Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » Chasing Browns and Rainbows
Chasing Browns and Rainbows
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
Finally, after not being in a large river for several weeks, today was the day that I returned to the Mersey River for a spin session. This was a 2:00 pm start, in reasonably good conditions, with some heavy cloud cover from time to time. The only downfall was the amount of water weeds in the low, clear water. I knew before I headed here that this long stretch of water did have a lot of water weed in it at this time of the season, however, for some reason it looked like there was a lot more here than previous seasons. The wind was mainly from the east and gusting to around 20 kph at times, which wasn't all to my liking.
I started off fishing a medium flowing stretch of water and my lure of choice to start with was a #1 Mepps March Brown Bug inline spinner. It wasn't until I moved into a fast-flowing stretch of water ten minutes later that I caught the first trout of the session. This was a well-conditioned (340g), medium size rainbow trout and this was just the start I was hoping for.
I promised the landowner a couple of trout, so I kept the rainbow trout for him. Only one more to go. From there I moved into a long stretch of shallow, fast flowing water. One where I have always caught a few trout. Even though the water level was low and full sun was on the water now, I still felt that I was in with a chance of catching a few trout. In the first twenty metres I had a couple of soft non-aggressive hits from some very small trout and that's as far as it went. I downsized to a #0 Mepps March Brown coloured Bug spinner, without seeing a trout, and I also tried a Stone Fly coloured Bug that ended with the same result... no signs of a trout.
It was time to go for another Mepps inline spinner and what to use wasn't a hard one with the water being low and clear. It was a #0 Aglia Mouche Noire with a black blade that replaced the Bug spinner. The one that I chose from my lure box was a well-used spinner, that only had one hook remaining as the other had broken after a lot of use and continued bending of the hooks to keep them off centre to the hook shaft. The work I do on the treble hooks does weaken them over time, but it's something that I must contend with because I do like the hooks to be off centre on all the lures that I use.
The opposite side of the river was the deeper side and the one that I was concentrating on, as it has some nice flatwater areas near the riverbank, that all had good cover near them. My first cast dropped a little short, due to a sudden gust of wind that took the spinner of course. The second cast was spot on and the Aglia Mouche Noire landed within a few inches of the riverbank. No sooner had I started to retrieve the Mepps spinner, it was smashed by a solid brown trout. Once hooked the fish headed straight into the fast water and made several runs and leaps from the river as it tried to part ways with the spinner.
I didn't film it as I didn't want to lose it, like I have done so many times throughout the season while holding the rod in one hand and the camera in the other. I did film the fish once I had it in the net. No sooner was the trout in the net and out popped the lure. Luck was on my side with this fish, but only for a few seconds. This fish, being so fat in the girth, I knew was carrying eggs, so it was released back into the river.
After its release I ran the sharpening stone over the single hook on the spinner, then as I made a minor adjustment to the hook it parted ways with the shaft. I knew this spinner was old and well used but I had no idea of how weak the hook had become. I replaced the #0 Aglia Mouche Noire spinner with a new #1 Aglia Mouche Noire.
A little further up the river, and still working the spinner off the opposite side, it wasn't all that long before it was fish on again. This was another nice solid brown, and this time I did film it for a short time. After the fish ran into some water weeds to try and escape it still made it into the net. The same thing happened once it was in the net and like the last fish, out popped the spinner. This trout wasn't as firm around the girth, so I kept it for the landowner, and I now had the two trout that I said I would keep for him.
I hadn't moved all that far upstream when another solid brown took the spinner. This fish, like the last two, was lured out of a flat water next to the riverbank. Better still, this was a larger fish and after a good tussle it made it into the net. Like the last two browns that made it into the net, out popped the lure as soon as it was in it. From here on it went quiet and I had to bypass a very long, shallow clear water, due to it being chocker block full of water weeds. I did have a few casts and retrieves but the spinner kept getting tangled up in the thick weed cover.
The two following fast water runs didn't do much at all. I even tried a small hard body lure in a slower flowing water, where I hooked and lost a rainbow trout. From there on it was just a time waster, without a trout being caught. The last water that I fished, before calling it a day, was a wide and slow flowing one. It was here that a medium size trout came up behind the spinner, took one look at it and then moved off not to be seen again.
My day was done at 4:30 pm and, as it turned out, it was a reasonably good spin session given the tough fishing conditions. With one rainbow and three beautiful, well-conditioned browns being caught, it was better than I had expected today. The landowner was quite happy with the result too and he had fresh fish for tea.
Adrian (meppstas)
PS: The lost is found! This is something that happened a while back and how it came about today. It wasn't until I was in the river one day that I noticed I had lost my Boomerang Tool line clippers and I had no idea what river I had lost them in. Anyway, while fishing here today I came across the clippers sitting on the rocky river bottom in 25 centimetres of water. When I arrived home, I checked to see when I last fished this area, and it was back on the February 3. The thing that amazes me is that they had the Flyfishing Championships here a few weeks ago and people had fished up through here over the long weekend. Thankfully no-one came across them. Call it lucky or pure ass that I found them. Anyway, it doesn't matter and they're back on the fishing vest now.
Equipment Used on this Trip:
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rod – CE-S-662UL-1 6’6”, 2-6lb
Okuma ITX Carbon Spin Reel - ITX-1000
Platypus Pulse Mono Premium Nylon Fishing Line
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader
Mepps Inline Spinners