Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » PB Trout for the Season

PB Trout for the Season

By Adrian (meppstas) Webb

I headed back to the Meander River this morning to see if I could add a few more decent size trout to my season's tally. The river was running at 75cm, which was still on the high side for wading. This time I decided to fish one of my favourite stretches of river. It's one that can give up a dozen trout one day and then you're lucky to land one or two another day. Today I would have been happy with a couple of decent sized trout. Had I not known this stretch of river like the back of my hand, I would never have hopped in it.

When I entered the river it was already waist deep and had I crossed straight over to the opposite side I would have certainly been out of my depth. By knowing this river, I knew exactly where to move in it and stay safe. Once in the river I stayed on the right hand side and moved upstream in waist deep water for around twenty metres, then crossed over at forty-five degrees to the other side, where the water was below my waist.

I still had to take care because the flow was hard and fast, and the rocky river bottom was slippery. This is where years of experience fishing fast waters and knowing the waters one fishes in comes in handy. Even if I had slipped and taken a dive, I would have been in trouble, so slow and easy is the only way to go. I always face upstream, making sure that I have a good foot hold before taking the next step forward. This the safest way to fish this type of water.

I started off using the same lure (Mepps #1 Aglia Fluo brown trout) that caught half a dozen trout four kilometres further upstream in this river on my last trip here, back on October 29. It wasn't all that long until I had a nice size trout come up behind the spinner and follow it for several metres, before moving off to the left hand side of the river. I flicked the lure into the area where it had moved to and the same thing happened. It just followed the lure before moving off. Even the twitching of the rod, to make the spinner blade flutter, didn't arouse it into taking the Aglia spinner. It was time for a change of lure.

With the water being crystal clear I thought the #0 Mepps Stone Fly Bug spinner would be worth a go. Being black in colour, with a wide spinner blade that flutters quite easily, it may have been the lure a trout would take without hesitation. The areas that I concentrated on fishing, with the water flowing faster than normal, were the flat waters close to the river banks as that's where the trout would be holding out. There's also areas in the middle of the river here that have long rocky ruts, giving the trout some protection from the flow where they sit waiting for a feed.

I lost count of the casts and retrieves that I had into the flat waters, without a sign of a trout. After fifteen minutes I was starting to wonder if I should get out of here and move elsewhere. With a lot of river ahead of me yet to fish, I felt I was still in with a chance of picking up a few trout and so I continued on fishing my way upstream.

It was when I reached a stretch of water that had the ruts in it that the first trout was caught. It was after a cast directly upstream and while retrieving the 2.5 gram Bug spinner, a little faster than the flow, the Bug was taken hard and fast by a solid fish. It all happened in a flash. I could see the spinner as I retrieved it and then to see this trout come out of nowhere and take it was a real buzz. Once it took the lure I knew straight away that this was good size fish, even more so when it leaped from the river and up went my heart rate.

Hooking the first trout of any session is tough at times and when it's a large fish it makes it that much harder, with everything that goes on in the mind. Will it stay on every time it leaps from the river, while giving solid head shakes. Is it well hooked, will the small trebles stay intact and will the line hold out at the knots. They're just a few things that go through my mind.

Today was my day. This trout did everything it could to toss the Bug spinner in the fast flowing water, however after a few minutes I had it in the landing net. Once I had the trout in the net I wasn't sure who was the most tired, myself or the fish. I can tell you now that I was stoked to have caught it. I weighed it in the net and then after deducting the weight of the net the fish went 975 grams. This was my best trout of the season by over three hundred grams.

After its release I had to bypass a deep fast water. Once back in the river I hooked a trout in a long narrow flat water on the opposite side of the river, however one leap from the river and it tossed the spinner. Two casts later, into the same flat water, the spinner was snapped up by another trout. This time it stayed on and trout number two was landed. It was like all of the trout caught throughout the season, a well-conditioned plump fish that weighed 385g.

Once again I had to get out and bypass another long stretch of fast water, due to it not being safe enough to make my way upstream. A short five minute walk along the river bank and I was back in the water again. This run of water was fast flowing and knee deep, which was more to my liking. Not only that, there wasn't any slime on the river bottom here. I slowly fished my way upstream and had a couple of hits and hook ups from small trout, losing both fish.

It wasn't until fifty minutes later, while fishing another flat water, that it was trout on again. This was another nice brown that gave me some curry as it ran everywhere trying to get off. It didn't escape though, finishing up in the net. Three minutes after its release and in the same flat water, I picked up another brown. This one was the smallest of the morning, a medium size 290 gram fish.

With a fair bit of fast, deep flowing water ahead of me, I decided to get out of the river and try another stretch of river a couple of kilometres further downstream. The first water fished was medium flowing and it was there that I had a hit and miss. That's as far as it went. I only spent thirty minutes fishing there, the river was now in full sun and I was tired from fishing the fast water for over two hours. My day was done and dusted. I can't wait for the Hydro to drop the water level in this river so that I can hit the fast water runs in the upper reaches. Until it drops to 60cm and lower, I won't be fishing those fast waters.

Adrian (meppstas)

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
Boomerang Tool Products