2018 08 13 Trout number 5 6596I headed over to the Leven River only to find it was like the rivers closer to home, running to high & fast to fish so I went and checked out a small stream that flows into the Leven. I wasn't sure if it was worthwhile getting the wading gear on to give it a go or not. After standing there for at least ten minutes looking the stream in two minds should I or shouldn't I give it a go I finally decided to get the wading gear on. A twenty minute walk though down through some paddocks and thick bush I was in the river just on 2:15 PM.

It was running reasonably fast and a very dark tannin colour so the choice of lure was quite easy, it was on with Mepps #0 Aglia Tiger fluoro. The water temp was a cold 6 degrees which was two degrees cooler that the air temperature at this time of the day, not only that the wind was gusting up to 35 kph. Casting in any small stream in these windy conditions won't be easy as accuracy is a must.

The good thing is that both sides of this little tannin stream has some very dense cover which will give me shelter from most of the wind... The first couple of runs were quiet with no sign of trout, it wasn't until I flicked the Aglia to the top end of the small third stretch of water when I had my first trout take the lure. It wasn't a large fish, just a small skinny wild brown that was around 200 grams. Even though it was a little brown it still fought hard all the way to the net like all river trout do whether they're small or large. I wasn't sure if I'd even catch a trout today given that the water was so cold, dark and running hard & fast like it is. The following run of water gave up another two aggressive little browns that weren't much bigger than the first one I caught.

Still, it's good to see a few trout in this little stream as it has been through some tough times with low water levels during the past few Summers when a lot of trout died in it... A little further up I picked up another small brown and that was it for at least another two hundred meters of fishing my way upstream. The water depth had varied quite a lot from knee deep up to a few inches below the top of my waders when I had to tip toe through a deep six meter long pool. I knew it was safe to do this here as I've been through this pool before, it has a nice easy going river bottom. Once I had reached the top end of the pool it shallowed out to knee deep water again, it was there where I caught another two small browns in pretty quick time.

As I kept working my way upstream I noticed some heavy storm clouds building up in the West so I thought I had best get a move on. I hurried through the next twenty minutes of fishing and managed to catch and release another couple of little browns before getting out and heading off back to the car at 4:10 PM.. In all it wasn't a bad spin session with eight small browns being caught, just a pity they weren't a little bigger in size. I'm sure once this weather settles down there will be some larger fish to be had here like there was last season.

Adrian (meppstas)


2018 08 13 First trout caught6588

First trout caught

 

2018 08 13 My starting point 6585

My starting point

 

2018 08 13 Trout 5 caught here 6594

Trout 5 caught here

 

2018 08 13 Trout No 7 6598

Trout No 7

 

2018 08 13 Trout No 8 caught here 6604

Trout No 8 caught here

 

2018 08 13 Trout No. 8 6601

Trout No. 8

 

2018 08 13 Trout number 5 6596

Trout number 5