Hey All,

I have just finished an amazing four day guide with an English gentleman by the name of Dan.  I guided him a few years ago and he was back for more. Since our last guide I have found some really good water and as he is a fit bugger, he was all good to walk some miles. My main concern for the four days I had him, was the weather! In short it has been a crap summer and the rivers have changed time and time again. The Cicadas have been drowning in their holes and really haven’t had a fair go at all. I had so many contingency plans up my sleeve, it was not funny.

The first day saw us on a great little stream I have private access to. It is a stony bed and has a few tight little gorges that you have to pick your way through. The fishing can be fabulous though and the effort is always well rewarded. This stream has fish up to 5 pounds with the average being in the high 4 pound mark! They love the dry fly and there is nothing better in Trout Fishing than watching a fish turn, rise and gobble down a Cicada imitation, it really doesn’t get any better! So as we were working our way upstream I mentioned that this river would not be a good one to be caught out on, if it flooded. Well about two hours later and 7 Km up the river we had a massive cloud burst that came down so hard we were drenched before coats could be put on and then it got even heavier! Within ten minutes the crystal clear stream had turned into a mess with almost no depth visibility. I had called it and we were on our way out going like the clappers, we had to make two crossings that had been deep and tricky and we needed to get there before they became un passable, or we were going to be spending a very cold wet night in the bush. The first one was the worst and I knew straight away it was too deep for a dry crossing and so I explained to Dan what was about to go down (us). Instead of looking worried or upset, he had a bloody grin from ear to ear. I dropped in off the rock and because of my back pac, I floated the 10 feet down stream to shallower water where I stood up and said “your turn”". without hesitation Dan dropped in and because he had a wading belt on, he floated down to me without getting too wet at all. The rain had stopped by this stage and although there was NO visibility at all for footing, I knew the crossings and so we managed to get out un scathed Closest crappiest thing Id ever encountered on a river and not one I intend to have happen again. Man were we shagged when we got back to the vehicle.

The next day was a bit of a worry due to the high water levels on some of my rivers, so I choose a little spring fed creek and we hopped in and walked up slowly, spotting the trout and casting to them. This was great fun and with Dans ability to put a dry fly on a twenty cent coin, at 60 feet, accuracy was not an issue. We had a blast on this day and we dropped some damn good fish. They used every dirty trick I have seen and a few new ones I didn’t know about. One of them literally tied poor old Dan up in his own line as it went through his legs and around him twice. It then took off down a straight and busted us off before we could untangle . Great laugh on that one. The day was hot and clear!

The next day was on the Quads. Dan holds the most trout hooked and landed for this river being the grand total of 22. This trip he sucked the trout were taking the piss out of him!! Now that being said, he landed the biggest two of the day, a 7 pound Brownie that put up one of the meanest, longest fights I have ever seen and a 6 pound Rainbow that smashed the dry fly off the surface, the second it landed.It was a beat I hadn’t done for a little while and so was nice to see the water again. Man are there some Blue ducks on this river!!!

Yesterday was our last day and I had a special river in mind. I had checked the water flows for the area and they had dropped enough for us to do the crossings we needed. I hadn’t seen this river this season but had fished it late last season and it was in great nic. The first crossing was a massive effort but that was good as it would have finished most anglers off at that point alone. It had at some stage in the past 6 months, a terrible flood go through it and the whole river had changed course in half a dozen places, taking out great water but opening up some other stuff as well. We picked up good hard fighting 3 pounders all the way through the lower and middle section but the upper stuff has been flattened and all the pools filled in. This picture shows the force that had gone down through here with huge logs sitting on top of HUGE boulders. It was a good day and we had some fun spotting and fishing to some pretty hungry trout.

I have two rest days and then am out again for a few more, if the weather holds. It looks like more wind and rain in the forcast but by the looks of it the South island and lower North are going to get it the most. Be safe on the rivers, never take them for granted and always wear a wading belt!!

