My Trout Season Report for 2017-18....

Tasmania Fishing Reports
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meppstas
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My Trout Season Report for 2017-18....

Post by meppstas » Fri May 04, 2018 12:28 pm

TROUT SEASON REPORT FOR 2017-18
by Adrian Webb..

'' RIVERS ”

MERSEY: 31 Trips.. 178 Browns.. 60 Rainbows

MEANDER: 29 Trips.. 198 Browns...

Tannin Waters (private prop): 11 Trips.. 72 Browns.. -

DASHER: (private prop): 12 Trips.. 78 Browns.. -

LEVEN: 3 Trips.., 31 Browns.. -

WILMOT: 2 Trips.. 12 Browns.. 2 Rainbows..

WESTERN CREEK: 4 Trips.. 17 Browns.. -

** TOTAL TRIPS: 92 Trips.. 586 Browns.. 62 Rainbows..

** TOTAL TROUT CAUGHT FOR 2017-18 SEASON: 648 ** Average fish per trip: 7.04

** Only 5 trout were kept during the 2017-18 season due to gill damage & those fish could not be
released back into the river.

** Best Trout of the season: It was a massive male that went 3.85kg ( 8lb 8ozs ) & was caught on the last day of the brown trout season in the Leven River near Marshall's Bridge. It was caught on a Austackle hard body lure, a Panikku JB50 suspending model, Colour: Ghostly Brown. This trout was my all time PB for a trout taken in the rivers I fish here in Tasmania.

** 2nd Best trout for 2017-18: A beautiful 2.45 kg ( 5lb 6 ozs ) brown trout that was caught in the Leven River on April 27th, it was taken on a Pontoon 21 hard body lure called a “GagaGoon” colour: MI Perch.

** Most trout caught & released in a spin session: 27 browns & 1 rainbow trout, Mersey River at Liena.

In all it was a reasonably productive season and one the really finished on a high with the two large
browns being caught at the end of the season both within two days of each other. Those two catches will remain with me for a very long time. As for how the rivers fished throughout the season they fished reasonably well even though I did struggle a few times I visited them. The Mersey River fished well for me through October, November & into early December after that I struggled to catch a good bag of trout. I still caught fish in it but they were few and far between in the lower reaches until I fished the upper reaches in and around Liena where the fishing was much better. Even up there it eventually went off so I concentrated most of my fishing to the Meander River as that was fishing fairly well on most of my trips there. I still had several low catch rate days in the Meander River and the fish sizes were much better than the Mersey. I've often been told that I set myself a too higher standard but that's just the way I am and will stay that way until I retire from fishing the rivers and streams which hopefully won't be for a few more years yet. I fished the Tannin Waters on a property that I was lucky enough to be granted permission to enter on the provision I do not take any one with me which I agreed to do. That fished well and had some very nice trout in it early season, once the river level dropped I didn't fish it because it only stresses the trout. The Dasher River another that I have permission to fish wasn't all that good this season due to low water levels and the trout were all small fish. I'm sure it will pick up with some good Winter rains & hopefully back up rains throughout next year as will many of the smaller rivers & streams.
1 Pontoon21 & Meander River wild brown trout..5899 (Medium).JPG
Just one of many browns caught & released over the season..
Cattle bridge over the Meander River.. 5915 (Medium).JPG
A stretch of fast water that fished well this season..
Fungi 5995 (Medium).JPG
It's not always about taking photos of rivers & fish when fishing a river..


