Tough trout season, finally reached the 400th

[meppstas]

Only needing two more trout to reach my 400th for the 2019/20 trout season I finally reached it today with five days to spare. It's been one of my toughest trout seasons for a very long time and at one stage I had doubts about reaching 400 trout before seasons end. Any way I made it today with a few extra fish caught and released as well with a total of thirteen wild browns being caught & released over a three hour spin session in tannin waters. I gave up a couple of months ago on my set target of 600 trout but was still hoping to reach 500 by seasons end.. In the end I knew that was even out of reach so had to settle on trying to hit the 400 mark in which I eventually did. Thankfully the little gold #00 Mepps Aglia did the job on them today, the little one in the photo is very well worn and caught around 80 or so trout, I feel I may retire it at seasons end..
cheers
Adrian (meppstas)

Good flow after recent rains..

Finally trout No 400 is landed..

400th trout taken here..

A beautiful tannin water wild brown..

This one's ready for release..

Another nice stretch of trout water..

Like all the trout today, this one also fell to the gold Aglia..

One very well used gold #00 Aglia spinner..

[Irishfisherman]

Great report and pictures, I hope your hip is fairing alright. Do you have any thoughts on why it has been a poor season?

[Nude up]

Great to see fish being caught

[meppstas]

Thanks guys, ,
Irishfisho...there's been a lack of trout in most rivers around the state over the past few seasons now for one reason or another. We've had a few very dry Winters with very little back up rains that we used to get on a regular basis which has had a impact on the trout as has the large amount of cormorants that are regularly on the rivers.. The trout this season in the rivers I've fished have also been a lot smaller in size than previous years.
Another reason my catch rate's down is also due to less trips to the rivers because of lower back & hip problems that seem to take longer to get over now days..last season I had 75 trips in total (for 573 trout average 7.64 trout per trip) to the rivers, to date I've had 59 trips for 411 (average 6.97) trout in total. I will still get two more trips in given the weather settles here overnight. When you look at the stats they don't seem all that bad with the average catch rate for the season, it not all that far off last season really. The thing is, I have had to put a lot of extra time in each trip to achieve that catch rate now than I used to. But when I set myself a target and don't get anywhere near it it ticks me off.. The Inland Fisheries have admitted there's a problem with the decline of trout in the rivers here but won't stock them as they believe in self recruitment, yet they will stock the highland lakes with thousands of brown and rainbow trout.. They cut the bag limit in the rivers from 12 per day down to 5 per day that can be kept but wouldn't up the size limit, the size limit remains at 22cm which to me is dumb. I approached the Director of Inland Fisheries and asked him why they didn't increase the size limit to 30 cms for all the rivers around the state. His reply was that it would be too confusing for those who fish the rivers, how dumb does he think we are... One size of 30cms for every river, how hard is that to remember..

cheers
Adrian

[Bugatti]

Woohoo Adrian, you cracked the 400 trout mark, and with a lucky 13 trout

You are a Trojan to have got that many trips in with your lower back and hip issues. And that explanation of the dwindling trout is unfortunate.

30cm , , , , hey look at that , , , , it isn't that hard to remember. Seems the powers to be expect everybody to believe their spin and the same rhetoric they use as a standard response.

I'm hoping that you have done more than enough to hoist that Ulverstone Trophy up again (and again and again and , , , , )

Great read on another great adventure Adrian

Cheers, Bill

[Lightningx]

Beautiful pics as always mate!
Really nice work reaching the 400th fish
Cheers

[VooDoo]

Adrian - you are the envious of all us vic fishos

Well done on the milestone - again

Glad to hear from you - was a bit worry from your lack of presence on the forum and the bad news we hearing about Tassie plight with covid19.

stay safe !!

[Sinsemilla]

Well done Adrian. I reckon with all the species i catch i haven't caught 400 in a whole year..

Cheers, Anth

[meppstas]

Thanks guys, yes it's been a little tough down here and with the North West of Tassie being in lock down I can't travel all that far to the rivers, thankfully a land owner close by has given me access to fish there.. Any way not long to go now before the season closes, my time away from fishing will give me a chance to do my full end of season trout report on the rivers I've fished throughout the season on how they fished, what condition they're in and how many trout I caught in each of them etc..

** Bill, I still have the trophy at home for now because of the lock down we can't have any club meetings and the Annual Trophy night is on hold for now..

** PS: This trout report on the 400th trout was just a short write up, I'm yet to finish writing the full report yet..

cheers
Adrian

[Texas]

Great stuff Adrian
I don't know why, but, 400 seems so much better than 399
I reackon you'll reach 450 by season's end
Cheers Gra
P.s. Stop sending your weather up here