Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » Aggressive Small Stream Trout

Aggressive Small Stream Trout

By Adrian (meppstas) Webb

It's been a while since I last fished my favourite tannin stream, so I felt it was time for a visit. I was hoping that there would be enough flow in it to see if I could catch a few of those beautifully coloured, wild brown trout that are in it. I did check it out a week and a half ago, only to find it running a little on the high side and not worth fishing.

When I arrived there today it was a little on the low side but still flowing at a nice wading height, so it was on with the wading gear for a spin session. Today I planned on heading a few hundred metres further downstream, from where I normally enter the stream to start fishing, mainly because it's been quite a while since I last fished from there.

My entry point was a twenty-five-minute walk away and the long walk up and down a few steep hills had me puffing like hell by the time I reached the stream. With the weather being humid, it certainly had me sweating. So much so that I couldn't keep the sunnies on because they kept fogging up. After a short break, to get my breath back, I was in the water by 10:05am, which wasn't a problem with it being overcast and humid. These are conditions that I believe are ideal for trout fishing.

I started the spin session off using a #00 Copper Mepps Aglia. This is a well-used one that's caught plenty of trout on previous trips to these tannin waters. The first water I moved into was pretty shallow and on a few casts and retrieves the spinners became fouled by the cotton like algae that was on the river bottom. This has always been a problem in small streams, once the water levels are low throughout the trout season. The small Mepps #00 inline spinners are the best to use in these streams because they're so light, only weighing 1.5 grams. They are the perfect inline spinner for small stream and low water fishing, throughout the whole trout season.

My rig today is one that I love using, an Okuma Celilo Finesse 6' ULS 2-6lb trout rod, that's coupled up with an Okuma ITX-1000 spinning reel, spooled with the ultrathin 4lb Platypus Pulse Mono line.

I did finish up bypassing the first shallow stretch of water, after the spinner became fouled after the first few casts and retrieves. So, I moved on and into a wide, knee deep stretch of very dark tannin water. One cast straight up the centre of this run was all that it took to catch the first trout of the session. The spinner had no sooner hit the water and it was snapped up by a nice plump brown trout. One that put up a great fight all the way to where I eased it into the shallow side of the stream.

With one on the scorecard in quick time, I was hoping it would continue as I fished my way up this little stream. After its release, my next cast in this pool was a little more to the right of where I had caught the last trout. Three turns of the reel handle and it was fish on again. This time it was a small trout that fell to the Copper Aglia. I could not have asked for a better start than this. The thing was… would this stream continue to give up trout on a regular basis.

There were still several nice stretches of water ahead of me, before I reached the area where I normally started my spin sessions. Well, what a disappointment the rest of the stream was. From here on I had a follow from a very small brown trout.

It wasn't until I reached my usual entry point that I caught my third trout on the Copper Mepps Aglia. This was another solid fish and one that was in top condition too. That fish was the best of the three so far and it went 420 grams. The wetter than average months that we've had have certainly done these small streams and the fish in them a lot of good. I'm just hoping that we keep on getting a few rainy days, on and off during the rest of the summer months, to keep them fresh. It will also make for some good trout fishing.

The waters ahead of me were all slow/medium runs, that varied in depth from a few inches to knee deep (Approx. 22 inches), so the little spinner did a bit of bottom bouncing and collected quite a lot of green algae at times. The trout were there in good numbers too. The only problem was that they were very small fish that were hitting the spinner without getting hooked. I did manage to catch a few of them, from the eight or so hits that I had in that stretch of water.

My aim today was to catch a minimum of ten trout, because I was currently forty-three trout down on the same time last trout season. I needed to start lowering that number real soon, before it’s out of reach. I was still having plenty of hits from small trout, however, like before, they weren't getting hooked. It was starting to frustrate me.

I changed over to a #00 Gold Aglia to see if that would turn things around. It didn't change anything. In fact, it went downhill. Once the gold spinner was on, I didn't see another trout. I gave the little Gold Aglia another five minutes, before I was going to change back to the Copper Aglia and that's when a small trout fell to it.

Once that happened, it was given another chance to do the job. In the end it didn't do anything, so I went back to the Copper coloured Aglia and no sooner had I changed, I had a hit and miss from a small trout. Not long after that it was trout on again. Not all that long after its release I picked up the tenth trout of the spin session. The minimum number that I wanted to reach today had been met.

I could see the weather was changing as the clouds had darkened up and the wind had also picked up. There was now a light sprinkle of rain coming and going. If I wanted to add to my day’s tally, I had to get a move on before the rain set in. I decided that I would give it another fifteen minutes. If I caught a few more then they would be a bonus, that would bring the differential down a little more to my liking.

I did go on to catch another two trout, taking today's catch to an even dozen, which took me to within thirty-five trout of last season. My only problem now was that when I checked last season's tally sheets, on December 15 I caught and released fifteen trout. So, I really need to keep the catch rate up, otherwise I'm going down the slippery dip. That's for sure. I'll just have to keep going hard at it and hope for the best. Also, the ninth trout caught today was number 150 for the season.

Adrian (meppstas)

Equipment Used During My Trout Season:
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods - ULS 1-3kg
Okuma LRF Spin Rods – 1-3kg
Okuma ITX Carbon Spin Reels – ITX-1000
Okuma Inspira Blue Spin Reels - ISX-20B
Okuma Helios SX Spin Reels - HSX-20
Okuma Epixor XT Spin Reels - EXPT-20
Okuma Ceymar Spin Reels - C-10
Platypus Pulse Mono Premium Monofilament – 4lb
Platypus Super 100 Monofilament – 4lb
Platypus Pre-test Monofilament – 4lb
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader
Mepps Aglia Inline Spinner – Copper & Gold