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Ideal Conditions, Slow Going
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
I was heading to the Meander River this morning and on the way changed my mind due to it being 7:25am, a little too late to go there. Instead I finished up hopping in the Mersey River closer to home. The weather was perfect for being in a river. Low cloud and humid conditions prevailed, just how I like it. After crossing the river and a ten minute walk through the bush, I reached my entry point some five hundred metres downstream.
The first thing that I noticed was the odd trout surface feeding in a few areas in the medium flowing water that I was about to flick the Mepps Stone Fly Bug spinner into. After a dozen cast and retrieves I hadn't had a hit, let alone a follow from a trout. It wasn't looking good so far, in a stretch of water that normally gives up a trout or two.
As I moved a little further upstream I noticed some caddis moths flying around, so thought the White Miller Bug spinner may be worth a go. So off went the Stone Fly and on went the #00 White Miller. It was on the third cast into the headwater that a solid brown took the lure, a beautiful fish it was too. No sooner had it taken the lure, it leaped from the river and tossed the spinner. There's nothing worse than hooking and losing the first fish of the day, even more so when it's in the 600-700 gram range.
Anyway it's no good crying over spilt milk, so I moved into the fast water to my left, that had a nice flat water near the opposite river bank. A long cast up and across the fast water and I lobbed the White Miller 1.5-1.8 metres into it. No sooner had I started the retrieve and the spinner was snapped up by another solid brown. This fish immediately headed into the fast water and the battle was on. It ran me every which way as it tried to break free from the little #00 Bug spinner. Thankfully it was well hooked and a minute later it was the net. It was a fish that was in top condition and went 525 grams. I was very relieved that this trout made it into the net. It was a very tired fish and it took a few minutes before I felt it was good enough to be released back into the river.
The next stretch of water that I headed into was a wide, slow flowing run that was shallow on the left hand side and fairly deep on the right hand side and that's where I spotted three trout surface feeding not all that far from one another. It only took three or four casts to see them disappear from the area. They were the last trout seen until I was around two hundred metres further up the river, where I had a follow from a small/medium size brown on a #00 Stone Fly Bug spinner, after trying a Black #0 Aglia Mouche Noire and a #00 Gold Aglia ealier.
I went back to the White Miller, while still finding it hard to believe how scarce the trout where in an area that's always fished so well for many years and in what was perfect conditions for the trout to be out and about. From here on it was dead, with not a sign of a trout. I felt that I was really wasting my time, slipping and sliding on the rocky river bottom, so I headed back to where I crossed the river to make my way back to the car.
I was halfway across the river when I noticed a couple of trout close to the opposite river bank surface feeding and thought it was worth flicking a lure in that area. Being a shallow piece of water I replaced the White Miller with a very small, unbranded hard body lure in brown trout pattern that I've had for thirteen years. One of two that I bought at the Inland Fisheries weekend at Liaweene. The first cast I lobbed the little lure right next to the trout and it had a crack at it but missed the small trebles. Two more casts into the area and the two trout decided it was time to get out of there, darting off not to be seen again.
My morning spin session was over. As I headed back to the car I did flick the lure into a small shallow river, without any signs of trout. Even though the weather conditions were ideal for trout fishing, it was a shame the trout didn't know it. Then again, if they're not in good numbers in the area they wouldn't know anyway. Thankfully I did manage to catch and release one nice trout, which saved the spin session from being a complete flop. It hadn't been the start that I wanted in February either, with the second poor spin session in a river.
Adrian (meppstas)
Equipment Used:
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods - 1-3kg ULS Trout Rod
Okuma Ceymar Spin Reels - C-10
Mepps Lures - Bug spinners
Platypus Super 100 Monofilament
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader