Fishing
The Tongariro River is New Zealand's most fished river,[4] and is a drawcard for anglers the world over, who come to the Tongariro to fish for spawning rainbow trout and brown trout, which run up the river from the lake to spawn over the colder winter months. Approximately 75% of the trout in the Tongariro are rainbow trout, and 25% are brown trout.
Unusually for a New Zealand river, the pools on the Tongariro River have officially accepted names. Pools on the Tongariro River are usually named after historical people who have fished the river (Major Jones Pool, Duchess Pool), or their geographic location (Birch Pool, Fence Pool, Redhut Pool). Floods have significantly altered the size and shape of many of these pools (such as in 2004 when the Breakaway Pool was completely lost due a change in the rivers direction), while others such as the Major Jones Pool have remained relatively unchanged in the last 50 years. A list of the pools and their locations can be found at List of pools of the Tongariro River.
Fishing techniques that prove to be popular include nymphing, wet lining and dry fly techniques. A fly fishing casting technique similar to a single handed spey cast called the Tongariro roll cast[5] was developed on this river. The name[6] was coined by Herb Spannagl who noticed its use on the Tongariro and felt it was sufficiently different from other casting techniques. The Tongariro roll cast is used to cast a fly line in situations where there are obstacles behind the caster that obstruct the angler from using traditional fly casting techniques.
The Tongariro River has 3 main sections of whitewater; named 'Access 14', 'Access 13' and 'Access 10'.[7] These sections are the most popular on the Tongariro and provide grade 4, 3+ and 3 whitewater respectively. Lesser run sections of grade 2 exist, the first of which runs down to the put-in of Access 14 and the lower section runs from Blue Pool to Turangi.[8] Sections of nearly unpaddleable whitewater fill the two main gorges, Tree Trunk Gorge and Waikato Gorge.