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The Trout WERE There 7-3-21
I was told a while ago that some trout fishers had fished a stretch of the Mersey river and they had never caught, let alone seen a trout in it. It's an area I used to fish quite a lot many years ago, and it was one of my favourite areas to chase trout with the Mepps Black Fury spinner.
I know it dropped off due to a large influx of cormorants when there was a drought on the mainland, and they hit all the rivers and lakes across Tasmania. That influx of the large mainland cormorants really took a toll on our rivers, thousands of trout were taken by them. One day I was in the Meander River and heard a loud roar, and thought it was a wind gust... but it wasn't the wind, it was a huge flock of cormorants heading up the river! There would have been at least sixty of them that passed several feet above me, then an hour and a half later they came back down stream. I was in the middle of the river when they did, waving my arms and shouting. They rose to a higher level, and as they did many of them dropped the trout they had in their mouths. The fish that they dropped ranged from 280gms up to 500gms, and I managed to revive several of them.
What happened in this river alone really knocked the trout stocks around, and that's why today the rivers around here are still struggling with the lack of fish in them, and those in the rivers are nowhere near the size available back then. Anyway, I was about to see if I could catch and release a few trout in a long stretch of river that hasn't got any trout in it (according to those trout fishers!).
At 8:40am it wasn't an early start, mainly due to the dull, cold and overcast conditions. In fact the air temperature was sitting at just 7 degrees, but the good thing about this morning was the lack of wind - there wasn't any.
I had a few casts into a deep fast run with a Mepps #0 March Brown Bug spinner without any signs of a trout, before I headed into the shallow and rocky fast section. This fast water run was a long four hundred metre stretch, that varied in depth from 20 up to 70 centimetres. Most of my fishing was targeted in the 20 - 30 centimetre range along the right hand side of the river. The reason I concentrated on that side is because that's where the strongest flow is, making it the best area to fish. Over the many years I fished this long stretch of river in the past, that's where I had consistently caught fish. Heavy foliage lined that side of the river for a couple of kilometres, and it had a bubble line (feed line), so it was the perfect area for feeding trout to congregate.
Once I was in the shallow fast water runs I noticed there was quite a lot of green cotton-like algae on the rocks, so I changed from the 2.5 gram #0 March Brown Bug to the smaller 1.5 gram #00 Gold Aglia spinner. With the water being shallow, the lighter spinner wouldn't bottom bounce and foul up as much as the heavier lure.
I hadn't been in the fast water all that long before I picked up a small brown after a long cast and retrieve back down the flow. I had lobbed the gold spinner into some flat water behind a boulder, as I retrieved it a small (240 gm) brown took it... I had my first trout for the session hooked and landed. Even though it was only a small fish, I felt very confident there were more trout to be caught here.
As I continued to fish my way up the middle of the river where it was easy to cast the spinner into the fast water on the right hand side, I did have a couple of follows from small trout. It was time to go for another change of lure, and his time I went for a small black-bladed Black Fury spinner, another Mepps lure that had caught plenty of trout here over the years. Looking across the river, there was a nice section of flat water next to a large fallen tree that was well worth flicking a lure into. I headed over and cast the little Black Fury into the area, and on the retrieve it was picked up by a very small brown trout. This little brown would have been as small as the one I caught and released at Weegena earlier in the year. I couldn't help but laugh at the size of it, I was hoping for a half-pounder in that flat water, not a five ounce fish!
After its release, I moved back to the right side of the river again to continue fishing the fast water. It took another thirty minutes before I caught the next trout, a small - medium size fish taken from under a tea tree close to the river bank. Then just three minutes on and only a couple of metres further upstream, I caught my fourth trout after a direct cast and retrieve.
I know they're not large fish but the signs were there that quite a few trout could be caught in this long stretch of water if you know where to fish for them. It was seven minutes later when I picked up my fifth trout, and like the third trout it was taken from under the tea trees next to the river bank. In just over an hour in the river I had caught and released five trout without the loss of a fish so far.
Having reached the end of the fast water, ahead of me was a long two hundred metre run of medium flowing water that was much deeper, and not worth fishing until I reached the top end of it. Once there, I put on a #0 Stone Fly Bug spinner to try a bit of cast-and-drift with it. There wasn't a sign of a trout to be had, so I moved on to the next short run of shallow fast water, where the first cast-and-drift into it I hooked and lost a small brown. Above that short fast water was a nice wide deep stretch, and for the first time that day I spotted a trout surface feeding near the left hand side of the river. I cast the Stone Fly Bug several metres past it, and on the retrieve the trout took the spinner, it was well hooked and stayed on all the way to the net. Forty five minutes since the fifth trout had been caught, I had trout number six in the net and ready for release.
From here on it was fast water runs, and all the fishing was on the right hand side once again. It was back to the little #00 Black Fury spinner as the water here was flowing a lot faster due to it being a narrow run, so it was perfect for casting and drifting. Five minutes into fishing this fast water I had a trout come up behind the spinner in a rush, but that's as far as it went. I was quite happy to see a trout in this narrow fast water because if there was one here then I was sure there were a few more ahead of me, hopefully in a more aggressive mood. It wasn't long after having that follow when I flicked the spinner into some nice narrow flat water close to the opposite side, when I had a solid strike from a trout but missed it.
Twenty minutes later another cast-and-drift into some flat water saw a nice brown pick it up, it was fish on and this one put up a great fight in this narrow fast water. It made several leaps and runs as it did its best to toss the spinner. Thankfully it was well hooked and made it into the net, after weighing it at 475 grams and a quick photo, it was sent back into the water. A little further upstream and after a cast into a small riverbank flat section, I hooked and lost a medium size brown.
It was nearly time to call it a day but there was one more piece of water to fish before I was ready to head back to the car. It was the head section of this fast water, and I was feeling quite confident that I would catch my eighth fish. Half a dozen casts and retrieves without a sign of a trout, I couldn't believe this part of the river wasn't holding a fish.
At the top right hand side of the head water was a shallow section that had a large boulder sitting a metre or so out from it, and that was where I next cast the Black Fury spinner. No sooner had it hit the water and I had started the retrieve, the lure was smashed by a beautiful brown... this was the fish of the day! I held it steady while I got my camera out, but while filming I was worried I may lose this trout as it ran all over the place, so I shut the camera down to take control of the fish. As hard as it tried, it was well hooked and made it into the net - a lovely fish and a quality wild brown trout too. After a few photos it was weighed in the net and went 505 grams. Catching that trout certainly made the trip worthwhile and for those out there that don't believe there's trout in this river anymore, well, they're very wrong!
On the way back to the car I had to cross a small back water, while crossing it I flicked the spinner into it and hooked and lost a small brown, that fish actually took me by surprise because I wasn't expecting a hook up there.
With eight trout caught and released from eleven hookups, it was a good day in my book, and I will definitely have another spin session here again. The only downside to the spin session was the lack of rainbow trout here, as this area was a great one for rainbows in years past, especially in the fast waters.
Gearing Up:
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods
Okuma LRF Gen2 Spin Rods
Okuma Inspira Blue ISX-20B Spin Reel
Okuma Helios SX HSX-20 Spin Reel
Okuma Epixor XT EPXT-20 Spin Reel
Okuma Ceymar C-10 Spin Reel
Mepps Aglia
Mepps Black Fury
Mepps Bug
Platypus Super 100 Monofilament
Platypus Pre-Test Monofilament
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon