Trout fishing, tough going lately. 24-3-17
- Sunrise at Meander..
I though it was time to have another trip to the Meander River seeing it's been two weeks since I've fished it. After checking the rivers level online I found it to be running at it's lowest this season, so the fishing there will be tough going. It means I'll be fishing in low, warm clear water and the trout will certainly be hard to find today let alone take the lures. I'm just hoping the green cotton like algae has disappeared by now. I arrived at the river to find the air quite cool (around 4-5 degrees) and a light fog hanging low as the sun started to rise. There was also a mist drifting over the river as well making it ideal for fishing, I just love being in a river in these conditions. It took me some twenty minutes of walking before I was in the river working a hard body lure in a medium depth slow water run for ten minutes without any sign of a trout. With no insect life around due to the heavy dew I was sure I'd pick up a fish early this morning.
- Very low river levels for this time of year..
- Still beautiful conditions this morning..
I reached a small man made narrow rocky section on the river that looked a good trout holding area, after a few casts upstream with the shad4 hard body I had my first take of the morning. Not a big fish but a nice solid little (320gram) river brown that was soon in the net after a short tussle. So after twenty minutes of fishing I finally had my first trout on the score card which I was happy with. A few casts later I was onto another small brown only to see it toss the lure on the first leap from the river. I'm about to move into shallow fast water from here on, time to go to the gold Aglia spinner from here on. One good thing I noticed here today, there wasn't any algae here. Maybe it's because I'm fishing an area a few kilometers further upstream from where I normally fish or maybe there's not as much irrigation run off here as there is downstream. It didn't take all that long before I had my second brown in the net a fish that was picked up in a very shallow flat water close to the shoreline. From then on it was a fish less session, 500 meters of river for just two light hit and misses. With four hundred meters of river ahead of me before I reached my exit point I decided to get out and head back to the car and try another area. I knew exactly where I was heading, it was to my ever reliable fast water runs four kilometers downstream.
- Two browns hooked here..
- The first of the day..
- Life doesn't get any better than this that's for sure..
Once there I could see the river bottom was still covered with green algae something I wasn't expecting seeing there wasn't any where I last fished. Not to worry, I still managed to pick up several trout here last time I fished this stretch of river in the same conditions. It took me at least two hundred meters of fishing before I had my first trout in the net, a small brown of 280 grams. The very next cast I was onto another one but that tossed the spinner on the second or third jump I think it was. It was all quiet over the next one hundred meters before I picked up two more in quick time from three hook ups. All quiet again for another fifty or sixty meters when I caught and released another two browns. Ten minutes later I had trout number eight for the morning in the net, another small 290 gram brown. The sun was now on full on the water so it was time to call it a day.
- Brown taken from flat water close to river bank...
- Medium size river brown..
- Another well conditioned brown..
- Session's over as the suns full on the water now..
With over three and a half hours spent in the river for just the eight trout was probably a good result given the conditions. The trout today have all been small to medium size fish, not a sign of any larger browns at all. With the river being so low and warm the larger fish may have made their way well upstream closer to the dam where the water is released and much cooler. It's there the water flows through long and very rocky fast water runs an area that's always had good fish in it. My next trip to the Meander River I will be heading well upstream to where I think the larger trout may have moved to. Hopefully I'm right as it is very hard going on the body up there wading one of the toughest areas on the river.
cheers
Adrian
