Graeme Christie | Tuesday, 11 August 2026
The Tongariro in winter is not a secret. The car park makes that clear before the river does. I fished the upper river anyway, in the rain. At least that thinned the punters down and I had it somewhat to myself for two hours.
The river was low and clear, sitting around twenty-one cumecs against a yearly average closer to twenty-eight. Rain overhead and gin clear, which is a combination that fits an El Niño year and not the one you'd order for winter fish. Prevailing westerly winds, drier and cool. I fished Tongariro Bomb style, which if you haven't met it is a long leader and nymphs heavy enough to worry the rod tip, or your head if they hit you. It always surprises me that this is likely the main way that fish are caught on the river. Some people make it look easy, but the easy bit is getting yourself in a tangle and then having to re-tie the whole set up.
Spey casts are very necessary. You're not always casting for distance. You're casting to position the rig, then mending on the water to keep it drift free. Trees and bush and high banks are never far away up there, so the D loop has to live happily in your skill set. I noted some improvement in my own casting, not a single re-tie of the rig today. Line in the water is always the secret to catching.
I quickly spotted a fish and thought the rain would give me cover. One cast and the fish left at a great rate of knots.
I kept fishing in some tight forest conditions. A fish on and then landed. One fish. Rain, and a queue. Time to move. Ronan gave me some thoughts on general lake fishing from the South Island and I wanted to try them out.
So I drove around to the lake and pointed the truck at one of the smaller stream mouths. The track in is soft and the 4WD earned its badge, which I enjoy more than I should probably admit. Made the river mouth. The lake is down and dropping. I fished a woolly bugger pattern into the wind and waves. One bite. The waves and wind were an issue, not an unmanageable one, but enough to stop me testing the buzzer style fishing I thought might work. Sometimes the lake gives you a fish for turning up. This time it gave me the drive in.
The next move was the one that worked. Another river inside an hour's drive, which I won't name for exactly the reason I went there. It did the job.
Low and clear again, same as the Tongariro, but this time it fished. Caddis patterns were the order of the day. After that it was the old problem of finding where the trout were sitting, which is never easy and is most of the game. Low clear water at least lets you think about it properly. You read the lie, you fish it, and every so often the river sides with you. Quite a few bites. Two fish hooked and landed.
Never easy. But still a productive day. The day made up for the zips of the weeks prior. Those zips came from exploring, and I don't count them as wasted. Blank days on new water are part of the game. You go home empty-handed but you go home knowing the water better, and that knowing is perhaps what told me when to move this time. Experience or gut, whatever it was, it worked.