Latest Fishing and River Reports by Marcel

25th August 2010 -Well I have been back from my holiday for a week now and I have been very busy catching up on my fly tying for the shop. I see that there was a lot of rain here while I was away, so much in fact that the mighty lake Taupo is filled to capacity which is good news, we really needed that rain and with a full lake the Tongariro River is holding more volume as well it is currently flowing at 31 cumecs and dropping very slowly. I managed to sneak away for a quick fish on Sunday for an hour I didn't have any luck but I did see plenty of other anglers with some very nice fish. It is good to see the Tongariro River is bouncing back from the down turn over the last two years. Whilst in Scotland I did lots of fishing on small lochs for wild brown trout and the rig they used there was called a washing line. A very effective way of fishing these small lakes; the rig goes something like this: a 9 ft tapered leader with about 5 ft of tippet attached to the end, then tied to the end a bushy dry fly like a muddler or a sedge hog and at 2 ft intervals along the tippet tie a dropper of about 15 cm and attach small wet flies like a bibio and a blue zulu or any other wet fly or nymph. This will give you a rig with 3 flies (in Scotland they made these rigs with up to 5 flies but here we are only allowed 3 flies which makes them a bit easier to cast and seem to work just as well) then you just cast them close to rising fish or a likely looking spot and retrieve them fairly quickly, the idea is to get the bushy dry fly to create a wake which attracts the fish and when they come to investigate there is a choice of flies or nymphs for them. It seemed to be very effective over there and I can't wait to try this technique on the Lake Otamangakau when it opens. Tight Lines Marcel

12th August 2010 - Well I am sitting on the ferry leaving Islay and off to the Edinburgh tattoo. I had a great last week of fishing on Islay and would like to say a special thanks to my good friend Tom Dunn, the game keeper at Ardtalla Estate who has been so hospitable and managed to organize all the great fishing trips I had whilst on Islay. This last week I fished 3 more lochs and I spent the day on the Laggan river fishing 2 beats of this beautiful river from the ocean to the low road bridge. Unfortunately we did not have the rain the evening before to entice the salmon or sea trout to run, the river was low and the color was an amazing dark coffee color which it gets from the surrounding peat fields. I saw a few fish rising to the surface but Tom told me these fish are not feeding they are actually getting rid of the sea lice stuck in there gills. All the fishing on this river is done across and downstream with small colorful salmon flies on double or treble hooks, as these fish stop feeding once they enter the fresh water from the sea you need to act on their aggressive behavior to induce a take, and aggressive they are I hooked and landed 3 small sea trout about 1.5 lb each, small fish but the strikes felt like they were about 15 lbs!! The next day I fished on Loch Ballygrant. A stunning loch surrounded with large trees right to the water's edge so boat fishing was the only option. A very pleasant way to fish just letting the wind drift the boat along the edges of the loch which were over hung by the large trees and casting your flies close to the edge and stripping them back across the surface waiting for a take. This worked well for Frances as she managed to hook two very nice brownies at once which does not appen often anywhere, nice fishing skills and also bragging rights for the day!! On the last day Tom and Donnie took me up to two lochs in the high country. To get there we used agro carts, a 8 wheeled cart which can get through the worst of peat bogs this took about 40 minutes. Once we were there the scenery was breath taking with tussock grass hills and sheer granite cliffs. We fished our way around the loch and between us landed about 8 fish and lost another 8 or so. I lost a big fish of about 2 lbs which broke me off at the bank. The fish in this loch were very dark in color, some of them were black, this is one thing I have noticed here on Islay all the fish from the different lochs have their own unique colorings and markings and all very beautiful. So in closing if you ever want a great fishing destination with breathtaking scenery and great hospitality you cannot go past Islay well worth it!! My next report will be from New Zealand and the mighty Tongariro River in 2 weeks. Thanks again to everyone on Islay and tight lines cheers Marcel
11th August 2010 - Well hello from Islay, I have been here for a week now and I am having a ball, we went to Laphroaig Distillery on the second day we were here and did the full tour from going to look at the water source to cutting peat in the peat fields and then a trip through the distillery itself. If you ever go to Islay I can highly recommend a tour through here. The tour guide carries a backpack with a couple of bottles whiskey for a wee dram or two whilst on the tour.
On the Saterday we entered a fishing competition on Loch Gorm a stunning lake full of wild brown trout. I landed two and lost another two. The fish were very small but I must say I don’t think I have seen a more beautifull strain of brown trout anywhere. There colouring was amazing, a deep shiny bronze colour with bright red spots and dark brown halos, the colours were so bright it looked like someone had freshly painted them. The flies they use here are mainly small wett flies like bibios, blue Zulus and red tags, they have an interesting rig they use here called the washing line and I will talk more about this on my next report. This week I am going to try my luck on the Lagan River for salmon and sea trout. Cheers and tight lines.

