BREAKFAST POOL
Breakfast Pool - 2006 Update:
This pool has not changed sufficiently to comment on much since 2005. It is a popular pool for ease of access and easy casting throughout the pool.
A major improvement for anglers wasting good fishing time in their offices wishing they were here (so do we!) is the installation of the Tongariro River web cam at River Birches Lodge. This usually points above the Breakfast Pool up towards Major Jones Pool providing vital information so you can see how many are fishing without you. It is updated every 30 minutes, with a weather station providing wind speed and direction, barometer reading and outside temperature. Go to: tongarirorivermotel.co.nz - home page.
Perhaps some history may be of interest. It was previously known as the Nurses Pool as it was in close proximity to the house of the District Nurse in Kokopu Street, when this little colonial fishing village was known as Taupahi. It is now called the Breakfast Pool because it was so close to nearby housing and TALTAC (Tongariro and Lake Taupo Anglers Club) where anglers could catch a trout before breakfast.
(Photo from LHS looking up river towards swing bridge. August 2006)
(Plaque on river walk way reads
This Weeping Cherry Tree was planted by a Resident to cry for the river that would never be the same again when the Tongariro Hydro Scheme was implemented in 1965 - ADVOCATES FOR THE TOANGARIRO RIVER 2006)
After reading taupo.comıs report on 22 May with Leeıs photo of a seriously big mean trophy sized brown Jack weighing in at 4.7kg we thought we had better publish the truth - on the Breakfast Pool.
Stay away from this pool during summer months unless you want a junior audience and enjoy sharing it with local children, swimming lessons, dogıs retrieve the stick games, skipping stones, canoeing practice, etc. During weekends and summer holidays it is used as the local beach for family picnics. Now it is fished only from the LHS with the extended beach having easy access off Taupahi Reserve walkway. Prior to the 2004 flood it was nymphed from RHS rocks and the side track remains, but the main flow has now moved further down the pool.
2005 Report:
Family supporters and wannabe anglers can safely watch and admire your casting skills from the footbridge 100 metres up river.
The main flow is strong and deep down the RHS before spreading out left at the top of the Major Jones. Since the big 2004 flood the Breakfast Pool is more suitable for wet liners - casting across to get strikes on the swing style. The standard rig is a fast sinking wet line and the standard menu is a small olive woolly bugger but there are no rules.
Recently TRM accommodated a regular overseas angler (I hope you read this in Austria Herbert!) and we reiterate his R&R programme. After a pleasant lie-in to recover from jet lag (?) he enjoyed a leisurely cafe breakfast each day and then waited for the second shift - starting 10 am, after the dawn (sparrow fart) rush had gone. Then he always had the pool to himself. He reckoned intense early bird pressure on Major Jones would push fish through to the Breakfast Pool.
So he regularly trawled through the pool late morning (corporate office hours) Note this was in March when the river was low and there were less fresh fish about.
(Herbert Unterweger from Austria with five pounder - August 2006)
Over a week or so Herbert returned with a good fish almost every day - sometimes two. He was too consistent to be just lucky. So was he too clever or is the pool better than we thought? Prior to Herbert we had another regular inmate who only ever fishes the Breakfast Pool. Guess what - every day he sneaked back with a good result in his kit.
Despite LHıs photo evidence, this pool was regarded as a bit boring and as a producer is supposed to have faded. Advantages were claimed to be more to do with convenient access - than performance. It was more often fished only because adjoining pools - Major Jones below and Hydro above, were already full. If you imagine this is just a pathetic attempt at a turnoff then you are too perceptive. Recent evidence indicates it is much more productive than most will admit. So despite dubious critical aspersions Tongariro River Motelıs inmates indicated the Breakfast Pool can be a good producer (with an all day breakfast menu?). In our reporters field survey the 10 pound maxima was snapped off in the middle of the pool after 5 minutes. It was obviously the big brother to LHıs 4.7 kg brown minnow
NOTE: Pool Reports for the Tongariro River are prepared from guest/anglers experiences. As such, Tongariro River Motel do not accept any responsibility for the opinions of other anglers who are traditionally acknowledged liars about their best fishing pools.