Looking up river at procession of anglers – 18 August 2007 – Bain Pool gravel beach provides for easy wading. Foreground is novice angler Jacob Nichols from Thames)
The gravel access road from Grace Road, graded and metalled in 2005, has reverted back to a rough track full of pot holes but the native trees planted along the western side appears to be surviving well. So grateful thanks are due to Peter Sperry who organised the improvements and landscaping. This access road now ends in a large parking area formed after the removal of metal from the islands in the braided section. The track to Bain Pool beach is now only suitable for 4WD vehicles.
Do not be discouraged by cars already parked ahead of you as most of the traffic is for Reed Pool further down river. The main improvement since the construction vehicle access across to the islands was removed is the pool, now usually referred to as the “Plank Pool”, below the car-park, has now settled and achieved top status as the most improved pool during 2006.
Be cautious where you park as anglers cast off the high bank along the RHS, above the car-park, where their back cast can tattoo cars parked behind… Anglers here on the elevated RHS of Plank Pool need a long handle landing net as it is not easily wadeable below the car-park. The best casting and easy wading is from the LHS of the Plank Pool. But the access to get here includes two crossings of the main river from Swirl Pool car park.
The usual access is by crossing below the Swirl Pool and back again below the Honeypot. Some keen anglers do cross at the end of the access road but we cannot encourage this as the flow is too fast for novices.
Looking down river at the 4WD track from Plank Pool car park leading to Bain Pool. The river can be forded here but wading poles recommended as current is too fast.
Nymphing and wetlining anglers (younger and fitter than the writer!) also target the fast turbulent flow below the pool with some success, particularly in fine bright conditions when the river is clear.
The most popular lie is just below the willow tree which hangs out from the RHS at the extreme eastern end of the parking area but we have received many reports of fresh run trout being caught throughout this pool all day during the spawning season. Note you don’t even need waders…
Bain Pool is now not as popular as the Plank Pool but do not under-estimate the number of spawning trout that rest up here after wet weather or when the water clarity is nil. Always fish the shallows up to the log jam island first before wading out.
(Photo right – Difficult access to Bain Pool after rain)
Bain Pool Update – September 2005
In the June Report the access off Graces Road was described as a rough gravel track down to a car park disguised as a muddy puddle. This has now been graded and metalled to remove the puddles. A real car park area has been formed at the river end with a native shrub border.
Bain Pool Report – June 2005 Below SH 1 road bridge all pools – Bridge, Lower Bridge, Swirl, Stones, Honeypot, Nursery – were significantly altered by the February 2004 flood and more recently by excavating 50,000 m3 (+?) and developing stop banks to prevent future flooding at Bridge Lodge and Tongariro Lodge. Only time will assess the effectiveness of this work.
(Looking up river from the tail of Bain Pool beach – easy wading, easy casting. “FFF” Fish feet first! Always check out the shallows first.)
Similarly, only time will judge whether these once famous pools are still holding anything like their previous reputations or are even worth their dubious naming rights. There is confusion over the names and locations of these pools – these reports are based on DoC¹s 2004 map – FREE (incl. GST if any?) maps available from Sporting Life or Tongariro River Motel. Previous pool locations vary and confusion is assured as the braided river changes course with each flood.
If you suspect that this appears another weak attempt to discourage, then you are right – even NCEA graduates learn that spawning trout have to pass up through the lower river first.
(Photo right – Brent Purser from Noosa, August 2007 – Bain Pool.)
Access: Vehicle access to Bain Pool is indicated on the DoC map off Grace Road – a rough gravel track down to a car park disguised as a muddy puddle. A narrow pumice dirt trail then leads to the Bain Pool but is only navigable for high clearance 4WD vehicles (or rental cars) to park on the stony beach. The walking track down to Reeds Pool leads off this access.
Bain Pool enthusiasts’ theory is that this is the first turbulent flow the trout encounter on their up-river spawning run – after growing to maturity for three years in Lake Taupo they have forgotten the thrill of shooting rapids. Therefore they are more disorientated, they need time to wait for others driven by instinctive sexual desire, flashing their red flanks and more focused on mating rites, to lead the charge through the confusing braided sections. The wading is easy.
Left – Successful Plank Pool angler, David Westwick from Auckland, enjoying
nymphing off the high bank above Plank Pool car park on 4 August 2006.
Anglers often cross through the pool above this rapid (wading poles strongly recommended). If you are an early bird up at sparrow fart, it again pays to fish your feet where fish regularly recover overnight or after the rapids below. This is even more important if the river is dirty.
Predictably, most fervent anglers have to test their wading height limit and plunge in up past the family jewels to stand right in the main lie – pushing the trout into the deeper channel – in order to prove they can cast on to the LHS bank . Summary: Due to Bain¹s snags and rough access – your car will certainly need washing afterwards – we recommend the Major Jones or Breakfast Pool to all out of town anglers – leave Bain for us infirm geriatric locals who cannot afford waders.
(Photo right – Colin Christmas from Hobart releasing another back into Bain Pool, August 2007 )The Bain Pool was not named as such on the1928 map, nor in Freshwater Admiral by Vice-Admiral Hickling, printed in 1960, nor on the 1974 map contained in Barbara Cooper’s “Pools of the Tongariro”, nor in Tony Jensen’s “Trout of the Tongariro” published 1974, after many changes to this section of the river following excavation of gravel for the Tongariro Power Development. It appears on the maps drawn by Lyn Lloyd and Barry Greig as a supplement to his “Fishing Guide to the Tongariro River and Lake Taupo’s Southern Shore” published in 1983.
Back then the Plank Pool area was described as the Upper Island and Lower Island Pools with the Stones Pool sweeping around the curve in front of Tongariro Lodge buildings. This area was most recently changed in 2005 by the removal of gravel as the build-up of metal was considered likely to be the cause of flooding through to Herekiekie Street. In 2005 a stop bank was formed along the front of the Lodge.
The pool above Bain is still known as the Plank Pool for the white board that prevented traffic from driving straight into the river but now replaced by the earth wall. Walking track from Bains Pool to Reeds Pool down river -15 minutes in waders.
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.