Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » Low Tannin Water Trout
Related Products...
Low Tannin Water Trout
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
Another dull overcast day saw me head off for a mid-afternoon spin session in a small tannin stream. It was one that I hoped would still have a decent flow in it, following some good rain several days ago. When I arrived at the stream (2:00pm) it looked reasonably good from where I was standing, however it wasn't until I had taken a twenty-minute walk to where I entered the water that I realised how low it actually was. Even more so, each small step that I took in the shallow water was enough to send trout scurrying off every which way. I knew then that I was in for a tough spin session.
The water itself was still a very dark tannin colour, but still good enough to use a March Brown coloured Mepps Bug spinner if need be. I decided to start the session off using a #00 Copper Mepps Aglia Mouche Noire, mainly because of the dark clouded water colour. I felt it would be well suited to these conditions.
The first cast and retrieve was a long one, straight down the middle of the stream, and no sooner had the lure hit the water, it attracted the attention of a trout. That's as far as it went too, that trout followed the copper spinner for a short distance before it turned and moved off. The same thing happened when I tried the March Brown colour and the #0 Aglia Fluo Micropigments brown spinner, which didn't please me all that much.
From there I slowly made my way upstream. The slightest noise of the felt soled wading boots, on the small rocky bottom, was enough to spook a trout five or more metres away further upstream. Several times all it took to spook trout was the noise of the small 1.5g or 2.5g spinner hitting the surface of the water. It wasn't until I moved into a small well-covered deeper stretch of water twenty minutes later, that a small brown took the Aglia Fluo brown spinner. Like always, it was a relief to catch a trout in these tough fishing conditions.
Ahead of me was a massive logjam, that I eventually made my way over to get into some nice tight water. It was there, after a few casts and retrieves, that I made the decision to remove the anti-kink from the set up. With the water being so low I felt it was a distraction for the trout. Several darted off as it passed them while I was retrieving the spinner. The change worked reasonably well because it wasn't all that long before I caught my second small trout. This fish fell to the small #00 March Brown coloured Bug that I had just put on to fish the shallow waters ahead of me.
A few metres upstream I hooked and landed another small brown, then lost another on the very next cast and retrieve in the same narrow stretch of water. From here on I kept getting hits and hooked and lost several small/medium size trout. It wasn't until I had entered a waist deep stretch of water that the next trout was caught. That trout was a solid fish, taken on a small and very old (40 years at least) unbranded spinner, that I hand painted many, many years ago.
I had that trout on for around thirty seconds, before losing it while I was filming it. I should have eased it into the net when I had the chance. I made several inline spinner changes while fishing this deep water and had trout follow the lures without taking them. I had no choice now but to go for a small hard body lure. Well, it only took two casts and retrieves to catch a trout in this deep run. It was a decent size trout too. After deducting the 300g weight of the net, the trout itself weighed in at 515g.
From here I moved into a deep pool, where I thought I was certain to catch a couple of trout on the little hard body lure. I didn't even get a follow from a trout, which surprised me. Once I reached the top end of this pool, I entered a very narrow 30cm stretch of water that I was about to bypass, before thinking twice about doing so. I always say, never bypass any water as you never know what could be in it.
I flicked the small hard body into the top end of it and no sooner had I started to retrieve the little lure when it was smashed by a large brown trout. This fish was a beauty too. It was the best trout I've caught in this small stream for quite some time, and it fought hard. All I could do was ease it onto the shallow side of this narrow run. Thankfully it only had one hook of the treble in the corner of its mouth, which was easily removed with my forceps, and after deducting the weight of the net it came in at 1.085kg.
The trout fishing didn't get any easier from here on. I had also gone back to the Mepps inline spinner because of the low water level. The trout were still out and about, however the slightest noise had them darting off. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to catch and release three more trout from six hook ups, before calling it a day. Nine trout caught and released wasn't all that bad given the tough conditions I had to fish in. Hopefully we may get a few more rainy days to give these small streams a rise water level.
Adrian (meppstas)
Equipment Used During My Trout Season
TT Red Belly Spin Rods - RBS702L 7’ 1-3kg 2pce
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods – 6’6” 1-3kg 2pce
Okuma ITX Carbon Spin Reels – ITX-1000
Okuma Epixor XT Spin Reels - EXPT-20
Okuma Ceymar HD Spin Reels – CHD-1000HA
Platypus Pulse Premium Mono
Platypus Super 100 Mono
Platypus Pre-Test Mono
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader
Mepps Inline Spinners