A dozen trout in tough conditions..
Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2017 5:47 am
A dozen browns in tough conditions..
After some good rain on Saturday I thought I'd head up to the upper reaches of the Mersey River above Liena and fish an area I haven't been to for at least two seasons. I have no idea what it may look like since the floods of June 2016 either but I'm hoping there may be a trout or two to be caught any way. I didn't leave Sheffield until just after 2:25pm in what was an overcast and very windy day with a temperate of only 15 degrees. Once I arrived an saw the amount of change to the area from the floods I just couldn't believe how different it was up here now. So much destruction with most of the foliage gone from the river banks, they're now all open rocky stretches where ever one looks. After a 2 km walk downstream through a few paddocks I was finally at my entry point to the river. There wasn't too much here that even looked like it once was at all, stretches of river that I knew like the back of my hand were gone. So it's just like fishing a new river which will make for an interesting session this afternoon. Not that I was too bothered as the lower Mersey wasn't much different to this after the floods any way.
I started off in a chain of small fast water runs and used a gold Aglia spinner, two casts was all it took before I had my first trout hooked and in the net. Nothing big, just a small well conditioned 279 gram fish which I was quite happy with as it meant there are trout to be had here. A few casts later I hooked and lost another small brown, that was followed up with the same result again soon after. After losing two trout in a row I changed over to a gold bladed black fury and that worked as I caught the next two trout without any problems. The wind was my biggest problem as it was coming straight down the river at around 20 kph and this made it pretty tough when casting directly upstream. It was much better when casting across it either because it carried the spinner way off line and it took a bit of adjusting to get the cast spot on. With it gusting didn't help either and I was trying to pick the right time to cast the lure in between a lull in the wind.
I tried fishing a couple of the slower flowing stretches of river and had quite a few follows from trout but they wouldn't take the spinners, also tried several hard body lures with the same result. I decided I would just fish the top end of these stretches where there is a faster flow. They both gave up a couple of medium size browns in between catching a few more in the fast water runs between the two slow stretches of river. The rest of the river ahead of me was now mainly all fast water runs so I changed back to the gold Aglia mainly because it has a wider blade and works really well in fast water. It was now 5:40pm and I still had at least ¾ of a kilometer of river ahead of me before I reached the car and light rain had started and with heavy rain forecast I knew I had to get a move on. I fished on as quick as possible and fished every bit of water that I felt would or should be holding a trout and most of them did. I picked up several more nice medium size browns taking my catch for the afternoon to a dozen by the time I reached where I had parked the car. Once back at the car the car became heavier so the timing was just right.
cheers
Adrian
After some good rain on Saturday I thought I'd head up to the upper reaches of the Mersey River above Liena and fish an area I haven't been to for at least two seasons. I have no idea what it may look like since the floods of June 2016 either but I'm hoping there may be a trout or two to be caught any way. I didn't leave Sheffield until just after 2:25pm in what was an overcast and very windy day with a temperate of only 15 degrees. Once I arrived an saw the amount of change to the area from the floods I just couldn't believe how different it was up here now. So much destruction with most of the foliage gone from the river banks, they're now all open rocky stretches where ever one looks. After a 2 km walk downstream through a few paddocks I was finally at my entry point to the river. There wasn't too much here that even looked like it once was at all, stretches of river that I knew like the back of my hand were gone. So it's just like fishing a new river which will make for an interesting session this afternoon. Not that I was too bothered as the lower Mersey wasn't much different to this after the floods any way.
- What it was like last time I fished up here..
- What it is is like know since the June 2016 floods..
- Some nice fast water between the rocks..
- First of the day..
- Another nice run..
- Solid brown..
I tried fishing a couple of the slower flowing stretches of river and had quite a few follows from trout but they wouldn't take the spinners, also tried several hard body lures with the same result. I decided I would just fish the top end of these stretches where there is a faster flow. They both gave up a couple of medium size browns in between catching a few more in the fast water runs between the two slow stretches of river. The rest of the river ahead of me was now mainly all fast water runs so I changed back to the gold Aglia mainly because it has a wider blade and works really well in fast water. It was now 5:40pm and I still had at least ¾ of a kilometer of river ahead of me before I reached the car and light rain had started and with heavy rain forecast I knew I had to get a move on. I fished on as quick as possible and fished every bit of water that I felt would or should be holding a trout and most of them did. I picked up several more nice medium size browns taking my catch for the afternoon to a dozen by the time I reached where I had parked the car. Once back at the car the car became heavier so the timing was just right.
- Trout number twelve, last one of the session..
- Taking a breather..
- Last brown was taken here..
Adrian
