Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » Nice Way to End the Day
Nice Way to End the Day
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
While the weather is still cold and damp, I'm not fishing all that far from home at the moment. In addition the larger rivers that I would like to have a fish in are running too high for my liking. There are several areas along them where I could fish from the river banks, however for now I'll settle for fishing the smaller streams and creeks. This spin session was done in two different stretches of water on private property, where permission to gain access is a must.
The weather wasn't looking all that flash when I headed off and looking towards the mountains it was pretty dull with dark, with heavy clouds moving in. By the time I arrived at my destination it had started raining, it was only lightly though, which was okay as I had a lightweight rain jacket in the car. After putting on the waders and wading boots, as well as the waterproof jacket, I decided not to wear the fishing vest. All I did was to put a small lure box, filled with a variety of small Mepps spinners, in one pocket and a sharpening stone and forceps in the other pocket. I felt that was all I really needed today.
I didn't even bother about a landing net because the majority of trout in this little stream are all small fish in the 240-280 gram range. On the odd occasion one might catch a decent brown in the 350-450 gram mark. Fish that size can easily be handled without the use of a landing net anyway. The main thing one has to remember at all times when handling a trout is to wet your hands first as not to remove the protective slime coating on the trout's skin. The slime coating on the trout protects them from infectious diseases and if this slime is removed from the trout's skin they may not be able to fight off infectious diseases and could potentially die.
Today I stuck with the same set up that I used on the trip to Western Creek, the Okuma Celilo Finesse 6' ULS 1-3kg trout rod, Okuma Inspira ISX-20B spinning reel and the #0 Aglia Fluo (micropigments) Rainbow spinner. On the drive to the river I did think of using a small #00 (1.5gm) lightweight spinner and then thought twice about it. Knowing that the water level was going to be higher than my last trip, due to more rainfall over the past few days, I decided to stay with the heavier spinner. The heavier spinner would be better suited to the higher water level and not only that, the Rainbow spinner picked up a few trout in the dark tannin waters on the last trip as well.
The very first cast and retrieve into a wide deep dark tannin coloured pool under the road bridge drew the attention of a small trout. That little brown only tapped at the spinner before darting off. I spent several minutes casting to all areas of that wide piece of water, without another sign of a fish.
It was onto the next stretch of water, a narrow fast to medium flowing shallow run that had a nice small flat water along the right hand side of it. I couldn't believe my luck as the first cast into that flat water and a trout hit the spinner as sooner as I started the retrieve. This time it was fish on. Nothing big, but who cares when it's the first of the session. Any size will do for starters. It only took a short time before I had it on the river bank, photographed and back in the water it went.
At the top end of this stretch of river, to the right, was another small pocket of flat water and that's where I lobbed the spinner on the next cast. Two turns of the reel and it was fish on again! Another small brown had taken the Mepps Aglia Fluo spinner in quick time and this trout, like the one before, was soon on the river bank. Like before it was released in quick time, after having its photo taken. With two trout caught and released in two casts, things were looking good. It had started like this before though and then the wheels have fallen off without a sign of a trout from there on.
As I continued to fish my way upstream it started to rain, only lightly though and I was happy that I had decided to wear the rain jacket after all. There was one problem... it took at least twenty minutes before I had a hit and miss from a small trout. Just the one hit wasn't good enough. I couldn't believe that there weren't more trout in the waters that I had just fished. It was full of perfect runs, with plenty of flat water holding areas.
Ahead of me was more great looking trout water, however there were sheep with lambs close to the river and I didn't want to spook them. Instead I decided to head to another area on this river about a kilometre away. On the walk to the other area that I was going to fish, I thought to myself how right I was... catching those two trout in quick time was a curse.
The stretch of water that I headed to was the same one that I had fished on the last day of the 2019/20 trout season and where I also caught the last trout of that season. One good thing was the rain had moved on, however the wind had picked up and the air temp had dropped to around six degrees. I was feeling the cold and if the trout weren't here I had decided I wouldn't be in the water for very long at all.
The first few casts and retrieves and nothing happened. It wasn't until I lobbed the spinner into the head water that the Mepps Fluo spinner had sucked in the third trout of the afternoon. This was another good start, with a trout caught and released in quick time... would it continue... that was the question. As I slowly moved into the next deeper flowing water I spooked a small trout that was sitting close to the left river bank. Was this a sign that there may be more trout ahead?
