Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » My 10,000 Trout Journey

By Tackle Tactics Pro Angler Adrian Webb
First published: Aug 23 2019

Adrian 'Meppsta' Webb is a trout fanatic from Tasmania, who has a long history of consistent success on trout using Mepps inline spinners.

My 10,000 Trout Journey

By Adrian (meppstas) Webb

Way back when I was around 6 years old, I had my first fishing trip with my grandfather to the Semaphore jetty in South Australia. For the life of me I can't remember the fishing rod or reel that I used as that was back in 1952. I do remember the first fish I caught though, it was a 'tommy ruff' or as they're now called Australian Herring. I didn't do a lot of fishing with my grandfather as he suffered illness from the gas used during the First World War and he died in 1954, but it was thanks to him that I started with my fishing.

My dad wasn't one for fishing as he didn't have the patience to sit on a jetty for all that long and if he didn't get a bite or catch a fish in the first thirty minutes that was it, we were off home. It was my brother who took me fishing mostly. He loved fishing and had all the patience in the world. A little too much patience sometimes because we would sit on the jetty for five or more hours for just a few tommies and gar, with the odd mullet being caught. The good thing was that we always went home with a feed of fresh fish.

As I grew older and my brother worked, then eventually got married, I went fishing on my own before I started work and then bought a car. My first car was a Vanguard that cost me fifty pounds back in 1964 and that was wheels for going fishing. It was in 1965 when a friend asked me if I would like to go and have a fish for trout in the Finniss River at Yundi, which is South of Adelaide. I did go with him and even today I can still remember that first trip to the Finniss River. I had a six foot split can fishing rod, with a spinning reel and ten pound nylon line. My lure was a silver blade Mepps spinner.

On my first spin session on the river I caught a beautiful brown trout that weighed 3lbs. That was the one and only trout we caught on the day, but that was enough to get me well and truly hooked on trout fishing. I still did my saltwater fishing for whiting and snapper on a regular basis but was really getting into the trout fishing more often. Trout fishing in South Australia was tough, mainly because of the lack of rivers/streams that had trout in them, however I did find enough of them to keep me going. The more I went the better I became at it, reading a river and knowing where the tout would be holding out. The rivers/streams that I fished were all small tight skinny waters and I feel that's what made me the trout fisherman that I am today.

Like I stated earlier, my first trip and catching a trout is what inspired me to become obsessed with chasing trout. There's just something different about it, compared to saltwater fishing where fish are normally in schools and plentiful. Trout on the other hand, especially the brown trout, never swim in schools in a river, they are loners. They do pair up during the spawning season and that's it. Sometimes you'll see juvenile trout swimming in numbers and then as they mature they're off on their own.

Brown trout are smart and can be pretty frustrating at times. They will come up behind a lure and just follow it, with no signs of aggression, then turn and move off not to be seen again. When they're in that type of mood it's then up to me to entice them to take the lure. It can take some time and several changes of lure before you get one to take it. When a trout does take the lure you know you've achieved what many other fishers haven't.

I must admit that I am obsessed with trout fishing for sure. In fact, I became so obsessed that we spent seven years heading back and forth to Tasmania before selling up and moving here in March 2000. I was finally in trout heaven, where nearly every river and stream has trout in them. It's not only the trout fishing that I love, it's also the beautiful peaceful surrounds one can take in. I've had many trips over the years when I haven't landed a trout and not worried about because of the beauty that's around me. When I go stalking trout my aim is always to catch them, however if it doesn't happen then so be it, it's not the end of the world.

When fishing for trout one has to have patience... if you don't have it, then don't go. I will often sit on a rock in the middle of a river or a log next to a river bank and take it all in. I do feel lucky that I was introduced to trout fishing back in 1965 for sure, had I not, look what I would have missed out on. Trout fishing has taught me to be patient and it's also landed me where I am today. I joined the Ulverstone Angling Club back in 2006/07 and have won the trophy for most trout caught in rivers and streams every year since. I only realised a few days ago, after going through my full yearly trout season reports that I am just 123 trout short of my 10,000th trout since moving here.

I have too many good memories to mention here, but one of them was my first ever trip to the Finniss River in South Australia. I can still picture the area we parked the car and made our way through the thick scrub and reached the river. Back then I never had waders, it was fishing from the river banks or hopping in the shallow water fully clothed. I remember my first couple of casts, they both lobbed into some thick foliage on the other side of the river.

