Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » Fast Water Fishing Fires Up
Fast Water Fishing Fires Up
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
Fine overcast weather conditions this morning was enough to get me off to a 6:20 am start in the river today and it was also to be a fast water spin session. It's been a while since I've had a spin session in the fast waters, due to the water level being a little on the high side for my liking, as well as safety reasons. Fishing fast waters at any time is dangerous enough, so I wait until the water level is sitting at 68 cm and lower before I attempt to fish them. It does vary for each river that I fish.
Today, the river that I fished was a 68 cm and is one that I know is safe enough for me to wade and I feel reasonably comfortable in doing so. Even with it running at 68 cm one still needs to take it slow and easy, as one slip and I could find myself heading off downstream. I love fishing the fast waters in every river that I fish as I love casting and drifting the Mepps spinners in them. It's a great way to catch trout and plenty of them have come unstuck when I have fished for them using this method. If you watch many of my trout fishing videos on YouTube, you'll find plenty of information on how to pick up the casting and drifting method that I use when fast water fishing or trout.
Once in the river this morning, I had an instant hookup on the first cast and retrieve. It was only a small trout that took the March Brown coloured Mepps Bug spinner, and it didn't stay hooked for very long either. The first leap from the river was all that it took for it to toss the lure. A few casts later, and a short distance upstream, I had a solid hit and miss from another trout, which was a good sign that there may be a few around today. I thought I could have a good spin session ahead of me.
It wasn't until 6:30 am, when I was casting and drifting the March Brown in a deep stretch of water, that a solid brown took the spinner as soon as it hit the water, on the fifth cast into a narrow flatwater on the opposite side of the river. No sooner had it taken the spinner and I knew it was a large fish. The fish took off in one hell of a rush, with the first run straight up the river, then it turned and headed off downstream, at the same time making several leaps from the river.
It was then I was getting worried that it would toss the March Brown Bug spinner, mainly because I could see the spinner hanging out of its mouth. Thankfully, one of the spinner's treble hooks held firm and I eventually had the trout in the net. The fish weighed a nice 1.54 kg and was in the best of condition. After a couple of photos, it was released back into the river. It was also my biggest trout for the season and the third trout over the one kilo mark in the past three trips to a river.
Once released, I continued to slowly fish my way upstream and, after hooking and losing a couple of trout, I changed over to a Mepps #1 Aglia Fluo Mictopigments brown inline spinner. The Aglia Fluo brown spinner did its job in catching three more trout, but after hooking and losing two more trout it was time for another change of lure. That spinner was replaced with a #1 Stone Fly coloured Mepps Bug spinner, another that I'm always confident will bag a trout or two. It did just that for me too and went on to catch another eight trout for me over the following eleven trout from thirteen hook ups. The best trout weighed 635 grams and as always, all the trout I caught were released for another day.
I was quite stoked with how the spin session went this morning and the quality of the trout was good. They were all nice, well-conditioned fish and all over legal size. Like all fast water fishing, there's good days and there's bad days when the trout are few and far between. Today was one of those good days and catching that large 1.54 kg brown was certainly the highlight of the spin session. The following lightweight trout gear that I used stood up really well, as it always does. It is a beautiful lightweight set up that is well suited to trout fishing the rivers that I fish. The Platypus Pulse monofilament ultra-thin 4lb line was certainly put to the test with that sold brown trout as well and it did a great job as it has always done.
Adrian (meppstas)
Equipment Used Today:
TT Red Belly Spin Rod - RBS702L, 7’, 1-3kg
Okuma ITX Carbon Spin Reel – ITX-1000
Platypus Pulse Mono Premium Nylon Fishing Line – 4lb
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader – 4lb
Mepps Inline Spinners -
Mepps Fluo Micropigments Inline Spinner
Mepps Bug Inline Spinner