Gale force winds, rain & gold brings on the trout... 15-9-17
With more snow, wind & rain forecast for the next few days I wanted to get a session in before the weather got any worse than what it is at the moment. The wind was already close to gale force and there was a lot of heavy cloud moving in from the West. There was already cloud overhead, but the cloud moving in from the West was much darker which meant there was rain on the way and not all that far off. I was hoping I may get a few hours in before it gets here so I grabbed the trout rod & camera and headed off to a small tannin stream above Weegena near the Mersey River. After a thirty minute walk through a few paddocks on private property (where I have been given permission to enter) I was soon in this little tannin stream. It had quite a bit of water running in it due to continual rain that we've had over the past few weeks. Once this weather clears up and the rain eases off this little stream will drop right off and there will be very little flow in it, most of the trout will move back into the Mersey River. Some will stay in the deeper pools and sheltered waters, they will be hard to catch in low warm water levels. Not only that they spook so easily and get stressed quite quickly, so it's best not to fish there any way.
- A nice thirty minute walk up & down a few hills to reach the stream..
I made the decision to start the session off using a #00 Mepps gold bladed Aglia, one of the many Aglia's that I have placed a black fury sticker on. It's something I tried last season with these little lures and it worked really well in catching quite a few trout. The stream itself today was a very dark tannin colour, in fact the first piece of water I fished was only a couple of feet deep and I couldn't see the bottom. I could see the spinner as I retrieved it though the top 30 cms of water, once it went below that I lost sight of it. Not that it mattered because the trout will pick up the vibe from the rotating blade any way. The Aglia has a larger blade than the black fury which will send out a little more vibe, another reason to use it today in dark water.
- Very dark tannin water..
That first small section of water didn't give up a fish, but the next one I fished gave up two solid browns in two casts. So it looked like the trout could be on today and it's “ GOLD ” that's going to catch them at this early stage. The next stretch of water was around thirty meters long and that gave up two more beautifully coloured wild browns. I noticed that the bottom of their tail fins were pretty well worn down and reasonably fresh too. Looks like there may have been late spawning in this little stream due to below average Winter rainfalls.
- First of the day..
- Followed by this one..
- Both caught here..
As the session went on the fishing got better even more so as the wind picked up and the clouds became much heavier and then the showers came and went. I was getting quite damp, but I wasn't calling it a day yet not while the trout were on the take. Up to I had now caught and released ten well conditioned browns with the best one going 560 grams, so I wasn't ready to chuck it in yet. The only worry I had was from falling branches that were being snapped off from the strong winds that were now roaring through the area. I could hear the trees creaking as the wind howled through them ripping branches off them. Several times I thought it was time to get out of the stream as I wasn't feeling all that safe staying in it. Finally the wind backed off to what it was and I continued on fishing.
- Another good piece of water..
- And another brown taken..
The rain showers still came and went just enough to keep me damp and cold, from the knees down all was numb due to the icy cold water. Had the trout not been so aggressive today I'm sure I would have already been back at the car by now. The little Aglia gold spinner kept on doing a great job in catching the trout as I worked my way upstream. I was still catching a trout in most sections of this little stream and at one stage I caught three in one of them. The wind picked up again and so did the rain and I was now saturated and was nearly ready to call it a day.. I fished on for another thirty minutes in which I picked up a few more browns as well as losing a couple on the way. When I did finally call it a day I had caught & released sixteen browns over three hours of fishing in some of the worst weather conditions I have fished in for many years. I'm not sure if any other colour would have done the same job as the gold spinner did today either, I wasn't going to change what I was using while it was still catching trout.. With the trout being in an aggressive mood, I'm sure they would more than likely have attacked what ever one threw at them today.. The little gold Aglia had to be retired because the last trout caught today caused too much damage to it to be used again..
- Rain starting to fall again..
- Good colours in this brown..
- Another beautifully coloured brown..
cheers
Adrian
