Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » The March Brown Bug Gets an Early Start
The March Brown Bug Gets an Early Start
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
After yesterday's very average spin session of five trout in the Mersey River, today I was hoping for much better results as I made my way to the Meander River for an early morning spin session. Today the plan was to fish the area that I had intended to fish yesterday, so I was hoping for a better catch. It was 5:25 am when I left home and made my way to the river, and by the time I got there, put the wading gear on, and made the long walk to the river, it was 6:40 am when I made my first cast with the #1 March Brown coloured Mepps Bug spinner.
Like yesterday, the spin session started off on the slow side, with no signs of a trout in the first stretch of river that I fished. The second run that I moved into was one that has given up the first trout of the spin session each time I've fished this area. Well, after having a trout follow the spinner right up to where I was standing in the river, without taking it, and then hooking and losing the next trout, finally it was the third strike on the Bug spinner that saw the first trout (6:50am) of the morning landed. That trout wasn't a large fish either, it was just a small/medium size fish that took a liking to the March Brown Bug in a fast-flowing stretch of water.
With plenty of nice medium and fast flowing water ahead of me, I was feeling quite confident of getting onto a few more trout in a reasonably quick time. How wrong was I to think that. After the release of that trout, it all went downhill. I did have the odd follow from a trout and that's as far as it went for the following hour and twenty minutes until I finally hooked and landed the second trout of the morning in a fast water run. That fish was a little larger than the first fish, so I was hoping that the more I catch, the more they will keep on getting bigger. I decided I would mainly concentrate on fishing the fast waters, as that's where I was sure to catch more trout than what the slow/medium waters seemed to have to offer.
As I continued slowly fishing my way upstream, my aim was to cast the Mepps March Brown into the narrow flat waters that were on the opposite side of the river as they are regular trout holding areas. After drawing a few trout out of them, it was only a matter of time before there was an aggressive one amongst them. It took fifteen minutes before one did take the spinner and it was a solid fish at that. This fish made several runs and leaps from the river, and I could see the blade spinner fluttering around as it kept on leaping from the river. I wasn't sure of how well it was hooked, but thankfully it did make it into the landing net. After a few photos I weighed it while it was in the net, then deducted the 310-gram net weight from the total weight, and that fish weighed 495 grams. It was the best fish so far and that certainly put a smile on my face.
In the next fast water run I hooked and landed two small browns, one of which I didn't bother to film or take a photo of as it was so small it wasn't worthwhile filming. After getting frustrated by a couple of solid trout, that had a couple at goes at the spinner without getting hold of the treble hooks, another trout did eventually manage to get the trebles in its mouth. This was a solid fish too and another trout that was in top condition. Though it wasn’t the biggest fish, it wasn't far off it. After the release of that trout, it was a struggle to catch another. They were still in the fast waters, but for some reason the aggression had gone out of them.
The trout would close in hard and fast at the March Brown Bug, then sit 3-5 centimetres behind the spinner, right up to where I was standing in the river. Then, they just turned and moved off. After fishing several long stretches of medium to fast flowing runs, it wasn't until I had reached the last fast water, close to where I had parked the car, that I hooked two trout but only landed the second taker (9:20 am). This was the smaller fish of the two hook ups. As much as I would have liked to have fished another stretch of river, I was just too tired and a little sore in the lower back. It wasn't worth pushing myself any longer than I had. Then, had the trout been around in larger numbers and more aggressive, who knows, I may just have pushed myself on a little longer.
Adrian (meppstas)
Equipment Used Today:
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods – CE-S-602UL-1, 6’0”, 2-6lb
Okuma ITX Carbon Spin Reel - ITX-1000
Platypus Pulse Mono Fishing Line
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader
Mepps Inline Spinners -
Mepps Bug Inline Spinner