Cheers Shane

Hey all,

I fished the Hinemaiaia last night. No one was in there and the river looked great. We got one nice little 2.5 pounder that fought well above its weight and dropped two others. I have done a couple of these late evening,two hour guides now and really enjoy being on the water at that time of day!

I checked out two of my rivers yesterday as well. This time I fished the dry fly and had an absolute blast. One of the streams holds good fish up to about 6.5 pounds while the other one has MILLIONS of fish in the 1 to 2 pound range. These are so much fun on the dry and I lost count real fast at how many I landed, (yes I actually landed fish yesterday). They were all hungry and some swam quite some way to scoff down the dry fly Chris gave me the other day, awesome tie mate!!!

It was good to hear the sound of the Cicadas and I hope we get a bit of an Indian summer as it hasn’t been a summer so far!!

take care and have a great weekend.

Regards Shane

Hey All,

Yes Bob its the man himself. He says it could be you, if you weren’t such a wuss, good grief man what a broken leg in six places Hope you are on the mend bud!

This handsome Aussie bloke and I shot into the Tongariro yesterday, (gentleman’s hours too) and had a go at the Browns lurking there. Hmmmmmm not as many as I thought there would be and we covered a bit of ground too. We did manage to spot and then snag this one however on a dry. We probably put 10 good drifts over the top of him first with just a dry and then tie on a dropper thinking this would do the trick. First cast and he took the dry!! I was on droppy mode and managed to drop everything I hooked up onto. Chris also dropped a very good Rainbow as well. I would suggest if you are not hooking into them on the Tongariro, to move section. They are in there.

I shot into the Waitahanui this morning and got skunked, bloody river is empty!!!

I should be out and about over the next few days but this will be back country some what and so will report in soon.

Regards Shane

Hey All,

Gahh where the heck is Summer?? This is not doing anything for the dry fly fishing….

On Monday I decided to go and have a look at some of the spring fed rivers around Braodlands Road. I have fished these before but not for many years. I did some research first on access, (not that there is much) and then headed out. A bit of bush crashing was needed and the river level was up a bit, (I think), however I finally managed to get into the stream. It had a fair amount of colour and some of those branches were a bit sharp, so wading was slow and careful! Heaps of little fellas around the 1 pound mark but then every so often I would hit a 3 pounder. Man these things go ballistic, awesome fun and I was really enjoying myself until a big spiky tree which had fallen across the stream blocked my way. I could have made a MISSION of it and climbed through all the branches but the water looked deep and I was by myself, so decided to go back. A real shame too as the stretch up from there look great. On one of the streams you used to be able to get down to the Waikato river, but the track was well and truly flooded and it even looked like the track itself had been destroyed. In April of last year this area had a terrible day of wind and it snapped huge pine trees off at the base or even up rooted them all together. It was impossible to see where the track started or ended. I am sure this will have upset a few locals, as this stream mouth was very popular!!

I turned down some guiding this week because of the rain. I hate doing this but I refuse to take clients out when I know rivers are not worth fishing. However I made the wrong call on Tuesday, thinking all the rivers would come up and they didn’t The Tongariro would have been perfect!

There should be a heap of Browns around now and I have dusted off my rip gear and will head out once this moon drops a bit. I am looking forward to fishing with a few mates over the next weeks as well. One of the guides I am doing is with an English dude, who is awesome company, we are going to hit a lot of water over the 6 days I have him. We also have a few Aussie boys preparing to cross the ditch, no one loves their fishing as much as these guys and so it will be great to watch those faces light up.

I am out and about on the rivers all this week so will report in a few more times before the end of the month.

Regards Shane

Hey All,

I hope you had a safe and enjoyable Christmas break and are either still on holiday, or back at work planning your next fishing trip!

The Christmas break has been flat out with over seas guests and a few regular clients requesting guiding . Bang smack in the middle of all of this the heavens opened up and stuffed all the central North island rivers. The only ones fishable being spring fed and even then they had colour.

