Late start just not on for trout fishing.. 31-3-17
Had a day off from driving the 140 km round trip to the hospital to see Pam (wife) today, so after doing the washing and cleaning the house I headed off to the Meander River for a short spin session. It was nice and overcast when I left home just after 10:00am which I didn't mind as had it been sunny I wouldn't have gone. After a 40 minute drive I was at the river only to find a car parked where I was going to start the session from. So headed off to another stretch of river further upstream. By the time I reached there then walked some 600 meters to the river the clouds had parted and the sun was out and the river was now in full sun. This was the last thing I needed, not only that the river was even lower today than my last trip here plus the green fine cotton like algae was still covering the river bottom as well. I nearly decided to turn around and head to the car and back home. But seeing how much I love a challenge with my trout fishing I thought I'd still have a crack at catching a trout while I'm here. Also being the last day of the month I thought what the heck have a go.
- Fine green cotton like algae covers the river bottom..
- Clear shallow water in full sun..
There were several trout rising in the wide flat water runs so I knew I wasn't going to catch them while they're surface feeding. My best chance here was to try a hard body lure in the flat water and the copper black fury in the fast water runs. After several casts with the small Daiwa ghost brown lure and having it foul up each and every cast with algae I decided to just fish the fast water runs with the blade spinner. It took a few casts up and across the river while keeping the rod tip high on the retrieve as to keep the spinner close to the surface before I had my first brown on for the session. It was a nice 470 gram fish that put up a good fight all the way to the net. That was the only fish for the next two fast water runs, with just one fast water stretch left before I'm getting out and heading off home I'm hoping to pick up at least one more brown with any luck. The way it's going today I'll need lady luck on my side too. Well she was, as I caught and released two more browns in this last fast water run before calling it a day. With the sun high and on the water most times except when the odd cloud moves in front of it I'm just wasting my time fishing on any further. Three trout from just the three takes, well that's as good as it got today. With just a month of the season left I'm hoping we get some decent rainfalls to freshen the rivers up and bring the trout on.. Having such a late start today didn't help my spin session either..
- Bright & very calm conditions on the river..
- First brown of the session..
- It's the lowest I've ever seen the river..
- Last brown, beautiful golden colour too...
cheers
Adrian
