Small and Medium Trout at Merseylea 15/3/13
I shot off to Merseylea late this afternoon for a spin in mainly overcast conditions and light winds, hoping to finally get a few fish and break my dry spell. Arrived around 5.00 PM and found the river to be low and very clear and it was clear of the green cotton like algae that I experienced at Weegena a while back. The river bottom was still covered in a brown slime and there was a lot of water weeds in.
It, but this wasn't going to effect me today at all. Why you may ask?? Well I finally got my act together and purchased a pair of breathable waders (Reddington) and a pair of wading boots (Korkers) that came with interchangeable soles. One set of rubber and a set of felt soles. What a difference this set up made from the old reinforced Horne's heavy waist waders, it was just so much easier wading and walking.
Anyway back to the fishing! Started off below the bridge on Native Plains Rd and started working my way upstream using a Black Aglia Mouche spinner and after several casts I could only manage one light hit and miss. Fished on for another 50 or 60 mtrs and did not sight a fish at all, not even a follow. Looks like it's going to be one of those days again I thought to myself, and so it was time for a change of spinner. So it was on with a Gold Black Fury this time and after working the river from one side to the other for the next 100 mtrs the result was still the same. Not a follow or a nudge from a fish at all.
Well to cut a long story short, I tried March Brown and Stonefly Bug spinners, Copper and Black blade Black Fury spinners and all I could manage was one hit and miss in 200 mtrs of river. Decided to go back to the #00 Black Aglia Mouche once again as the sky was now completely covered in heavy cloud. Came across a small section of fast water that was flowing under some overhanging willows, so I thought I would start to flick the spinner into it without (hopefully) not snagging up in the willows.
It was a matter of casting both forehand and backhand into this tight piece of water and the first cast was spot on. No sooner had the spinner hit the water it was fish on! At last I have finally hooked into a nice solid brown, not a big fish but a nice fish that went 340 gms that was quickly unhooked and released for another day.
The next three casts into this small fast water I managed 3 more hits but just couldn't hook them. Still it was great to finally have a few fish having a crack at the spinner for a change. Thought it was time to give the trebles a bit of a sharpen with my small sharpening stone and it was then I noticed a hook missing from the treble. On with a replacement Aglia Mouche and then another cast back into the same area I had another fish on once again. This one was a very small brown of around 180 gms. I had now come to the end of this small fast water section in the willows, but did see another run on the opposite side of the river. Headed to that area and picked up another two small browns and one really small rainbow trout, these three fish would not have weighed any more than 100gms each if that. It was now getting very dark so I decided to have a couple more casts before heading back to the "'Trout Stalker 2'" and I was lucky enough to catch and release one more well conditioned brown that went 410 gms. So what started out to be a slow session turned around to be a bit of fun in the end.
Adrian Webb
