There ya go Ralph, on its way!!!

Hey all,

The Rain that we got on Sunday night pushed the rivers up a little and a good run of trout went through all of them. Then the Westerly kicked in and the Waitahanui received a fresh run as well. All the trout I hooked up into were full of fight and in excellent condition, pushing the scales to around 3.5 to 4 pounds. This trout in the picture pound for pound was one of the best fights all season. If I had not had my 8# with me it would have dragged me into all sorts of snags and crap. It leapt out of the water and did all sorts of nasty stuff to me. I am still using 8 pound Fluro and I believe this really helped in landing this very energetic fish.

The water levels have dropped off a wee bit now and everything is very clear so a bit of stealth may be needed and you can stop dropping the weight down a bit too, (thank goodness). However we are going to get some heavy rain tonight and a little more on Friday and Saturday, so things are looking up again for the weekend.

Thank you to all those who got in touch with me to be added to my special emailing list, I shall send out an email soon regarding up coming specials.

Take care out there on the water.

Regards Shane

Hey All,

And the season keeps going.

The Tauranga Taupo has climbed back up to a very fishable level over the past 24 hours. There have been some excellent trout taken out of this river over the past week. They were not down low in any numbers as the water was perfect for them to run the river and that’s what they did. I might pop in there today for a look as I have been asked by a good friend to send him a trout down to wellington.

Apparently the Waitahanui had an excellent run go through mid last week, with some excellent trout being hooked up, thanks for that Craig.

The Hinemaiaia is still producing some good trout. I guided on here late last week and although angling pressure was high we did ok. Man the Cliff pool is looking nice!!!

The summer fishing season is now just around the corner and it is time for me check out all my rivers. I have a mailing list that I occasionally send out special reports to and the odd guiding special. If you would like to be part of this list, (or even be taken off it) then please get in touch with me and I will either add or take you off it.

I hope the start to your week is a good one and that the weekend comes around nice and fast for you.

Regards Shane

Hey All,

I have just finished up my five day guide with Mike from Australia. He actually came down with the flu last week and so we had to move the final two days to this week. The fishing was a little harder but we still managed 75 trout for the five days on the water. There are heaps of anglers around at the moment but I am happy to say that for the five days we only encounted 4 or 5. I managed to keep Mike away from the crowds and put him into all my sneaky spots.

We have more rain forecast for tonight and the next few days. This amount of rain should push the river levels back up and push a few more freshies into the system. The trout today were all silver and in good condition but like yesterday were on the small side. I am seeing a trend develop here. We get a run of GOOD sized trout and then a period of the smaller ones. Hopefully next year we will see more larger trout than smaller!

Regards Shane

All the rivers are fishable at the moment as the rain from last week drains off.

The heavy water flows have really changed the rivers over the past few weeks and no other river has changed more than the Tauranga Taupo. I shot in low there today and was blown away by the changes in this section. Whole pools have been removed and others opened up. There are big trees that have been ripped out and dragged downstream, river crossings have changed and the place in general turned over. We struggled in the TT only hitting two trout for the few hours on there.

From there we moved down to the Waiotaka and had a really good look in there. This is small water and you really need to understand where the trout will lie, otherwise the going can be very hard. The trout in here weren’t big by any standards but they pulled hard and there were a few of them too.

We dropped back to the Waimarino and did a beat below the bridge. This too has changed dramatically and can’t actually be walked anymore as the high water levels have deepened a gut and it can’t be forded, (big bugger). We managed one for an hours poking around and then headed home.

Great day out and Mike from Aussie is great company on the water. I have one more day with Mike and it is going to be a good one!

Regards Shane

I spent yesterday fishing the Waitahanui with Mike. We went in at the bridge and walked up to the Crescent, fishing all the water we could. After being in two fast running rivers the previous days, it was really pleasant fishing a slower, quieter river. We pulled out  5 from its waters yesterday but saw many huge rainbows in there spawning. Plenty of 6 and 7 pound trout in the Nui at the moment. Getting them to look at your offerings is another story! The Brown in the picture had been a busy boy, its tail was munted!! This went bang on 7 pounds and in top condition would have been close to double figures. I really enjoyed the Waitahanui yesterday, it was a pleasure to fish!

The Tongariro has had a mix of reports. Some say it was hard and anglers everywhere and others having a blast with limits caught within the hour! If you are not hooking up in the Tongariro at the moment then you are either not doing the right thing, or are not in the correct section of river and should think about moving. Have green and white caddis in your box along with flash backs and light coloured glow bugs. adjust weight and maybe leader length to suit the water you are fishing and try to fish water that other anglers might have over looked. Don’t try and overcast, disturbing the water and make first casts accurate. They are in there!

The river levels are dropping off a lot slower now, as the lake fills up. All the rivers will be perfect for the weekend. Unless we get more rain! I am sure there will be a plague of fisherman out there doing their thing. If you are looking for some nice big Glow Bugs for these coloured up river conditions then you can’t go past Creel in Turangi. They have fantastic colours and a very good mix of sizes. Steve loves making them too!!!

Regards Shane

Hey All,

Bloody wet!!!!

