Cattle end the trout fishing

2020 06 01 The only trout taken today Headed off for another afternoon spin session in a tannin stream, hit the water just on 1:45 pm in what was reasonably good conditions. The water level had dropped by a few inches since yesterdays trip so I'm hoping there will be a few more trout out and about today. When I left home it was nice and overcast, by the time I hopped in the water the clouds had parted and the sun was out, good thing was there was plenty of insect life hovering above the water. The first thing I noticed was a small trout jumping in the pool I had just entered which was a good sign. After several casts around this knee deep tannin water with the copper Aglia I finally had a hit from a small trout and that's as far as it went so I moved on to the next narrow stretch of water.

Half a dozen cast and retrieves there the same thing happened, one solid hit and miss and that was it. Feeling a little frustrated that the trout hadn't taken the little Aglia I went for a change of lure, it was on with a #00 March Brown Bug spinner, a lure that's sucked in quite a few trout in these tannin waters this season. The next stretch of water looked good for holding trout, a couple of cats into it I managed a hook up but lost it as fast as it took it which didn't go down all that well with me. The trout were showing some aggression but not taking the lure full on, they were coming hard and fast at it then snapping at it as they turned away. It was more like they were acting in a territorial manner rather than attacking the lure as if it were food. A little further up the stream the same thing happened again, another hooked and lost fish plus a hit and miss, now I'm really getting ticked off. It was time for another change of lure, this time it was on with a gold #00 Aglia Mouche Noire, the very first cast straight up another narrow run the lure was taken by a trout as soon it hit the water.

This trout was well hooked and after a brief battle I had the trout in the net, it had taken forty minutes to catch the first of the session. The following couple of runs I had a couple more light hits before reaching a very long deep stretch of water, one that was way too deep to wade. I had several cast and retrieves into it for just the one hit and miss. There's some good trout water half a kilometre further up that's where I decided to head, but there was one thing that stopped me from going there & sent me back to the car. As I climbed the river bank to head there I came across thirty or more cattle in the paddocks and there wasn't any way around them. To make matters worse they were a mix of young and old bulls and they spotted me as I went to enter the paddock. No sooner had they seen me they ran to where I was standing next to the electric fence. That was enough for me to call it a day here, had they been dairy cows it wouldn't have been a problem, but being bulls, well I just don't trust them. I did think about heading off to another area once I was back at the car then thought twice about it and headed on home. With this COVID-19 virus that's spread across the country I'm only fishing the small tannin streams close to home and still in my council area which is allowable for now.