Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Adrian-Webbs-Trout-Tips » Working Hard in the Fast Water
Working Hard in the Fast Water
They said it was going to be warm and very windy (up to 50kph) today, so I decided not to head off to the upper reaches of the Mersey River this morning. Well at 1:00pm I was still sitting home, waiting for the wind to arrive. Seeing it was still calm I headed off to the upper Mersey River. I left home at 1:45pm and once there it was on with the gear and after a long walk, through several high grassed paddocks and over plenty of boulder strewn areas, I was in the river at 2:50pm.
I was totally buggered after pushing myself for close on two kilometres in the 27 degree humid conditions. The river was running clear, cool (15 degrees) and at a depth of 42cm which was perfect for wading the fast water. It's a very rocky area to fish, full of rocks of all shapes and sizes as far as the eye can see.
It's a tough river to fish at all times of the season, but this area was one that was well worth the pain as it always fished well. The trout's average weight was just on 500 grams here over the years that I have fished it and I was hoping there would be several fish that size here again. My catch rate here was always good too, averaging 14 trout per trip. I doubted it would be that many today because the Mersey River has fished poorly the further the season has gone on.
After having a drink of river water though the Life Straw that I carry with me, I was soon into flicking the Mepps Aglia Furia towards a nice flat water, close to the river bank. The majority of the right hand side of the river had a narrow flat water along it, which was the ideal place for trout to be sitting in wait.
The first cast saw a trout follow the spinner for a short distance, before moving back to where it came from. The same thing happened with the second cast as well. I went for a change of lure, a small #00 Mepps Aglia Gold which I cast into the same area where I had a hit and miss from a brown trout. A few more flicks back into the same area didn't result in anything, the trout had gone elsewhere.
That was the one and only trout seen until I reached the top end of the long medium/fast flowing stretch of river. After quite a few casts and drifts with the spinner I finally had a follow from a reasonable size, non aggressive brown trout. From there I moved into a fast white water run and just ahead of that was the normal fast water runs. If I'm going to catch a trout today it's in these fast runs that it will happen.
A couple of cast and drifts with the little Gold Aglia into the white water and I had my first hook up from a small brown, which I lost in no time at all. A few minutes later I had another take on the Aglia and this time the trout stayed on. I soon had the little 270 gram trout in hand. It had taken an hour to catch the first trout of the spin session. I had expected much better results before now.
I moved out of the white water and into the normal fast water. It too had a nice flat water along the opposite river bank. That side of the river was a little deeper too which was good. One cast into the flat water and a solid brown took the gold Aglia as soon it hit the water. This trout was a decent fish that made several leaps and runs. My heart was in my mouth a few times, wondering if it would stay on.
Finally I had it under control and slowly edged it in close enough to slip the net under it. This beautiful well-conditioned brown was just like the others I used to catch here on a regular basis and it went 530 grams. After a couple of photos I kept it in the water, making sure it was okay to be released, before letting it swim away.
A little further up I caught and released another small brown on the little spinner. Twenty minutes later and after a change of lure I the fourth trout of the afternoon. It, like the last one, was a small fish. It was taken on the Aglia Furia that I had changed to.
The fish certainly aren't here like they once were and it's really disappointing to see the lack of trout in the Mersey River this season. The only good thing was the condition of the river here compared to the lower reaches. Here the river bottom is in excellent condition. There was no sign of slime or algae on the rocky river bottom at all, just a little debris in the river which is to be expected.
The last 700 metres of river that I fished, up to where I had parked the car, I only had one follow from a reasonable size brown. To only have the one follow over that distance was very disappointing and I found it hard accept that the fish weren't here in good numbers. But that's how it is and I'm not sure if and when I will return back there this season.
The Mepps spinners did their job, catching four of the five trout that took the spinner and the Okuma gear, which consisted of a 6'6" 1-3kg rod, coupled up with the Helios HSX 20 spin reel worked a treat. The pair of them together are such a light and well balanced trout set up for sure and reasonably priced too.
Cheers
Adrian (meppstas)