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Adrian's Trout Fishing Kit & More
I was asked some time ago if I could run through my trout kit from head to toe, including specific clothing, waders, boots, glasses, camera, drinks, snacks, rod, reel, tackle and whatever else I have for trout fishing the rivers here in Tasmania.
I was also asked about some memorable moments and a few other things that may be of interest. It's something that I've never thought about really and probably something that I've just taken for granted. So, let's start off with the waders and boots, then go from there.
The Wading Gear
Seeing as I only fish rivers, streams and creeks for trout, the first pair of waders were Horne waist waders with the Blundstone boots. They were a tough, long lasting set of waders, however they were heavy and the boots had no grip on the slippery, rocky, river bottoms. After six trout seasons using them it was time for a change. A friend told me to go for a pair of breathable waders and wading boots, so that's what I did.
My first pair was a cheap ($120 plus GST), unbranded set that I bought online. They came from China and that pair didn't get me through the first season as the neoprene foot leaked as did the welded seams. I needed a pair that would last a lot longer than that because I average 90 trips a year, during the nine months of each trout season. Each trip varies from 3 to 5 hours of wading a river.
After quite a lot of researching about some of the more expensive brands, I went for the Redington Compass & Bassdash breathable waders with the neoprene stocking feet. The reason that I went for those waders was because they are quality, lightweight waders that I knew would get me through many trout seasons. They did and ten years on I'm still using those waders. Actually I am now on my third pair. A friend of mine gave me a brand new pair of the cheap, unbranded waders, which I now use in the small streams and creeks. I do this to save the wear and tear on the more expensive waders used in larger creeks and rivers.
The wading boots that I went for are the Korkers with the interchangeable soles; sticky rubber, felt and studded felt. The soles that I use on the majority of my river trips are the studded felt soles as they have excellent grip in the larger rivers that are very rocky and slippery. The plain rubber and felt soles are ideal for small streams and creeks that have small gravelly bottoms, with the odd rocky sections in them.
So, that's my wading set up. When buying a pair of wading boots you must order them one size larger than your normal shoe size to allow for the thickness of the neoprene stocking foot. For example, if your shoe size is 10, then your wading boot size is 11. The main reason that I went for a quality wading boot, with an interchangeable sole, is because of the amount of kilometres that I walk to get to and from a river. This can be 2 to 6 kilometres a trip and that's not counting the distance spent in a river fishing for trout.
Clothing
I'm a believer in wearing clothing that blends in with the surroundings that one's fishing in. Most of the rivers, streams and creeks that I fish have fairly dense foliage on both sides of them, so the majority of my clothing is dark green and khaki coloured items. If I'm heading to the more open, larger rivers and the grass covered river banks have dried off, then I'll wear a beige coloured outfit. When chasing trout in clear waters on sunny days a dark colour will stand out in an open river and that will spook a trout in no time at all.
Where possible, stay as close to the side of the river that has dense foliage on it. I have seen a trout sitting in clear, open water and a small wagtail has flown over, with the small shadow of that bird being enough to spook the trout. Actually, I prefer fishing in dull, heavy overcast and humid weather conditions, with very light drizzle, with one able to wear the dark or lighter colours in these conditions.
Fishing Vests
I have a few of these in green/khaki, camouflage and light brown/beige. All have plenty of pockets, for the many small lure boxes that I carry. They are short vests as well as there's nothing worse than wearing a long vest and getting it wet when fishing in waist deep water. Not only that, the pockets that hold the lure boxes in a long vest also fill up with water... and this I found out from experience.
Fishing Rods
The rods that I use are the Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods ULS 1-3 kg, in the 6', 6'6'' and 7'0" lengths. These are beautiful, lightweight and well-balanced spin rods that are perfect for what I require when chasing trout in the rivers and streams. I can fish for 4 to 5 hours, covering anything from 1.5 to 3 kilometres, without getting tired in the shoulders. This is a real benefit when spin fishing the rivers. How many casts and retrieves I would make over that time and distance would be in the mid hundreds I would imagine.
