Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » Exploring New Water
Exploring New Water
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
Like most mornings lately I was in two minds whether to go chasing trout today, mainly because it was cold, wet and blowing a gale. With just two days left of the 2018/19 trout season I really wanted to go, however the weather was holding me back.
In the end it got the better of me and I headed off to try a tannin stream. It was one that I'd never fished before, but one that I'd always thought about trying. Thirty minutes after leaving home, I was there and quickly in the water.
It didn't take long before a small brown took the Mepps gold Aglia Mouche Noire on the third cast, something that I wasn't expecting so early. This stream was running low and a lot darker tannin colour than I had expected to see. Still, with one trout already on the board it was a good sign that this meant there were more trout here to be caught.
A few more casts was all that it took before I had another small brown take the gold Aglia. Two trout caught and released in seven minutes. I couldn't have picked a better stream to have a spin session in. The wind was still howling and light rain showers continued to pass through as I fished my way up the little stream. It wasn't one of the widest streams that I've fished either, in fact it was pretty narrow and accuracy when casting the 1.5 gram spinner with the Okuma Celilo 6' ULS trout rod was a must.
As I slowly worked my way upstream there were quite a few very shallow runs that couldn't be fished because they were only one or two inches deep. Other areas varied from around five inches up to a couple of feet deep and these were the areas that I concentrated on as they held the trout.
With most of the stream being so shallow, the slightest movement or noise underfoot sent trout scurrying off quite a few times. I was trying to be as slow and quiet as possible, however even that wasn't enough to keep them in the area. I stuck to doing what I was doing and eventually had a lovely solid male brown take the spinner. A well-earned trout that I had to work for. It was like the larger ones I had landed in the other stream a few days ago... this trout had to be coaxed into taking the lure.
With the water being so dark in the deeper runs, the only way I knew a trout was behind the lure was seeing the bow wave made by the trout. As the spinner got closer to me I could see the gold blade rotating, then I spotted the white inside of the trout's mouth as it opened and closed. As it drew close to the spinner and I saw the white insides of its mouth hard up behind the spinner, that's when I stopped retrieving the spinner then gave the rod a very light twitch. Doing that made the spinner blade flutter and drop, and that's when the trout took it.
I didn't have to do it with the small browns because once they spotted the lure they just attacked it every time. That beautifully coloured wild brown went 470 grams and after a quick photo it was on its way. From then on I managed to catch a trout approximately every fifteen minutes and by the time I decided to give it away, as the rain started to set in, I had caught nine browns from thirteen hook ups as well as a few light hit and misses during that time.
Overall it was a good session in a water that I had often thought about trying out to see if it held trout. Now I know it does and I will try it again one day. The best trout was the last one caught on the day and it went 525 grams.
Adrian (meppstas)
Equipment Used:
Okuma Celilo 6' ULS 1-3kg trout rod.
Okuma Helios HSX-20 spin reel.
Platypus Super 100 mono line.
Mepps inline blade spinners.