@ Bryndlefly: thanks for your response - is access pretty reasonable? I have heard you need to float the upper river because access is tough. In Argentina I have seen Rainbows herd minnows into shallows and then slap them onto the sand / rocks at waters edge and then hang out in two or three inches of water snatching the minnows. This kind of flapping on small wet rocks does not hurt big Rainbows.
@EmmBeeJee the upper river is not that hard to access, you can drive to a couple of places on the upper river, then take walking tracks to reach most of the pools, A few people raft-fish, but you don't need to. I've seen schools of mackerel catching small baitfish like that in a harbour here, cheers
@EmmBeeJee hi, the first fish was in the middle river, the others in the upper river, i think that day we were trying a black caddis dryfly that the local shop had suggested, cheers
@Trouttaranaki Yes I know. that's why we made a point of releasing them while still in the water and with minimal handling. the last fish in the vid did unfortunately flap in the shallows for a couple of seconds but didn't appear injured, and still had plenty of fight when released. cheers.
@ Bryndlefly: thanks for your response - is access pretty reasonable? I have heard you need to float the upper river because access is tough. In Argentina I have seen Rainbows herd minnows into shallows and then slap them onto the sand / rocks at waters edge and then hang out in two or three inches of water snatching the minnows. This kind of flapping on small wet rocks does not hurt big Rainbows.
EmmBeeJee 4 months ago
@EmmBeeJee the upper river is not that hard to access, you can drive to a couple of places on the upper river, then take walking tracks to reach most of the pools, A few people raft-fish, but you don't need to. I've seen schools of mackerel catching small baitfish like that in a harbour here, cheers
bryndlefly1 4 months ago
Quality. Upper, middle or lower Tongariro? What dries were you using?
EmmBeeJee 4 months ago
@EmmBeeJee hi, the first fish was in the middle river, the others in the upper river, i think that day we were trying a black caddis dryfly that the local shop had suggested, cheers
bryndlefly1 4 months ago
Not much point in release when they have been flapping around on the rocks dude.
Trouttaranaki 7 months ago
@Trouttaranaki Yes I know. that's why we made a point of releasing them while still in the water and with minimal handling. the last fish in the vid did unfortunately flap in the shallows for a couple of seconds but didn't appear injured, and still had plenty of fight when released. cheers.
bryndlefly1 7 months ago