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Thirteen is a Good Number
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
With good weather still hanging around I headed off for another spin session this morning, this time it was the upper reaches of the Meander River that I wanted to fish. The reason that I headed there was because it's all fast waters, which I love to fish. Not only that the river level was also down to 60cm, which was the ideal wading height to fish for trout. When I arrived at the Meander and entered the river, I could see why the water level had been lowered, there was bridge work being done and they had a large digger in it as well as a couple of workmen.
Anyway, it didn't stop me from entering the river several metres ahead of where they were working, and it was 8:30 am when I made my first cast with the Mepps #1 Aglia Furia inline spinner. It wasn't all that long before I had my first hook up from a small brown, that hit the lure hard and fast, but it tossed the spinner as fast as it took it. To me that was a good sign, having a hook up so early into the spin session, even more so with the work that was going on in the river just twenty metres downstream from where I started fishing.
A few minutes later I had another trout hit the spinner, but it also missed being hooked. Not all that long after, I finally hooked and landed the first trout of the spin session. It was like most of the trout that's in the upper reaches here nowadays, just a small/medium size fish. In the following stretch of water, I had a couple of trout follow the Aglia Furia and that's as far as it went with them. There wasn't a sign of aggression from either of them.
It was time for a change of lure. I was going to give the Aglia TW spinner a go, then thought twice given that the water was so low and running crystal clear. The last time that I fished up here it was the March Brown coloured Mepps Bug that worked well on the trout, so that's the lure that replaced the Aglia Furia. It was a good choice too, as a few casts and retrieves later a small brown trout took the lure and that little trout made it into the landing net. After the release of that little brown the fishing was very slow going.
There was no sign of a trout to be had and it was twenty-five minutes after the second trout was caught that I hooked (9:35 am) and landed the third trout of the morning. Not long after the release of that trout I noticed some movement in the middle of the river well ahead of me. It was another trout angler, which is more likely the reason for not seeing all that many trout here. Him being in the middle of the river meant that those trout that may have been here would have been spooked or even caught and that's why I hadn't seen too many fish in this stretch of river. I continued to fish for a short time and caught another small trout, before deciding it was time to move elsewhere as I was just wasting my time here.
By the time I made it back to the car and drove seven kilometres to another slow flowing stretch of river, it was 10:05 am when I was back in the river fishing. Once in the river, the first thing I noticed was the river bottom. it was covered in green cotton like algae, so not a lot had changed here since the last time I fished this water back in March. The only good thing was that the algae wasn't as thick this time, however, with the water level being low, it was still going to be a problem.
It didn't take all that long really before I had the first trout take the March Brown Bug spinner. In fact, I had only been in the river for ten minutes when I caught it. It turned out to be a nice solid brown and the best fish caught so far. That fish was taken on the righthand side of the river as it was the deeper side of the river, and it was the righthand side of the river that I concentrated on. The trout tend to hold hard up against the riverbank on that side of the river and it's that side of the river where I have caught most of my trout in all the years that I've fished this stretch of river. After the release of that trout, and only a few metres further upstream, I hooked and landed another nice solid brown trout. This fish was a bigger fish than the last one I had caught and released five minute earlier. It weighed 530g and was in top condition.
Once released, I continued to fish my way upstream, still finding it hard to believe that I had caught and released two trout in the first fifteen minutes in this stretch of river. A stretch of river that I thought would be a very tough to fish given the low water and algae covered river bottom. I can still recall the last trip here, when the water was running at 70cm and there was a lot more algae in the river that continually fouled the inline spinners. That trip I only managed to catch one trout. Today's another day and a lot has changed here. The lower water level meant the trout had to find deeper water to hold out in. The algae did foul the March Brown Bug at times, but nowhere near what it had on the last trip here.
It took a little longer before I caught the next trout, mainly because the water that I was fishing was a little shallower in several places and the spinner was getting fouled on a regular basis. When I did catch the third trout here (10:40 am) it was a beauty. This trout was even larger than the last trout and it played hard to get. As hard as it played up, it still couldn’t toss the lure and it wasn't all that long before I eased it into the net. The total weight of the net, including the fish, was 945g, so after deducting the 310g weight of the net, it left the trout at 635g. It was a gem of a fish, beautifully coloured and as solid as a rock. After a couple of photos, it was on its way for another day.
After the release of that trout, it went a little quiet and it wasn't until I reached a deeper stretch of river that I caught the fifth trout in this long stretch of river. This was a nice solid fish too but nowhere near the size of the last three trout caught here.
The water ahead of me was way too deep to risk trying to make my way upstream, so I had to get out and bypass that run of fast flowing river. Once past the fast-flowing stretch of river, I continued to fish my way upstream, still concentrating my fishing the righthand side of the river and it kept on giving up the odd trout from time to time. None as large as my three best trout; however, they were still well conditioned browns.
All up, when I decided to call it a day, I went on to catch four more trout here, taking the total catch and release for this stretch of river to nine, which was very good. I also hooked and lost a couple of small trout here as well. It was 11:45 am when I called it a day, even though there was still some nice water ahead of me to fish. My body was telling me enough is enough and for once I listened to it.
Equipment Used Today:
TT Red Belly Spin Rods – RBS702L 7’ 1-3kg 2pceULS 1-3kg
Okuma ITX Carbon Spin Reels - ITX-1000
Platypus Super 100 Mono
Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader
Mepps Inline Spinners -
Mepps Aglia Furia
Mepps Bug
Adrian (meppstas)