When I did finally manage to get some accuracy with my casting and lob the spinner in the river it didn't take all that long before the Mepps Silver Black Fury sucked in my first ever brown trout. I have a lot of good memories of my trips to the Finniss River, including when I purchased a machete to slash a path through the blackberry bushes to reach the river. That day was a tough one, without a trout being caught. Another time I was on the river by 5:00am during summer, a day that was forecast to be in the high 90's. Well, I'd never seen so many brown and red bellied black snakes in all my life until that day. As the sun got higher and the temperature rose the snakes headed to the river for water and they were actually in the river, with their head resting on a rock next to the river bank. That's a day that I'll never forget and it was the longest half a mile walk back along the river to reach the car.

My best day's trout fishing have been here in Tassie. One when I fished a small stream and stopped fishing when I had caught and released 49 trout. Why did I stop at 49 trout you ask... it was to give me a challenge to catch 50 trout on another trip one day. Ten years on and it still hasn't happened, my best catch still sits on 49 trout. Other good memories have been going through maps and finding fire tracks that lead to small rivers/streams and having a spin session in them. To me that's what trout fishing is all about, finding out of the way to secluded little streams that no-one (to my knowledge) has ever fished. I have caught a lot of trout in those streams, many being nice solid fish in the 600-700 gram range.

My first PB trout comes to mind too. That was a beautiful male brown trout, taken in a small backwater on the Mersey River back in 2006. It was taken on a small Mepps 1.5 gram Black Fury inline spinner. To reach this narrow snaggy backwater I had to slide down an embankment so that I could get a cast up along it. It had to be an accurate cast too, one that I managed to do first up. On the retrieve I spotted a large brown move out of the snaggy zone and come hard and fast at the little spinner. It was one of the most aggressive attacks I had ever had on a lure in my short time in Tassie. It took me several minutes, which seemed forever, before I had that fish in close enough to hop in the water and lift it onto a small flat piece of ground. That trout went 5lb 4oz and the little Black Fury spinner was bent in half and was totally buggered. I still have that little lure today. I still can't believe that I managed to land that trout on the day, given where I hooked it, plus I didn't have a landing net back then either.

I have so many good memories over my 54 years of trout fishing my way towards my 10,000th trout. I'll just add a couple more to this article. My most memorable one was on the very last day of the 2017-18 trout season and was in the Leven River, where I had caught and released quite a few trout. I was in the middle of the river, fishing a wide shallow light tannin stretch, when I caught some movement in the water to the right of me. It was around fifteen metres or more away from me and when I looked at it a little harder, it seemed to me that it was just a small broken tree branch on the river bottom. I had a couple of casts upstream without any signs of a trout and then I had another look towards what I thought was the branch. It moved. I couldn't believe it was a trout and a massive one at that. It sent shivers up my spine and with a thin Platypus Super 100 4lb mono line on my reel, I wasn't sure if it would hold that fish if I happened to get it to take a lure. I knew the 1.5 gram lure was way too small to handle that fish, so I went for a 50mm hard body lure that was the biggest one I had on me. A quick change of lure was in order and once I turned to have a cast up and across the river, I saw that the trout had moved off.

The first thing that came to mind was there goes my chance of my best ever PB trout being caught. Then I looked at the water and thought were I would go if I were a trout. After looking at the water for a few minutes I thought the area to my far right would be where I would go. The river bank was lined with debris and there was also a nice flat water next to it, along with a nice bubble line to go with it. A bubble line is always a good area for catching trout as it's a highway for food that drifts down the river, so that's where I cast the lure.

All I was hoping for now was that this is where the trout had moved to. No sooner had the lure hit the water it was smashed! I had lobbed the lure right to where that brown had moved to. The water boiled and suddenly the trout leaped from the river. It was then that I realised how big it was... it was massive. I don't know how many times it leaped from the river or how many runs it made. All I could do was to keep enough pressure on the fish as not to break the line.

I was trying to keep my cool as it was taking ages to get control of this fish and to make matters worse it did a crocodile roll and wrapped the line around itself. Now I was in trouble, the fish was holding side on in the flow and there's my light 4lb line wrapped halfway along its body. With the adrenalin running high I still had to keep my cool and hope the line would hold on long enough for the fish to tire and stop fighting. That brown wasn't ready to toss in the towel as it did another crocodile roll and this time it was in my favour it unrolled the line.

