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Just received a copy of Mike Ladle & Steve Pitts new book “Angling on the Edge”. It is a stunning book which covers the exploits of anglers from all around the world. Perfect for the coffee table or when you need some inspiration to pack up your tackle and head overseas for a change of scene. Divided into sections covering Indian Ocean, Central America, Transatlantic Relatives (USA), … Continue reading BOOK – ANGLING ON THE EDGE
The Tongariro River rises in the central volcanic plateau of the North Island of New Zealand and wends it way in a roughly northerly direction through the township of Turangi to eventually enter Lake Taupo near Tokaanu. It is easily the largest and most important spawning river in the Lake Taupo fishing region. Ever since Zane Grey fished the river and immortalised it in his book “Tales of the Angler’s … Continue reading TONGARIRO MEMORIES
Text: Mike Ladle Featured Image: Scott Gray Many years ago fisheries biologist, Mike Ladle, and four of his UK angling friends set out to determine the relative success of various methods of fishing in salt water and whether fishing with lures was as successful as fishing with bait. All of the anglers were skilled bait and lure fishermen. They designed an experiment to ensure that … Continue reading ARE LURES MORE EFFECTIVE THAN BAIT?
It had taken months to finally arrive but Thursday May 14th was the day Hamish and I had been waiting for since we opened our 2014 Christmas presents. There, in amongst the parcels with the names of others, was a small envelope which contained a voucher telling us that we would be sharing a guided fishing trip with Kiyoshi Nakagawa (Yoshi) in the rivers around … Continue reading WAITETI STREAM – ROTORUA’S TROUT FISHING GEM
As you probably know I recently reviewed a Kilwell Xantu 9’6” #8 fly rod kindly loaned to me by Kilwell Sports. If you want to read the review then click on: – https://activeanglingnz.com/…/kilwell-xantu-96-8-weight-rod…/ Jeremy Wells was only too keen to see other anglers try the rod so I leant it to my fishing pal, Mark Hoffman. Mark had a few days off early this week … Continue reading FLATS KINGFISH
Words Alan Bulmer , Photo’s & Video Mark Hoffman Mark Hoffman and I have been planning for weeks to fly fish a shallow flat we’d discovered on Google Earth close to central Auckland. Our plan was to hit the spot when the weather was settled and a high tide next coincided with dawn. All the stars aligned this Saturday. The weather was perfect. Fine and sunny with a westerly … Continue reading EARLY MORNING MAYHEM ON THE FLATS
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Waiheke Island is located in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf. A short ferry ride from downtown Auckland it is arguably the jewel in the crown when it comes to saltwater fly fishing around Auckland. If you want a better idea of how good it can be click on the following video from Paul Smith to see local fishing legends, Adam Clancey and Tom Lusk, getting up close and … Continue reading WAIHEKE ISLAND – SALT FLY NIRVANA?
This morning I spent a couple of hours chasing kingfish in the shallows in the Hauraki Gulf. Uncharacteristically they did not start scouring the flats until the sun was well up and the tide started to ebb. This was probably due to the king tide cycle that we are in the midst of. My colleague picked that this would happen as there was no panic … Continue reading KINGFISH IN CLOSE
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Back in the day most anglers timed their trips to the Tongariro river to coincide with the main rainbow trout spawning runs which occurred over the winter months. Between 1960 and 2000 these runs were mostly concentrated between May – August. However there has been a major change in the timing of the rainbow trout spawning runs since 2002 and the fabled winter runs have … Continue reading WHICH MONTHS ARE BEST TO FISH THE TONGARIRO?
I’m fairly sure that the year was 2000. It was the 25th anniversary of us gaining access to fish the Hautu and Rangipo prison farms near Turangi. Almost exactly two years after Mt Ruapehu erupted and belched ash and nutrients into Lake Taupo via the Tongariro River. Following the eruption two once in 100 year floods purged the river of silt and flushed the nutrients … Continue reading CARNAGE INSIDE THE HAUTU PRISON FARM
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