Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » Trout a Little Scarce
Trout a Little Scarce
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
After some decent rain a few days ago, I felt that a trip back to the tannin waters may be the go. With plenty of water in the streams there should be a few hungry trout around. This trip was to a stretch of water that I hadn't fished since March 8 and on that trip I had caught and released nine trout. If I could catch that amount again on this trip I'd be pretty stoked, seeing as this tannin stream has slowed down with the trout on previous trips.
Seeing as it's been a month since I'd actually fished this stretch of water it would be interesting to see how it fishes on this afternoon. This trip was also a late afternoon one and it was 2:45pm by the time I hit the water. The conditions were still quite good, although it would cool down quite fast at this time of year. The water level was still at a good wading height and the dark tannin colour had lightened up since the last trip to this stream.
I started off with a #00 Copper Mepps Aglia and had a couple of follows and light taps on it before I finally had a nice brown take it, after casting the spinner into the top end of a nice narrow knee deep piece of water. Eight minutes into the spin session and I had the first trout landed. Just the start that I was looking for. Still, I have had starts like this before and they've often turned out to a very disappointing time in the water, with very few fish caught.
After the release of that trout, the following three stretches of water fished poorly, with just the one follow from a small brown. I tried several different coloured spinners and had a few follows but no takers. It wasn't until I went with the #00 Mepps White Miller Bug an hour later that I caught the second trout of the afternoon. I thought it was a decent size fish as it darted everywhere, peeling line from the spool. It wasn't until I had it in close enough that I saw it was foul hooked.
Once in the landing net, out popped the lure from its front fin. It wasn't damaged and was soon released back into the stream. Five minutes (4:05pm) later, at the top end of the same stretch of water, I hooked and landed my third trout. With just the three trout caught and released so far, it wasn't looking all that good for a decent catch rate.
The further upstream that I fished, the less follows I was having. It was nearly time to get out as the sun was lower and it was becoming darker. As I moved through a heavy overgrown area in the river, my line became tangled in a tea tree bush and I had to remove the Mepps Bug from the little snap swivel to free the line. Once done I moved into a narrow piece of water.
The first cast, directly upstream, and the lure was taken in quick time. I had my fourth trout on... well that was until the trout gave a solid head shake and it was gone. The line was limp and I thought that trout had snapped the line or perhaps it had parted ways at the knot. Once I had retrieved the line in close enough, I could see the Bug lure was missing and everything else was still intact.
The problem had been caused when I placed the lure back onto the small snap swivel. I had missed locking it on properly. So, there's a trout swimming around in the tannin water with a new Mepps Bug attached to its jaw. Hopefully it will soon part ways with the trout.
With that happening, I decided I'd had enough, called it a day and headed back to the car. I would return here again before season's end. Actually I didn't have much choice anyway as travel restrictions applied due to the Covid-19 virus that has hit Australia. Thankfully fishing was still allowed at this stage and I was lucky enough to have around four kilometres of river to fish, thanks to a very kind land owner.
Equipment Used:
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods - ULS 1-3kg trout rod
Okuma Helios SX Spin Reels - HSX-20 spinning reel
Platypus Super 100 Monofilament fishing line
Platypus Pre-Test Monofilament fishing line
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader
Mepps Inline Spinners
Boomerang Tool Products
Adrian (meppstas)