It was then that I felt I was back in control, well to a certain point as the trout was still around fifteen metres from me and still holding in the stronger flow in the middle of the river. I just kept enough pressure on the fish as I slowly made my way to the edge of the river. I could see the fish was tiring and the hardest part was yet to come. Of all the times to have my shallow landing net with me, it had to be today, with my large deep landing net in the boot of my car. This trout would not fit into the net that I was using, so all that I could do was slowly lead it into the shallows and grip hold of it by the tail... which I did.

Finally, after fifteen minutes, that beautiful golden wild brown trout was landed. It was totally exhausted. I took a couple of quick photos and spent just over five minutes holding it in the water to make sure that it was fine, before letting it swim off. That fish went 8lb 8oz and was a fish of a lifetime for me and one that I doubt I'll better in a river here in Tasmania. It was also big enough to get me a trophy for the heaviest trout of the season too.

Another of my great memories was trout was fishing with a very good mate (Clint) from time to time, who sadly passed away from cancer last December. We spent many years on and off having a spin session in several rivers. He caught more trout than me on a few trips too and boy did he rub it in. When he was a fish or two in front of me he used to call out "Hey trout master, how many have you caught". We had a lot of fun stirring one another on and a lot of laughs were had on our trips. Memories and photos of those trips that will last me a lifetime.

There are many ways of fishing for trout, including lure, fly and bait, so if you are just starting out trout fishing I'd advise you to read up on the general basics of trout fishing and watch videos on how to catch trout. Whether it be any of the three mentioned you'll find plenty of info on it. If you know someone who is experienced in trout fishing, don't be afraid to ask them if you can tag along with them one day so that you can see for yourself what it's all about and how it's done. Listen to what the experienced trout fisher tells you. You can join an Angling Club, where you can pick up plenty of help and tips about trout fishing. Remember to fish with light tackle as it's more productive than using heavy gear. The more often that you go trout fishing on a river, the more experienced you will become and you will learn how to read a river and where the trout hold out.

If it's your first time to a river, then don't go alone. Always go with someone who is experienced in river fishing. Do not enter the river if you are unsure of its depth or how fast it is flowing, as one slip and it could be your last fishing trip. Do not take any risks as no fish is worth drowning for, always remember 'SAFETY FIRST'.

The best thing of all to do is to be patient and enjoy yourself. Whether it be lure, fly or bait fishing, that's what trout fishing is all about. One other thing that I forgot to mention and that is to keep a diary and record your catches of each and every trout fishing trip that you go on. For example, what river and where did you fish, how was the river level and was the river clear, a little off colour or dirty. Also record weather conditions; cool, cloudy, raining, windy, no wind, light breeze and what lures, bait or flies did you use, what did the trout go for that day, how many did you catch on the day and did you release them or keep them. When you do a trout report keep it simple and write it as you saw it, that's all you have to do.

Always take a camera with you and take photos of the river and surrounds, not just of the fish. It's always good to look back on in years to come and something that you will treasure as you get older. That is something that I do know for sure. I started my trout diary when we moved here in March 2000.

How will I celebrate my 10,000th trout? Simple, this is an easy one to speak about. I'll breathe a sigh of relief when it happens for starters. I'll be over the moon to have achieved a milestone of something that I never thought would happen. Of course I'll take a photo of the 10,000th trout, whether it's a small, medium or large fish is not important, however catching it on a Mepps spinner is. Once back at the car then I will sit back and celebrate with a can of Pepsi Max and a chocolate Freddo.

Adrian (meppstas)

My end of season stats from March 2000 through to the end of the 2018/19 trout season.

Here's my stats since moving down to Tasmania, back in March 2000. The first 4 years were a little on the low side (catch rate), due to me getting to know the rivers and where I could get in and fish them. After getting to know several farmers and the purchase of a better pair of waders, the fishing really went up from there on. Having access to many areas on the rivers certainly made for a much better catch rate from there on.

• Less than 1% of my catch is kept, all blackfish & Aust. grayling caught are released.
• Only trout are counted in my total catch and averages.
• Biggest trout: Brown @ 3.85 kg (8lb 8oz) on 27th April 2018.
• Since moving to Tasmania to live (March 2000) and trout fish I've had 1631 trips to rivers for a total catch of 8956 brown trout, 914 rainbow trout, 1 brook trout, 3 Atlantic salmon, 6 blackfish, 6 redfin perch and 2 Australian grayling.
• Average for trout caught (9,871 in total) over the 1631 trips = 6.05.
• Ulverstone Anglers Club Vic Whitehouse Trophy holder for most trout caught in rivers and streams - 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, ??