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A Few Trout Plus a Swim
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
Today's trip was to the upper Mersey River and this time I had a friend from South Australia with me. Lee and his wife had arrived a few days ago to do a bit of travelling around Tasmania for around six weeks. Anyway, today Lee was ready and eager to have a spin session using the Mepps inline spinners and hopefully catch a few trout.
The weather forecast wasn't in our favour today either, with winds gusting at 15-20 kph from the south and northeast. Any wind from an easterly direction is never a good one for fishing. Even though I have caught fish when the wind has been from the east, they're often few and far between, and never overly aggressive takes on the lures. I said to Lee that we could be in for a tough time chasing trout today and with the lower Mersey still on the high side and unsafe for wading, I decided on fishing the upper reaches. Plus, this long stretch of water can also be fished from the riverbank.
It was a late start as well because I had my weekly dose of injections in the lower back, so by the time we reached our entry point in the river it was 11:55am. The river was still flowing a little on the high side, however it was still safe for wading, providing one took it slow and easy. The side we were fishing from was mainly shallow water and was quite safe, with the only problem being the rocky river bottom. The rocks were slippery, and they also rolled underfoot. Lee started his spin session off with a Mepps black blade #1 Aglia Mouche Noire, while I started off with a Mepps #1 Aglia Fluo Micropigments rainbow inline spinner.
It wasn't until I was fishing a wide, medium-flowing stretch of water, fifty minutes into the session, that I picked up the first trout of the day. This was a nice well-conditioned brown. While I was only fishing a few metres from the riverbank, in knee deep water, I cast the Aglia lure into a flat water directly ahead of me and that's when the trout came out of nowhere and took it. I was probably a bit lucky really as I only cast the lure directly upstream to get rid of a small loop in the line, that was caused by a gust of wind. It's nice to have a bit of luck go my way sometimes when trout fishing rivers and today was that day.
I took a couple of photos of the trout, then weighed it while it was still in the net. The total weight was 745 grams, minus the 310g net weight, leaving the trout a nice 435g fish. A little further up I hooked and lost another trout, but thankfully it was only a small fish. Previously I told Lee that I would head a hundred metres ahead of him and that he should concentrate on a nice long flat water stretch that was on the opposite side of the river, next to the riverbank. It's a run that has given up trout for me on several trips here.
Not long after I lost that little trout I heard Lee yell out, “I've got one”, which was good to hear as I really wanted him to get onto a few today. He had also made a change of lure and it was off with the Black Aglia Mouche Noire and on with a great all round Mepps inline spinner, the Aglia Furia. I quickly made my way back to where Lee was and got a photo of the medium-size brown that he had caught, then I headed back to where I had just lost a trout. I had no sooner hopped back into the river when Lee yelled out, “got another one”, and that time it was a small rainbow trout.
A little further up the river Lee picked up another small/medium size brown trout. I was really stoked that he had caught a few trout from that area and even better was the fact they were all caught on the Mepps inline spinners. I went on to hook and lose the next three trout in a row, before we reached a wide and deep flowing stretch of river that was way too deep for us to wade. Plus, the riverbank on our side of the river was very steep, so we had no choice but to bypass that stretch of river.
Once past it, we then had to climb down a steep incline to get back into another nice stretch of river, that could be fished from the same side we were on. Once in the river I made a cast up and across the river. I could not believe my luck as I started to retrieve the spinner and had an instant hook up. It wasn't a large trout by any means, but it did give me a run for my money as it made several leaps as it tried to toss the spinner. It didn't take long before I had it in the net.
Once in the net, it gave a few head shakes and out popped the lure. Again, luck was on my side, and I had trout number two on my scorecard. It had taken way too long to catch my second trout. In fact, the last trout that I caught was one hour and fifteen minutes ago, so it was a relief to finally get this one in the net. After its release it was pretty quiet, with no signs of a trout. Lee hadn't had any luck either and it wasn't until I made the change to a March Brown coloured Mepps Bug spinner that I had a solid hit from a trout, that missed hooking up.
The wind had picked up and was blowing straight down the river. It was just about time to call it a day and that's when it happened. Just as I turned around to tell Lee that it was time to get out and head back to the car, the slippery, rocky river bottom caught him out good and proper. As he turned around in the knee-deep water, a rock rolled under foot and he lost his balance, toppling backward into the river. As I am writing this, I can still picture what I saw, and it cracks me up even now.
Thankfully he was only in knee deep water. Each time he tried to get back up, the hard soled wading boots failed to get a grip on the rocky river bottom, so he just kept flopping back into the river. It was like I was watching a beached dolphin that was trying to make its way back into deeper water. Eventually, I told Lee to roll onto his knees, which he did, and from there he managed to stand back up. As wet as he was, with his waders full of water, Lee himself couldn't stop laughing either as he could see the funny side of it too.
Oddly enough, before we left Sheffield, I did say that the waders he had were not suited to most of rivers that I fish here in Tasmania, due to the hard rubber soled boots that were on the neoprene waders. Anyway, it was still a good spin session, and we had a lot of fun. It was a pleasure to meet up with Lee and have a spin session in a river with him. Even better, he did manage to out fish me with three trout to my two. Lee and his wife will be travelling around Tasmania for several weeks and I'm sure we will have another get together in a river before they head back to my good old home state of South Australia, where I ventured from back in March 2000.
Adrian (meppstas)
Equipment Used:
TT Red Belly Spin Rods – RBS702L 7’ ULS 1-3kg
Okuma ITX Carbon Spin Reel - ITX-1000 spinning reel
Platypus Pulse Mono Fishing Line – 4lb
Platypus Super 100 Fishing Line – 4lb
Platypus Pre-Test Mono Fishing Line – 4lb
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader – 4lb
Mepps Inline Spinners -
Mepps Aglia Fluo Micropigments
Mepps Aglia Mouche Noire
Mepps Furia