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Wet Weather Wild River Trout
By Adrian (meppstas) Webb
We had seventy-five millimetres of rain over the past couple of days and with the rivers running higher than they were three days ago, I thought I would give the upper reaches of the Mersey River a go. More rain was forecast for today and as I headed off to Weegena, I could see the rain wasn't all that far away. Once there, I could see the river level was well up since my last trip here back on December 24. In fact, I reckon it had risen by 20-25cm. The good thing was that it was still at a reasonably safe wading height.
The water clarity was very low, so I would be using brighter coloured Mepps inline spinners, such as the Aglia Fluo Micropigment Brown & Rainbow spinners, to start with. If they didn't work, I could then fall back on the ever-reliable Black Fury, with the gold, copper, or silver blades. Once I had the wading gear on, I headed along a small dirt track that ran along the side of the river and I bypassed a nice piece of water that I always have a few casts and retrieves in to start off my spin session. The reason that I bypassed it was because those dark rain clouds were getting closer by the minute, so instead I continued to the first fast water, three hundred metres further up the river. What I did notice as I bypassed the long, wide flat water was trout surface feeding. This was a good sign that the trout were at least out and about feeding.
After a ten-minute walk, I was finally in the river flicking a Mepps Aglia Fluo Micropigment rainbow spinner up and across the river, then letting it drift with the fast flow of the water, while slowly retrieving it. It was pretty quiet, with no signs of a trout to be had over the first twenty metres of water. It wasn't until I changed to an Aglia Fluo Micropigment brown spinner and moved into a narrower stretch of water that I had my first hit from a trout and missed hooking it.
A few casts and retrieves later the same thing happened again, so it was off with the Aglia brown and on with the ever-reliable Black Fury. I thought I would try the gold blade spinner to start with and if that colour didn't attract trout, in the cloudy water, then I'd try a copper or silver bladed one. On the third cast and retrieve, into a shallow, fast-flowing run, I had my first hook up of the afternoon. It was a small brown trout that had taken the spinner and it stayed on. I had my first fish of the day landed.
A few minutes after that and a little further upstream, I picked up another trout. This one was a larger fish and one that was in top condition. It too made it into the net. Just after I released that trout the rain arrived. Thankfully it was only light rain at this stage, so I continued fishing.
I finally reached the end of the fast waters, without having more hits from the trout, and to make matters worse the rain started to become a little heavier. The next fast water ahead of me was at least two hundred and fifty metres away and as much as I wanted to head there, I knew it wasn't worth it with the rain that had set in. I had a few more casts and retrieves as I made my way towards the riverbank and was lucky enough to catch and release another small/medium size brown trout.
On the walk back to the car the rain eased off, back to what it was previously, so as I neared the area where I normally like to start my spin session, I decided to hop in and give myself ten minutes to see if I could pick up a trout. Once I was back in the river the rain increased a little more, so I was fishing hard and fast to get as many casts and retrieves in as I could before it pelted down. Luck was on my side here too and I went on to catch and release two small/medium size browns and a nice plump 340g rainbow trout.
My day was done as the rain became much heavier and thankfully my car was only thirty metres away, so it wasn't all that long before I was in it. I knew I should have headed up here a lot earlier than I did. If I had done so and fished the fast waters further upstream, I would likely have had another double figure day.
Adrian (meppstas)
Equipment Used During My Trout Season:
Okuma Celilo Finesse Spin Rods - ULS 1-3kg
Okuma LRF Spin Rods – 1-3kg
Okuma ITX Carbon Spin Reels – ITX-1000
Okuma Inspira Blue Spin Reels - ISX-20B
Okuma Helios SX Spin Reels - HSX-20
Okuma Epixor XT Spin Reels - EXPT-20
Okuma Ceymar Spin Reels - C-10
Platypus Pulse Mono Premium Monofilament – 4lb
Platypus Super 100 Monofilament – 4lb
Platypus Pre-test Monofilament – 4lb
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader
Mepps Inline Spinners
Mepps Bug Inline Spinner
Mepps Aglia Mouch Noire Inline Spinner