Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » Summer Fast Water Trout
Summer Fast Water Trout
Adrian (meppstas) Webb
I thought it was time to head back to the fast waters of the Meander River to see if I could catch a few more trout. Fast water fishing in summer can be very productive at times and I was hoping for a good session today. It wasn't an early start, due to me having a doctor's appointment for a dose of injections in the lower back and spine, a weekly event for me nowadays.
It was dead on 10:30am when I entered the fast waters of the Meander River and one minute later when I had the first trout of the day hooked and soon in the landing net. It was a beautiful solid brown trout too. It weighed 410 grams and was in top condition. I couldn't believe my luck, catching that trout on the first cast and retrieve with a #0 March Brown Mepps Bug spinner. It was a great start to the spin session.
That was as good as it got though and after the release of the trout it was an hour and five minutes before the second trout was caught. In that time, I did hook and lose two trout, which was a little disappointing. During that time, when I lost the two trout, I had changed to a #1 March Brown Bug spinner, to run the spinner deeper in the fast-flowing water. Once changed, that's when I caught and landed the second trout.
The river was running at a good wading height. The only problem that I was having was getting used to the slippery, rocky river bottom as it had been a couple of weeks since I last fished this long stretch of fast water. I just had to take it slow and easy, making sure that I had a good footing on the rocky river bottom, before taking the next step. I had a couple of moments when I nearly went in.
The river was perfect for casting and drifting the heavier spinner today and the light brown colour of the March Brown Bug spinner was ideal for the clear and fast flowing water. I had crossed back to the left-hand side of the river, after the release of the second trout and it was there that I picked up my third trout of the morning. This was a nice size fish too and one that fought hard all the way to the net. This fish was taken after I cast the Bug into a small shallow flat water, to the left side of me.
A few casts to the flat waters near the opposite riverbank didn't result in any trout being caught. It did see me lob the spinner into a small dogwood tree branch that was hanging over a flat water. After a short outburst, I had to make my way across the river to retrieve the spinner from the dogwood tree.
Once I was back to the left side of the river, I continued to concentrate on fishing the flat waters near the opposite riverbank as I slowly made my way upstream. Along the way I caught and released the odd trout while I lost a few other trout as well. As always, I keep count of the trout I've landed and the ones I've hooked and lost. At this stage I was in front with trout caught, which was a good feeling. The trout caught to date was seven and trout lost was four, so I was reasonably happy with that. I was still using the March Brown Bug spinner.
The seventh trout was the best fish of the day, at this stage, a lovely brown trout that weighed 485 grams. After the release of that trout the fishing went a little quiet, which I felt had a lot to do with the sun being fully on the water and the last fish was caught at 12:40pm. I was about to call it a day, however, after looking further up the river, I couldn't resist the water that was ahead of me. I just had to push on and see if I could catch a few more browns.
As it happened, I should have hopped out and headed back to the car. The water ahead of me may have looked good but all it gave up was two small brown trout, of which only one was landed. It had taken me forty minutes to achieve two hook ups, for one trout, which didn't impress me one bit. Although had I hopped out when I thought about it, I probably would have been wondering what I may have missed out on. The good thing was that I did catch and release eight trout on the day.
I know one thing, by the time I had reached the car I was totally done and dusted. The Pepsi Max was the first thing that I reached for, followed by a Freddo Frog. Today I used a brand new, Okuma ITX-1000 spinning reel, coupled up with an Okuma Celilo Finesse 6'6'' ULS 2-6lb trout rod. The reel was spooled with 4lb Platypus Super 100 UHT clear nylon monofilament line and this was a perfect lightweight set up for trout fishing the fast waters today.
Adrian (meppstas)
Gearing Up:
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods – CE-S-662UL-1 6’6” 2-6lb
Okuma ITX Carbon Spin Reel – ITX-1000
Platypus Super 100 Mono Fishing Line – 4lb
Mepps Bug Inline Spinner – March Brown #0