Correspondence:
This is just one of the letters received to stimulate comment on the Taupo Fishery management review:
Ross I know I am not alone with my thoughts on fishing the Tongariro.
For many years I headed to the Tongariro during winter simply because it was some sort of holy pilgrimage.
Over those years I would hit the Auckland motorway after work, arrive on the Tongariro and hit the river chasing big browns ’til midnight. We would cram in all the fishing we could not missing a minute between 5am and midnight. Then late Sunday we would make our way back to the city.
They were exciting days.
In between now and when I first started fishing the Tongariro in the 70s the crowds have increased, fish numbers have gone up and down, floods and eruptions have occurred and last year the quality of the fish was nothing short of horrific.
But I have not stopped fly fishing…..
Today my fishing is all about the experience. Beautiful scenery, a uncrowded river, clear streams, wading wet, no 5am starts and the most important to me – fishing to feeding fish on a warm summers day.
Last summer much of my fishing was choppering out of Auckland to remote destinations throughout the North Island. Fairly nice experience flying across the country finding a river full of fish that only I am going to catch……(abridged)
OK now to my point - Right on the doorstep of Turangi is one of the best wilderness experiences in the upper Tongariro River.
The upper Tongariro provides all the ingredients to provide the ultimate fishing experience. Plenty of feeding fish, summer fishing techniques, beautiful scenery and solitude. An angler can match his tackle to the size of the fish and have a wonderful experience.
I would like to see DOCs management plan include opening up the upper Tongariro River for summer angling. It’s no secret but the summer fishery on the Tongariro is very good.
What other sport would survive if rule changes were not made to make the game more enjoyable to its participants. Its clear from licence revenue anglers are fishing outside of the Taupo area. Opening up the upper river provides a simple solution in providing a better fishing experience and providing more river for anglers to partake in their sport.
Seems that bloody Tongariro river is spluttering along again this winter. Rotorua lakes also performed below par over winter. Okataina had been improving over the past 2 – 3 seasons, this winter the fishing has been slow. Only half the usual number of fish have entered the Te Wairoa trap at
Tarawera. Rotoiti and Ohau channel never got going.
I honestly see more anglers walking away from the sport or chopping back their days on the river if winter fishing continues to be so poor. There is a great opportunity and it could go missing if DOC dont open up access to
the upper Tongariro….. (abridged) AP