Any way I was soon in the river casting the little gold Mepps black fury and hoping for an early strike on it. The river had good flow and was running clean, but the rocky bottom was like as slippery as ever. The stretch of river that I am covering this morning was around 800 meters of fast water and a run that usually fishes very good.  After battling my way upstream for close on 600 meters without having a single touch I decided I'm not busting my guts out in this tough stretch of river any longer. I hopped out and went back to the car and drove some three kilometers downstream and parked next to the Chestnut Road Bridge that crossed over the Meander River. 

      From there I headed off through the paddocks for some 700 meters or so to the river, and commenced to work my way back upstream sticking with the same little spinner. This stretch of river is a little easier on the body as the rocky bottom here is only half as tough as where I had previously fished. I had worked some 200 meters upstream and finally had a hookup. This was a nice solid medium sized brown that made five or six leaps from the river before it finally tossed the lure.     

    Losing that fish was a real let down especially as it was the first hit and hook up for close on two hours of guts busting fishing in this freezing cold river. But it was my own fault that I lost it because I had forgotten to have the head cam on and was fiddling around trying to see the button on the remote control to turn it on. The fish swam downstream towards me leaping from the river and with slack line it was gone and on it's merry way. It wasn't until I was into the last run of fast water when I hooked into another medium (340gm) brown and this one I did land and broke what was looking like a donut day. Those two browns were all that I came across over that 700 meters of river too. It was now time to move to my next spot some six or seven kilometers downstream at Barrett's Bridge.

     I started off fishing around 200 meters below the bridge in misty rain and on the third cast to the opposite river bank I picked up a small (240gm) brown which was soon landed and released. This was a much better start than the previous two spots and I'm hoping it will continue. I had just fished on for another ten meters and I was into another brown. This fish was the best fish of the day for sure and after making several runs and leaps from the river it was in the net. A quick photo and it too was on it's way. That brown weighed 490gms and was in top condition.

    I had now worked my way up past the bridge and not spotted another fish since catching that brown. After fishing on upstream for another fifty meters or there abouts I picked up another small (220gm) brown and some thirty meters after that fish I managed another small (260gm) brown. I fished on for close on half and hour before calling it a day at 3.15pm making it some four and a half hours in the Meander River. My body also new it had  been in the river for that long too as it was really feeling it now that's for sure. Today was really a "'small Reward  For The Time Spent In The Meander River.'"  Being such a cold day that it was today, it was still enjoyable being in the Meander River.

 Cheers

Adrian