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Determined to Land 400th for the Season
After having 40mm of rain two days ago and more rain forecast for the next couple of days, I headed off to one of my favourite tannin waters for a spin session. Being a little on the cool side this morning, I wasn't in a rush to get there.
It was 8:55am when I did finally hop into the dark tannin water. The stream was running at a perfect knee deep wading height and I felt that I was in for a good spin session on the trout here today, in what was perfect weather conditions.
With the water being a dark tannin colour, I started off with a #00 Gold Mepps Aglia spinner, a colour that works well on the trout in these conditions. It took quite some time before I had a follow from a trout and twenty five minutes into the spin session a small brown took the lure and was landed. With such a slow start to the spin session finding the trout wasn't going to be all that easy... like I thought it would be.
I continued fishing my way upstream and had several solid hits but just couldn't get a hook up. The trout were playing the hit and run game with me this morning. This is something that happens when the deeper water is a dark tannin colour. The trout pick up the vibration of the spinner blade, move in on it and strike hard and fast side on. The majority of the time they miss the treble hooks, while other times they're just lipped and toss the spinner in quick time.
The lighter coloured, shallow waters would be my best chance of catching trout today and that is where I concentrated for the rest of the spin session this morning. Even though they didn't fish all that well for starters, where I had quite a few trout come at the spinner before turning and moving off. Normally in the shallow runs the trout are very aggressive, however for some reason they weren't today.
It wasn't until 10:05am when I caught my second trout. This fish was taken in a small pool, on the right bend of the stream. It was a solid fish and in beautiful condition. After its release things went a little haywire for a while, when I hooked and lost a couple more trout. I had tried a few other small Mepps spinners, without having a touch on them and it wasn't until I moved further on upstream and went for the #00 March Brown coloured Bug spinner, to fish a long run of shallow flowing water, that I caught the third trout of the session.
That trout took the Bug on the first cast into a small flat water, close to the right hand side of the stream. It, like the last trout caught, was in top condition. This trout was caught one hour and forty minutes after that second fish. The good thing about catching this trout was that it took the spinner hard and fast, making it the most aggressive hit of the morning so far.
I moved on into the next shallow stretch of water and the third cast and retrieve resulted in another aggressive take. This trout was much larger than all of the trout hooked so far. It ran up and across the stream, then turned and ran back downstream, before I managed to turn it around and ease it back upstream to where I slipped the net under it. It was a beauty. The fish of the day by far and a fish that weighed 495 grams. Things were looking up now and I was feeling a lot happier too.
That's as far as it went though. After releasing that trout I hooked and lost three trout in a row... which was enough for me to spit the dummy, head back to the car (12:10pm) and go home to cool off. The reason I was so annoyed was the fact that I needed to catch seven trout today to reach trout number 400 for this season.
After having some lunch I had cooled off and was back into the right mindset to head back and start off again, fishing from where I had hooked and lost the last trout earlier on. When I arrived I noticed the weather was changing and dark rain clouds weren't all that far away. The wind had also picked up, so I had to get a hurry on before it arrived.
I was back in the river at 2:20pm and continued from where I had left off. The first cast and retrieve into the stream was met with a follow from a trout. I decided to replace the March Brown Bug with a #00 Copper Aglia Mouche Noire, seeing as the light had faded. It was getting very dark now.
It wasn't all that long before I was fishing another shallow stretch of water and a trout darted out from under a small log in the river and had a go at the spinner. Unfortunately it missed taking it. I didn't mind that happening either as what it showed me was that the copper colour may well be the right choice in these changed weather conditions.
Further up the stream and I had another follow, in a slow flowing shallow stretch of water, from another small trout. It wasn't until I reached the headwater, flicked the spinner over a fallen log and let it drift downstream in the fast flowing tannin water, that it was taken by a nice medium size brown trout. After a brief tussle I had the fifth trout of the spin session in the net, a nice medium 330gram brown, and just after that I hooked and lost a couple of small browns, caught a couple of tea trees and had a line tangle when a gust of wind hit. I knew that I was going to earn every trout that I caught from here on.
With just two more trout required to hit the season tally of 400, the wind picked up and the rain arrived. Thankfully, I had some shelter from a few large gum trees as I continued to slowly fish my way upstream. My sixth trout was caught ten minutes later, in a very narrow shallow stretch of water, during a heavy downpour. Only one more trout was needed now and I was hoping it would be in quick time too as I was getting a little damp.
It took a while longer than I had hoped for. In fact it was thirty-five minutes later when I picked up the seventh trout and number 400 for the season. To make it more enjoyable was how I caught this fish. After having a few short hits from this fish, without it taking the spinner, it wasn't until I nearly had the spinner sitting in front of me when I saw the white inside of the trout's mouth just behind the lure.
What I did next was to use the little Aglia Mouche Noire like a jig. I did actually jig the spinner up and down and the trout took it! Not long after I slipped the trout into the net, out popped the spinner. Call it lucky or whatever you want, it was good enough for me and my day was done.
This was a decent size fish to end the day with as well, weighing 410g after deducting the weight of the net from the total weight. Today I was determined to go home with my season tally sitting on the 400 mark. It may have taken two trips to this stream for the day and longer than I would have liked, but I did it. By the end I was glad it was over too because I was totally worn out.
Adrian (meppstas)
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
Mepps Inline Spinners - Aglia Mouche Noire
Boomerang Tool Products.