Tongarario in September

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raven6
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:13 am

Tongarario in September

Post by raven6 » Thu Jul 10, 2014 5:00 pm

Hi guys,
Hoping you can help me. I'm planning to head to the Tongarario in early September to hopefully catch a run of fish (I believe this is the best month now?) and while I normally swing wets I am thinking of giving nymping ago. I know the standard rig consists of a bomb and glowbug at first light but what about once the sun rises and the fish become more wary. Is it better to use a bomb and a natural like a pheasant tail or disperse with the bomb altogether and just run two naturals underneath some split shot?.....I will probably fish all day every day for a week and I really want to be consistently in with a shot

What are you thoughts on bead headed naturals as well, as these okay or should I use disperse with the bead and just rely on the weight of the bomb or split shot to achieve depth?

regards

Tristan



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Whio
Posts: 173
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 10:00 pm
Location: Wanganui NZ

Re: Tongarario in September

Post by Whio » Thu Jul 10, 2014 8:53 pm

I normally fish a weighted goldbead H&C with either a #14 PT, halfback or caddis tied off the bend.
You can use just split shot with naturals if you wish.
Whatever rig you choose makes little difference IMHO; the secret is to get the flies as close to the bottom as you can and have good line control to get a natural looking drift.


Some of my life I spend fly fishing, the rest I just waste!

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flyfish
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Location: Wellington
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Re: Tongarario in September

Post by flyfish » Mon Jul 14, 2014 3:16 pm

A good rule of thumb is to use small glo bugs (#14 or #16 are great) early on when there is minimal light, once the sun hits the water and assuming the water is relatively clear, I like to use a natural behind a basic (black bead) copper bomb, usually always a Pheasant tail variant or a White Caddis - much higher chance of picking up a large brown with naturals as well, but they will also take glo bugs on occasion. I have never used split-shot on the river preferring to weight my bomb and keep the rig simple with a very lightly weighted trailing fly (use a uni-knot but don't pull the loop up - you want the fly to kick /dance around in the loop and look natural).

There are no hard and fast rules however, you can fish glo bugs all day, and I often do, even in clear conditions, but keep them small IMO. Change and experiment with fly combinations and try different pools if the action slows. There is always fish there and they have definate triggers than spur them on, I have always found late morning a great time on the Tongariro and also late afternoon, both times when angler numbers are at their least.

In years gone by a 14-16ft leader was the norm, these days, much of the pools are shingle filled and a 12ft leader will suffice, (even less in many of the bouldery runs), upshot is far nicer rigs to cast these days, also hence many people throttling back to 6wt outfits instead of the 8 and 9wts of yesteryear. 6lb maxima Ultragreen is a fantastic leader material for this river, actually breaking out around 7.5lb in lab tests, it's also cheap and very durable / abrasion resistant. I don't see a need for fluorocarbon on the Tongariro but some anglers swear by it.

Sept / Oct / Nov are great times to fish the river, you will have a ball!



raven6
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:13 am

Re: Tongarario in September

Post by raven6 » Tue Jul 15, 2014 5:11 pm

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated and has helped solve some of my headaches!

I am stocking up on flies as we speak, I am just curious about what indicator to use. I understand that foam is illegal on the river and I don't really like the look of those clip on budgie size indicators a few shops sell, I have been toying with buying the NZ DIY Strike Indicator tool, does anyone have any experience with using this?.....it seems like a good invention, fairly nifty and quick to put an indicator on your line too



Chris Dore
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Location: Queenstown, NZ
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Re: Tongarario in September

Post by Chris Dore » Tue Jul 15, 2014 5:19 pm

The strike indicator tool is awesome. I fish Simons Uglies a lot throughout the season and these work fine with the double tungsten (ps, these are effectively slim 'bombs' that catch fish).

If a bulkier indicator is required you can buy thicker tubing for the indicator tool.


Chris Dore
Queenstown
www.chrisdore.com

raven6
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:13 am

Re: Tongarario in September

Post by raven6 » Wed Jul 16, 2014 1:39 pm

Thanks for the reply Chris, yeah I stocked up on some of simons uglies and also the iron maiden, I'm planning to fish these with a small glow bug at first light and then replace the glow bug with a hare and copper or PT once it gets past about 8:30



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