Tongariro River

The river

The Tongariro leaves Lake Taupō at the town of Turangi and flows into the lake's southern bay, and its fame rests on the winter run: from June onwards rainbow trout leave the lake to spawn in the river and its tributaries, and they enter in numbers that are hard to believe until you see them. The river runs through a volcanic valley with pumice and lava in the bed, so the water is clear with a slight green tint and wading is on rounded stones.

On this river

The winter nymph rig

From June the standard Tongariro rig is a small indicator, 3 to 4 metres of leader, a #14 glow bug as the point fly and a #14 Pheasant Tail 40 cm above it. Fish it upstream on a dead drift through the riffles, adjust the depth by moving the indicator rather than adding weight, and expect the take to happen just as the rig straightens at the end of the drift.

Fishing the spawning redds responsibly

The winter fish are on the redds and they are not feeding — they are reacting. That makes them easy to catch and easy to damage, so the rules matter: do not wade through visible redds, do not lift a fish out of the water, and take the photo in the net. A spawning rainbow returned properly will spawn within hours; one that has been handled dry will not.

Summer fishing the volcanic water

From November the run is over and the fishing changes to resident browns and rainbow in the riffles. The volcanic bed means the water is slightly basic and very clear, so fish spook easily; approach from downstream, use a long leader and a small fly, and fish the broken water at the head of the pools rather than the flat glides.