Rain puts an end to a good spin session...
- meppstas
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Rain puts an end to a good spin session...
Rain puts an end to a good spin session. 12-9-17
Finally after checking the online river plots one of the rivers I fish had dropped low enough for me to hit it for a spin session. That river was the Meander, this will be my first trip of the season to it. Once there it was still a little higher than expected but still safe enough for wading. The area I'm going to fish today is probably the only one that is safe enough to fish at the height it is at this stage. That's the good thing about knowing everything about the rivers I fish which has come from many years of fishing them. With rain forecast later in the day I hit the river just after 10:20am in what was cool and heavy overcast conditions with a light North Westerly breeze. I started the session off with a #1 Aglia-e red & silver blade spinner, another new one that I wanted to see if it could attract a trout. After working my way upstream in a very cold, clear river it took just on five minutes of spinning before I had my first take on the Aglia. I had cast directly upstream parallel to the river bank and watched a bow wave appear behind the spinner as I retrieved it along a shallow run close to the river bank. I knew the trout was very close to the spinner because I felt the action of the blade change. I raised the rod tip a little then lowered it while slowing down the retrieve, that's when the trout took it. This was a solid fish that made several runs and leaps from the river before I finally had it in the net. Once in the net out popped the spinner which often happens from time to time. Not that I mind because all I have to do is take a couple of photos and release it without having to handle the fish. It was pretty slow going after that fish so I decided to change over to a #0 Aglia fluro tiger spinner and see if that would get the trout's attention. It did, three cast and retrieves to the opposite river bank had a nice medium size brown hit it in no time at all. Number two for the morning was soon in the net, photographed and back in the river. There was quite a lot of flow in the river and it was pretty tough going in most stretches of water. With the river being so cold I could barely feel my feet any more so I hopped out for a few minutes just to let them warm up a little. Once back in the river it wasn't all that long before I had another quick take from a small brown which tossed the spinner in no time at all. Three more hit and misses had me making a change of lure once again. This time it was on with the Atomic Shad4 ghost gill brown mid diver hard body lure, one that has produced quite a few trout here before. Well, this was the best decision of the morning so far because in no time at all I caught another two nice browns in quick time. Those two fish just took the lure hard and fast without any hesitation at all. A little further up the river I was soon onto another nice brown, not long after that one I had picked up another two well conditioned fish. Then the rain started, slowly at first before it became much heavier and I knew the session would be ending very soon. I pushed on through one more small stretch of river where I picked up another two small/medium browns before calling it a day. I only had a vest on over my shirt and I was getting too wet to continue on plus I still had a 600 meter walk back to the car. By the time I had reached the car I was saturated but still happy with how the two and a half hour session had gone with nine browns caught and released. cheers
Adrian
Finally after checking the online river plots one of the rivers I fish had dropped low enough for me to hit it for a spin session. That river was the Meander, this will be my first trip of the season to it. Once there it was still a little higher than expected but still safe enough for wading. The area I'm going to fish today is probably the only one that is safe enough to fish at the height it is at this stage. That's the good thing about knowing everything about the rivers I fish which has come from many years of fishing them. With rain forecast later in the day I hit the river just after 10:20am in what was cool and heavy overcast conditions with a light North Westerly breeze. I started the session off with a #1 Aglia-e red & silver blade spinner, another new one that I wanted to see if it could attract a trout. After working my way upstream in a very cold, clear river it took just on five minutes of spinning before I had my first take on the Aglia. I had cast directly upstream parallel to the river bank and watched a bow wave appear behind the spinner as I retrieved it along a shallow run close to the river bank. I knew the trout was very close to the spinner because I felt the action of the blade change. I raised the rod tip a little then lowered it while slowing down the retrieve, that's when the trout took it. This was a solid fish that made several runs and leaps from the river before I finally had it in the net. Once in the net out popped the spinner which often happens from time to time. Not that I mind because all I have to do is take a couple of photos and release it without having to handle the fish. It was pretty slow going after that fish so I decided to change over to a #0 Aglia fluro tiger spinner and see if that would get the trout's attention. It did, three cast and retrieves to the opposite river bank had a nice medium size brown hit it in no time at all. Number two for the morning was soon in the net, photographed and back in the river. There was quite a lot of flow in the river and it was pretty tough going in most stretches of water. With the river being so cold I could barely feel my feet any more so I hopped out for a few minutes just to let them warm up a little. Once back in the river it wasn't all that long before I had another quick take from a small brown which tossed the spinner in no time at all. Three more hit and misses had me making a change of lure once again. This time it was on with the Atomic Shad4 ghost gill brown mid diver hard body lure, one that has produced quite a few trout here before. Well, this was the best decision of the morning so far because in no time at all I caught another two nice browns in quick time. Those two fish just took the lure hard and fast without any hesitation at all. A little further up the river I was soon onto another nice brown, not long after that one I had picked up another two well conditioned fish. Then the rain started, slowly at first before it became much heavier and I knew the session would be ending very soon. I pushed on through one more small stretch of river where I picked up another two small/medium browns before calling it a day. I only had a vest on over my shirt and I was getting too wet to continue on plus I still had a 600 meter walk back to the car. By the time I had reached the car I was saturated but still happy with how the two and a half hour session had gone with nine browns caught and released. cheers
Adrian
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- meppstas
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Re: Rain puts an end to a good spin session...
