Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » Trout All Fired Up Today
Trout All Fired Up Today
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
Another forecast for more rain in a couple of days and with the larger rivers still running high, it was back to the tannin waters again. This trip was to a five hundred metre stretch of water that I hadn't fished for quite some time, due to the lack of trout on past trips. It's a great stretch of water to fish too, with a mix of small fast waters and several long medium runs. It used to fish really well, but for some reason the trout numbers dropped off.
Today, after a pretty good cool and wet summer, I was hoping it may have come back to what it once was, with plenty of trout in it. Seeing as it was a bright sunny day and I had things to do in the morning, I didn't get away until later in the day and it was 3:10pm when I finally hit the water. With the sun on the water I was in two minds what Mepps spinner to use and just for something different, I went to a small #00 Mepps Copper Aglia.
The right side of the stream had some shaded areas on it and that's where the first cast went with the little Aglia spinner. Two turns of the reel handle and a small brown nailed the copper lure. When I say small trout, I mean it. This was a tiddler that was soon in hand and released. A few casts and retrieves later and I had another hook up but lost that fish as fast as it took it. After that I only had a couple of follows.
Seeing as trouts eyes are very light sensitive, I felt the copper spinner was probably the wrong choice to use in a stream that was in full sun. A change of lure was had and it was on with a #00 March Brown Bug. It didn't take all that long before it was fish on again. This time it was a better size brown trout, however one leap from the river and it was gone.
I checked the treble hook on the spinner and found that one of the three hooks was missing. Then I remembered that I meant to take this Bug spinner out of the lure box and replace it. On with a new March Brown and I was soon back into the fishing. First cast with the new lure I was onto another trout. This trout was a solid fish too and it ran straight under a tea tree that was laying in the river. That was it, I lost that fish too.
My next long cast upstream was to the shaded right hand side of the stream, resulting in another hook up. This too was a solid trout. Like all the trout in small streams and rivers it fought like hell and took the battle all the way to the landing net. No sooner it was in the net and out popped the spinner. Once released, my next cast was to the top left hand side, into a flat water, where another solid brown took the Mepps Bug and was soon landed. The trout were certainly in attack mode today. This trout wasn't as large as the previous fish but it was still a nice well-conditioned fish.
Once I reached the top end of this stretch of water, I had to get out and do a bit of bush bashing to bypass a massive log jam. A few minutes later and I was back in the water and quickly onto another nice trout. This fish was taken after a cast and drift into a shaded area on the opposite side of the stream.
I continued slowly fishing my way upstream and went on to catch another six trout in reasonably good time. After an hour and twenty minutes I had caught and released ten browns, all but three of them being decent size trout. Another bypass around a deep stretch of water was needed, after catching the tenth trout, then up came a gusty north easterly breeze and the trout shut down.
From then on the fishing was tough going. I had a few follows, before the trout completely disappeared. It wasn't until the wind dropped, thirty minutes later, that I caught two more trout in quick time, taking the tally to twelve trout caught and released. Then up bobbed the north easterly again and the trout shut down again.
While I kept on fishing my way upstream and not catching a fish, while the wind was blowing, I was ready to call it a day when there was a sudden drop in the wind. I was fishing in an area that was in full shade, so I went back to the #00 Copper Mepps Aglia spinner. That change of lure worked a treat and five minutes after changing I hooked and landed a beautiful brown trout. Forty minutes after catching the twelfth trout and number thirteen was in the net. My day was done.
It was 5:20pm and time to head back to the car. I felt the trout from here on would be few and far between and besides, I was quite happy to finish today on thirteen. The best trout of the day was the second one. It went 425 grams and was in the best condition for this time of the season thanks to a wetter and cooler summer.
Adrian (meppstas)
Equipment used on this trip:
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods - CE-S-662UL 6'6'' 2-6lb trout rod
Okuma Epixor XT Spin Reels - EPXT-20
Platypus Super 100 Monofilament Line - 4lb
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader
Mepps Inline Spinners - Bug
Mepps Inline Spinners - Aglia
Boomerang Tool Products.
Adrian (meppstas)