM inmates and recreational hikers, mountain bikers, tourists, etc. interested in the extension of anglers’ access tracks for the project known as the Tongariro River Trail (“TRT”) will be able to view the dvd and power point presentation by the Advocates for the Tongariro River to the Taupo District Council.
Quote from Taupo Times: “Given the unprecedented interest in the webcast….etc.”? The Taupo District Council meeting will begin at 1 pm on Tuesday 20 July with the TRT dvd and power point presentation by The Advocates for the Tongariro River.
Anyone wanting to learn more about the TRT project can gain access via a link from the council website:
www.taupo.govt.nz
These TRT extensions will link existing anglers’ access tracks up beyond the present limits beyond the Fence Pool (winter limit) through to Poutu Intake and Pillars of Hercules to Tree Trunk Gorge. This will effectively double the fishing access on the Tongariro River for anglers.
(Image on right: Taupo MP Louise Upston surveying the TRT project at Pillars of Hercules bridge on upper Tongariro River)
Q&A Matching the Hatch
(As TRM received several questions on this subject we have combined the response under the heading “Matching the Hatch”)
The so called ” matching the hatch ” has been the cause of many a heated discussion between anglers ever since fly-fishing began. Everyone has a different point of view and until one of us catches a talking trout and { excuse the pun } grills him about it.. then we will never really know the answer.
As trout are growing to maturity in Lake Taupo their main diet are the introduced smelt. When they run the rivers to spawn they have to quickly re-adapt to the available food supply.. aquatic insects..terrestrials…fish eggs etc that they fed upon as small fish after hatching in the spawning tributaries.
When they first leave the Lake they are still a little naive and probably confused and will have a go at virtually anything that looks remotely edible. This is when brightly colored offerings… flies incorporating flash… or triggers like rubber legs are attractive to them. They will quite often take the bomb probably because of it’s large size but they quickly switch on to what is naturally available.
All of the insects found in and along the river have unpronounceable scientific or Latin names but you don’t have to know Latin to catch fish….it doesn’t even matter if you know the name of the flies in your box but it does make sense to me to offer them a reasonable representation of something that they are already feeding on.
This is where things get tricky because discovering what they are actually taking is not easy and basically comes down to observation and having a little insight into the life-cycle and preferred habitats of some of the insect life available to the trout{ some of this has been covered in previous reports on TRM } for instance there is a huge Caddis population in the slower moving parts of the river and trout readily take them. It’s not uncommon to find that your artificial flies have actually hooked one off the bottom as they are dragged downstream.
At this time of year Olive seems to work better than the lighter colors they prefer earlier in the fishing calendar.. so I assume there are more of that particular species available to them. I quite often fish a Caddis or other imitation off the Glo Bug and it seems to work.
I’m not saying that on the Tongariro you have to offer the trout an anatomically correct…perfect in every way representation to get hook ups.
However fishing with a fly of the right color..size… and profile can only increase your chances of a successful day on the river.
Otherwise you might just as well open your box.. close your eyes and pick a fly at random……mmmmm…..now I wonder.
Tight Lines
Mike