Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » Challenging in the Leven
Challenging in the Leven
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
Reasonably fine weather was forecast today and better still, one of my favourite rivers had finally dropped to a safe wading height for the first time since the trout season opened, back on the fourth of August. Gusty winds were supposed to arrive as the day went on, so I hit the river just on 9:45am and found it was running quite nicely and a much lighter tannin colour than I had expected. As much as I love fishing this river, I still prefer it when it's running a medium to dark tannin colour as that's when the trout seem to be more aggressive.
I started the spin session off with a Mepps #1 Aglia Furia, as I thought this lure would be better suited to the partly overcast conditions, plus it's also a good all round spinner that's a regular trout catcher. It wasn't long before I spotted a decent size brown, sitting some three meters out from the river bank. As I went to cast the lure it spotted my movement and moved into deeper water. I slowly fished my way up a long, wide and deepish stretch of river, where I had a couple of follows from some non-aggressive trout. It was time to try another lure.
I tried several different spinners, all with the same results, follow after follow. I even tried a variety of hard body lures and even they couldn't draw the attention of a single trout. It was back to the Mepps spinners, as I moved into the shallower fast water runs. This time I went for a small #00 Copper Aglia, which did attract a couple of trout but no takers.
The fast water runs are generally perfect for trout too, however for some reason they weren't here in bigger numbers like they normally were. Maybe it was due to the fact that the water temperature was still sitting on seven degrees. I felt the problem was the South Easterly breeze that was now gusting at around 25kph or more and coming straight down the river head on. There's a saying that an old fisherman told me once "when the wind's from the East, the fish don't feast" and I've found that to be right on the money many times.
Casting the lightweight spinner was becoming near impossible at times and I had to wait for a lull in the wind gusts before getting a cast in. A few times I was caught out and left the cast a little too late and the wind hit as the spinner was sailing through the air. It was carried way offline into foliage on the river bank. I could have gone to a heavier #1 (3.5 gram) blade spinner, however I prefer the smaller ones in the fast water here as they have always produced a few trout on previous trips. Call me stubborn if you like, but that's just how I play the game. The Okuma Celilo Finesse 6'6'' ULS 1-3kg trout rod and Okuma Inspira ISX-20 spinning reel was getting a good workout, even though the trout weren't around.
I had been slowly fishing my way upstream for nearly two hours without a single hook up, let alone a hit and miss, when I came to a back water that had a nice flow of water running through it. It was here that I decided put on a well-used #00 Gold Aglia Mouche Noire, another of the small Mepps lures that have worked well in this river before.
The third cast close to the left side of the back water and the spinner was taken by one very aggressive trout. It was finally trout on! After two hours and ten minutes of fishing I had my first trout of the session hooked and landed. What looked like being a donut day was gone and what a relief that was. The eighth of October last year was also my first trip to this river and it was my first 'donut' for two seasons, so you can see why I was a little relieved.
The next fast water run, in this shallow back water, also looked good at the top end, where another small flat water flowed into it. The first two casts were to the left hand side that was marginally deeper than the water on the right. Nothing happened. No hits or follows. Then, with the next cast into the very shallow right hand side, it was fish on again.
The little Aglia Mouche Noire spinner was grabbed by one very solid brown that had been sitting in four inches of fast water. This trout gave me merry hell as it tossed and turned, while I scrambled to get my camera out to video it. I was a little worried that this fish may toss the spinner while I was filming it playing up. It was well hooked and stayed on all the way into the net. It was a beautiful fish too and I noticed it had a large scar behind its dorsal fin, which more likely was caused by a cormorant.
So, in ten minutes I had caught and released two trout, with the second one being the best fish weighing in at 535 grams. That fish made my trip here all worthwhile. Five minutes later I was onto another brown and this fish was taken on the very first cast into the tail end of the following stretch if water. So, with three trout taken in fifteen minutes and over a distance of around twenty metres it was a real turn around.
I had come to the end of the back water run, so I made my way back down to the area where I could get back into the river and continued to slowly fish my way back up the river. The wind was still howling straight down the river and it was all back to normal again, with no signs of a trout.
It took about an hour before I finally had a couple of follows from a small brown in a shallow fast water to the right of me. After several casts into another flat water on my left, that had a nice bubble line on it, a small brown took the spinner but tossed it as quick as it took it. After that I had a few more follows in another wide, medium deep stretch of water, however those trout never showed any signs of aggression.
It was close on 1:30pm when I decided enough was enough. There was no way were the trout in the main river going to be caught today, so it was time to head back to the car. I had planned to try another good stretch of river a few kilometres downstream, however by the time I had walked back to the car I was buggered and my day's fishing had come to an end. I'll certainly return here in a week's time, all going well and I'm sure the return trip will produce more trout than it did today. One thing is certain, it won't be when the wind is blowing from the East...
Adrian (meppstas)
Equipment Used:
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods - 6'6'' ULS 1-3kg trout rod
Okuma Inspira Blue Spin Reels - ISX-20B
Platypus Super 100 clear mono - 4lb
Mepps Inline Spinners - Aglia, Aglia Furia and Aglia Mouche Noire.