Fishing Reels
All of the reels I use are Okuma spinning reels and the models are as follows: Inspira ISX-20B, Helios HSX-20, Epixor EXPT-20 and the Ceymar C-10 spinning reels. These spinning reels are all nice lightweight spinning reels that are well suited to pairing up with the Celilo Finesse ULS 1-3kg spin rods.
Fishing Lines
There's only one brand that I use and I have done so for many years. It's the Australian Owned Platypus line, which has come a long way since I first used it back in the 60's. The Super 100 Ultra High Tenacity 4lb/6lb monofilament is the main line that I use, in both the clear and brown colour. The other Platypus line that I use is the Pre-Test Premium Grade 4lb monofilament. The 6lb leader that I use is the Platypus Stealth FC 100% Fluorocarbon line.
Fishing Lures
It's Mepps, Mepps and more Mepps inline spinners that I have in my small lure boxes and they range from the smallest and lightest, starting with the #00 (0.9g) Steamepps (black, gold, silver blades), #00 (1.5g) Black Fury (black, gold, copper blades), Aglia (Plain, Mouche Noire, Aglia Mouche Rouge in black, gold, copper blades), Bug spinners (Stone Fly, March Brown, White Miller and Cherry) and Comet (silver, gold blades). These small, lightweight spinners are ideal for shallow small streams and rivers as well as some of the larger rivers that I fish.
Next are the size #0 (2.5g) and #1 (3.5g) inline spinners in the same models and blade colours as above, with a few different models included, such as the Aglia Fluo Tiger, Rainbo, Brown and Phospho colours, Aglia Furia and Aglia TW and TW Streamer. So as you can see I do carry a large variety of Mepps inline spinners, all of which I have caught trout on. I also carry a few small hard body lures that get used on the trout when they are not in the mood to take the Mepps inline spinners, which isn't all that often because 98% of my trout are caught on the Mepps spinners.
Other Items
There are other important items that I have with me when trout fishing the rivers. One of the main items is a landing net. The ones that I use are all wooden framed, with a soft plastic mesh that doesn't damage the fish. The good thing about using a wooden landing net is that it floats and I have mine attached to my vest with a two metre alligator strap. That way if I drop it while fast water fishing, it floats and I just pull it back in with the strap.
Other items that I carry in the vest include small plastic containers with snap swivels and anti-kinks, in case for some reason the main line breaks, then you'll need them for replacement of the lost anti-kink set up. A small sharpening stone is also carried to keep the lure hooks sharps at all times, along with a small pair of pointed nose pliers that are used to pull a treble hook from a finger or hand. Accidents do happen when handling a fish and it's quite easy to have the lure fly from the fish and lob in the finger or hand when it tosses the spinner/lure. You can also get a hook in the hand when trying to take hold of a fish that's playing up in the net. The pliers are ideal for when you need to remove the hook and are also used for setting the treble hooks off centre as I'm not a fan of straight trebles.
Digital scales are essential, if you wish to weigh your catch as I do. I weigh the fish in the net, then deduct the weight of the net from the total weight, giving me the fish weight. That way one's not handling, damaging or stressing the fish. If you are keeping the fish to eat then it doesn't matter so much.
A set of forceps is a must, for removing hooks from the mouth or throat of the fish. It's much easier and less damaging to the fish than when using bulky pliers. Another item that you should carry is a good fold up pocket knife, which is handy for gutting a fish if you intend on keeping it. A Boomerang Tool zinger that has a line cutter attached to it for cutting fishing line is also handy.
Another item that I carry with me is a small first aid kit. It's compact and only carries a dozen or so small to large band aids, hay fever tablets and a dozen Panamax- Panadol tablets in case of headache or some other pain that may occur. As I am often fishing solo I also carry a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) so that I can alert someone should I require assistance. A PLB is a compact, lightweight and affordable piece of equipment that should be used by more anglers fishing off the beaten track. A pair of polarised sunglasses is a must when fishing, they take the glare off the water and one can see the river bottom as well as the fish.
