Western Creek to the Mersey River.

[meppstas]

Here's a short article on a trip last week. Weather has ben pretty poor down here lately and the rivers are running a little high plus gale force winds have kept me home. Hopefully it will settle down soon.
'' STARTED AT WESTERN CREEK & FINISHED AT THE MERSEY'' 3-9-13

My mate John decided he needed a break away from his fish taxidermy and wanted to go and drop a worm in at Western Creek today. We headed of from Sheffield around 8.30 am and arrived at the creek by 9.15am in beautiful cool and sunny conditions and not a breath of wind. The creek was a little higher than last week when I had a spin session here but it was still okay for me to wade. John was quite content to do a bit of bait fishing with the ever reliable garden worm. Off he went while I put on the waders and got myself organized and set up for another spin in the creek. Using the same #0 Mepps
Aglia tiger spinner as the last trip here I managed a hit and miss on the second cast in the first section that I fished. Then after several more cast and nothing happening I moved on and John was fishing a small pocket of slow water and had been getting a few small nibbles from time to time. I suggested that he move to a deeper section of water just some thirty metres further up. I have seen some nice fish in this piece of water many times and thought it should be holding a fish or two,. John flicked his baited rig into it and I moved on a little further upstream. Within five minutes I heard him tell out I'm onto a good fish, and it was a ripper of a fish for this small creek too. Being high up on the river bank he had to play it and lead it downstream to a lower level as to land it. Wasn't long before he had it in the net and it was a very nice fish indeed. A nice clean light coloured brown that tipped the scales at 900 gms that was in excellent condition. He was pretty happy with the result and said that had made his day.
I then continued to work my way up the creek which was a little harder going today pushing against the stronger flow, but it wasn't too long before I also had a nice medium size brown on the spinner. This fish was half the size of Johns and after a short battle it too was landed, photographed and then released. This smaller brown (450gm) was also a clean and well conditioned brown. I fished on for another kilometer without having a hit or sighting a fish and so decided to head back.. John had caught another brown which he reckons was around 280 gms which he had put back in the creek. He had also lost a larger fish as well in the same hole where he had caught the 900 gm fish. We both decided to call it a day here and then went for a drive around checking the Meander River to see how high it was. Still to high for wading at the moment but running nice and clear. The bottom looked to me like it could be a bit on the slippery side too with green algae covering the rocky bottom. When it does drop to a wade-able level it may be tough going for a while I would think.
We then headed off onto the back road to Weegena to check out the Mersey on the way home and on arriving decided to give it a fish for a while. John fished from the bridge drifting a worm and I worked the fast water from the bank with a Rapala CD5 by flicking it out and letting it sink and drift with the flow. Keeping the line tight and then a slow retrieve with a light jerk then let it drop back I had three hits for one plump little 330gm brown. After around forty five minutes we then thought it's time to head off back to Sheffield. We hadn't caught a lot of fish today, but we did have a real enjoyable one and John did get to catch his first fish for the season. Could not have had a better way to start it than with that solid brown he caught. So for him it's back to work on the many fish he has on the go and for me, well it will be back to another river some where tomorrow.

[barra mick]

awsome read..thanks

cheers bm

[drew 2]

Great report & pic's :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Blackflyz_01]

lovin your reports and great pics! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Milk man]

Great stuff mate.. Although I'm a little surprised your using the humble spinner considering your from tassie which most fisho's down there are strict fly fisho's haha

[Raulfc7]

Great post meppstas you sure have some nice waters at your doorstep :thumbsup:

[Boonanza]

Great report and pics mate :rocking_report:



Cheers Steve

[meppstas]

Great stuff mate.. Although I'm a little surprised your using the humble spinner considering your from tassie which most fisho's down there are strict fly fisho's haha

Originally from Sth Aust. MM and have always been a spin fisher. Tried the fly a couple of times but soon went back to the spinner. Been in Tassie for 10yrs now and will stay a spinfisher too.
cheers & thanks mate.
Adrian