Trout season ends on a high...

[meppstas]

Trout season ends on a high. 30-4-17

Well it was an earlier start on the river today than yesterday, this time I was back in the water by 10:00 am. Yesterday it was sunny and windy whereas today it's very dull with low cloud and a cool South Westerly breeze. I prefer it like this too with no sun on the water, it gets the trout out and about more often than not. Stuck with the same set up that I finished with yesterday and the session started off very quiet. Not a sign of a fish over the first three hundred meters at all. Where the hell have they gone I said to myself, they were every where yesterday. Still can't worry about it, just keep working up the stream as I'm sure I'll pick up one sooner or later. I came to a large fallen tree across the river that had a nice pocket of water under it and with a back hand cast into it I was soon onto my first trout of the morning. This was a solid fish too and one that was in a fighting mood as it fought hard all the way into the net. This female trout went 540 grams and was in excellent condition. It was all quiet again over the next one hundred meters before I picked up my second brown of the morning, this one was on the Rapala rainbow patten that I changed over too five minutes earlier.

First of the day..

Tight run here..

Rapala & brown trout..

Head shot of brown & Rapala..

Ahead of me was quite a lot of scrubby area that was near impossible to get through with tea trees covering the stream from one side to the other. Not feeling like getting on my hands and knees to get through it I hopped out and walked for some two hundred meters where I found a clearing with some open water to fish. The first stretch was a shallow 20 cm deep piece of water and it was here the Rapala picked up three browns one after the other. I couldn't believe it, three browns in this small shallow water and to catch them one after another was great. This was the start of what was to be a great end to the brown trout season. I went on to catch another two browns on the Rapala until a well hooked brown wrapped it around a snag and broke me off. I changed to a small Rapala X- Rap in a brown trout pattern. That little thin hard body did a good job too in catching three more browns from seven hook ups. All the browns caught and released so far have been in top condition and the colour of them, well they were just a beautiful rich golden brown.

trout caught here..

Another brown on rainbow Rapala..

Not real happy with the X-Rap losing more trout than it caught I changed over to a copper #00 Aglia spinner. This little lure was soon taken by a trout, then another and another, the more water I headed into that little spinner was taken hard & fast in no time at all. The trout are full on the attack for now and I'm loving every bit of it. With most fish going between 400 grams and 540 grams it's just full on enjoyment. Bow wave after bow wave on every retrieve and a hook up each time, it couldn't be better. Finally it was time to call it a day, as much as I wanted to fish on my lower back, left hip & groin were killing me so the session had finally come to an end. The little #00 copper Aglia did a great job in finishing off the day by catching another ten browns from thirteen hook ups and many hit and misses. The last day of the brown trout season certainly ended on a high that's for sure with 20 browns caught & released... The 2016/17 trout season was one that went a lot better than I had thought it would after the record floods and the damage to the rivers of last June. I was thinking doom and gloom for the season ahead but it wasn't to be as it turned out. The trout weren't as large in the Mersey & Meander Rivers but they were there in numbers which was good to see.

Another solid trout..

golden colours in this brown..

Aglia & brown trout..

I finished the season with 646 trout (of which only 8 were kept) which I am pretty happy with, something I didn't think I would achieve this season. It my seventh highest total in the 17 seasons of trout fishing since moving to Tasmania back in March 2000.
I did place my Kokers wading boots into retirement after three full seasons and 279 trips to the rivers they have covered around 980 kms and did a great job in that time. Went through four pairs of interchangeable spiked felts soles too..

Korkers go into retirement after three full seasons..

cheers
Adrian

[drew 2]

Well done Mepps :thumbsup: Thank's very much for your time & effort you take to put them together over the season.They are always a very enjoyable read and fantastic pic's. I look forward to your next seasons success's :cheers: :cheers:

[dazz999]

great read and pics 646 trout for a season is a awesome season well done

[Marty.A]

Another awesome season Adrian loved reading all your reports and great pics :cheers: What will you be doing in your spare time?
Sorry if I haven't posted much more pics mate as I've had my hands full with dad but here is one last one for you.

[happyfriggincamper]

Great work Adrian for the season and ditto on other people thanking you for taking the time and effort to post your reports/photos - enjoy reading every one. Well earned break!

[Lightningx]

Sounds like you had a great season mate. Well done :thumbsup:

[meppstas]

Thanks guys, it was one that I really enjoyed too... looking forward to next season which starts 5th August..

Thanks Marty, another ripper photo to add to my collection of the others you did mate.. :thumbsup:

Thanks to everyone throughout the season for your comments & replies to my reports, it's been very much appreciated.. :victory:

cheers
Adrian

[Dr Snapper]

Awesome report, thanks Adrian.
Any reason you only kept 8 of the fish?

[meppstas]

Awesome report, thanks Adrian.
Any reason you only kept 8 of the fish?

I've never like the taste of any freshwater fish Dr S, though the trout are beautiful when smoked.. The 8 were kept mainly because of gill damage from taking the lures deep in the throat/gill area. If the bleeding doesn't stop in the first couple of minutes I wont release them. The rivers here also rely on natural recruitment so for each breeding size trout that's taken from the river the less trout stocks there'll be later. When they do spawn there's around a 10% survival rate on the eggs & hatched trout which is another of the reasons I don't keep them. Probably doesn't matter in some rivers that are over populated with trout, but the small streams and rivers are the ones where the trout should be released.. But that's only how I see it, there's a lot that take the twelve trout allowed from rivers if & when they catch that many..

cheers
Adrian

[Dr Snapper]

Awesome report, thanks Adrian.
Any reason you only kept 8 of the fish?

I've never like the taste of any freshwater fish Dr S, though the trout are beautiful when smoked.. The 8 were kept mainly because of gill damage from taking the lures deep in the throat/gill area. If the bleeding doesn't stop in the first couple of minutes I wont release them. The rivers here also rely on natural recruitment so for each breeding size trout that's taken from the river the less trout stocks there'll be later. When they do spawn there's around a 10% survival rate on the eggs & hatched trout which is another of the reasons I don't keep them. Probably doesn't matter in some rivers that are over populated with trout, but the small streams and rivers are the ones where the trout should be released.. But that's only how I see it, there's a lot that take the twelve trout allowed from rivers if & when they catch that many..

cheers
Adrian

Ok, I thought taste might be the case.
Fair enough, you might have to construct or get constructed a smoking shed in the 'off' season to smoke some trout that you keep.
It also brings up the case of damaged undersized fish and what to do with them. Circle hooks seem to be the answer to some fishos. But let not open up that can of worms.

Cheers.