Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » Moody Leven River Trout

Moody Leven River Trout

By Adrian (meppstas) Webb

With the forecast being for a dull overcast day, with the possibility of 1-5mm of rain, and with the Leven River being at a safe wading height, that was good enough for me to head there for a spin session. I'd been waiting for a day like this for quite some time and I was looking forward to it after the disastrous trip I had here twelve days ago, with just two trout caught and released from fifteen hook ups.

When I arrived at the river the conditions were ideal. It was overcast and a little on the humid side, with the river level a little lower than I had expected but still good for wading. I was in the river by 7:30am and spotted a few trout surface feeding in a long, wide and deep stretch of water. I was feeling quite confident of having a good spin session today.

Instead of heading straight upstream I decided to head downstream and fish a stretch of fast/medium flowing water, one that I've fished on and off on my other visits here. With the water being a light tannin colour, I started the session off using a #1 Mepps Aglia Fluo Micropigments (brown) inline blade spinner. On the second cast and retrieve I was onto my first trout of the morning. This was just the start that I was hoping for. Catching a trout so early into the session was a good sign. It was only a medium size brown, however it was one that was in top condition and a beautiful looking fish too, weighing 330 grams.

I was on a high and felt great, catching that trout in quick time, however it didn't take long before it turned into a low as I fished my way upstream. The trout were there and I was having plenty of follows from them, but there wasn't any aggression from them. It didn't matter what lure I tried on them, the same thing happened. They just sat a few inches back from the lure and followed it.

I tried five different spinners and a variety of small hard body lures, all with the same result. Then, to make matters worse, the cloud dispersed and the sun broke through. This was something that wasn't forecast before I left home. Now I was fishing with the sun on the water, which was something I didn't need at all, especially with the river level being low.

I moved into the shallow fast water and was still having the odd follow from trout, however it wasn't until I went for a well-used #00 Mepps Aglia that I caught my second trout (345g) of the morning. It had taken just under one and a half hours to catch that trout. It did give me a lift for a short time, however that didn't last long because I hardly sighted a trout after that.

At 9:35am I decided it was time to head back to the car and try another area downstream, one that I hadn't fished for several years. The river there was lined with large willow trees, so the river should have quite a few shaded areas on it. Plus the water there was much deeper too. It's a great stretch of river and when I fished it on a regular basis, I did catch quite a few quality trout in it, with fish around the 600 gram size quite common.

By the time I reached the car and drove to my destination, I was back in the river at 10:30am. The eight hundred metre stretch of river that I was about to fish was mainly slow to medium flowing, with a couple of fast water runs at the top end. The first half a dozen cast and retrieves drew the attention of a few decent size trout and that's as far as it went with them. No signs of aggression from any of them and just like the trout in the upper reaches they just sat a few inches behind the lure before moving off.

I did think of getting out of the river and heading back to the car, then thought twice about it and continued to keep on fishing. With the sun being much higher now it was on the water in most places, however there were still several nice shaded areas to fish and that's where I concentrated the fishing. Like early on in the day, I was continually changing lures trying to entice a trout to take strike and time and time again all they did was follow them.

As I approached a shaded, fast flowing stretch of river, that had nice flat water on the opposite side of the river, I thought I'd try a #00 black bladed Aglia Mouche Noire in the hope a trout may go for it. The first cast into the flat water and the spinner was taken by a trout no sooner had it hit the water. At last it was fish on! The only problem was that this trout was a tiddler. Of all the decent size trout that had followed the lures today, I had to catch the smallest fish of the day. Catching that little trout (at 11:15am) was still better than not catching one I suppose and like I often say, 'beggars can't be choosy'... take what you can get and they all add up at the end of the day.

I wasn't all that far from the car and fishing in full sun again, when I flicked the spinner into another small flat water and picked up another trout. This one was twice the size of the one I had caught fifteen minutes earlier. With four trout caught and released now it made me feel a little better, however I was still very disappointed how the day went. So many follows from non-aggressive trout. Had the weather that was forecast been here, it may have been a different story. I guess I'll never know and I will return to this river as soon as I know that there's a dull overcast day here. Maybe the BOM will get it right one day.

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

Adrian (meppstas)