Stevenson river 10/2/2019

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Sebb
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Stevenson river 10/2/2019

Post by Sebb » Mon Feb 11, 2019 7:08 am

My wife had to work yesterday 12-8pm, to I thought I could call a mate and sneak in some afternoon fishing.

Weather was great, stopped at Healesville and had a chicken wrap from a charcoal chicken shop.
Another half an hour, we were at Marysville that just "celebrated" the 10 years Black Saturday. It was definitely a dark time. Now Marysville is fully rebuilt.
I kinda miss the old Marysville and regret that I didn't spend much time there before Black Saturday. (I wonder where all the Marysville yowies now :( )
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Stopped for a quick look at Marysville lake/pond and showed my mate a little bit about fly fishing since he's a lure fisherman but said interested in fly fishing.
Odd, the usually active and trout abundant pond was dead quiet and slightly discoloured. Was there for 20 mins or so and he lost interest and said "let's go for the real fishing".

Few mins drive and we got to one of the easy river access of Stevenson, one black car was there, definitely a fisherman's car.
Water was crystal clear, good level and flow, perfect condition.
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Few mins it took us to prepare our gear set. I put a stimulator and a brown pheasant tail nymph dropper. 3wt fly outfit.
My mate had 1-3kg rod setup with a 30mm minnow lure.

The first one hour was frustrating for both of us. Poor line management, snagged, stick fish, lost rigs, etc.
Either the fish was playing hard to catch or the water was fished recently (probably by the owner of that black car).

Around 4:30pm, the sun was a bit on an angle and saw few insects on the water. Changed the stimulator to royal wulf and I finally caught one little rainbow on the nymph, then another rainbow took the royal wulf dry. Then missed a couple more on the dry.
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Right before 6pm, it was the "one more bend, last one, in condition like this, there should be a fish under that log, might just come out" moment before home... and bang! A healthy brown. My mate saw it and he's got his fly fishing interest back.
rps20190211_074646.jpg
Odd, my mate changed lures few times, didn't get a hit neither a follow. Last spring, he caught more on lures and I was struggling. Yesterday was the other way around.
Certainly a nice day it was.

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Re: Stevenson river 10/2/2019

Post by meppstas » Mon Feb 11, 2019 8:11 am

Top report & a lovely looking river/stream, nice couple of trout there as well.. Can't beat the river "bows & browns for colour.. Warmer weather now than Spring time see the trout seem to go for the fly more than a lure this time of year. January/early February is when I struggle chasing trout on the lures too.. Strange your mate never had a follow though, normally the trout will check the lures out without taking them which is even more frustrating. So that's one all, best you guys have an Autumn fish off.. best out of three.. :thumbsup:

cheers
Adrian
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Re: Stevenson river 10/2/2019

Post by Lightningx » Mon Feb 11, 2019 8:20 am

Nice report and pics mate.
Enjoyed the read.
Cheers :thumbsup:

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Re: Stevenson river 10/2/2019

Post by Sebb » Mon Feb 11, 2019 9:40 am

meppstas wrote:
Mon Feb 11, 2019 8:11 am
Top report & a lovely looking river/stream, nice couple of trout there as well.. Can't beat the river "bows & browns for colour.. Warmer weather now than Spring time see the trout seem to go for the fly more than a lure this time of year. January/early February is when I struggle chasing trout on the lures too.. Strange your mate never had a follow though, normally the trout will check the lures out without taking them which is even more frustrating. So that's one all, best you guys have an Autumn fish off.. best out of three.. :thumbsup:

cheers
Adrian
Thanks!
Yeah I think you're right, trouts go smelting in cooler months and more "buggy" in warmer months.
Early to mid autumn is great, some bigger specimens too.

I try to avoid late autumn river fishing though. Last time i fished late autumn and caught a nice 2-3 lb rainbow, it released a lot of eggs, and kinda felt cr*p. Had that feeling of "what am I doing" and "what have I done".
Not saying anyone shouldn't, that's just what I felt.

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Re: Stevenson river 10/2/2019

Post by happyfriggincamper » Mon Feb 11, 2019 9:53 am

Nice report mate - sunday was definitely a better day then saturday to flick some fluff.

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Re: Stevenson river 10/2/2019

Post by meppstas » Mon Feb 11, 2019 10:56 am

Seb85 wrote:
Mon Feb 11, 2019 9:40 am
meppstas wrote:
Mon Feb 11, 2019 8:11 am
Top report & a lovely looking river/stream, nice couple of trout there as well.. Can't beat the river "bows & browns for colour.. Warmer weather now than Spring time see the trout seem to go for the fly more than a lure this time of year. January/early February is when I struggle chasing trout on the lures too.. Strange your mate never had a follow though, normally the trout will check the lures out without taking them which is even more frustrating. So that's one all, best you guys have an Autumn fish off.. best out of three.. :thumbsup:

cheers
Adrian
Thanks!
Yeah I think you're right, trouts go smelting in cooler months and more "buggy" in warmer months.
Early to mid autumn is great, some bigger specimens too.

