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First Rainbow of the Season
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
Another change of weather was on the way and this time it included thunderstorms and heavy rain. So, I made a hasty decision to head off to the Mersey River before the change arrived. I checked the river levels online and saw that the river at Weegena was down to a reasonable level and fairly safe for wading. It was 7:40am when I hopped in the river and the first thing that I noticed was the water temperature was sitting at 10 degrees, which was good to see. The lure of choice to start with was a #1 Aglia Furia, a great all round Mepps inline spinner, that does a good job on the trout.
The water that I started off in was perfect for casting and drifting the spinner, which I did for around twenty minutes without a hit from a trout. That was until I moved a little further upstream and cast the spinner into a shallow flat water. No sooner had I started to retrieve and the Aglia Furia was taken by a medium size trout. The fish jumped from the river, gave a solid headshake and tossed the spinner. It was gone in a flash. It was hard enough catching trout in this stretch of water at this time of the season, let alone hooking and losing one early into a spin session... that never goes down well.
The left side of the river was the shallow side and the safest way to fish my way upstream, so that's what I did. The only trout that I saw were a couple that I spooked while making my way upstream. I came to a section of river that was divided from the main stream and it's one that I never bypass either as it's given up a trout or two from time to time. For the first few casts and retrieves there wasn't a sign of a trout and I was about to move back into the main stream, instead making one more cast and retrieve into a shallow piece of water that was close to the river bank. On the retrieve a small brown took the spinner. This little trout stayed on. It was well hooked and did it's best to toss the spinner but failed to do so.
After an hour in the river, I finally had my first Mersey River trout of the season in hand. After its release, I made my way back to the main stream, right where there was a stretch of fast flowing water. This water was flowing too fast to be holding trout, however there was a small flat pocket of water behind a boulder that may well have had trout in it. The plan was to cast the lure a few metres upstream, past the boulder and let it drift back with the flow and into the flat water. I did this several times, without any sign of a trout and I was about to move off, then decided to give it one more go. This time, as the spinner drifted into the flat water, a trout had a crack at the lure. It missed being hooked, so I moved onto the next stretch of water.
This stretch of river was wide and a little deeper than normal, due to the river still running a little on the high side. I was staying on the left side of it, where it varied from just below the knees to around twelve centimetres above the knees. From the middle of the river to the opposite side it went from waist deep to two and a half metres. Waist deep water can be tricky most times when fishing and even more so when the river bottom is unstable, due to it being covered in a variety of small to large slippery rocks. It's best to stay well clear of these areas, unless absolutely necessary, as there's nothing worse than slipping on a rock and taking a dive into water that's above the waist. It's bad enough when one takes a tumble in knee deep water. I know that from experience. I've been there and done it. The left-hand side, that I was fishing from, was slow flowing water and the further I went to the right, the faster the flow was and there wouldn't be any trout there until the water level had dropped.
As I slowly made my way upstream, casting and retrieving the Aglia Furia, I noticed a couple trout surface feeding in shallow water next to a small outcrop of reeds. I had no idea of their size either and I presumed they were brown trout. I watched them for a minute or two, wondering what lure I should change to. With the water being shallow the #1 (3.5 gram) spinner would spook them if I lobbed it anywhere near them. I was in two minds whether to go for a #00 (1.5 gram) or a #0 (2.5 gram) spinner, deciding to go with the latter size to get the extra distance. Lure of choice was a March Brown coloured Mepps Bug spinner.
The first cast and retrieve landed well past where the two trout were surface feeding. On the retrieve the lure came down to where they were and both trout chased it. One trout had a go at it and missed taking the treble hook. With it being so overcast, with dull conditions here, I still couldn't see if they were browns or not. I assumed that they were browns anyway.
The next cast was into the same area as the first cast and this time as I retrieved the Bug spinner toward them, one of the trout darted out and smashed it. No sooner had it taken the lure, it took off and ran hard and fast, at the same time making several leaps from the water. It was a solid fish and a decent size too. After what seemed like forever, I had it in close enough to see that it was a beautiful rainbow trout. The fight had gone out of it now and I eased it into the net. It was a beauty and even better, it was a decent size fish that went 610 grams. It was also my first rainbow trout of the season.
That was the one and only trout caught and seen in that slow flowing stretch of water. It wasn't until I moved into a stretch of fast flowing water, that had several flat waters on either side, that I caught my second rainbow. This was after changing back to the #1 Mepps Aglia Furia. This fish was taken in shallow, flat water, close to a fallen tree on the left side of the river and directly ahead of me. The rainbow ran straight into the fast water and played merry hell, doing its best to toss the spinner. It didn't. Fighting for its freedom in the fast water only tired it out and it wasn't long before it was landed.
This rainbow was like the one that I had caught earlier. A solid, beautifully coloured and well-conditioned fish, that weighed 590 grams. Like all the trout that I catch (unless they have gill damage from taking the lure deep in the throat), it was released back into the river for another day. From here on I struggled to find trout in the water, mainly because it was all fast water now, with very few flat waters that could be fished. I did manage to catch another small brown, that took the spinner as it passed through a small pocket of water, behind a boulder and in the middle of the river.
After its release, I fished on for another twenty minutes. The waters that I fished were a mix of fast and medium flowing waters, and one follow from a trout was all that I could manage. My day was done at 10:10am. It turned out to be a better day than expected too. The two highlights of the spin session were the two solid rainbow trout that I was lucky enough to catch and release.
Adrian (meppstas)