A little further up, in the same stretch of water, a solid brown came from the right hand side of the stream and took the spinner. This fish was the best one so far and no sooner had it taken the lure, it made a metre high leap from the river and tossed the spinner. "No! No! No!" I yelled out as I saw the fish go one way and the Aglia Fluo go the other. The fish of the day was gone as quick as it came. Talk about a jaw dropper, well that was it!
The afternoon spin session hadn't been one of my better ones that was for sure. I was hoping it would improve before I called it a day. There was still plenty of nice water ahead of me to fish and I have had some good catches in it over many years of fishing here. Catches of fifteen to twenty plus trout were common for me. The past few seasons this little stream has dropped in fish numbers and I'm not sure why. Could it be from the drier winters that we've had for the past four years, or perhaps it may be from land clearing for hardwood plantations run further upstream? Then there's the run off from them once they've been harvested, which was a few years ago, and they have since replanted that area again. I do know there is a lot more silt in this little stream than there ever was, so there's something that's creating the problem in this stream.
Anyway, back to the fishing... I stuck to my guns and kept fishing my way up this narrow stretch of water. The fishing was pretty slow going, with not a sign of a trout. I was getting colder and to top it off light rain started again and the wind had picked up. I was only a couple of hundred metres from the car and I really did want to call it a day, however I decided to push on and fish the rest of this narrow fast/medium flowing run of dark tannin water.
About twenty metres ahead of me there was a large boulder in the river that had a nice flat water behind it. The perfect trout holding area. To cast the lure into the zone where I needed it to be meant that I had to allow for the carry of the wind that was coming across the river to the right side of me. I needed to land the lure a metre or so ahead of the boulder and at least sixty centimetres to the right as well. It had to be accurate and on the first cast and there wasn't any margin for error in this narrow water.
Just as I was about to cast the lure a strong wind gust hit and thankfully I had the time to hold back on the cast. I waited a few seconds for the wind to ease and then went ahead with the cast. It was perfect! The spinner lobbed right where I wanted it. Even though the cast was a half a metre longer, the sixty centimetres to the right was just about spot on, give or take a few centimetres. A couple of turns on the reel and the lure was taken hard and fast by a solid trout. This was surely the fish of the day.
With the fish holding in the deeper run I couldn't see the size of it. All I did know was that it was at least in the 500 plus range. After a minute, which seemed like five, it broke the surface and it was then I could see that it was in the 600 to 700 gram size range. This was when I wished that I had the landing net with me. That trout made several runs up and down the narrow stream, as well as a few leaps from the river that made me feel a little on the nervous side.
To me it looked like it was well hooked in the lower jaw, however looks can be deceiving and even more so when the fish is going every which way. Finally the trout tired enough for me to lead it into the shallow water next to the river bank, where I could slide it onto a grassy flat. That trout was the largest one that I'd ever pulled from this little stream and I was stoked to have it grassed in the end. I could only estimate its weight at 600 grams because I didn't have my digital scales with me either. Not that I would have used them without having my landing net with me. I only ever weigh my fish in the net and then deduct the net weight from the total fish and net weight.
I still feel it was well over the estimated weight, however I'll never know will I. What I do know is that it is the best trout of the season so far. I did fish on a little longer, for just the one trout that came up behind the lure and mouthed the treble hooks of the Aglia spinner, without being hooked. That fish just had its mouth on the bottom end of the trebles and swam with the lure as I retrieved it. Once it was close to me, it let go and swam off. That's when I called it a day at 3:15pm.
On the short walk back to the car from the river I thought how lucky I was to have caught that trout. Had the rain got any heavier, I doubt I would have continued fishing on. Also, had I taken the cast a second earlier, when that wind gust hit, would the Aglia lure have been carried well to the left and lobbed in the foliage on the river bank? The good thing is that all that didn't happen and I went home a happy man at the end of it.
Adrian (meppstas)
Equipment Used:
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods ULS 1-3kg
Okuma Inspira Blue ISX-20B Spinning Reel
Platypus Pre-Test Monofilament Fishing Line
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon leader
Mepps inline spinners
Boomerang Tool Products