(All images taken today from RHS)
The Silly pool has once again been about for many years and you will find it discussed in many different novels or articles on the Tongariro and has been recognized as one of the most productive pieces of water on the Tongariro for many years.
To me this pool is very valuable and you will quite often find me with clients here enjoying both great fishing and superb scenery as this pool like many others makes for awesome photographs. I have had many favourite pools over the past 3 years and they come and go with weather, floods and fish holding ability but the Silly Pool still remains high on my list.
The Silly pool is great for every method and I have taken fish from this pool using all three conventional methods in the past year. It really is a wonderful piece of water. If given one pool for the rest of my life I would be happy with this one. Casting is simple in here with heaps of room behind for back casts and water loading, plenty of room for wet liners and great in the summer with small dry’s targeting fish in the tail of the pool.
Again I prefer nymphing and with the sandy bottom it hosts many nymphs and even blood worm patterns work very well in here. The drift is slow and controlled as long as you don’t try and cast to the other side of the pool where it is fast and turbulent. You will enjoy stress free fishing. Long leaders with substantial weighted nymphs are needed in here to achieve depth quickly which may cause casting issues with some of you.
Wet liners can enjoy long casts and free swinging drifts when starting at the head of the pool and working their way down to the tail where many fish sit in the small boulders. Try slightly smaller wets in here and I have had a lot of fish using a purple wet fly i here?
Dry fly can be enjoyed most of the summer and when the Cicadas are on the water this pool is as good as any with most rising fish coming up in the tail of the pool. Drifts are easily achieved here and early in the season just before dark some great May fly hatches can be experienced using small Elk Hair Caddis or Black mosquito patterns.
This pool seems to be fishable all the way through but I must admit I do take most of my fish from the head where it runs in and tumbles over rocks dislodging nymphs and stirring up fly life. Wet liners catch a lot more in the tail as do dry fly fishermen in the summer. Usually fish are able to be polaroided in the tail of the pool but take care when casting to these as they seem to spook pretty quickly and push to the opposite side.
Access to the Silly pool takes a wee bit of doing depending on which way you decide to approach it but is well worth the walk in all cases. I was a real fan of parking in the Red Hut pool carpark and walking the track down river on the true right which will take you up some fantastic stairs and give you a great birds eye view into the Duchess pool. The native forest on this walk is awesome and is littered with old Beech trees which make you very dizzy when staring into the tops of them. The walk to the Silly pool will take you about 20 minutes. There is a steep track winding off to your left as you walk on the track above the Silly Pool which will lead you down to the river. This is not sign posted but this is the track you must take. Not an ideal track for unstable anglers or elderly with various problems but the rest of you strapping young anglers will be fine. (If my elderly photographer can get up and down it then anyone can) The silly pool is the next major defined pool below the Duchess so just keep your eyes peeled for it while walking along the track. Kowhai flats are in between the two and is now one straight piece of fast water which is for some un fishable and cannot be crossed.
In the past year I have been able to do away with that access and use another faster safer way but I know if I did not tell you about it Ross would stamp up and down. If you park your vehicle at the trout centre and walk down to the river as if you were going to fish the Birch pool you can take the track which winds along the river bank up river to the Silly pool. You cannot really fish it from the true left properly so you will be forced to cross the tail to get to the other side in order to cover the water properly. This also used to be a deep crossing but in the last year or so it has been very pleasant to get across when the conditions are right. It should usually only get up to your wading belt and if you have a wading stick you should be fine taking it nice and slowly watching out for those bigger rocks which seem to trip blokes up. The track itself leading up to the Silly pool from the trout centre has actually blown out as it does run very closely to the river but can still be used safely.
An added bonus of fishing over on the true right is that when you are done with the Silly pool you can walk down and fish what we call the Silly finger which is just a piece of bypass water with no name but has plenty of trout. Basically when you get to the tail of the Silly pool you will see that the river splits into two and leaves an island in the middle of the river. The finger that I want you to fish is the one that continues down the true right of the river – which is about 500 metres in length I would think – and spills into the Upper Birch. This is great holding water and many fish can be sighted while slowly walking the sandy bottom of this part of the Tongariro.
The Silly Pool is a great pool with some real personality and is worth the small effort to get there which some of you see as part of the adventure anyway. Hope the fishing has been kind to you all and you have been able to get up to Turangi.
Tight lines
Andrew Christmas www.taupotroutguide.com
2006 Update
Anglers report the Silly Pool no longer holds the numbers of trout as well as previous seasons (?) but no one can tell us why? As the bypass has deepened perhaps access has become too difficult?
2005 Report
When the Red Hut car park pools appear too crowded, take a big lunch for a longer stroll, cross the bridge and go down river, for a choice of three notable pools. The track is improved with pumice surface winding through mature stands of old man Manuka. The new route has a more gentle gradient at the start to fool you.
Keep a sharp look out to say hello to Molly – if you get that prickly back of neck sensation, then you are being spied on by Molly. If you hear a monotonous mournful Morepork hoot, that will be Molly – her timing is confused without daylight saving adjustments. She will be on sentry duty habitually checking all track traffic (for current fishing licences?) about 2-3 minutes from the bridge.
Then after climbing 60 steps up Jacob¹s Ladder to the bluff (vertigo sufferers beware!), recover while having a peep out over the Duchess Pool. With polaroid vision, search for dark shadows sulking along like slow torpedoes, quietly moving, just beyond the reach of anglers casting from the opposite side.
If these cruisers appear within easy reach you are obligated to slither down the steep track nearby. It looks worse than it is – promise – if you puffed your way up to here, you will manage the descent. Mind you, the return back up, lugging your limit bag, might be slower. Perhaps that is why so many anglers release trout here?
Some anglers follow the DoC direction board to approach the Silly Pool from the LHS via the hatchery car park past the Birch Pools – an easy 12 minute stroll. Resting trout, just out of reach (?), can usually be seen from the elevated bank under the old pine tree. A small spawning stream located above the pool is another reason for trout to pause here.
The LHS used to be more popular as it is such an easy stroll walk along a river edge track, whilst the RHS is more strenuous taking about 30 minutes. But the 18 minutes extra effort can be the difference between a good day and a great day¹s fishing.
NOTE: Pool Reports for the Tongariro River are prepared from guest/anglers experiences. As such, Tongariro River Motel do not accept any responsibility for the opinions of other anglers who are traditionally acknowledged liars about their best fishing pools.