Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » Cold Water Trout on Mepps Aglia
Cold Water Trout on Mepps Aglia
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
Finally, after two weeks of battling with the flu, I felt well enough to take a chance and give my favourite small tannin stream a go to see if I could land a trout or two. The weather itself for most of the day had been fine, with full sun and not a breath of wind. That was until I headed off and arrived at the stream. There were still glimpses of sunshine from time to time, however the cloud cover was pretty heavy and the air a cool nine degrees, with the water temperature sitting on a cold seven degrees.
I reached my entry point, and it was 2.25 pm by the time I took my first cast with the Mepps #0 Aglia Fluo Micropigments brown inline spinner. The water level was around four inches higher than my last trip here two weeks ago and the flow was faster than I would have preferred as well. Anyway, I was there so no good moaning about it. Just get on with the fishing and forget about the higher, faster flowing water.
After several casts and retrieves, with no sign of a trout in the first small run, it was the next run that gave up the first trout of the spin session. It only took a couple of casts and retrieves before a small brown took the Aglia spinner. It was a soft take too, which surprised me as these small stream trout are normally more aggressive. Once it was hooked it certainly showed its aggression, making several leaps and solid runs before I eased it into the net. It was small, like most of the trout are in this small stream, but the colours of this little tannin water trout were superb. That's one thing I love about fishing tannin waters, the fish are all beautifully coloured.
Just after the release of that small trout I hopped out of the stream and bypassed a deep pocket of water, re-entering the stream twenty metres further up. That stretch of river is one that has never let me down on previous trips. In fact, it has always given up a trout or two each time I've fished it. Today was no different, even if it did take a little longer than I thought it would have. In the end it gave up another beautifully coloured trout. This fish was a little larger than the first one that was caught and released fifteen minutes earlier.
Two trout now caught and released in the first twenty minutes wasn't all that bad, given the high water and cold conditions, in fact my feet were already numb from the cold water. The next stretch of water that I moved into was fast flowing and reasonably shallow. The lefthand side of it had a nice narrow flatwater on it and that's the area that I concentrated on with the Aglia brown. It was on the third cast and retrieve that a nice plump brown trout had a go at the spinner but missed taking the treble hooks. So close to having trout number three, but it wasn't to be.
From here on the going was tough. Long and narrow fast water runs that never held any trout in them, which was to be expected anyway. It wasn't until I reached a waist deep wide stretch of water that I replaced the #0 Aglia Fluo Micropigments brown with a heavier #1 in the same inline spinner. With the deeper water, the slightly heavier lure was the way to go in my book. The cold water and air were starting to take their toll on me now and I was seriously thinking about calling it a day, but I didn't. So, I decided to fish a little longer.
That decision was a good one, as was the change to the heavier Aglia Fluo brown. The third cast and retrieve in that deep water resulted in a hook up, producing a solid brown and the best fish of the afternoon (3:25 pm) was landed. That was enough to keep me fishing for a little longer, even though I knew it probably wasn't the best thing to do for my health. I wanted to catch at least two more trout before I threw in the towel.
After releasing the third trout I bypassed a couple of shallow fast flowing runs and hopped back into a knee-deep stretch of water. It was there that I hooked another solid brown trout, after casting the spinner into a tight narrow stretch of water. This was the best trout so far; with each trout I'd caught being bigger than the one before them. I made the decision to fish one more stretch of water before I called it a day, a nice tight run that has rarely let me down.
As with previous trips, it didn't let me down today either, though I thought it was going to when I hooked and lost a small trout on the second cast and retrieve. Two casts later, with the second cast being a backhand into a tight pocket of water that had a good cover of overhanging tea trees on it, worked a treat. There was no margin for error with the cast either and there wasn't... the cast was perfect as was the result. No sooner had the spinner hit the water and it was smashed by a trout.
As luck would have it this fish was a little bigger than the last one. After a good tussle I finally had it in the net and it weighed in at 470 grams. Yes, that was certainly the fish of the day. Once released, I was ready to call it a day. My spin session was over and done with. I was cold, sore, and as much as I would have liked to keep on fishing, the decision to end the session was the right one. With five trout caught and released, in what wasn't the best of fishing conditions, I was pretty stoked with how the day ended.
Adrian (meppstas)
Equipment Used Today:
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rod - CE-S-662UL-1 6’6” Ultra-Light 2-6lb
Okuma ITX Carbon Spin Reel - ITX-1000
Platypus Pulse Mono - Premium Nylon Monofilament Line
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader
Mepps Aglia Fluo Micropigments Inline Spinners