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Fast Water Fishing for Trout 450
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
With the Meander River still running at 55cm, I felt fishing the fast waters would be well worth trying out today and given that it was mainly overcast cool conditions, that's what I did. I arrived at the river's edge at 8:40am and my lure of choice, once I was in the river, was a Mepps #0 March Brown Bug spinner. This lure was chosen mainly because the water was crystal clear and because this lure normally does well on the trout in this river.
As it turned out, it was on the very first cast and retrieve that I had an instant hook up and the first fish of the morning was in the net in no time at all. Now, I've had starts like this before and from then the trout were few and far between, however today was much different. A little further upstream I had a hit and miss from a trout that was sitting in a shallow pocket of water close to the riverbank.
To my right was where the main flow was and it was running hard and fast, making it perfect cast and drift water that I love to fish. It was on the second cast and drift that the Bug was taken hard and fast by a solid brown. That fish made several runs before it gave in, and I eased it into the net. Catching the second trout really made me think that it was going to be a good day fishing the fast waters here. I really felt it was going to be a double figure day.
After the release I had to get out of the river to bypass a very deep fast flowing stretch of water, before I re-entered the river some forty metres further upstream, where it was more accessible. It was very rocky and a little slippery, but much better water to be holding trout.
Much to my disgust, it wasn't all that long before I hooked and lost a nice trout in a hard fast flowing run. It wasn't all that long after the loss of that trout that I flicked the spinner into a very small pocket of flat water, close to the opposite riverbank. As the spinner was taken with the fast-flowing white water, a trout darted out and took the spinner as it went downstream with the flow.
This trout was bigger than the first two caught early on. This was a solid brown and it played hard in the white water. I was a little worried that it would either toss the lure or the line might part ways as that trout did all it could to escape the March Brown Bug spinner. Thankfully, after what seemed like an eternity, I had it close enough to ease it into the net. Once it was in the net, I felt so relieved as I really wanted this fish because it was my 450th trout of the season.
Ahead of me was some very tough, rocky fast waters and it wasn't the easiest of areas to fish either. It's one of the toughest stretches of river that I have ever fished and it's also one of the best stretches of river to catch trout in. It’s well worth the pain that I go through to catch the trout. It didn't take all that long before I picked up another nice trout, which was followed by another one in reasonably quick time.
I was stoked on how the spin session was going, until I moved into a long, wide, and deeper, medium flowing stretch of water. It's a stretch of water that has held some nice size browns most times that I've fished it, and today it did just that. The only problem was the fact that I hooked and lost two in a row on the March Brown. So, I decided it was best to go for a hard body to fish this water, up to the top end of it. Well, after hooking and losing another two nice trout, I finally got one to stay on. This was also the fish of the day so far, it weighed in at 575g.
Not long after that I hooked and lost another fish, then a little further up the river I caught another nice trout near the top end of this long stretch of deep water. Now that I was back into the fast-flowing water it was back to the Mepps March Brown Bug spinner. It was on the first cast and drift that a large trout took it hard and fast. One leap from the river and the trout tossed the spinner.
That was enough for me to remove the smaller March Brown #0 Bug and go for the larger #1 Bug, in the hope that the larger trebles would do the job. I couldn't believe what happened on the first cast into the same fast water. No sooner had the spinner hit the water and started to drift with the flow, when another large trout took the spinner. This fish was even bigger than the one I had just hooked and lost. It wasn't until it was halfway in that it gave an almighty headshake and that's when it tossed the lure.
After having a hissy fit, I carried on with the fishing and it wasn't all that long before I picked up a nice medium size trout. I then went on to catch another medium size brown before going back to the smaller #0 March Brown Bug spinner, to fish a couple of shallow flat waters near the left side of the river. Here I caught and released a small brown.
From here on I continued to slip and slide my way upstream, flicking the lure into every piece of water that I felt would be holding trout and most of them did too. One nice stretch of water, that was close to the righthand riverbank gave up the twelfth trout of the day. Better still, it was also the biggest fish and one that topped the scales at 705g. As thin as the Platypus Pulse 4lb monofilament line that I use for my trout fishing is, it really stands up well to the punishment that it gets when fishing these fast waters.
It was 11:45am when I released the fish of the day, with my body telling me to call it a day. The mind said keep going for a little longer, which I did. It was a good decision to keep fishing on a little longer because I caught and released another four trout, from six hook ups. I finished the day with sixteen trout added to my season's tally sheet and even better was reaching the milestone of my 450th trout of the season. My season's catch now stands at 463 trout and hopefully I will reach my season target of 500 before the season closes on the May 1.
Adrian (meppstas)
Equipment Used During My Trout Season:
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods - ULS 1-3kg
Okuma LRF Spin Rods – 1-3kg
Okuma ITX Carbon Spin Reels – ITX-1000
Okuma Inspira Blue Spin Reels - ISX-20B
Okuma Helios SX Spin Reels - HSX-20
Okuma Epixor XT Spin Reels - EXPT-20
Okuma Ceymar Spin Reels - C-10
Platypus Pulse Mono Premium Monofilament – 4lb
Platypus Super 100 Monofilament – 4lb
Platypus Pre-test Monofilament – 4lb
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader
Mepps Inline Spinners
Mepps Bug Inline Spinner