The TT River Gauge had a malfunction on Tuesday and was showing the wrong level. It showed it was fishable and really it wasn’t. I took Mike into the Waimarino and although we managed quite a few, it was VERY hard going with wading and river crossings, we were both rooted by the time we got back to the car!!!

Yesterday I took him into the Hine. We did well in the lower section and managed a few nice fish above the bridge as well. Although the Hine is not too coloured up it is running very high and fast, so again we had to add extra weight and use large glow bugs. The wading was hard going!!

After the wind that we received yesterday afternoon, the Waitahanui is the go this morning.

All the trout were in very good condition with some VERY fat Hens full of eggs. Mike is a catch and release angler and so they have all won Lotto and been released after a quick picture. All up 30 fish for two days. The goal is to break 100 for 5 days!

Regards Shane

Hey All,

Wow this season is screaming by, we are half way through August!

All the rivers have become fishable now after the weekend rain and should have good numbers of trout holding in the middle and upper sections.

The Hine has continued to fire, this has been a spectacular season for this small river. The water level is high at the moment as they release water from the dam but it is clear enough and some of the stories coming from the Hine relate to very good fish!

The Waitahanui is due a monstrous run and should get it when the Westerly arrives in the next day or so.

The TT dropped very quickly in the end and should be fun to explore. I am sure some of this water will have changed with the deluge it received and so will be fun to explore again. It will probably get a pounding from anglers however as there has not been to many rivers available for fishing.

I am looking forward to getting into the Tonagriro early this week as it should be loaded!!

I have a five day guide starting today and so will have a clearer picture of what is happening out there by the end of the week.

Hope you have all had fun this month so far.

Regards Shane

Hey All,

The rivers took a little to come down from Wednesday’s rain, but are perfect as I write this. We are due more rain for the next three days and it might push the levels up again making them unfishablke. Keep an eye on the TT river guage as it will give you some idea of how much rain has fallen in the area.

I needed trout yesterday for a friend and so shot out early. The TT and Waimarino were in flood and as I needed a good fish the Tonagriro wouldn’t do! So I shot into the Hine. It was High and coloured. Apparently the day before it had been even higher! I can’t stress enough, how important it is for weight, when the water is flowing like that. To throw weight you need a few very important techniques. Once you have them, when the water is up, you slay them!!

On my way back down a path yesterday at about 8.30 this Possum scuttled out of the bush at my feet and scampered up this tree. Bloody thing scared the crap out of me!!!!!

The next ten days or so are going to be magic on the Taupo River, be safe and tight lines.

Regards Shane

P.S Watch out for the Possum’s.

Just a quick update for those thinking about coming to Taupo for the weekend.

We got dumped on big time Wednesday afternoon and it put all rivers , (excluding the Waitahanui) into flood. As I type this the TT is still running at about .8 but dropping.

I had to drop back to the Hine on Wednesday and I had a blast in there picking up trout in both the sections I fished, even with all the angling pressure that had been on there all day. The Hine has had a fantastic season!!

Apparently The Tongariro had a trout go through the other day as well!! Seriously though it should be fishing well now.

The Waitahanui had a good group of trout move into it but they stayed together and moved up fast. There were some great fish in there as well.

We are due more rain this weekend and it will probably be enough to push levels up again. We are going to get some wind with this stuff as it comes from the South and so the Waitahanui could get that good run it has been hanging out for! It looks like Wednesday next week might be the time to get here and slay them.

I am out briefly this morning, (i’m typing this at 5.30am) and so will have some pics then.

Have a great Friday and very safe weekend.

Regards Shane

Hey all,

Well the drought broke with a vengeance Sunday night and sent the Tauranga Taupo up to almost flood levels. I crossed over the bridge and it was fair roaring down there. Trees, pumice and all sorts of debris were being swept out into the lake. Due to the level of the lake (low)  the TT has dropped off quite fast although as I write it is still flowing at about .650 this is just fishable but all crossings will be a mission and the drifts will be going through very fast. Best to fish the slower water on the side with nice big Glow Bugs and a bit of weight.

So on Monday I dropped back to the Hinemaiaia and did a small section of a beat I do. Even though the angling pressure was high I managed to get away from the crowds and pick up some really good fish. The Hen at the bottom of this report bent the scales at 5.5 pounds and did not want to come to the net. I picked up about ten fish for a few hours spent poking around. I find that when the angling pressure is on the Hine, the trout get pushed into pockets and so you have to do the crossings and fish all the water, not just the usual holes. I had fun anyway.

Yesterday I went further South than the Hine and had a BLAST, hooking up onto well over, ahhh well I lost count fairly fast but it was a crap load of trout, all on the Glowie and all in great fighting condition. There had been a very good run of Hens through the river and I only managed to land two Jacks all morning. One of these would have pushed the scales to 6 pounds and was a great fish to look at. I would have taken a picture of him but as the fight had taken at least 10 minutes and it had walked me back down stream for well over 200 meters, I decided to just get him back into the water as fast as I could. I thought briefly about giving him the last rites but as there were NOT to many males around I give him an early Christmas Present and send him back to his harem of Hens, (lucky bastard)! I never saw another angler ALL day!!

We had more rain last night and some of it was freaking hard. I thought that the TT would be in flood today but on checking the flow it is at the same level as yesterday!

It will be a good weekend if the rivers aren’t in flood.

Regards Shane