DASHER RIVER GIVES UP A FEW BROWNS 2/4/2014
After the weather finally cleared here in Sheffield today I headed on over to the Dasher River (at 3.15pm) some ten minutes from home at Claude Road. After a one kilometer walk through the paddocks I reached my starting point where I would fish my way back upstream to the main road bridge. I was a little surprised to how low the river level was especially after last weeks 57mms of rain here. It was also a very dark tannin colour too, but still looked good enough for a spin. The sky was now clear and there was just a medium South Westerly breeze blowing which was enough to keep those little pesky flies away that hang around the cow paddocks.
On the third cast I was onto my first brown and it took the gold black fury hard and fast. This was a nice well condition little brown that went 350gms which is a fairly good size for this little river.
Then in the next small section of fast water that I fished I had another one take the spinner one the very first cast. Now this is how I like it and I'm hoping this run will continue for the rest of the session. I wasn't really expecting much as this little river had struggled through the summer due to the lack of rain in the area for quite some time. So it was good to see that the browns had made it through those very dry conditions. So I had now picked up two fish in very quick time and the next cast I had another one on, but then lost it just as quick.
Onto the next small run of fast water and the same thing happened once more, fish on and this one stayed one as well. Another cast upstream into the same small run and I was on again. These were only little browns of around 270gms, but they're still fun on light tackle and always fight to the end.
I had now caught and released four browns in the first 60 meters of river and this is how the Dasher used to fish most of the time. Then over the next four hundred meters it was very dead and all I managed was two hits for the one (290gm) brown. I did have a several follows, but the fish had all of a sudden turned off. I did try several different coloured blades to no effect and went back to the Mepps black fury gold blade that I started with and that was the one that worked again.
I came across another nice little run of water that had a good cover along the opposite river bank and I picked up another two browns in quick succession which was great. I'm now thinking they're back in an aggressive mood again. I had now fished close on three quarters of a kilometer and picked up seven browns which wasn't as good as I'd hoped for that's for sure, especially how the session had started. I was looking to have caught at least fifteen by now, but it wasn't to be. Over the next couple of hundred meters to the bridge I did catch another two (260gm) browns making it nine for the two and a half hour session. It was good to get back and have a spin in this little river. It's a river that I always enjoy fishing even on a bad day it will give up a few browns like it did today. I sat under the bridge for around ten minutes watching several small browns leaping out of the river occasionally picking off the black spinners that were hovering above the river. This made a good ending to an enjoyable afternoon on the Dasher River.
Cheers
Adrian
