2017 04 26 Brown trout falls the the Aglia Mouche NoireStill needing three more trout before the 2016/17 season closes this coming Sunday I thought I'd better go and hop in a river to see if I can pick up the three trout required to reach my seasons target. We had some very good rains a few days ago so the rivers should be flowing really well now and the trout will certainly be out and about as well. This time of year they are quite aggressive and will take just about any type of spinner or lure thrown at them. Once at the river and having a thirty minute chat with a landowner I was soon in the river flicking the little spinner around. Today I started off with a Mepps #00 gold Aglia Mouche Noire as I feel this will do well in the tannin coloured water that I'm fishing. It only took two casts before I had my first fish on, like I have been doing lately I lost it once it leapt from the river.

I wasn't overly concerned about losing it because it was a good sign that they're here and on the take. The next two casts in the same stretch of river resulted in two nice browns caught and released. Feeling really confident now of catching the third trout I flicked the spinner upstream into the dark tannin water and had a bow wave rapidly appear behind the lure as I retrieved it downstream. That bow wave stayed behind the lure to within three meters of me before it finally took it. This was a nice fish too and it went from one side of the river to the other in no time at all as well as making several leaps before it tossed the spinner.

Oh I was so close to having that fish in the net and the 600th trout on the scoreboard. Well, I'll pushed on because I knew it wouldn't be long before I'll have another brown take the spinner the way's it's going. It was quicker than expected, the first cast into the next small stretch of water gave up the fish required to reach my season's target. Trout number 600 was in the net photographed and back in the water like a flash. It was a good feeling reaching the target four days before the closure of the trout season. Now I can fish on without the pressure of catching a trout and that's what I did. I fished another six stretches of river, some were tight narrow runs whereas a couple of others were a little wider and more open. All bar one of those areas gave up trout. I caught and released another eight beautiful well conditioned wild browns with the best fish going 670 grams.

The last four browns where taken on a gold #00 Aglia Mouche Rouge spinner which isn't all that different to the Noire, the one I was using for most of the session. The only difference is the fly on the treble hook is brown with a red tag and not black with red tag, not that the fly colours had anything to do with catching the trout in such dark tannin water any way. It was the gold blade & the vibration of it that attracted them to it. Then it was just a matter of working the spinner in a way to get them to take it. I did hook and lose two other browns while fishing those last few runs. In all it was a good session and one that finished up in very cold conditions once the sun started to set at 5:20pm. This little stream that flows into the Leven River certainly holds some nice browns at this time of year.

Adrian Webb


2017 04 26 No 599 for the 2016 17 season

No 599 for the 2016 17 season

 

2017 04 26 Trout No 600 for the 2016 17 season

Trout No 600 for the 2016 17 season

 

2017 04 26 Brown trout falls the the Aglia Mouche Noire

Brown trout falls the the Aglia Mouche Noire

 

2017 04 26 Eleventh wild brown trout of the session

Eleventh wild brown trout of the session

 

2017 04 26 Nice brown taken here

Nice brown taken here

 

2017 04 29 Brown hooked here

Brown hooked here