Fighting Fat Big Whanganui Rainbows

Extreme Heat & Fast Fishing

A recent trip shows that there will be some big Whanganui Rainbows to be caught throughout the remainder of the summer. As the day heated up to what would have been about 30 degrees in the valley the fish really came on the bite, and at one stage about every third cast was getting nailed. Most fish were between 3-4lb but there was a few that were between 4-6lb, which is considerably better than I have seen for the past couple of years at a similar time of the year. With an obvious abundance of food available they can only get fatter over the next few months.

Although the type of fly didn’t seem to make a big difference it anything shiny with green worked the best, getting the fastest and most violent takes. As there was plenty of Green Beetles flying around it would appear that was the delicacy of choice for the day.Slightly larger sizes #12 and even #10’s meant a lot less bent hooks and lost fish!

Although the fishing was running hot at times a thoughtful and careful approach was still necessary. The fish were concentrated in the faster water and often in places where they were unlikely to have been harassed by other anglers.

If you haven’t fished the Whanganui River before and are looking for a fly fishing guide to get onto some of these big Whanganui Rainbows, the next few months will present a good opportunity to get into these large hard fighting fish.