Back to the tannin water..

Tasmania Fishing Reports
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meppstas
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Back to the tannin water..

Post by meppstas » Fri Oct 25, 2019 4:05 pm

Back to the tannin water.

With the Mersey & Meander Rivers not fishing all that well it was a trip back to the tannin waters today, mainly because I know they have been fishing well in certain sections on them. The weather conditions were quite good even though there was plenty of sun around I knew there would be a lot of shaded areas on the water. I was in the water by 2:15pm and noticed it had dropped close on three inches or so since my last trip, it's getting to that time of year now when we don't get the Spring rains like we used to that kept these little stream topped up. It's a real problem for these small streams and more so for the fish that's in them. Without the backup rain to get them through the dry periods these small streams drop to a mere trickle, that's when the trout gather in what pools are left. With so many fish in what pools are left plus the water temperature rising to around 25 degrees the trout suffocate in them. Each year seems to be getting that little bit worse as the much needed rain never arrives. In another month I doubt I'll be fishing these little tannin streams as they get too low to fish unless we get 30mms or more rain I won't be going near them. Anyway back to the fishing, the lure of choice for this trip was the Mepps #0 Aglia Fluo brown trout blade spinner because it's been one of the lures that's done very well in the tannin waters.
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Water was a nice tannin colour again, but a little low..
The first stretch of water I fished was empty of trout, it was in the next stretch I had a follow from a small brown. Seeing that fish to me was a sign that there may be a few around again today and I'll be quite happy if I can catch & release at least half a dozen today. I was ten minutes into the spin session when I had my first brown take the spinner and it was a very aggressive strike, it was a small (300gm) brown that put up a good battle for it's size as do most of the fish in these small streams/rivers. Ten minutes later I picked up my second trout in a very shallow fast water run, it was a real little tiddler of a fish. A little further up the stream I was onto trout number three, this was the best fish (340gms) taken so far and it was just on ten minutes later than the last one I caught. The trout were coming in every ten minutes at this stage of the session and I was thinking wouldn't it would be great if the fishing continued like this for the rest of the afternoon. I actually spotted the last trout caught surface feeding near some debris to the left of me so I flicked the spinner a couple of meters ahead of it then retrieved the lure back down to where it was feeding. That did the job, it didn't hesitate to take the spinner.
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The first stretch of water fished
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The first small wild brown of the session..
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Another brown takes the lure..
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Trout taken here..
With three trout already caught and released I was feeling quite positive that I was in for another double figure session again, the confidence was running high. Well, after the release of that brown it took another forty five minutes before I hooked and landed my forth trout. I did have a few hit and misses before that but the aggression had gone out of trout for one reason or another. Then it went back to catching the trout at ten minute intervals when I picked up another three trout, I had jumped from four trout to seven fish caught and released now. The seventh trout was the best fish of the day so far, a solid 480 gram well conditioned brown that was picked up from a very small pocket of water. The double figure catch was looking good once again, but that's where it ended. From here on it went dead apart from having four hooked & lost fish plus a few hit and misses I never caught another trout. So after the release of that seventh trout I had fished on for another hour without a fish being landed my day was done, I called it a day at 4:45pm. In all it wasn't what I'd call a top day chasing trout, though in saying that it wasn't a bad day either.. It was just one of those up & down trout fishing days that come around every so often, that's just the way it goes when chasing trout.
** Equipment used: Okuma Celilo Finesse ULS 6' 1-3kg trout rod, Okuma Helios SX20 spinning reel, Mepps lures & Platypus Super 100 mono lines..
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Nice looking trout water ahead..
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This trout was taken from the section of water in the above photo..
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Best trout of the spin session..
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Best trout of the session was caught here..
cheers
Adrian
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Boonanza
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Re: Back to the tannin water..

Post by Boonanza » Fri Oct 25, 2019 4:44 pm

Great to see you back fishing again Adrian :tu:
A smart person knows what to say. A wise person knows whether to say it.

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meppstas
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Re: Back to the tannin water..

Post by meppstas » Fri Oct 25, 2019 5:10 pm

Thanks Boonanza, always good to be back in a river.. :tu: Have had a few breaks between trips lately, the body is getting that little bit older.. :-D :-D :-D

cheers
Adrian
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Re: Back to the tannin water..

Post by happyfriggincamper » Fri Oct 25, 2019 5:32 pm

Good stuff adrian - its admirable what you are doing at your age. Im sure you are aligned - listen to your body, dont push it and im sure you will get more trips out of it vs. if you push it too hard.

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Re: Back to the tannin water..

Post by smile0784 » Fri Oct 25, 2019 5:56 pm

Great session mate

Lightningx
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Re: Back to the tannin water..

Post by Lightningx » Fri Oct 25, 2019 6:04 pm

Doesn’t sound like a bad session at all Adrian!
7 trout in a session is still great fishing in my opinion :)
Top report with some very nice pics as always!
Cheers :tu:

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meppstas
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Re: Back to the tannin water..

Post by meppstas » Fri Oct 25, 2019 7:34 pm

Thanks guys, I always push myself to try and reach a set target each trout season, that's how I've always been when it comes to trout fishing & that's why I often state it was a poor or average spin session. A trout guide once told me he has had clients who would have loved to catch one trout on a trip.. So I suppose seven was a reasonably good core after all... :-D :-D

cheers
Adrian
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Re: Back to the tannin water..

Post by Sebb » Fri Oct 25, 2019 9:33 pm

Don't fish when you're old. Fish until you're old.
You certainly living the dream fishing for trout in TAS. Hope you'll get your target this season.
------------------------------
A fish is a fish :ft:
No fish is worth a life, stay safe

Bugatti

Re: Back to the tannin water..

Post by Bugatti » Sat Oct 26, 2019 12:14 am

What a great report Adrian :tu:

Firstly, you are a mind reader. I was thinking about something in your report and "bam", you answered it, in your report, that's why your reports are so great, very informative. I was wondering what happens to the trout when the water level drops. I naively was hoping they swim down stream to more water.

One question you haven't answered yet (mainly because I haven't asked and your mind reading must be slipping) Do those tannin streams smell? It almost seems that they would.

But love your work Adrian, great day out for you, with a respectable result :tu:

Cheers, Bill

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meppstas
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Re: Back to the tannin water..

Post by meppstas » Sat Oct 26, 2019 7:24 am

Thanks guys,
Bill, the trout that are in the river below the waterfall can make their way back into the main river that it flows into, those that are well above the water fall are the ones that suffer. As for smell in tannin waters, only after heavy rainfalls do you get a smell, but it's one of freshness in my books. It's the smell of Eucalyptus, tea tree etc, and the water tastes great too.. :-D :-D

cheers
Adrian
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