Few more photos...
cheers
Adrian
cheers
Adrian
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Re: Rain puts an end to a good spin session...
Another great report, Adrian, cheers!
Aside from the advice you give I find I learn a lot just from the details in your reports. Can I ask, what level do you read as being safe to wade? How much does that change river to river?
Thanks,
Tom.
Aside from the advice you give I find I learn a lot just from the details in your reports. Can I ask, what level do you read as being safe to wade? How much does that change river to river?
Thanks,
Tom.
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Re: Rain puts an end to a good spin session...
Great read and photos Adrian
Cold water is good for the bad knee
Have you got any photos of the snow you've had resently???
Cheers Gra
Cold water is good for the bad knee
Have you got any photos of the snow you've had resently???
Cheers Gra
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- meppstas
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Re: Rain puts an end to a good spin session...
Here you go Texas.. these were from home.. wasn't a lot here in Sheffield this year..
Adrian
cheersAdrian
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- meppstas
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Re: Rain puts an end to a good spin session...
Tom, the graph below is one I go by for the Meander River... Once the river flow gets to and even better when it's below the 900-800 mega litre mark then I know I can fish the area I fished today quite safely in the upper reaches where I always fish.. But that's probably just one of two areas that I would fish.. The others areas along the river are deeper and run much faster and no where near as safe to hop in and fish.. Once the levels drops to 600 and lower then the rest of the river I fish is safe.. The same goes for the Leven River too, one I fish a few times a year..Thomassssss wrote:Another great report, Adrian, cheers!
Aside from the advice you give I find I learn a lot just from the details in your reports. Can I ask, what level do you read as being safe to wade? How much does that change river to river?
Thanks,
Tom.
The bottom photo is the Mersey River, same applies here but mainly for the lower reaches due to several other small rivers, stream etc that flow into it. Once it gets below the 600 mega litre flow it's safe in several areas, but care must still be taken even more so no since the June floods of 2016 that changed the whole river system.. The upper reaches are fine to fish when it's in the 800 and lower, but care should still be taken mainly because there's a lot of fast water runs and the river bottom is very slippery and very rocky as is most of the Mersey River.. I rarely go in water above the waist unless I'm completely satisfied it safe enough to cross over and that's only ever in a very slow moving piece of water too.. Most of my spin fishing in a river I'm usually in water that's knee deep or between the knees and waist depth.. & fast water runs mainly knee deep most trips.
This chart is from today, you'll notice the spike in it between the 12th and later in the day.. I was in the river when it was at it's lowest spike, then when the rain set in it looks like they open the hydro turbine on Huntsman Lake further upstream, and you can see how quickly it rose.. The area I fished was still safe enough for me to cross back over the river to get back to the car. I could see it was slowly rising as I ended the session yesterday.. This river and the Mersey both have a regulated flow on them by Hydro Tasmania.. just another thing to be wary of when fishing them.. cheers
Adrian
Last edited by meppstas on Wed Sep 13, 2017 3:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Rain puts an end to a good spin session...
Good to see some results on the board Adrian and great pics as usual - interesting to see that you scared the spots off one of the trout - interesting variations!
- Broomstick
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Re: Rain puts an end to a good spin session...
Great work Adrian. Those snaps of the snow are lovely.
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Re: Rain puts an end to a good spin session...
Thanks Adrian, that is a solid and informative response!