Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » Mersey Browns & Rainbows

Mersey Browns & Rainbows

By Adrian (meppstas) Webb

It was another top day here in Sheffield today, with a maximum temperature of 16 degrees followed up with a gusty south westerly later in the day. It was a good day to hit one of the larger rivers again. This time it was the upper reaches of the Mersey River at Weegena that I headed to for the second time this season. My last trip here was back on the September 9 and that trip was a real fizzer, with just the one brown trout caught and released.

I arrived at 7:50am at Weegena and was in the river by 7:56am. The water was running very clear, so I started the session off with a Mepps #0 Stone Fly coloured Bug spinner. One thing that I couldn't help but notice was the amount of duns that were hovering above the water. They were everywhere and this was going to make for a tough spin session because the trout will be concentrating on surface feeding. In fact I could see trout surface feeding in most sections of the slower flowing stretches of water above and below the bridge.

Three minutes later, after a cast and drift, I had the first fish in the net. It was a nice well-conditioned rainbow trout and was the first trout of the morning. That was my first rainbow trout for the season as well which was good as they've been few and far between in this area over the past couple of seasons. A few mores casts and retrieves drew the attention of a large brown trout. That fish sat back behind the spinner without having a go at it.

Seeing that large trout made me change lures and I went for a small handmade brown trout hard body. I worked several areas off the river with it for just the one hook up from a medium size rainbow that I lost as quickly as it hit it. I fished this area for another five minutes without a sign of a trout and then moved onto the next run of water.

While I slowly made my way upstream I could see trout surface feeding everywhere. Small-medium browns in the 280-380 gram size and several larger fish around 800 grams were having a ball on the insects that were on the water surface. I tried several different Mepps models and blade colours, unfortunately all that happened was follow after follow from the trout, until I went back to the Stone Fly Bug spinner. Three or four casts was all it took before I was onto a trout, one that took me by surprise because I wasn't expecting a hit in the slower flowing water.

This time it was a brown trout that took the Bug spinner. Not one of the larger browns that I had spotted surface feeding, just a small size 280 gram fish. It had taken thirty-five minutes to pick up the second trout of the session. Like I stated earlier, it was going to be a tough day chasing trout with them surface feeding. I don't know how many casts and retrieves I had in between the first and second fish, but it was a lot that's for sure. I fished shallow waters and deep waters, all with the same results. Plenty of follows but no takers until I went for a change of lure as I moved into another deep run.

The lure I went for was an old beat up hard body. It was one that had been broken in half that I filled with Araldite and then hand painted. It was a small 40mm lure that had a great action and has caught a lot of trout in the past. I've carried it in my fishing vest for a long time (two trout seasons) since I patched it up and this was its first time back in a river.

Finally, after several casts and retrieves in this deep medium flowing stretch of water, the little hard body was snapped up by a solid brown. This fish would test out how well I put the lure back together. Would it part ways where it had been broken in half or would it hold out? The lure did its job and held itself together, and the trout stayed on all the way to the landing net. Once weighed in the net the trout only went 320g, however so far it was the biggest trout of the session. It was also the third trout of the morning and was caught fifty five minutes (9:40am) after the second trout. When the fishing is tough, like it was today, it's just a matter of being patient because there's always a trout that will eventually take a lure.

Ahead of me was a couple of decent fast water runs and it was in those fast waters that I was hoping to increase today's catch rate. To cut a long story short I went back to the Stone Fly spinner to fish them. The trout were few and far between too, and all I did manage was to catch and release two small rainbows from three hook ups. The first one was caught at 10:10am and the second one at 11:15 am.

The last fast water that I fished was a reasonably long one. Halfway along it, and after catching the last small rainbow and losing one other, my mind wanted to go on but my body didn't. I could have pushed on and probably would have had the trout been there in good numbers, however I knew I would struggle to catch any more, so called it a day at 11:30am.

With three rainbows and two browns caught and released it wasn't all that bad, given the conditions, with the trout full on surface feeding. I knew it was going to be tough as it always is when there are massive dun hatches on any river.

Adrian (meppstas)

Equipment used on various trout trips:

Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods - ULS 1-3kg trout rods
Okuma LRF Spin Rods - Split Grip 1-3kg
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 Super 100 Monofilament Fishing Line
Platypus Pre-Test Monofilament Fishing Line
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader
Mepps Inline Spinners
Boomerang Tool Products