A New Season Approaches

Preparation and reflection

Adrian Webb

In the lead-up to a new Tasmanian trout season and my (meppstas) 22nd since moving to Tasmania and 58th year chasing trout, here are some thoughts about my off-season - and gearing up for a new season on the rivers and streams.

What I did during the off-season

Not a lot really, all I did was catch up on cleaning up the native garden area around the house, and a few other small jobs. I relaxed by going through the thousands of photos that I’ve taken during the previous trout season and made up several musical slide show DVDs, I also made a yearly trout season photo book. I read fishing magazines, thanks to the team at Tackle Tactics who sent them to me. I also wrote my fullseason trout fishing report, which is something that I do at the end of each and every trout season. I went for short walks every second day (weather permitting) as well as hopped on the exercise bike most days in the two weeks before the opening of the trout season. My biggest downfall is that I suffer from chronic lower back pain and hip problems, so I didn’t do all that much else throughout the closed season to get the body right for the coming trout season.

At the end of each season, I clean and service my Okuma spinning reels, wipe down the Okuma Celilo Finesse ULS rods and check the eyelets and replace the Platypus Super 100 mono and Pulse mono lines to make sure everything is ready for opening day. Servicing the reels, cleaning the rods and replacing the line on the trout rods is something that I do on a regular basis throughout the trout season as well. I also go through my lure boxes and take out any of the well-used Mepps spinners that I think need replacing with new ones. Though, I do tend to keep a few of my old favourite beatup spinners too. One never knows when they may have to be used again to get the bite as I’ve done in previous seasons. As soon as the new season arrives I replace the batteries in my digital scales and check the landing net cord and stitching. My waders and wading boots are checked over, after being stored in a dry place for three months and that’s about it for what I do during the closed season, apart from staying in touch with the land owners that have allowed me to access their properties to fish various rivers.

Keeping a close eye on things

I’m always online looking at the river levels right through the closed season, keeping a check on the amount of water that’s coming down them. Those with the hydro dams on them have a regulated flow, so they tend to fluctuate regularly with rainfalls in the highlands. Rivers without regulated flow are a different story, like the River Leven which is usually running very high early season and isn’t worth me taking a fortyfive-minute drive to a flooded river. I could walk the river banks but I prefer to be in a river chasing trout and that’s where the following site comes in handy; http://www.bom.gov.au/tas/flood/index.shtml

I carry a variety of hard body and inline blade spinners.

I will normally fish the small tannin streams/creeks early season because they’re most likely to be the ones that I can hop into, wade and catch a few early season browns on the Mepps inline spinners. The hydroregulated rivers that I fish during the season, such as the Mersey and Meander rivers, I only fish early season if they’re at a safe wading height.

If they’re running high and dirty, then I may sit back on the river bank, relax and drown a worm. With August still being winter, we do have a lot of snowmelt that keeps the water temps in the rivers to a very low four to six degrees, making for some tough, cold, trout fishing days. I carry a thermometer to check the water temperature and if it’s below five degrees, I know I’m in for a tough spin session. With the water temperatures being low early in the season the trout need to be stimulated into taking an inline spinner or hard body lure, so it pays to stick to the brighter coloured lures.

Trying to catch your first trout?

Firstly, if you have never been trout fishing before then read up on it. Get in touch with anyone that you know who does a reasonable amount of trout fishing and pick their brain for any info you can get. Better still, see if they’ll take you fishing with them on a few trips, whether it be bait or lure fishing.

Watch as many videos on trout fishing as you can and there are plenty of them on YouTube, including a few of mine.

Whilst I am sponsored by Tackle Tactics, their brands are absolutely first rate and I rate them very highly. Here are some suggestions: All you’ll need to start with is a nice lightweight 1-3kg rod. The Okuma Celilo Finesse 1-3kg ULS 1.8m rod fits the bill - add an Okuma spinning reel, spooled with 2kg Platypus Super 100 mono line and you are perfectly setup for Tassie trout. Choose a selection of Mepps Aglia, Black Fury and Bug spinners, as well as a couple of small anti-kinks. The anti-kink setup is a must when using inline spinners with fine lines as it prevents line twists.

You can practice some casting in the backyard or a parkland by placing a few small planter pots at different distances and seeing if you can hit them with the spinner with a cast. Remember, practice makes perfect, it may be the difference between catching a fish with a perfect cast versus not catching one with a poor cast. To me, river fishing for trout is great and just being in a river or even sitting back on a river bank bait fishing is quite relaxing. Early season bait fishing in a back water or a flooded flat water area, away from the main flow, is always a good area to catch a trout.

River fishing for trout isn’t the easiest way of catching trout because it does require years of fishing them to know where the trout hold out. Most regular trout fishers have heaps of knowledge and are always happy to pass on what they know to help out. I’m always happy to pass on what I know. I’ll do anything (and have done) to help get someone into trout fishing rivers, as there’s nothing better in my book.

There’s one thing you must always remember, it’s something that I always stress in my info for beginners and that is;

1. Safety first when fishing any river.

2. Never take any risks or step into a flooded river.

3. No fish is worth drowning for.

4. Always go with someone, preferably an experienced river trout fisher and you will learn a lot more about trout fishing by doing that.

5. If you do decide to have a go on your own, then please pick a river that has wide-open river banks or better still, try small stream fishing for starters.

6. Before you leave home tell someone where you are going to fish and take a camera with you to record your catch, along with the beautiful surroundings that you are fishing.

Once the weather warms up be on the lookout for snakes as they will often be close to the water. Wear thick work pants or jeans and a good pair of walking boots. Also, ensure that you check the freshwater regulations for licence requirements, size and bag limits as well.