The Waitahanui has some good Browns in there at the moment which means the night fishing out the front should be happening. The moon is against you at the moment, although with the cloud cover you should get away with it. We dropped a honey of a fish in the upper pools that gave us a huge flash of silver before barreling off downstream at Mac10 . I love it when my clients ask me what they could have done to stop a fish like that and well, apart from putting on water skies and catching up to it in the lake, sometimes the fish “just wins”.

The Hinemaiaia is in fantastic condition water wise. There is good flow and a few silver fresh run trout in there too. I guided on the Tongariro this morning and got skunked well and truly. Bloody anglers for Africa as well! So fed up with a lack of fish and idiots dropping in front of us on pools, we high tailed it to the Hine. First cast and Bang, into a great fighting three pounder, awesome!!

Yesterday I guided a good client of mine on the Whakapapa. Now normally I don’t give the names of back country rivers, as it has the potential to get it flogged. As is the river in question. Some dick head a few years ago gave all the access points, flies to use, EVERYTHING he could come up with, to make a name for himself as a fishing writer. A few of us guides read it and silently cried knowing what was going to happen. Yip you guessed it, the Whakapapa got a smashing and not just from fly fisherman as the article stated, it was open to spinning. On a visit there a year and a half ago, I almost got into a fight with some dweeb who had just knocked on the head a 7+ pound brown trout using a treble veltec spinner. This once trophy majestic river that was full of fish from 4 to 12 pounds is now almost empty, certainly in the areas where there is easy access. it is a bloody shame and Fish and game need to do some serious work on here to try and bring it back. Kicking spinning in the arse would be a good first step, as would patrolling the thing. As you may have guessed by now we struggled and although we did pick up the odd trout, the Whakapapa is NOTHING like it was two years ago. Grrrrrrrrr

I did a Heli fly in the other day as well. Thats the first time up in one of those things, great fun too! the fishing on the beat that we set down on was good. The river level was up with plenty of colour but all that meant was my hairy reapers went up a size and took plenty of trout by doing so. The helicopter company was heli pro, by the way! I got back alive, so i fully recommend them

I am about to link up with a rafting company, that deals with the back country scene. I need to nut out a few things but they seem like a really pro team and know the area extensively. Rafting of course enables you to cover many KM of river, (much of it unfishable, without a raft) and with these guys they do multiple day packages. That means we start at the top of a river system and slowly come down, fishing lots of water and any decent looking trib as well. It is sometimes these out of the way tributaries that carry the best fish, as VERY few anglers get to them. This option is now available to all my clients so please feel free to enquire. While on the subject of contacting me!!!! As I mentioned a few posts ago, I had a horrible computer problem and lost ALL MY EMAIL ADDRESSES……. If you would like to go onto the emailing list for specials and anything else I can think up to get your attention Then please email me through my web site and I will add you.

Crack me up, someone the other day said they enjoyed reading Ross’s report from the Tongariro River Motel, hell I nearly went off the road!!

Take care all. enjoy the pics. BTW DOC I don’t know what instigates an endangered bird species, but i’m telling you the blue Duck has bounced back with a vengeance.

Regards Shane

Hey all,

All the rain that fell on us over the past week, didn’t really amount to too much when it came to flooding out the rivers. Yes they rose, but they didn’t get too high. There should be some fresh run trout in all the local Taupo rivers at the moment. The Tauranga Taupo and Tongariro would be well worth a go!

I had some pressure put on me a few days ago with a guide that I had been looking forward to for some months. I regularly guide a gentleman from Canada, normally for a few days. This time however he was on a very tight work schedule and we could only fit him in for one day only. As it turned out it was the Monday. Saturday and Sunday blew and rained consistently and had me pacing around the house stressing out, as I kept an eye on all the river levels I monitor. I wanted to take John into the back country and as I watched and listened to the wind and rain on Sunday night my apprehension for what I was going to see on Monday morning grew.