I try to avoid late autumn river fishing though. Last time i fished late autumn and caught a nice 2-3 lb rainbow, it released a lot of eggs, and kinda felt cr*p. Had that feeling of "what am I doing" and "what have I done".
Not saying anyone shouldn't, that's just what I felt.
Not a good feeling having that happen, our brown trout season closes (for 3 months) on the last Sunday closest to the end of April, trout spawn here in June/July.. So even though they're carrying eggs they're not at the stage were they'll release any which is good. Trout are much more aggressive during Autumn too & like you stated, much larger fish.. Rainbow season closes a month later (for three & a half months) as they spawn later than the browns. Does your trout season close later than Tasmania..

cheers
Adrian
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Re: Stevenson river 10/2/2019

Post by Sebb » Mon Feb 11, 2019 11:31 am

meppstas wrote:
Mon Feb 11, 2019 10:56 am
Seb85 wrote:
Mon Feb 11, 2019 9:40 am
meppstas wrote:
Mon Feb 11, 2019 8:11 am
Top report & a lovely looking river/stream, nice couple of trout there as well.. Can't beat the river "bows & browns for colour.. Warmer weather now than Spring time see the trout seem to go for the fly more than a lure this time of year. January/early February is when I struggle chasing trout on the lures too.. Strange your mate never had a follow though, normally the trout will check the lures out without taking them which is even more frustrating. So that's one all, best you guys have an Autumn fish off.. best out of three.. :thumbsup:

cheers
Adrian
Thanks!
Yeah I think you're right, trouts go smelting in cooler months and more "buggy" in warmer months.
Early to mid autumn is great, some bigger specimens too.

I try to avoid late autumn river fishing though. Last time i fished late autumn and caught a nice 2-3 lb rainbow, it released a lot of eggs, and kinda felt cr*p. Had that feeling of "what am I doing" and "what have I done".
Not saying anyone shouldn't, that's just what I felt.
Not a good feeling having that happen, our brown trout season closes (for 3 months) on the last Sunday closest to the end of April, trout spawn here in June/July.. So even though they're carrying eggs they're not at the stage were they'll release any which is good. Trout are much more aggressive during Autumn too & like you stated, much larger fish.. Rainbow season closes a month later (for three & a half months) as they spawn later than the browns. Does your trout season close later than Tasmania..

cheers
Adrian
TAS has better trout management I think.
Trout rivers closed 1 June - 31 Aug here in VIC. Flat date every year for all trout species. No closed season in lakes.
When I caught the rainbow that released a lot of eggs was in end of May. Now I'm trying to avoid river trout fishing in end of May.

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Re: Stevenson river 10/2/2019

Post by meppstas » Mon Feb 11, 2019 2:13 pm

Wow!! that's early for the rainbow to be so full of eggs too, unless it had something to do with seasonal weather conditions.. I've heard from a few fisho's who keep there trout & they've often said the browns have had full egg sacks in them in March when they've gutted them.. Makes one wonder doesn't it.. I wouldn't let it deter you from fishing for trout, if it's going to worry you though, then maybe finish up in mid May..

cheers
Adrian
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Re: Stevenson river 10/2/2019

Post by smile0784 » Mon Feb 11, 2019 2:42 pm

Another great report mate

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Re: Stevenson river 10/2/2019

Post by Sebb » Mon Feb 11, 2019 3:27 pm

meppstas wrote:
Mon Feb 11, 2019 2:13 pm
Wow!! that's early for the rainbow to be so full of eggs too, unless it had something to do with seasonal weather conditions.. I've heard from a few fisho's who keep there trout & they've often said the browns have had full egg sacks in them in March when they've gutted them.. Makes one wonder doesn't it.. I wouldn't let it deter you from fishing for trout, if it's going to worry you though, then maybe finish up in mid May..

cheers
Adrian
Yeah you probably right. Weather, water condition, etc, could affect them and their behaviour.
I'm no expert and hasn't done much fly fishing in TAS, but I've fished in TAS before and I found TAS trout fishing is more consistent than VIC.
TAS has more of "as expected" than VIC, as in "good condition for caddis hatch this evening, then it happens". Often doesn't work like that in VIC, more off predictions.

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