The Wilmot River gave up a few nice trout in the two trips that I had to it in the Kindred area where I also had another first in this river catching a couple of rainbow trout. It always fishes well early in the season but the river level drop quite fast too and once that happens it's not worth fishing. It may be better in the upper reaches, but that's an area I've never fished mainly due to the lack of access. Western Creek as always gives up a few nice trout as long as it had a good flow to it, once the level drops it's not worth going there. The surprise packet for me this season was the Leven River, a river I hadn't been near all season. Knowing how well it seems to fish in the last month of the trout season I always like to have a trip or two over there. The fish are normally well conditioned and of a good size. The three trips there were probably the best three fishing trips I've ever had to the river. Better still was the last two trips where I caught my PB for the river during my second trip there on the 27th April, that was topped off on the last day (29th) of the season with my best ever brown trout I have caught in any river I've fished here in Tasmania. My previous best was a 2.95kg ( 6lb 8 ozs ) brown trout taken in the Meander River back on the 7th Feb.2014. I have been so close many times in catching a larger brown but it never happened until now. All up the Mersey River was the river that gave up the most trout for the season but I felt the Meander River was still the best river I fished throughout the 2017-18 season, but that's just my opinion & others may think different. So now I will have a nice three month lay off and get the body right for the 2018-19 Trout Season and one I look forward to.
2.9kg PB brown, Meander River (Medium).JPG
My previous PB brown goes way back to 7th Feb. 2014
Field mushrooms, Minnow River.. 6022 (Medium).JPG
Even going home with a feed of fresh field mushrooms..
One very solid 3.85 kg brown..(Medium).JPG
But this fish was a great end to the season..
cheers
Adrian
Last edited by meppstas on Fri May 04, 2018 5:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: My Trout Season Report for 2017-18....

Post by Texas » Fri May 04, 2018 1:47 pm

Great read Adrian
That much information about Victorian rivers would cause "standing room only"
Cheers Gra

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Re: My Trout Season Report for 2017-18....

Post by brybry » Fri May 04, 2018 2:20 pm

Great read. Very impressive set of numbers.

Over 7 fish per trip it outstanding.

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Re: My Trout Season Report for 2017-18....

Post by Lightningx » Fri May 04, 2018 2:35 pm

Great read and awesome stats!
Well done on another amazing season mate!!! :a_goodjob:

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Re: My Trout Season Report for 2017-18....

Post by meppstas » Fri May 04, 2018 3:44 pm

Thanks guys, two more trout than last season (2016-17) but I also had more 13 trips his season..
** 2016-17 Season:
** Total trips: 79 for 575 brown trout & 71 rainbow trout *(646 trout in total) being caught of which just the 8 trout (6 browns & 2 rainbows) were kept for the season.

** The best trout of the season: Brown trout caught in Western Creek @ 2.65 kgs. (5lb 13 ozs)

cheers
Adrian
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Re: My Trout Season Report for 2017-18....

Post by Sinsemilla » Fri May 04, 2018 3:59 pm

Lure casting machine! Good work mate

How many casts do you reckon you do over a season?

Anth

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Re: My Trout Season Report for 2017-18....

Post by Brownie » Fri May 04, 2018 5:28 pm

Awesome stuff mate. That big fella is a beauty. Get the heart pumping those ones.
My best was a 7.5 a few years ago, my jaw literally dropped and the relief when it went in the net was huge. Excellent mate, well done :a_goodjob:

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Re: My Trout Season Report for 2017-18....

Post by smile0784 » Fri May 04, 2018 5:41 pm

Awsome summary.
Great fishing
Dont think things could get any better but hope they do next year

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Re: My Trout Season Report for 2017-18....

Post by meppstas » Fri May 04, 2018 5:51 pm

Sinsemilla wrote:Lure casting machine! Good work mate

How many casts do you reckon you do over a season?

Anth
Thanks guys, how many casts over a season... I'd have no idea at all.. My distance in the rivers varies quite a lot, but on an average I'd cover 1.5 kms in a river per trip through a full trout season.. I'd have to have around a minimum of at least 300 casts over that distance I reckon, quite often I'll stand in the one spot and have 10-12 casts before moving on five meters and repeat the same again... this tally is just a guess 300 x 92 = 27,600 :water:
I'll have to find a counter of some sort that fits the rod or my casting arm.. :-D It;s funny you bought that up as someone asked me that a few years ago here in Tassie & I didn't have an answer for them back then either.. :oops:

cheers
Adrian
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Re: My Trout Season Report for 2017-18....

Post by Lightningx » Fri May 04, 2018 6:35 pm

That’s a hell of a lot of casts! :o_0:

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