I got up made a coffee and came straight down to my computer to check the levels, Gaahhhhh, although things weren’t hideous, there had been enough rain to blow out most of the rivers, if we were to fish any back country water it would have to be spring fed, as these colour up the least. I had a few in mind and  made the decision to fish a stream close to Taupo in case it was un fishable and we could return quickly to the Waitahanui or the Hinemaiaia. All the way there I was freaking out and wondering if it would pay off. The weather was clearing fast, with a stiff breeze and there was big patches of blue sky. The wind would not be too much of a problem as small casts were needed and it was pretty sheltered anyway. I was more concerned about the water level!

As soon as we got to the river I jumped out and looked at it. I was Sooooooooo relieved to see it very fishable and I knew the further up we drove, the clearer it would get. We stopped the car at the beginning of our beat and geared up. John loves to fish with a 5# and is a very masterful caster, we were going to use a small Nymphing set up with a sliding indicator and standard tapered fluro leader, however I was hoping for some bug action as this piece of water lends itself to it. We waded up the river quietly and when I could I would take to the bank and look ahead to spot anything fishy shaped. It was on one of these occasions that I spotted a huge shape in deeper water on the true right, about thirty meters up from where John was carefully wading. I gave him an excited version of where it was and how big it looked while crouching on hands and knees. Part of the reason I enjoy Johns company on the water is his equal enthusiasm when we spot a good trout, he was like a kid in a candy shop, with a smile from ear to ear . We adjusted the indicator for maximum strike effectiveness and decided to use a slightly bigger bead head nymph to get down that little bit quicker, the point fly stayed the same, being a variation of the Hairy Reaper.

John crept up very slowly till he was well within casting distance, then keeping a low profile he roll cast downstream, about ten meters of line. As it straightened up he looked back upstream to where the trout was lying and with a simple water load laid the line out perfectly, with the dropper about 2 meters in front of the trout. You never know what a trout is going to do and that is part of the excitement, however in this case there was no hesitation. It moved across the current a half foot and rose in the water column. Its mouth opened, (which I clearly saw) and at the same time the indicator got pulled under. John tightened on the line and with that our fish came to the surface and tail walked across the pool in a brilliant display of power. It then proceeded to charge up stream and around the bend, (small tight stream). John raced up stripping in line and putting his rod hard down to his left to try and stop his line slicing into the bank. I hopped up and down giving instructions . Then his line went slack! Most anglers sigh at this stage and think the fish has gotten off, when half the time it is just coming straight back at you. Thank God this was the case, the only problem was it went straight back between Johns legs!! With a squawk more reminiscent of a chicken laying an egg, rather than a Canadian Mounty John hopped back over the line and tried in vain to tighten up on it. I’d given up on instructions and literally fell into the river, (not my most elegant of river entrances) to try and net this beast before it could Hog tie John any further. I managed to get the net under it, just as John pulled up tight. Wow what a beauty! At just over 7.5 pounds this was the biggest Brown from this stream so far and in amazing condition. We took some quick pics and then released it. The smile said it all, right choice, right river and man was I pleased

Regards Shane

Hey All,

I guided Aussie Jason yesterday on a fantastic beat I put in last year. The pools are relatively close together and the walking not to hard as walking goes on back country rivers. The fishing however was out of this world. We sort of lost count on the number of hook ups and Jason did a brilliant job in landing them, but these fish were all about the 4.5 to 5.5 pound mark and full of fight. We had some awesome scraps, with our bigest fish of the day being just over 6 pounds, (top photo).

We manged to hold on to two Browns as well. The weather was cold and horrible!!

Regards Shane

Hey All,

I decided on Saturday to have a look at the upper reaches of the Hinemaiaia. This section is now open for fishing and in past years the first three weeks of December have offered up some really exciting fishing. I have had some brilliant days walking the upper pools of this scenic bush clad river.

Saturday was a brilliant day as it turned out. The sun was hot, there were Cicadas chirping away and where I was, the wind was light. All it needed was some trout. I decided to drop in below the Cliff pool and work my way up. I know this section well and always pull fish from it. The water level was perfect, it had good flow and volume and was that tea colour that makes the Hine unique in the Taupo fishery. I knew there would be a heap of older trout in there and so decided to use my 5#. The fight is just so much better on lighter gear!