Cheers Marcel - Turangi Fishing Guide

4th August 2010 - Well hello from Islay, I have been here for a week now and I am having a ball, we went to Laphroaig Distillery on the second day we were here and did the full tour from going to look at the water source to cutting peat in the peat fields and then a trip through the distillery itself. If you ever go to Islay I can highly recommend a tour through here. The tour guide carries a backpack with a couple of bottles whiskey for a wee dram or two whilst on the tour.
On the Saterday we entered a fishing competition on Loch Gorm a stunning lake full of wild brown trout. I landed two and lost another two. The fish were very small but I must say I do not think I have seen a more beautifull strain of brown trout anywhere. There colouring was amazing, a deep shiny bronze colour with bright red spots and dark brown halos, the colours were so bright it looked like someone had freshly painted them. The flies they use here are mainly small wet flies like bibios, blue Zulus and red tags, they have an interesting rig they use here called the washing line and I will talk more about this on my next report. This week I am going to try my luck on the Lagan River for salmon and sea trout. Cheers and tight lines.

Cheers Marcel - Turangi Fishing Guide

20th July 2010 - Well this weeks fishing has not been easy and it is not due to the lack of fish but more due to the lack of rain. The Tongariro River is running very low and clear at the moment which makes it nice and easy to spot the fish and there are plenty of them but trying to fool them with a fly is a different story! I guided Trevor on Sunday afternoon and we only managed to hook one fish. It was lying deep in a pool and had refused several offerings so I decided a change of tactics was called for, instead of the standard double nymph rig and a 12 ft leader I changed to more of a summer backcountry rig, a 18 ft tapered leader with 4 lb tippet, a single #18 flash back pheasant tail and about 30 cm above the nymph a single BB split shot. As the water was so clear we did not need an indicator we just watched the fish, and it certainly did the trick the fish took the fly on the first drift without any hesitation.
A couple of new flies to chat about this week firstly the yellow latex caddis, this nymph has the classic caddis grub shape that works so well and has a pale yellow latex body, which is not a colour normally associated with caddis grubs but it does look good and it certainly seems to fool the fish, the other fly is the peacock streamer, I tied this one up about 2 weeks ago when I had an abundance of peacock feathers I needed to use up, tied on a small hook with a slim profile these little streamers out fished all the standard streamers in the low and clear conditions.
On Sunday I am off to Scotland on a salmon and sea trout fishing trip so will be reporting from the sunny Isle of Islay. Tight lines.


Cheers Marcel - Turangi Fishing Guide

13th July 2010 - Last week it seemed all of the north island got rain except Turangi .All we got was lots of very strong wind which made for very hard work for those brave fisherman on the Tongariro river .We certainly could have done with rain as the river is running at 24.5 cumecs which is very low and clear for this time of year . There seem to be plenty of fish in the mighty Tongariro, but they are not easy to catch. The combination of water clarity and lots of angling pressure has made the fish very fly shy - in these conditions your best bet is to go small and fine; small natural nymphs #16 to #18 and long fine leaders with small neutral coloured indicators will show results. The plus side of the low flow is that you won't need to be casting heavy bombs to get your flies down deep; the flies that seem to be working best are flashback hares ear and pheasant tails in #16 or #18. Another fly that has been doing the damage is the yellow latex caddis - this is a new fly we have in stock and they have been selling very well with lots of reports of fish being caught. I spoke to one of the local boaties yesterday and he relayed that there are a lot of fish congregating at the delta...waiting to run the river - meaning we need some rain! The good news is that we are expecting rain on Friday and Saterday...so we are in for a great weekend of fishing.

Cheers Marcel - Turangi Fishing Guide

7th July 2010 -Well the new season has started and so have the school holiday’s which means lots of fisherman on the Tongariro River. All the reports coming into the shop are good; lots of fish are being caught and most are in good condition. There is the odd slab getting caught which means that some of the earlier runs have done their business and are already making their way back to the lake. My friends Dave and Allen from Masterton have been here over the weekend and we went out for a couple of hours fishing on Saturday. I managed to land a nice 3lb rainbow and I lost another one. Both were hooked on a #16 gold bead pheasant tail nymph, Allen and Dave had no luck but I think that had something to do with the amount of whiskey they drank the previous evening.

