Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » Flashback to the Meander
Flashback to the Meander
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
As we reflect on another year and look forward to making the most of the year ahead, Adrian has been reading through some old reports after hitting the 10,000 trout milestone and thought it would be cool to do a little flashback to a December adventure from 2013. We hope you enjoy this little step back in time. All the best with the fishing.
Well, after spending a few hours of scraping the old paint of the 113 year old Federation house, in the midst of getting it ready for a face lift before it goes on the market, I thought it was time to give the Meander another stint of fishing. The weather is still reasonably good most days and I needed a break from working on the house.
It was around 2.50pm when I arrived at Barrett's Bridge on the Meander River and the water was reasonably low here too. It still looked good enough to be holding a few fish though and I headed off down a small side road and then entered the river some 300 metres below the bridge. The river bottom here was covered in a thick film of black slimy algae that broke up in large clumps and floated off with the flow as I waded and fished my way upstream. I've never seen the river like this before and especially in this area as it is normally pretty clean on the river bottom here.
Anyway it wasn't affecting the fishing as it was floating off downstream. I have stayed with the little #00 Mepps Copper Black Fury spinner once more, just like that fly spray saying... ''When you're a good thing, then stick with it.'' It took a while before I did finally get a small brown to take the spinner, however he soon threw it and was gone. The same thing happened again a few minutes later too and there was nothing wrong with this spinner as it was a new one that I had put on during the Mersey River session last Friday afternoon.
As I worked my way up the river I had a few other small browns follow the spinner and just nudge it with their nose. It looked like it was going to be one of those days here again. Finicky fish like the last few trips and I was going to have to work hard for them again.
It wasn't until I had fished my way upstream close on 400 metres, before I picked up a small (230g) brown in a fast water section and then another small one within a couple more cast in the same bit of fast water. These two fish had several hits at the spinner before they finally took it too.
Over the last 200 metres of this part of the Meander River that I fished, I did pick up one more small (220g) brown, before deciding to head on up to the Chestnut Road Bridge and fish the 700-800 meters of river that my mate and I fished last week. After a five minute drive and a quick walk down through the poppy filled paddocks, I was back in the river.
The good thing here was that the river bottom was so much better than the area that I had just fished. Hardly any algae at all, which was great. Fishing the same stretch of river that gave up a good haul of rainbows last week was much different today as it was nearly fish less. I did have the one rainbow come up behind the spinner and give it a couple of light nudges, before it hit hard but missed the trebles. Then it darted off and that was the only fish that I came across in the section of river. I didn't mind really as it meant that they had now finally spread themselves out into the river system and that's what I preferred them to do. That way you can pick one up here and there instead of just fishing the one stretch of water and pulling them in.
The next fast water run gave up three more browns, with the best one going 540g and this was a nice solid, well-conditioned brown too, that gave me a good run for my money in the fast water.
The next run ahead was looking okay too and had some really good areas that should be holding a fish or two as well. It didn't let me down either as I picked up my first rainbow for the day in it and this fish was a good 600g fish that fought like hell in this fast water section. It took a little longer to get him to the net than I expected, however I wasn't rushing this fish as I didn't want to lose it. Finally it was netted and then a quick photo and it was off on its merry way once more, just a little worse for wear but still okay. I like to be as quick as possible with rainbows as they seem to stress much quicker than the browns do.
Another cast into this run and it was fish on again, this time a brown and only a medium one that went around 350g. So, it was onto the next strip of fast water and this good looking water also produced another brown (320g) and a rainbow (490g) which now made my catch rate much better than it was earlier in the afternoon session.
I was now close to the foot of the bridge and getting close to my exit point in the river. I just had to flick the Mepps spinner into a medium size eddy next to the bridge pylon. This worked a treat too as it gave up another rainbow, that just smashed the spinner as soon as it hit the water. Boy! Did it give me a bit of curry too as it made a run straight downstream in the fast water flow and peeled several metres of the Platypus 4lb line from the spool, before I finally had it under control.
This rainbow wasn't a monster in size at all, however it did fight like one, especially with the help of the fast water, which it used to its advantage for a while, before tiring and finally coming to the net. Like I said, it was no monster fish and weighed 620g on the digital scales. Like the others it was photographed and released.
I thought this was a great end to the day, so I had one more cast on the other side of the bridge and hooked into another of the small (280g) Meander browns. Then, I called it a day at 6.35pm. It was well worth taking another trip to the Meander today and maybe tomorrow afternoon (if I find the time) it will be back to the Mersey River to give that river another go. Only time will tell I guess and it's Friday the 13th too!
River: Meander
Browns: 9
Rainbows: 3
(All fish released)
Cheers
Adrian (meppstas)