Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » My 10,000th Tasmanian Wild Trout
My 10,000th Tasmanian Wild Trout
By Adrian (Meppstas) Webb
Today was the day that I was going for my 10,000th Tasmanian wild trout, since we moved here back in March 2000, and I intended to catch it in one of my favourite tannin waters. Looking through a few of my past trout seasons records I found that these tannin waters fished extremely well at this time of the season, so that was a good enough reason to head there.
It proved correct on the previous day, when I fished a new tannin water and the trout were there and pretty aggressive. With cooler weather and recent rains they should be on the take today. I only needed seven trout to reach a milestone that I never countered on and in fact one that was never planned for. It was only by going through my previous end of season trout reports that dated back to March 2000 that I noticed I was only 129 trout short of catching 10,000 trout, which blew me away when I found out.
So, today was to be the day I was going to reach it. In fact I hoped to go well past it based on my previous season trout reports. The weather was a cool twelve degrees, with rain forecast for later in the day. The sky was mainly cloudy, with patches of sunlight every now and then. The biggest problem facing me was the gusty 20-25 kph N/NW winds.
It wasn't an early start for me either as I didn't hit the water until 11:20am, mainly due to the weather conditions. The river was up slightly from the previous day's rain, which was good as it meant the trout would also be feeling refreshed and in an aggressive mood.
I started the spin session off with a Mepps #00 Stone Fly Bug spinner. It's always a good trout attractor, well most times and it did draw the attention of two trout in the first section of water that I fished. Seeing as they didn't attack the lure, I decided to go for one that every now and then produces a few surprises, the #00 White Miller Bug spinner. It's a spinner that I use every now and then, and also a spinner that sucks the trout in from time to time when conditions are suitable.
Today was one of those days when I felt that it may just suck in a few trout and with a few caddis (white) moths hovering above the water it could do the job today. I was only five minutes into the spin session when the White Miller sucked the first trout in, just a nice medium 300 gram brown. Three more cast and retrieves, straight up the narrow water and I had several hits and one hook up, which I lost. The trout were in the right mood today.
After climbing over a few logs to reach a small pocket of water, I flicked the spinner close to the left side of the water and it was taken in no time at all. Two trout in just over ten minutes and it was all go today. I had to get out of the stream to go around a large log jam, then hop back in some twenty metres further up.
From here on I had several hits and like before the trout missed getting hooked. The aggression was still there, so I wasn't changing lures yet. Finally after fifteen minutes I had my third trout landed and then ten minutes later I was onto another medium size brown. It stayed on and I had my fourth trout landed.
I hooked and lost two more trout and then it took another twenty minutes before the fifth trout was landed. Five minutes on I had number six in hand and with just the one trout to go I was now feeling a little nervous, but also confident that I would soon have the trout required to hit the 10,000 mark.
After having several more hit and misses, then hooking and losing another fish, there was a little cursing going on. I was still confident of catching the seventh trout, it was just the frustration of hooking and losing so many that was the problem. I had faith in the little Mepps Bug spinner and I wasn't about to make a change of lure anytime soon. It was 12:26pm (time on the camera) when I caught the sixth trout and I had so many chances in that time to catch the seventh... just another thing that bugged me.
As I moved into the next stretch of water I disturbed a small trout at the tail end of it and I thought that it's probably spooked any other trout that were here. I was near the top end of it and flicked the Bug right next to a bank that was covered with overhanging ferns on the deep side of the stream. Nothing happened on the first cast.
The second cast was much better and the Mepps Bug was taken hard and fast. I had the trout hooked that I needed reach the milestone. What made it better is that it was a solid fish and the best of the spin session by far... it was also well and truly hooked! I did hesitate to get the camera out and video it at first, then after seeing how well it was hooked I couldn't help myself.
After a short tussle with the fish of the session so far, I slipped the net under it. I had the fish that I needed in the net at 12:50pm. After taking a couple of photos of the 485g trout, as well as a selfie holding the fish, it was returned to the stream. It took a little while to take it in and even while I'm writing this I still find it hard to believe what I have achieved since moving to Tasmania. I do feel proud of what I have achieved over my 54 years of trout fishing here and back in South Australia where I started my trout fishing. Yes, I suppose it is a pretty big milestone in my trout fishing years and one that I'm sure I will cherish for a very long time.
Another thing that I forgot to mention was that when I caught the sixth trout, I remember while doing the video that I said I wasn't overly fussed what size trout I caught to reach the 10,000th trout because it's really all about being here doing what one loves. Trout fishing rivers, in beautiful surrounds, is what it's all about and the size of the fish to me isn't all that important, although it was nice to get one that size for the milestone wasn't it.
Right, now back to the rest of the spin session. I continued fishing my way up through several stretches of shallow and medium depth water, still sticking with the White Miller Bug spinner. I picked up another five small to medium size trout on it. I was still having a lot of hit and misses, so I finally had a change of lure. It was back to the Stone Fly coloured Bug spinner.
I caught another solid brown with it. A beautiful trout that was marginally smaller than the trout of the day. Not long after that I had a few more hit and misses on the Stone Fly Bug before I went back to the White Miller to fish the last two runs, before calling it a day.
It was the second to last stretch of water that gave up my fourteenth trout of the day and it too was a beautiful, well-conditioned fish and a great way to end what was a memorable day in a small tannin stream. The spin session ended at 3:15pm. No pressure to catch the trout now and I'm sure the hit and misses will now be less and the hook ups more frequent. Well, I can only hope that's how it will play out...
Adrian (meppstas)
Equipment Used:
Mepps Inline Spinner lures
Platypus Super 100 mono lines