Spinning for brownies

It's trout season again and as the Easter weather was actually nice for once I thought I'd spend a couple of hours in the evening wandering the banks of my local river Frome.

The river Frome in the Stroud valleys.

My spinner of choice, barbs crushed down.

I take as little kit as possible, just a small 1000 sized reel, an ultra light spinning rod, a pair of scissors that double as forceps, a net and roll up mat, and a small box of spinners. My spinners of choice are the plain Mepps Aglia range, in a size 00 to a size 1, as the local trout rarely go over a pound. The river pretty much contains nothing but trout and the odd micro species (bullhead, minnows etc...) this far upstream, so there's no need to worry about pike or anything like that so I use a 6lb braided line tied direct to the spinner. I'd prefer to have a swivel and quick link in the mix, but I find them too bulky for the smaller spinners to work properly, and also the trout can see them in the clear water and will often shy away from the lure once they get close.

A small wild brownie near the rivers edge.

The trout are pretty easy to locate, in the shallower runs you merely need to take a stealthy approach and look in the water to find them. They can blend in quite well with the bottom in places, but the movement as they swim against the current is what usually gives them away. In the deeper sections it's still possible to see them if the lighting is just right, but the usual sign you'll get that there's a trout about will be the sound of a splash as it takes an insect from the surface of the water. Obvious features like undercut banks, protruding roots, fallen trees etc. are good places to try too as they're quite often the home of a trout or 2.

My first brownie of the season

I had my first take on about my 3rd or 4th cast, but the hooks didn't take and the fish was off again just as fast. The same happened for the next 4 takes! I do get quite a lot of fish drop off as many are quite small and I think aren't heavy enough to provide enough resistance to set the hooks, despite using a brand new spinner with sharp hook points. Still, 5 in a row seemed like a pretty harsh run of luck, but it didn't take long before I finally got one in the net. It wasn't very big, maybe 6-8oz but on the light gear still put up a good scrap in the flow.

After catching that first fish my luck seemed to turn and I didn't have any more drop off or missed takes, until towards the end of the session when a monster of a fish smashed the lure hard enough to hoop the rod tip right round just for an instant before it was off back to its hiding place. I managed 10 fish in total in around 2-3 hours, all in the 6-10 oz range. Previous experience tells me that the fish are quite territorial and tend to stay in the same area, so I'll be back for another crack at the legendary "one that got away" another day. All of the fish I catch are returned, and I urge everyone else to do the same. If you want a trout for the table then buy one from a shop or fish a stocked trout fishery, our wild fish already have enough problems and don't need us adding to them.