Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » 2020-21 Trout Season Kicks Off

2020-21 Trout Season Kicks Off

By Adrian (meppstas) Webb

As with the previous season I had a late start to this trout season, which was mainly due to the body not being quite right for river/stream fishing. Toward the end of last season I was struggling more than ever with hip and lower back problems and that was the reason for only having 63 river trips over the nine month season. My average, since moving to Tasmania in March 2000, is 85 trips per season.

During the off season I had x-rays and scans that show that I require hip replacements and lower back discs (3 of them) removed, hence the late start to this season. Anyway, a few days ago I hit a small stream one day and a large river the next day for a trial run, to see how the body would stand up to a sixty minute spin session in them. I pulled up reasonably well and it was good to get some practice in to hone up the casting skills. It was nice to be back in the water, even though the water temperature was around the three to four degree mark.

It was now time to do some serious fishing. For my first spin session I headed over to Western Creek, in very cool conditions. This little creek does give up a few trout early season as well. It's still winter too, so it was going to be cold at the creek and with more rain forecast it probably wouldn't be a long session either. The reason that I headed to Western Creek was because it had risen several inches after rain the day before, plus it's a very nice creek to fish early in the season and it's easy on the body.

I wasn't fussed about having an early start either, due to the weather conditions and it was 9:25am when I hit the water. Boy was it cold on the legs and feet! Even with my thermal gear on it didn't take long before my legs and feet were freezing. With the water being a little clouded (or milky as I often call it) the Mepps lure of choice for starters was a #0 (2.5g) Aglia Fluo Micropigments Rainbow spinner, a colour that works well on the trout in cold water. If that doesn't attract their attention then I go to an Aglia Fluo Tiger, another very good cold water lure. Both the Rainbow and Tiger models have done well on the trout here before.

I would have liked the creek to have been a few inches higher than it was, however it was still at a reasonably good wading height. The first long stretch of the creek that I started to fish was around eight metres wide and varied in depth from around 40cm up to 90cm. I kept to the left hand side of it because it was the shallowest side and the easiest to wade, plus there wasn't a lot of dense foliage along it either. When fishing water that varies in depth, it requires one to raise the rod tip when fishing shallow runs so the lure isn't bottom bouncing, then keeping the rod lower to the water when fishing the deeper sections.

It doesn't take all that long to learn what to do, but remember it also varies with different weight lures too. If you're a beginner to spin fishing with lures it pays to have a few practice runs, using a variety of weighted lures, before some serious fishing. The third long cast, directly ahead of me, was when the first trout of the 2020/21 season took the Aglia Rainbow spinner. Once hooked this medium size brown made quite a few leaps from the creek and all I could think was 'please stay on'. It did and I had the first trout of the season in hand. This fish was only lightly hooked too. Lady luck was on my side and catching the first trout of the season was a great feeling and a big relief too.

I can't tell you how many times I have hooked and lost the first trout of the season over my many years fishing the rivers... it's been quite a few times. I'm always full of nervous energy on the first trip each and every season. You'd think that after all of my years of chasing trout I'd be used to it, well I'm not. I continued on, slowly fishing my way upstream, when a trout had a crack at the anti-kink and not the spinner. Not long after that another brown had a go at the Aglia spinner and missed being hooked. I mumbled a few choice words when that happened, while at the same time thinking that I was so glad that the first trout stayed on.

That was the last of the trout encountered until I reached a section of the creek where another small creek entered it. That small creek was running dirty. It was here that I hooked my second trout of the morning, after a cast to a shallow section of Western Creek, to the right of where the small creek entered. On the retrieve I noticed a bow wave appear out of nowhere and as it drew closer I gave the rod a light twitch to make the spinner blade flutter. That did the trick and the trout took the rainbow spinner with aggression. This fish was well hooked and made several runs and leaps from the water before it tired.

I had it in the net at 9:59am. How did I know the exact time I had it in the net you may ask? Easy, the time is displayed in my camera. It wasn't a big fish, just a nice well-conditioned 380 gram brown. The light fog had lifted and the air temperature had risen by a couple of degrees, which was good as there was still plenty of good stretches of water ahead of me to be fished. The trout in this creek are mostly light coloured trout, with only the odd one a dark brown in colour.

While I continued fishing my way upstream, I could feel the air becoming cooler. The clouds were looking a lot darker and the rain that was forecast was on its way. It was really getting cold again and to make matters worse there wasn't a sign of a trout since I had caught the second one, forty five minutes earlier. There was still some nice water ahead of me to be fished, but before I could fish it the rain arrived. I put up with the rain for several minutes, until it became heavier. I was getting wetter and feeling very cold, so it was time to get out and head back to the car.

Once the rain becomes heavy on the shallow water, whether it be a creek, small stream or a river, the trout shut down anyway, so it wasn't worth fishing on. It was the right decision because once back at the car it pelted down and stayed like that for the rest of the day. The end result today wasn't to my liking, with just the two trout being caught. The good thing was that I had a score on the board. Funny thing is that on my first trip last season I also only managed to catch two trout and that was on the 12th of August.

Adrian (meppstas)

Mepps Aglia Fluo Micropigments Inline Spinner