Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » Caught out as the River Rises

Caught out as the River Rises

By Adrian (meppstas) Webb

When I checked the Meander River height this morning, I was over the moon to see it was down to 55cm. This was the perfect height for safe wading and fishing in the upper reaches, well above where I normally fast water fish for trout. That's where I headed and on my arrival I spent ten minutes having a chat with the landowner, before making my way to the river where I met a couple who were camping there and about to leave. After another twenty minute chat with them, I finally hit the river at 8:55am.

The water was clear and running beautifully. With the weather being a dull, overcast day, I started the session with a Mepps #00 Gold Aglia Mouche Noire spinner and it was on the first cast and retrieve that I had a trout take it. No sooner it was hooked, it tossed the spinner on its second leap from the river and was lost. Hooking a trout on the first few casts was just what I wanted, however losing it was a disappointment. The signs were there though that I was in for a good spin session.

Two cast and retrieves up and across the fast water saw another trout hooked and lost on the second cast and retrieve. Five metres further up the river and I flicked the spinner into a shallow flat water on the other side of a fast water run. It was here that the first trout was hooked and landed. After its release I did have another hook up, in a deeper, fast flowing stretch of water, before that trout spat the spinner not long after taking it. I then had a couple of follows, with one of those fish being a medium size redfin perch, before I had to get out and bypass the deep water.

I only had to walk twenty metres to get back into the fast water again. The first stretch that I fished here was a nice shallow one that had some good cover along the opposite river bank. The first couple of cast and retrieves resulted in a trout following the Gold Mouche Noire with no sign of aggression towards it, which was surprising.

That was enough to go for a change of lure, so I went with a Mepps #00 Stone Fly Bug spinner and on the first cast into the same area it was taken hard and fast as soon as it hit the water. This trout, like the previous one, wasn't all that large either, just a small/medium size fish of around 300 grams. From here on I slowly made my way up this very rocky and slippery stretch of water. Making matters worse was the heavy cloud cover.

Normally I love fishing in these conditions, however when one is in this type of water you can't see the river bottom in front of you. Even with polarised sunglasses, the cloud glare was like looking onto a mirror, when looking down on the water, which made it a slow trip up the fast water. Slow and easy was the go here. I did take a tumble once, when a rock rolled underfoot and tripped me up. Thankfully I only wet my shirt sleeve. I changed back to the Gold Aglia Mouche Noire during the slow walk upstream.

It wasn't until I had reached the top end of this uphill fast water run that I picked up the third trout of the session. I cast the Bug spinner close to some overhanging tea trees, on the right hand side of the river, where the trout darted out from under them and took the lure. This trout wasn't any bigger than the others I had caught earlier. So far they were all around the same size.

A little further up I flicked the lure into the calmer water, near the left hand side of the river, where another brown of the same size took the spinner. Trout number four was landed. I had now moved into a long, wide, medium flowing stretch of water and it was here that I went back to the Mepps #00 Stone Fly Bug spinner. This was after two trout had followed the gold spinner for a short distance before turning and moving off.

A long cast to the right hand side of the river was enough to draw a trout from the cover of the tea trees to grab hold of the Bug spinner. It too was a small trout, which was starting to annoy me. Even though it was good to be catching the trout, the size of them was getting a little frustrating. From here I had to keep to the left hand side of the river as it was the shallow side and the easiest to fish from. I could still lob the 1.5 gram spinner next to the opposite river bank from anyway here.

From then on it was a little quiet and by the time I had reached the halfway mark of the wide stretch of water, all I had managed was a couple of light hits, followed by two hooked and lost trout. Then I noticed the water clarity was changing. It was becoming cloudy as if there was some river bank work being done upstream. I noticed quite a lot of leaves, tree bark and small twigs floating on the surface too.

The further I made my way up the river, the dirtier the water became and it wasn't until I reached the top end of this stretch of water that I realised they were letting water out of Huntsman's Lake. Not knowing how high they were raising the river level, I knew I had to get out of the water. If it goes up to 70cm or higher, I would be struggling to get out of the river. From where I was now fishing I couldn't cross the river because that's the deep side. Plus, the river bank was three metres high and covered in dense foliage.

On the shallower side, that I was on, there was no way out because it is all native shrub and bush for several kilometres. One hundred and twenty metres up the river there was one area where I could get out, on the right hand side of the river. Getting there in this rocky and slippery fast water was going to take time, however it was the only choice that I had.

Ten minutes later and the water had risen by 150mm (6 inches). This doesn't sound much, however in the upper reaches of this river it is a lot. I moved along the left hand side of the river as fast as I could, at the same time clinging to the tea trees to help keep my balance on the rocky river bottom.

Thankfully my experience and knowledge of fishing this river was in my favour as I knew the exact area where I could cross over. It wasn't going to be easy because there was a lot of water coming down and it was all fast white water where I would be crossing over. Why the white water you may ask. It's because it was the shallowest section that I knew here and above it the water was waist deep, fast flowing water that would have too much pressure on the body.

Below where I was crossing the water was all white water and much deeper than where I would be crossing over. The area where I was crossing over had several large boulders spread across it and behind those boulders was flat water. Once there I could take a short rest behind each boulder, before moving on again. That's what I did.

It took me just over fifteen minutes to reach the safety of the opposite side of the river and boy it felt good too. I was totally buggered by the time I did reach it, that's for sure. The one thing that did bother me was why they don't have a notification on the BOM river levels site to say when they will be letting water out of the dam. Had I not known this river like the back of my hand, I would not have known how or where I could get out of the river safely. What about the inexperienced fisher who may just happen to be in the river when this happened. Would they have survived the rise in water level?

This river is very popular with a lot of trout fishers, so I hope this doesn't catch any of them out like it did me. I can't see any reason why they shouldn't be able to set up a warning siren to give those who may be fishing in the river time to safely get out before they let the water out. A warning siren could go off twenty minutes beforehand, followed by one more ten minutes later. So, what started off looking like I was in for a top spin session in the Meander River turned out to be a bit of a fizzer in the end. The good thing was that I was still here to write this trout report.

Equipment used on this trip:

Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods - CE-S-662UL 6'6'' 2-6lb trout rod
Okuma Epixor Spin Reels - EPXT-20
Platypus Super 100 Monofilament Line - 4lb
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader
Mepps Inline Spinners - Bug
Mepps Inline Spinners - Aglia Mouche Noire
Boomerang Tool Products.

Adrian (meppstas)