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The Long Walk Was Worth It
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
The weather here in Sheffield (Tas) today was great. It was sunny, with a temperature of fifteen degrees, so I headed off for a mid-afternoon spin session in the upper reaches of the Mersey River. With most of the rivers that I fish still running high, the upper Mersey was the go-to place to fish. The stretch of river that I headed to today required a long, forty-minute walk. It once was very good trout water, until the 2016 floods wiped the river clean of fish in this area. It had been five years since I last fished this area, so today I was hoping the long walk to the river would be rewarded with catching and releasing a few wild brown trout. I wasn’t fussed about their size either.
I arrived at my entry point a little worse for wear after the long walk and it took me a few minutes to settle down before I hopped into the river at 2:20pm. Lure of choice to start with was a Mepps #1 Aglia Fluo Micropigments rainbow inline spinner. The river height was still on the high side and pushing quite hard on the legs, with the rocky river bottom being slippery and tough on the body. I knew it wasn't going to be an easy time spent in the river.
The Mersey River has got to be one of the toughest rivers to wade, with the rocks varying in size and with most of them being round and oblong they all roll under foot. To top it off, they're also slippery. All it takes is one wrong move, get off balance and before you know it, you're in the river. Slow and easy is the only way to go. The water that I fished today was just below waist deep, so it wasn't going to be a long spin session at all. The late start made that decision for me as it still gets dark reasonably early, meaning I wanted to be back at the car by 4:30pm at the latest.
The river itself was a nice medium tannin colour and the river flow was again ideal for casting and drifting. Even better, there were quite a lot of flatwater areas on both sides of the river, that I hoped would be holding a trout or two. The first few minutes of casting and drifting the Aglia were quiet, with not a sign of a trout and it wasn't until I moved a few metres upstream that things changed.
After having several casts into the small flat waters, near the opposite side of the river, then letting the spinner drift with the flow, still no signs of a trout. I was wondering if the long walk was worth it. With the water being just below the waist and only being eight feet from the riverbank, I was feeling quite comfortable because I was just off the edge of the fast-flowing water. It was much easier on the legs. What I mean by that is the water pressure on the legs wasn't all that bad where I was positioned in the river. That didn't mean I could relax, I still had to take it slow and easy as I made my way upstream.
Directly ahead of me was a nice eight-foot-wide flat water, that was well shaded from the sun. That's where the Mepps Aglia Fluo spinner headed and once it hit the water, two turns of the reel handle was all it took to get the attention of a trout. The fish didn't hesitate to take the lure. It was fish on in no time at all and it was a solid fish too. The trout made several runs and leaps from the river before I had it close enough to slip the net under it.
Once it was in the net, out popped the spinner. How lucky I was to have landed this fish, which could have tossed it at any time while I was filming it and before I eased it into the net. Anyway, I had the first trout of the day landed and a decent fish at that. Any decent trout that I catch are always weighed while they are in the net. The total weight with the fish in the net was 775 grams, minus the net weight of 310 grams left the trout at a nice 465 grams.
After its release I made another cast back into the same flat water and the same thing happened again. Another trout took the spinner in quick time. This one was a smaller fish, and it only took half the time before it was landed, photographed, and released. Two trout caught and released in ten minutes. Not the start I was expecting at all, but one that I was pretty happy with that's for sure.
It wasn't until I had moved several metres further up the river and continued with the casting and drifting with the Aglia, that I was onto another trout. This fish put up a good fight too as it made several runs in the fast-flowing water before it tired and I had it in the net. It was a well-conditioned, medium size brown trout and like the other two it went through the same routine before being released for another day. With three trout caught and released in the first ten minutes it was certainly the start that every trout fisherman could wish for. It didn't continue though. The river ahead of me was a little narrower, deeper, and running much faster. It wasn't safe enough to make my way upstream from here. I made my way through a gap in the tea trees and entered a nice medium flowing side water. It was there that I had a solid hit but missed having a hook up.
That was the only sign of a trout that I had while fishing that stretch of water. From there I was able to move back into the main stream. This stretch of river was very wide, fast flowing and the water was only a few inches above the knees, which was good. I could stay in the middle of the river and reach both sides of it with ease. There were several good flat waters along each sides too. The casting distance I was getting in this wide stretch of the Mersey was great, fishing the Okuma ULS Celilo Finesse Spin 6'6" trout rod, coupled up with the Okuma ITX-1000 spinning reel that's spooled with the ultra thin and tough 4lb Platypus Pulse Mono line, which is perfect. The 3.5 gram Aglia Furia spinner was reaching each side of the river with ease. This is the ideal lightweight outfit for any type of river fishing. I continued to concentrate on fishing the flat waters on both sides of the river as I slowly made my way upstream.
After twenty minutes I felt my luck was running out quite fast, after hooking and losing three trout during that time. It wasn't until I was retrieving the Aglia Fluo Micropigments rainbow spinner that I had a couple of hits and that's when I spotted a trout having a go at the anti-kink set up that I use. This is something that happens from time to time as the anti-kink is the first thing a trout spots as the lure is retrieved past them. I used to add a fly dropper to the anti-kink, and I did catch quite a few trout in doing so. The only problem was the tangled mess that occurred once the trout was hooked and thrashed around. So, I gave up on using the drop fly after it happened several times on some of my spin sessions in the rivers.
After I saw that trout having a go at the anti-kink, for some reason I decided to go for a change of lure. It was off with the rainbow-coloured spinner and on with a Mepps #1 Aglia Furia spinner, another very reliable trout taker throughout the trout season. It was a good decision too as a few minutes later a solid trout took the Furia. This was a beautiful fish, that made several hard runs back and forth across the river, before I managed to get it on the surface.
Once on the surface, I kept the rod tip high to keep the trout on its side and its head out of the water. The idea being to stop the fish from making more runs and leaps from the river, where it may toss the spinner. Once I had it within reach of the landing net, I could see that it was well hooked in the jaw. There was no way I was going to lose it. This trout looked to be the same size as the first trout that I caught and once I had it in the net, I repeated what I did with the first decent trout I caught earlier on. This fish weighed in at 460 grams. Fifty minutes had passed by since the third trout was caught and losing three in a row didn't help either, so it was a relief to finally catch this trout.
I fished on for another fifteen minutes, without a sign of a trout, reaching the top end of this wide stretch of water. The river ahead of me was a long, wide, and very deep stretch of water that I felt was a waste of time fishing until it dropped in height. Not only that I was now body sore, plus from here my car was still a good thirty-five-minute walk away. It was time to call it a day and make my way back to the car.
I was pretty well done and dusted by the time I reached it too. I know one thing, once the weather and water temperatures warm up, I will make a return trip to this area to see how well it fishes in more suitable fishing conditions. By the way, I did make it back to the car at 4:30pm too and totally knackered as well.
Adrian (meppstas)
Equipment used during my trout season:
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods - ULS 1-3kg
Okuma LRF Rod - 1-3kg
Okuma ITX Spin Reels – ITX-1000
Okuma Epixor XT Spin Reels - EXPT-20
Okuma Ceymar Spin Reels - C-10
Platypus Pulse Mono
Platypus Super 100 Mono
Platypus Pre-Test Mono
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader
Mepps Inline Spinners