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Mersey Fast Water Slow
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
The day brought calm and humid conditions that were ideal for trout fishing, which saw me head up to Weegena to chase the trout in the fast waters of the Mersey River. I wasn't in a rush to get there, seeing as it was overcast and humid. It was 8:10am when I arrived at Weegena. From where I parked the car I had a fifteen minute walk to the fast water that I was going to fish and on the way I bypassed a long wide slow flowing stretch of river that had a lot of trout surface feeding in it.
There were black spinners hovering above the water surface which had quite a few trout fired up as they were leaping from the river trying to grab a few. Had there been light rain or a ripple on the water from a breeze, I wouldn't have bypassed the slow flowing water, instead I would have fished it with the Mepps Stone Fly coloured Bug spinner. Given that the water was like glass and the trout surface feeding, I knew it was a waste of time trying to pick up a trout there and that's why my mind was set on fast water fishing for trout today.
It was nearly 8:30am when I finally hit the water and started flicking a #0 Stone Fly coloured Mepps Bug spinner up and across the fast water, only to find there was a lot of water weed and green algae in the river, more under the water than on top of it. It wasn't so much that the weed was a problem, although it did restrict where I placed the spinner in the river, it was the green algae that fouled the Bug spinner. The spinner only had to touch a rock or go close to the weed and it became fouled with green algae. I had to be pretty particular where I cast the spinner and even the cast and drift method that I use with the lure was becoming a problem in most sections of fast water because of the algae.
I decided to change lures, so it was off with the 2.5 gram #0 Bug and on with a 1.5 gram Copper #00 Aglia Mouche Noire. Being a much lighter lure it wouldn't run as deep. It was 8:50am when I cast into a narrow fast water run, that had a large boulder in the middle of it at the headwater and it was here that I had my first hook up. A nice sold brown had taken the lure. It made a few runs and leaps from the river, before heading into the water weeds. I managed lead it out but this fish wasn't giving in.
I made the big mistake of messing around getting the camera out to film it, while holding the rod in one hand with a fish that was still full of fight, instead of leading it into the net when I had the chance to do so. It kept pulling hard on the line while I was trying to turn the camera on and that's when it broke the surface and gave one almighty head shake and tossed the lure. Boy, did I curse myself for messing around with getting the camera out as it cost me landing the first trout of the morning. Not that it was a large fish, it was probably in the 450-500 gram range. It was just the fact that I put filming the fish first instead of landing it.
It wasn't until I moved into a wide, fast water run that I had a small/medium (280g) size rainbow take the Copper Mouche Noire as I let it drift with the flow. I could see it was well hooked so it was out with the camera for a short bit of filming, before I slipped the net under it. At last I had my first trout of the spin session in the net. From here on I hardly saw a trout over the next two hundred metres of fast water. Two follows and one light hit and miss was all that I could manage.
Three hundred metres of fast water that normally gives up six to eight trout any other time that I've fished it, gave up one rainbow trout. It was hard to believe... they just weren't here. My day was done, with just the one trout landed from two hook ups. It wasn't one of my better days in this fast water at all. Perhaps they had moved into the slower flowing water, to feed on the black spinners and other insect life that was there in the thousands. January is always my worst and one of my toughest months when chasing trout, so I'm glad that February is here and it will be even better if and when we get a big downpour of rain.
Cheers
Adrian (meppstas)
Equipment Used:
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods
Okuma Inspira Blue Spin Reels - ISX-20B
Mepps inline spinners
Platypus Super 100 monofilament
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader