February 5th, 2012
Photo essay today of what you should be doing for Waitangi Day…
Pianika from Rafting NZ adjusting the spray jacket and life jacket on Gilda from Hamilton before she launched off down the Tongaroro on Saturday.
The well trained A Team from Rafting NZ transporting the raft directed by Skipper Johnny.
An excited crew launching the raft below the Poutu Intake dam.
The start of the trip was only in reverse gear for the benefit of the photographer…
February 4th, 2012
Mike’s report:
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 Hi Guys I’m not going to be able to fish for a lot longer than first expected so as you can imagine I’m starting to go a little “stir crazy”. When I can I’ll grab something from a different part of the site and stick it on. This week its line color… another topic where the answer very much depends on who you ask and their personal experiences.  Before I finally left the UK for good several years ago I often fished catch and release venues where the trout were pretty spooky. Over time like many other anglers I used lines of various colors. Bright Orange, Fluro Green, White, Yellow, you name it… and we all caught fish. As far as the Tongariro is concerned I don’t think it makes that much difference. You would like to believe that line manufacturers will obviously field test a product thoroughly before it’s release to the fly-fishing community so why on earth would they deliberately produce something that didn’t work.
On saying that… and I’m going to shoot myself in the foot here… most “wet lines” are normally dark or muted colors like brown or green and yet some experiments with sinking lines have revealed that the two least visible colors below the surface are white or silver. When talking floating lines years ago I read a book that was written by John Goddard and Brian Clarke entitled ” The Trout and the Fly ” and I remember that had an interesting section on line color accompanied by some underwater shots. Their verdict was that while the line is in the trout’s window and viewed against the sky it would appear as a dark line no matter what the color was. They also mentioned the area outside the window called the mirror. Because the light hits the water at an acute angle here, its reflected off it, instead of passing through it. They maintained that the fly line would be seen against a backdrop of the reflected river bed and a drab colored line would be the least visible to a trout. You can see this clearly demonstrated in the photograph above which I took a little while ago. Ideally, especially when fishing the dry we all strive to keep the actual line well away from the target fish, so again I don’t personally think the color matters that much on a river like the Tongariro.  When talking about lines for nymphing a number of specialized lines are indeed olive or grey but have a short bright orange front section to aid bite detection.
On the Tongariro most anglers fish with a large fluorescent colored indicator so why should they worry about the line color. Even when fishing shallower riffles without an indicator from the trout’s view-point I would imagine because of the rougher surface water it would have the effect of breaking up the lines silhouette. This discussion has been on going for years and I’m sure that it will continue for as long as anglers fly-fish.Most of the colored lines that I originally brought out have long ago worn out. Like a lot of anglers
I sometimes use a well known nymphing line which has a front taper specifically designed to help “turn over” heavy flies. It also has a brightly colored tip section and the fish don’t seem to mind. When taking beginners on the Tongariro for the first time I find it an advantage to use a line that they can easily see. As they cast they can watch the aerialized fly-line and see exactly what their loops are doing. Once on the water its also much easier for them to spot any drag and perform the appropriate mend. Good drifts generally mean more takes so a brighter color line is ideal.
On the other hand if you feel better using a drab colored line then that confidence alone will probably put a couple more fish on the bank.
At the end of the day it all comes down to personal choice if you are enjoying a day on the river and catching a few trout then that’s all that really matters. Take for instance Ross and Kent, two well known local motel owners who were fishing a small lake not to far from here recently. It was their first visit so they decided to hire a row boat to cover more water. Whichever fly they cast out was immediately snaffled by a fin perfect hard fighting rainbow and by the end of the day they had caught an awful lot of fish…something that doesn’t often happen to either of them. When they got back to shore Ross said to Kent…
” I hope you marked the spot where we caught all those fish ” Kent replied, ” Do you think I’m stupid…of course I did…I put an ” X ” on the side of the boat ” Ross snapped back ” You bloody idiot…next time we come how do you know we’ll get the same boat ? ”
 Tight Lines GuysMike
Genesis Energy – Recreation Release
(Image below of rafting activity at Poutu Intake at 10 am this morning)
For anglers, the Tongariro River pools, or rather their car parks, were mainly deserted today as there was what is known locally as a “recreation release” from the Poutu Intake.
This commences at 9 am for six hours and affects the lower river. The target flow is 30 cubic metres per second – up from the usual 25 m3/s to enable rafters and canoeists to enjoy the river gorge flowing at natural levels. This happens usually about four times a year. Today the river was exceptionally busy as it coincided with a long weekend. All the way back we passed cars with canoes strapped to their roofs. Tomorrow we will have images of the rafting activity.
Anglers tend to stay away during such recreation releases. In our experience at TRM, those inmates that persevere nymphing or wet lining during any recreation release usually do very well. All the release does is colour the water which encourages the trout to risk moving through. The increase to 30 m3/s is no more than during usual wet conditions and, if anything, improves the fishing.
How do we know? We recognised the only vehicle in the anglers car park belongs to a local guide – guess who? (I’ll let you know tomorrow how they got on…) However we understand many purists prefer the low water level and clear conditions for casting a dainty dry fly at this time of the year.
Tomorrow is a similar increase in flow from the Rangipo Dam to the Poutu Intake, commencing at 8 am for eight hours at a similar target of 30 m3/s. This will not affect the lower river.
The Poutu Intake is about 20 km south of TRM off Kaimanawa Road. This is where most of the rafting and canoe activity starts. For those seeking a break from fishing this is a well worthwhile trip down the Desert Road for 16 km then turn left into Kaimanawa Road. This road provides access to several car parks at the head of tramping (and hunting) tracks leading into the Kaimanawas. This region ahs some of the most beautiful beech and birch forests imaginable. Other attractions are the Pillars of Hercules where the spectacular river scenery off the bridge justifies the trip plus several attractive camping grounds and the only underground hydro power station in the North Island.
Of course, whenever you get any concentrated activity on the river, it doesn’t matter when or where, who is always there conducting the proceedings and spreading the gospel but Didymo Dave – who else.
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