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Down to the Wire for 500 Trout
What I thought was going to be an easy run home, to catch my 500th trout of the season, finished up coming down to the wire over the last two days of the 2020/21 trout season. As the season was drawing to a close and with four days of it left to catch thirteen trout, I thought it was done and dusted.
I would get it done with a couple of days to spare. Well, it didn't work out that way at all. In fact it was a battle to get there in the end and the last day was when I reached the target that I set myself at the start of the trout season.
On the first two days of the four I managed to catch and release ten trout. Only two on the first day and eight the following day. With two days left to catch three trout... how hard could it be. I've been trout fishing for 56 years, I'll get it over and done with on the Saturday and the trout I catch on the last day (Sunday 2nd May) will all be bonus fish on my angling club catch form. It's a piece of cake. It wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be and here's how the last two days panned out.
Day One - Saturday May 1
I was up at 6:30am and then put the washing on due to my wife not being well. I then waited and put the clothes on the line, before heading off to the upper Mersey River where I knew I would catch the three trout required. Even though I left a little later than I would have liked, it wasn't a problem at all. It was a foggy and cool morning. A perfect day to be fishing the upper Mersey River, until I arrived at Weegena only to find two cars parked there. One person was getting his gear on, while the other had already set off to fish the river.
I turned the car around and headed to Kelly Cage Road, a little further up the road, only to find two more cars parked by the river. With both areas now having trout fishers there, I decided to head off to the Meander River around thirty kilometres away. I had only driven a few kilometres when I realised that it was too late in the morning to be heading there. It would have been around 9:30am by the time I reached the river. My day was starting to fall apart. Where to head to now was going through my mind and I decided to head to the lower Mersey River. I was taking a real gamble heading there as it hasn't fished all that well this season. My last trip there was only two days ago and that day I only caught and released two trout.
By the time I arrived, got my gear on and then took a long walk to my entry point, it was 9:05am. The only good thing was that it was still foggy here. I was concentrating the majority of my fishing on the fast water runs today as my best chance of catching the three trout I needed would come from them.
I started off using a Mepps #0 Gold Black Fury inline spinner for the first few minutes, without a sign of a trout. I was really feeling unsure about catching any trout here today and my confidence was low, which rarely happens. I decided I would go for a change of spinner and with the water being colder I went for a Mepps Tiger #0 Aglia Fluo inline spinner, one that works well on trout in very cold water.
The fast water that I was about to fish had a nice bubble line (food chain) running close to the opposite side of the river and not only that it had a narrow stretch of flat water along the river bank as well. A perfect area for a trout to be holding out. It was also a great stretch of water for casting and drifting the Mepps spinner in, which is my favourite type of fast water spin fishing. The first couple of cast, drifts and very slow retrieves nothing happened, while on the third one I had a couple of soft bumps on the spinner. It was after the second soft bump on the Aglia Tiger that I gave the rod a light twitch and that was enough to get the trout to take the spinner.
It was fish on! This trout really played up, ran with the flow and made several leaps from the river. I wasn't feeling all that sure that it would make it to the net. In fact, I didn't get the camera out to video it because I needed to concentrate solely on landing it. What seemed like minutes later it finally tired and I managed to get it in close enough to slip the net under it. This was a beautiful fish to catch and first up too. No sooner was it in the net and out popped the spinner. Lady luck was on my side with this fish. The fish weighed 540 grams and was in top condition. All I needed to do after its release was to catch two more trout and this was something that I felt I could now achieve before calling it a day.
From here I moved into a medium flowing stretch of water and there wasn't a sign of a trout in it. I continued to make my way into a wide, slow flowing run. The first cast and retrieve up and across the river and a medium size trout followed the spinner for several metres before it lost interest in it. This happened a couple of times as I fished my way upstream. I even tried a small hard body lure and the same thing happened. To make matters worse, the fog had lifted and the sun was now on the water, something I didn't need at all. I decided to bypass the slow flowing water and head further upstream to another stretch of fast water. Not that long ago this fast water that I moved into gave up a few nice rainbows and a brown trout. Touch wood there would be a couple to be had here today.
Before I started to fish this fast water I went for a change of lure and gave the Gold Mepps Black Fury a bit of a workout, without any signs of trout. Another change of lure was had and this time it was the brown #0 Mepps Aglia Fluo Micropigment inline spinner that went on. It took a while before I finally had a hook up at the headwaters and it was a small rainbow that was caught this time, an hour and fifteen minutes after my first trout.
