2017 04 28 Brown Daiwa ghost brown lureNot having fished the Meander River since the 31st March I thought it's time I went back there and give it a go. By the time a got there then walked for some 1.5 kms before I hopped in the river it was 10:35 am, not that it really matters at this time of year any way. The river was the lowest I have seen it since the Hyrdo turbine broke down back in 2012, not only that, there was still plenty of the cotton like green algae covering most of the river bottom. Any way I started the session off using a gold black fury and fished a couple of sections of river for just the one hit and miss.

2017 04 28 First of six for the day 
 First of six for the day

I did notice a few trout on the rise in the next long slow flowing stretch of river so I changed over to the small floating Daiwa ghost brown hard body lure. It took several cast before I had my first take, it wasn't hooked well enough to stay on. That was the only hit over that whole long stretch of river until I moved into a shorter slow and deeper piece of water and it was here I caught two browns in a row. Not big fish, just a couple of nice well conditioned 320 gram browns. The next stretch of river was a narrow fast water run of some 30 metres, three casts later I caught a solid 480 gram brown that fought all the way to the net.

This was a beautifully coloured fish too and in top condition. Three trout caught in a row, a trout hat trick for a change on the Meander River which doesn't happen all that often for me on this river. Well that was it for quite some time because I lost the next two fish in that run, then lost one more in the following stretch of river too. I was starting to get sick and tired of the green algae fouling the little lure on just about every cast now with the water being so low. I was so ticked off at one stage I slammed the lure on the water to get rid of the algae and in doing so broke the bib off the last of my three Daiwa lures. How dumb was that, killed the last of my good trout catching lures.

So it was back to the Mepps black fury from here on and this time it was the copper blade that I decided to use now the sun is full on the water. Even that little lure was getting fouled up from time to time and I was getting more frustrated as the session went on. The only good thing was that I did manage to catch three more small browns over the next three hundred meters of river from seven hook ups. Having been in the river for two and a half hours I new the fishing wasn't going to get any better than what I had already been through so I pulled the pin and called it a day. Today wasn't one of my better days on the Meander River, it also wasn't one of my worst either.

Adrian Webb


Best brown of the session

2017 04 28 Best brown of the session

 

First of six for the day

2017 04 28 First of six for the day

 

One brown caught here

2017 04 28 One brown caught here

 

Brown Daiwa ghost brown lure

2017 04 28 Brown Daiwa ghost brown lure