A frustrating trout session...

[meppstas]

A frustrating trout session..

A good dose of rain was the forecast today but it wasn't going to hit the area I was heading to until midday or just after. I was having a spin session in the upper reaches of the Mersey River again this morning in what was another mild morning with very low cloud cover. As I drove up there I had a feeling the rain was much closer that what had been forecast. I was in the river by 7:45 am and like my last trip here I was into a trout quite early, second cast actually when I picked up a nice 390 gram brown. I moved on to the next small run and bang!! another brown on the first cast, this time but lost it on it's second leap from the river. This is what happened on my last trip here caught one straight away then lost the next one and in the very same stretch of water. Needing just eight more trout to reach the 500 before the end of February was looking good at this stage of the session and I still had plenty of good trout water ahead of me.

Another tough walk getting to the river..

First trout picked up here....

First of the day..

Brown caught here..

It wasn't too long before I picked up another brown on the gold Aglia. and this time it was only a small 270 gram fish, it was still a nice well conditioned little fish. Three casts later and I hooked and lost another brown so it was off with the little Mepps and on with a ghost brown hard body. It all went downhill from here on as the rain arrived, only very light to start with which wasn't a problem. I continued working the lure from one side of the river around to the other side and had two more hook ups of which just the one brown stayed on all the way into the net. A short time later I had a solid rainbow take the lure, this 'bow was in the 500 gram range too and gave me merry hell before I lost it. When I checked the small trebles on the lure to see if it had straightened the hooks I saw it had actually broken off a hook from the trebles..

Fast water run where I hooked & lost a trout..

Third brown of the session..

Third trout caught here..

I replaced this lure with a bleeding tiger hard body and soon had my forth brown on and in the net. That light rain was now getting much heavier and I was getting wetter by the minute, I still had at least six hundred meters of river left ahead to fish before I reached the area where the car was parked. From here on is where it became so frustrating, I had plenty of hits and managed eight hook ups all of which tossed the lure as they leaped from the river. I couldn't believe I had lost every one of those fish, seeing I was soaked to the skin as the rain pelted down I called it a day some two hundred meters from the car. The walk back to the car was a mumbling and grumbling one all the way back to it as well. It was one of those “could have been-should have been” days, it wasn't to be so with four trout to catch I hope I don't have a repeat of today's loss rate.

Last trout taken today..

The rain has set in, lost plenty of trout from here on..

cheers
Adrian

[brybry]

Your expectations are way higher than mine Adrian! Fair enough too given your track record. I’m happy if I actually connect to a fish, let alone land it!

[Texas]

Beautiful again Adrian
What do you put the lack of landing the hook ups to ???
Cheers Gra

[meppstas]

Beautiful again Adrian
What do you put the lack of landing the hook ups to ???
Cheers Gra

I think it's just one of those days when the trout are in a smash & grab mood Gra, it happens from time to time.. With fast water fishing it happens more often than when fishing the medium/slower runs, in fast water the trout will grab the lure as it passes them and a lot of the time they just get lipped.. The medium/slower flowing water the catch rate is much better.. Like I said, it was just one of those days.. Other days they'll stay on.. :thumbsup:
Sometimes I think I expect too much, a trout guide once said to me he has had a lot of clients that would just like to have caught one or two trout in a day on a river..
cheers
Adrian