In the first decent run I came too, my indicator was pulled under almost immediately as my Nymphs sunk. My point fly must have been hit with some considerable speed! On striking, I felt that familiar head shaking give that signified a hook up. This is the feeling I love the most out of fighting a trout, that initial adrenaline burst you get, (No i’m not addicted to fishing   ). I realized pretty quickly that this was a good trout and that I was going to have an extremely hard fight on my hands, especially due to the area of River I was in, (where was the 8# now). I have been using Vanish Fluro for some years now, for its price I fully believe there is no better value out there, (Hunting and Fishing Taupo stock it). This trout really tested my 6 pound tippet to its breaking point and beyond. I really had to apply pressure to this grumpy bugger  and Twice I was astounded by the holding abilities of “”vanish”". In the end, and due to the fact I haven’t pulled too many decent trout from Taupo this year, I ended up going for a good swim down through some rather interesting water to keep up with it. Lying on your back, floating down and reeling in slack line, will take your mind off all sorts of worldly worries, let me tell you. Wading belts are wonderful things and should be worn at all times, but I really hate the way they let in a slow trickle of ice cold water, once you stand back up   Once netted I admired the trout quickly got the above picture and then slipped it back into the water. I thought about whacking it on the head but I haven’t seen too many nice fish like this for the 2011 season, (due to a lack of fishing mainly) and I got a good amount of joy releasing it.

I dried off a bit and then walked back up stream and started again, thinking “Oh yeah here we go, freshies in the system” Hmmmm that was it, one strike one fish!! Should have smacked it on the head

I fished most of the beat I do for this part of the river but there was just nothing else around, that I could tell. Bit strange really as there should have been! In my opinion, (here we go), I think the upper Hinemaiaia, above the bridge, should be closed over winter like it had been for years. Anglers are walking on the Reeds, which is going to have a huge impact in another two years and with the extra trout taken during the season, it has obviously effected the numbers holding. The Hinemaiaia has never had an issue with trout numbers, but this year it did. I hope DOC has the foresight and guts to go with it to change the rule back for next season!!

I am on the quads tomorrow, (if the weather holds out) and so hopefully will get some good pictures. The section we are doing holds some of the biggest trout in the system and some of the most scenic pools and runs as well. I am really cracking my neck to get this guy onto some decent fish.

Regards Shane

Hey All,

I did the Tauranga Taupo Yesterday all the way up past Rangers Pool. I haven’t dragged myself up there for a few years and was dead keen to have a look.

I was up early and walked all the way to Rangers before I set my Rod up, that way I knew I couldn’t fish the water that looked “Oh So beautiful”. To be honest however the middle section from the Rock wall to just below the Cliff pool does not look interesting at all. The snags and rocks have been taken out by the floods early in the season and the deeper water has filled in, leaving a lot of the middle section a bit shallow! This happens heaps on the TT and I am not worried in the slightest, as given a few more floods, it will change again.

Anyway…..

I rigged up with my 5# Kilwell Innovation  a tapered Fluro trace, sliding indicator and my hairy reapers for Nymphs. I have been playing around with bead head colours and Body variations and have some Nymphs that are taking Trout in all conditions, in all the water I fish. While my fly Tying bill has increased, I have dramatically cut the cost of the flies I buy in Once I had sculled back a can of “V” I was ready to rock.

First cast caught me totally unawares, as I was looking downstream admiring the view, when on the swing my Nymphs got NAILED. Now I have been fishing hard out for the past three weeks on some of the best water in NZ and this little 2.5 Jack, (top picture) really made me work. It tried every dirty trick in the book, coming into me fast, making me strip line and walk back to keep pressure on it, then screaming off across the other side of the river to a snag, making me put sideways pressure on it. The fight was fast and furious for about a full 2 minutes. I couldn’t actually believe the size of the trout when I beached it!! The TT trout have always had that aggression in them which makes the river a pleasure to fish. So there I am think WOW that was easy, one cast one trout, well that was it for about another 2 hours!!!