The Tongariro River is running at 27 cumecs at the moment which is an ideal flow but the river is very clear so keep your tippets fine and your flies small (#16). The globugs are working well in the morning and when the sun starts to shine on the water the small gold bead natural nymphs seem to be catching the fish. We are expecting some rain this week so hopefully that will bring another run of trout out of Lake Taupo and up the river.

Cheers Marcel - Fishing Guide Turangi

28th June 2010 -Well here we are at the beginning of the new fishing season in the Taupo fishery and all things are pointing towards a great season, at the shop we have had a lot of good reports coming through, the fish are bigger and in much better condition than the previous two years. The Tongariro River especially has been the most consistent of all the rivers with fish being caught the length of the river, for this to happen so early in the season is an indication that there are more fish running this year so it looks like we are in for a bumper season.
We are also expecting quite a bit of rain over the next two months this coupled with a good layer of snow on Mt Tongariro should keep the river at a perfect flow with that lovely snow melt colour . There has also been a notable late run of large brown trout this year.
With 6 browns being weighed in at the shop ranging between 6 lb and 13 lb these fish were all caught on streamer flies using shooting heads or full sinking lines which goes to show that on the Tongariro river you must fish deep to get the best results this time of year.
About 8 weeks ago I brought myself a switch rod for my upcoming salmon fishing trip to Scotland, having never cast a double handed rod before it took a bit of getting used to so there was no option but to get lots of practice in and after hours of viewing YouTube videos on spey casting techniques and equally as much practice on the river I am pleased to tell that I can now cast a half decent line double handed. I have come to realize that these switch rods are the way to fish the Tongariro river in winter time you can cover a lot of water very quickly with very little effort.

Cheers Marcel - Fishing Guide Turangi

16th June 2010 - What a difference a bit of extra water makes! Last week we had a lot of rain which brought the river level up to 213 cumecs. As the water level dropped the fishing was very good and I had lots of reports through the shop of fresh run fish being caught.
It is also good to see that there is a huge improvement on the size and condition of the fish, it seems the Taupo fishery is bouncing back from the previous two years and all signs are pointing towards a very good winter fishing season.
I guided Trevor and Amanda out on Sunday and we opted to fish one of the smaller streams rather than join the crowds on the mighty Tongariro, it seems maybe we should have followed the crowds. The stream was in perfect condition with a bit of color and extra flow. I thought we would have been in the money but as happens so many times on these small streams we must have been there at the wrong time. The fishing was hard with only one small fish landed, but that’s fishing for you!
We had a fair amount of snow in the hills this week which has kept the Tongariro River flowing at 35 cumecs and it has that lovely slightly milky green color to it. With the weather forecast to be fine until Sunday we should have a great week of fishing on our great river.

Cheers Marcel - Fishing Guide Turangi

8th June 2010 - Well it was a very busy Queens birthday weekend on the mighty Tongariro River.  I was guiding Lisa and Lesley on Saturday and it was hard to find a spot to fish without too many other anglers.  The river was very clear and low so with all the angling pressure the fishing wasn’t easy but we found a spot in the lower river and had some success on my green and grey sparkle caddis grub.  These are tied very slim with a slight sparkle so they are perfect for the clear conditions.  On Sunday we got allot of rain which brought the river level up so we were all excited with the anticipation of a run of fresh silver fish.  There were certainly some good fish landed with reports of 4 to 5 lb fish being landed in the blue pool.  On Monday the rain got heavier and the river level kept rising peeking at 213 cumecs which made the river un fishable although I did have some anglers in the shop buying large streamer flies and large egg patterns to fish the edges of the river.  Some anglers tell me this is the time to target the large brownies as they sit in the quiet water waiting for the flood to recede.  I had no reports back from these guys.  Well it is now Tuesday and the river has dropped back to 90 cumecs and is continuing to drop steadily so the fishing should be all on this week.  Like most rivers the Tongariro fishes best as it clears.  By Thursday the river should be in perfect condition.  My choice of fly would be the scrambled egg.  This is a great fly for the river when it has some colour and extra flow, it represents a roe cluster so it is very visible and has a tungsten bead to sink it deep and keep it close to the bottom where the fish are.

Tight lines !

Cheers Marcel

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