04-09 December 2025

We are staying at the Tongariro Lodge located at the north side of Lake Taupo. We stayed here in 2023 having had to abandon plans to fish in Napier area due to the cyclone that had devastated the area.

The lodge is located near to Turangi which claims to be the capital of trout fishing in New Zealand. There is a museum nearby devoted to the history of trout introduced to New Zealand—rainbow from California, browns from Scotland. You can fish the Tangariro River nearby and access multiple rivers within a 30 minute to one hour drive, take a 20 minute helicopter ride to fish the back country, and take a raft all day to fish the Turango River. In fact, the guides are apologetic if they take an hour to reach a fishing spot. Sometimes a necessity that you will read about a little later in this post. Lots to do.

Fishing with Brent

04-05 December 2025

Robert fished with Brent in 2023. He has fished the Tongariro River for 50 years. At 67 years of age, he is easy to get along with and provides guidance when needed. He assisted Robert’s navigation of the rocky river beds. Very calm. Very supportive.

First Day
After the deluge of rain the night before, we were limited in our choices of where to fish. Brent decided on the Tongariro RIver. We fished three to four different locations along the rIver. The day was cool and extremely windy making the casts extremely difficult. Robert hooked three fish and managed to land one—a three pound rainbow. Walked a total off 2.5 miles.

Second Day
Fished a few more locations on the Tongariro River and managed to make it a three fish day. The method of fishing this river is to stay in one location for a period of time making repeated multiple casts and changing the flies for weight and type. On the Tongariro, it is not unusual to fish the same section for over one hour, often resulting in a fish. The fish, all rainbows, ranged from two to three pounds. Walked 1.25 miles.

Fishing with Bruiser

06-09 December 2025

This is the first time Robert has fished with Bruiser (nickname). He is 47 years of age and lives nearby the lodge. He has guided since his early 20s and as with all good guides, he began his fishing journey growing up on a farm nearby, about two hours from the lodge. As a child, he would fish Lake Taupo and its environs as his cousin has a batch on the lake. He was a lot of fun to fish with. Good stories. Great guidance.

First Day
We concentrated on two sections of the Tongariro River. Mostly indicator fishing with some dry dropper at the end of the day. Netted three rainbows ranging from 2.5 to 3.5 pounds. The thrill of the day was when Robert hooked a monster fish (according to the guide). In stead of heading out to the open water, the trout decided to quickly swim towards Robert. No matter how much line he stripped in, the line remained slack and the fish got away. Oh well.

Second Day
It was a good day. Bruiser took Robert to a farm about one hour south of the lodge. He was concerned that Robert would not like to have to take an hour to get to the river, but Robert reminded him that this was the normal length of time he has experienced with most guides.

The farm is 400 hectares (1,000 acres) with sheep and cattle. Bruiser knows the owner having gone to school together years ago. The farm’s landscape reminded Robert of the hills of Tuscany and Le Marche—rolling green hills dotted with a variety of trees, highlighted by the meandering river. The guide went through a series of gates resulting in fleeing sheep and hesitant cattle.

The narrow meandering river slightly tinted from the torrential downpours about five days ago holds brownies. While we did some blind indicator fishing, we caught four browns ranging from three to four plus pounds by sighting them. Most were holding in position while others were on a beat searching for their meals. One highlight was a brown trout moving about 18 meters chasing and eventually turning away from the nymph. Another was hooking a trout on a dry fly holding on the far bank 60 feet away. Required the fly to gently land about two feet from the trout to catch the current correctly. Walked about two miles.

Oh, and did we mention the importance having panty hose when you fish? When wrapped over your hand, you are able to securely grab the trout from its tail for those photo shoots. Robert will buy some when he returns to the States.

Third Day
We fished three locations today within 30 minutes of the lodge. The first two were at streams/rivers that empty into Lake Taupo. The colder water hitting the lake water flows out with a current visible at a drop off into the deeper lake water. Using a smelt pattern or a wooly bugger, the technique is to cast out about 60 feet at one corner of the drop off and then to let the fly swing across the riffles until it is straight to the rod at which point you then strip in the fly. A variation on this technique is to strip in a bit and then to swing your rod left to right—right to left—causing the fly to sweep across the outflow thus covering more area in one cast.

Landed four nice trout from two and half to four pounds. Plus a few bumps and lost hook ups. Most were right up against the drop off. We spent most of the day fishing this technique and then moved onto a river nearby where we fished for about one hour, unsuccessfully targeting two trout. In both places, we hooked numerous trout four to six inches. Walked one mile.

Fourth Day
Since we had already hooked fish in the prior three days, Bruiser put out the option to roll the dice and fish a stream on a farm about one hour from the lodge. No guarantee of landing a fish. But the fish were big in the small waterway that measured about 12 feet in width.

Robert said “Sure. Why not?” Good suggestion. Good call.

After going through a paddock filled with sheep ready for shearing, we proceeded down the farm track to one section of the creek. Later in the day, upon leaving, Bruiser had Robert get out of the truck to spot the sheep, moving them to one side of the paddock so that they would not go out the open gate. Fun times!

About 40 minutes after arriving, Bruiser spotted a trout less than a meter from the bank next to us. Required a toss of the hare and copper fly with an indicator. After several attempts, the fly landed in the right spot with the leader handing over a bit of grass. Neither Robert or Bruiser could see the indicator, but Bruiser did see the bit of grass bend a few times triggering Robert to set the hook. Landed a 7.5 brown trout (weighed in the net)! All time record for Robert. Both he and the guide were happy folks. Took the pressure off the rest of the day!.

Bruiser used a boat net that he and Guido, the Lodge’s manager, retrieved from another guide. Bruiser needed this for the added reach of the net in the stream with deep banks and due to the size of the fish he anticipated we would catch. Glad he had it in hand.

We proceeded up the creek, spotted a few more. Hooked one that broke off after Robert didn’t let the trout play out enough. Saw some smaller fish and did not spot fish in the holding areas that Bruiser knew about from past visits. (These fish are resident fish and tend to stay in defined pools along the stream.) As we were getting towards the end of our day, Bruiser spotted another trout and after many attempts with a variety of flies, he turned to a fly he had not used on this stream—a “101”—a type of a stone fly but with a bit more flare due to its rubber legs. That got the fish’s attention resulting in a netting a 6.5 pound trout. Great way to end the day and this year’s fishing journey in New Zealand.

Thoughts for next time at the Tongariro Lodge:
– Take Bonnie one day fishing from a boat in a nearby lake (not Lake Taupo)
– A half day fishing at a stream mouth at Lake Taupo. Bonnie would join us in the afternoon after Robert fished a nearby river

We asked Bruiser for his recommendation of where else to fish on the North Island. He suggested Gibsone, north of Napier.

That’s it for Robert’s fishing in New Zealand—for this year!