With overcast damp conditions today I headed over to the Mersey River, soon as I arrived (5:45am) I saw trout surface feeding in the wide slow flowing water. Seeing that always means I'm in for a tough session & as it turned out it was just that. I still flicked the Mepps spinners & a few hard body lures around in the slow flowing water for just the one follow. Heavy rain was forecast for later in the day, at the moment it was just a light drizzle on and off which I didn't mind. I decided the only place I'll catch trout today was the fast water runs, that's where I headed.

The area I'm fishing only has four stretches of fast water and they're well apart from each other too.The first one I fished is usually the most reliable stretch of fast water that always gives up a couple of fish wasn't all that good today. It took me close on fifteen minutes before I finally hooked my first trout of the session only to see it toss the spinner on the first leap from the river. That was the only hit I had in there so it was onto the next fast water, another one that regularly gives up a rainbow trout & has often saved the day for me many times. This fast water, like the last one is perfect for the cast and drift method I love doing with the Mepps spinners.

It took a few minutes of casting & drifting the spinner with the flow when it was taken by a solid rainbow. My savour had arrived and it was well hooked too, it made several leaps and runs before it tired and I had it in the net. It was 7:05 am (time in the camera) when the fish was landed so it had taken a while to get a score on the board. Once I reached the top end of the fast water I had a few flicks around the tail end of a long wide stretch of river, it was here I picked up two small browns in very quick time. The next fast water was a long way up so I went inland then walked close to 400 meters until I could see the tail end of it where I needed to get to.

To reach the river I had to bush bash my way though fifteen meters of head high grass & thick foliage, I made plenty of noise getting through it too. After catching a few more small browns on the Aglia Furia I changed to a gold Black Fury spinner. I wanted to give this gold lure a workout in this deepish fast water run, a stretch of water that gave up a few browns & a couple rainbows last time I fished it. Well, it wasn't to be this trip because this beautiful fast water run never gave a yelp, not a single hit or follow from a trout. I couldn't believe it as it's the best fast water run of the lot in this area. With just the one fast water left to fish things were looking a little grim at this stage of the spin session. I went back to the Aglia Furia to fish the last stretch of water, it was here I picked up two browns and a beautiful rainbow (450 grams) which was the best fish of the day.

I was just about to head back to the car when I spotted a few trout on the rise in the tail end of another wide slow stretch of river. I thought I'd flick the spinner up and across the river and do a slow retrieve while giving the spinner a light jerk every so often. It worked, I picked up a small brown which finished off my spin session at 9:20 am. It was quite warm now as the cloud had thinned out and the sun was poking through, it was a long hot walk back to the car. I arrived at the car at 10.20 am totally buggered...

Adrian Webb (meppstas)

Beautiful rainbow trout

Crossed the river here

First trout of the day

Small wild brown trout

The last trout of the day a small wild brown trout

The rainbow lured from the river bank