There are heaps of fish in the upper Tauranga Taupo, but they have all seen a tonne  of anglers so far this season, and by the footprints going up past Rangers, some of them have seen anglers recently. The further up I went the better the fishing got, but unless you are staying at the lodge, it is a mission of a walk. My total KM’s for the day according to Google earth was 14.6 KM. Don’t you love it how beer tastes after a day like that? I managed about 7 or 8 hook ups for the day and if you add in the serenity of the place and the amazing weather that was Thursday, then all up it was a great day out.

I’ll post this one again.

On the 20th of December at the starlight Taupo cinema there will be a really cool movie about a group of mad keen flyfishermen trying to catch some fantastic trout i the back country of Russia!! Tickets are $20 each. There is drinkies from 5.30 with the movie starting at 6.15 PROCEEDS TO THE LAKE TAUPO HOSPICE!!!! You can pre buy tickets from The House Of Travel Taupo or RSVP to Karl Woolcott Phone 3772700 or email

Kwoolcott@hot.co.nz  This actually looks really cool!

Also sob sob. In an unfortunate episode, my computer that I normally use for putting in reports, needed re formatting. In the process of doing this, ALL of my emails and addresses have been lost. The back up did not work and nor have any of the recovery programs sooooo if you would like to go onto the Taupo Fishing members list for specials, please send me an email and I will confirm back. Also this will be the reason if you are waiting on an email from me, cough cough Mike, Chris and Bob

Take care over the weekend guys.

Regards Shane

Hey All,

Please check the bottom of this page for some cool fishing stuff happening in Taupo On 20th Of December, Ta guys!

I had a fantastic end to a very hectic week, last Friday. I finally managed to get Steven in on the Quad bikes, to do some video work and to check out an awesome beat, that I haven’t walked in a few years. We didn’t meet up with John until 7.30 and didn’t get onto the water until just after 10.00, taking our time getting things set up. A monstrous tree  had fallen down on the goat track, leading down to the start of the beat and so While John found a way down through the bush with one of the Quads, Steven and I legged it the last 1.5 Km. Not the best start but that is why we do these trips, John took care of the tree on the way out!!

Once on the water it became very obvious that NO one had walked up. The sand showed no human footprints in the places that an angler would have crossed at and you could sneak right up on the trout. The water had a little colour in it but the level was near perfect. I had my sights set on a few specific places I wanted to fish, as I knew they were very deep and I would need extra weight and a longer leader to get down to the trout. This is something that you as an angler should try to come to grips with, as it certainly increases your catch rate, being able to fish water others struggle with.

We moved up fairly fast because of this and I was pleased to see that the river had not changed in the slightest, all the crossings were do able and although it isn’t the easiest of water to fish we pulled trout from all the places we stopped at. In one of the pools I hooked and landed three in three casts before deciding to leave it. The trout were not big by any means, averaging about 3 to 3.5 pounds but they had grunt and there were heaps of them. As I say we moved through damn fast and if we had fished more water I am sure there would have been a biggie in the there somewhere. This section is not renowned for size but it is a great section to fish, however over the summer months those 3 pounders will fatten up to 5 pounders!

Steven did a magic job of videoing the action and his editing of this particular video is his best yet. He dropped a really good fish at the end of the day that would have beaten all of mine. In the end I was so knackered from fighting fish, running down stream after them and all the striking in between, that we called it a day and hoofed it up to the extraction point. It was then back on the quads and safely back out.

Check out the latest video from this trip. It is up now, just click play.

On the 20th of December at the starlight Taupo cinema there will be a really cool movie about a group of mad keen flyfishermen trying to catch some fantastic trout i the back country of Russia!! Tickets are $20 each. There is drinkies from 5.30 with the movie starting at 6.15 PROCEEDS TO THE LAKE TAUPO HOSPICE!!!! You can pre buy tickets from The House Of Travel Taupo or RSVP to Karl Woolcott Phone 3772700 or email

Kwoolcott@hot.co.nz  This actually looks really cool!

Tight lines all

Shane