My snacks I carry in my waders pocket and this is usually three Cadbury chocolate Freddo Frogs or a couple of small Mars bars. I also drink a can of Pepsi Max once back at the car. In terms of a camera, I carry a Canon SX620HS compact camera, which is a small, reliable and quality camera that takes a great photo and video. It's a must have when fishing so that you can take a photo of what maybe your catch of a lifetime.
Most Memorable Moments
As for some of my most memorable moments, well this has really got me thinking as there's been quite a few over my 56 years of trout fishing. Hopefully I can remember most of them. There's two that always come to mind.
The first time I went trout fishing to the Finniss River at Yundi in my home state of South Australia, back in 1966. My rod was a 6' solid fibreglass one, with a spinning reel that I can't remember the brand. The lure was a brand new Mepps #1 silver Black Fury that I bought from Adelaide Fishing Tackle. Silver was the only colour available back then. On that first trip trout fishing in the Finniss River I caught my first trout on the Mepps Black Fury. It was a trout that weighed 3lb and from that day on I was hooked on trout fishing.
Another memorable moment was when I used to do a lot of saltwater fishing in South Australia and I caught a 36lb snapper (gutted weight), during a night time fishing trip in my boat back in 1973. I have a lot of very good memorable moments of my fishing times when I lived in South Australia... too many to mention in this article.
Here's a few I've chalked up since we made the move to Tasmania, back in March 2000. I remember the first trip that I had on opening day was to the Dasher River and being keen to get an early start, I was at the river just as the sun rose. It was a very frosty morning, in fact it was so cold that as I retrieved the spinner, the water that came off the line onto the rod eyelets froze up and made it impossible to retrieve the spinner any further. I have never fished at first light in August since that day.
From there I went down to Lake Barrington, where I caught my first trout of the 2000-01 trout season on a Mepps gold #1 Black Fury spinner. This was a 1.5kg brown trout. On the last day of the 2017/18 trout season I caught a PB brown trout in a river. This fish went 3.85kg (8lb 8oz) and was caught in the River Leven at Gunns Plains.
A notable moment occurred on the third of November 2019 when I caught Tasmanian trout number 10,000, something I never thought of achieving. Another winner on the Leven River was back in 2009 when I won the World Grasshopper Championship in the Carnival of the Grasshopper. I captained the two man team that day and I also won the Lord of the River, for most trout caught as well as the heaviest fish.
It was back in 2006 when I joined the Ulverstone Angling Club and to my surprise the first season fishing with them I won the Vic Whitehouse Memorial Trophy for the most trout caught in rivers and streams, with 437 trout being caught. Since that time I have gone on to hold the Vic Whitehouse Memorial Trophy for the past 15 years (2006-2021) in a row.
So there you have it, these are just a few of many memorable moments that I've had over many years of fishing. Hopefully before it comes to a time when I have to call it a day, I can add a few more memorable moments to the list.
One other thing... this isn't a most memorable moment, it's just a little something extra for you to take in if you're just starting to fish the rivers. The more often you fish a river, you'll get to learn a lot more about it. This includes pockets of flat water behind rocks in the river and narrow flat waters close to the river banks that are all fish holding areas that you won't bypass like you may have done to start with. Instead, you will flick a lure into them.
You'll also get to know where it's safe enough to wade, where it's safe to cross the river and most of all, remember that safety must come first. Safety must be a priority when fishing any river. No fish is worth drowning for, so please do not take any risks while fishing in any river. Stay safe and tight lines.
If and when you do catch a trout, remember to always wet your hands before handling the fish as that way you won't remove its protective slimy coating. I know a lot will keep a trout for a feed and that's fine. If you're not keeping it and just want to take a photo of yourself and the fish, be careful how you hold it. Don't take a vice like grip behind its gills because that's where the heart and liver are and you will damage them. The fish will swim off, but it will more than likely die soon after its release. Handle the fish for as short a time as possible and even more so in hot weather, when river trout are under stress due to warmer water temps. If you really don't need a selfie holding the fish, take a photo of it in the landing net and release it ASAP.
Enjoy the journey...
Adrian (meppstas)