From here I headed up to another deep, medium/fast flowing run and it was there that I hooked and lost the trout that I was hoping to catch. I had my chance. That trout tossed the spinner on the first solid headshake it gave. It was then that I called it a day. Ahead of me was all slow flowing, shallow water that was in full sun. Fishing it would be a waste of time.
Not only that, I was tired and hot and bothered. Plus, I had a thirty-five minute walk back to the car. My day was well and truly over. It was probably one of my most disappointing days of the season, being so close to the five hundredth trout, only to hook and lose it. On my walk back to the car I decided that tomorrow I'd be hitting the Meander River and it would be an early start too.
Day Two - Sunday May 2
The morning was another cool, foggy one and I was in the Meander River before 7:30am. It was really cold too, with the air temperature at three degrees and the water temperature at six degrees. All I needed to do was catch one trout and I didn't care what size it was either. I would have liked to fish the fast waters above the township of Meander but with the river running at 68cm my body was feeling the pinch of fishing the last six days out of seven. It wasn't worth knocking it around any further.
Today would be my sixth day in a row and where I was fishing today it would be much easier on the body. The river here is a mix of medium and fast water, with the river bottom much easier for wading too. My Mepps spinner of choice this morning was a #0 Copper Black Fury, one that I felt would do well here providing there was a trout or two in the area. It was slow going over the first one hundred metres, with no signs of trout. It wasn't until I reached the first fast water that it all changed.
The fast water that I moved into was the same one that gave up a medium size trout on my last trip here. It's a water that's perfect for my cast and drift method and that's what I did. The first three metres nothing happened, however it was in the next three metres of water that the Black Fury was smashed by a solid trout. This was one nice brown that fought hard and made the most of the fast water. It made quite a few runs downstream, at the same time leaping from the river. It wasn't until I felt that I had full control of this fish and had it in close enough that I reached for the camera to film it.
My heart was in my mouth while filming it. This was the 500th trout for the season that I had on the end of the line and it could easily toss the spinner with the next headshake. As soon as I had it in close enough, I couldn't slip it into the net quick enough. Once in the net it jumped around, out popped the spinner and how lucky I was!
The following fast waters didn't show any signs of trout. This was water that had some nice flat water along the opposite river bank that would normally be holding a trout or two. It never held a fish. I had to get out and bypass a long, waist deep fast water, that wasn't safe enough, to make my way upstream. The river bottom there wasn't the best.
Once I reached the next medium/fast water stretch, that was only knee deep and much safer, I continued to cast the spinner into the narrow flat water along the opposite river bank. Thirty-five minutes on from the last fish being caught and I hooked the second trout of the morning. This trout was lured from the opposite river bank. On the retrieve I felt a couple of soft bumps on the spinner, so I gave the rod a light twitch and that was enough to get the trout to take the Mepps Black Fury spinner.
This fish was much larger than the last trout and it really put the thin 4lb Platypus Super 100 line to the test. It made seven or more leaps from the river, at the same time running with the flow, before holding side on in the fast flow. It took a while before it became tired and I eased it into the net. It was a beauty and like the last trout, it also tossed the spinner once it was in the net.
I weighed it while it was still in the net (total weight 995g) then deducted the net weight (350g) which left the fish weight of 645g, my best trout taken in this river since the April 24 when I caught one that went 810g. Once released I continued fishing may way upstream and like before there wasn't a sign of a trout.
I called it a day at 9:10am and my body was sore. I had achieved what I set out to do, so why push on when there's no need to. Catching trout number 500 certainly went down to the wire that's for sure, a great way to finish my trout season... I think not. Now I have a nice three months to rest up and get the body ready for the 2021/22 trout season that opens again on the first Saturday closest to August 1, so until then, stay safe and tight lines...
Cheers
Adrian (meppstas)
Equipment used on various trips:
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods - CE-S-662UL 6'6'' 2-6lb trout rod
Okuma LRF Spin Rods - 6'0" 1-3kg
Okuma Epixor Spin Reels - EPXT-20
Okuma Inspira Blue Spin Reel - ISX-20B
Okuma Helios SX Spin Reels - HSX-20
Okuma Ceymar Spin Reels - C-10
Platypus Super 100 Monofilament Line - 4lb
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader
Mepps Inline Spinners - Aglia Fluo Micropigments
Mepps Inline Spinners - Aglia Fluo (Fluoro) Fire Tiger
Mepps Inline Spinners - Black Fury
Boomerang Tool Products