Location of winter trout on the Tongariro and other Taupo streams
During the winter spawning runs, you can typically drop in on groups of up to around twenty or more fish travelling together. On many occasions, I have seen about one to two dozen fish an hour pass through on the small rivers - that’s around a hundred fish in a five hour session that you can cast to. With an average size of two to four pounds, that’s more than enough to keep any angler occupied and content on a bleak winter’s day.
It pays to study the fish’s behaviour as they head through the river system. There are some areas where they move through quickly but others where they have a strong tendency to rest. At times, it’s possible to see dozens of fish congregating like a black carpet in quieter water as they wait to move up again. However, the fishing is not always as easy as you might imagine.
Many holding spots are a few feet deep but observing fish in shallower water is an eye-opener. Watch intently for dark shapes ghosting up the river bed and target them. In winter, trout don’t move to a fly like they do in summer and I suspect they simply open their mouth as a fly drifts past, so accuracy and frequency of drifts are essential in this situation. As the fish are not necessarily feeding, it may take a few dozen drifts through a group of fish before one eventually succumbs and takes the fly.
Takes can be subtle or even barely noticeable, often feeling like a slight tension on the line with no visible bite detection even though the coloured sighter system is super sensitive. A sensitive rod tip will help to detect many of the takes as the combination of both sight and feel work in tandem with this technique. Our rods are designed with these subtle takes in mind.
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