Avoid slow glides and grinding river stones - stay still!

In late November I went trout fishing in Tasmania with Bruce Love and Andrew "MadDog" Barclay. We tried some crazy stuff I'd never done before like Loch Style fishing on Lake Echo and it even worked! On our last day we visited the Mersey River which is one of the most picturesque rivers I have seen. After crossing Dynans Bridge we immediately saw trout jumping and pulled over quickly. I couldn't believe it, there on a long, slow, waist deep glide were 3-5 pound trout rising eagerly for who knows what. I still don't have the ability to work out what trout are feeding on so I tied on a caddis as I could see plenty flying about. After the caddies it was red spinners, black spinners, nymphs, mudeye - you name it, nothing worked.

A few hours later a local came along to cast to the still keenly rising and seemingly unspookable fish. After all our commotion I assumed they would only be back after a good night's sleep. The local said we had picked one of the toughest parts of the Mersey to fish. Because the river flowed slowly, the trout had plenty of time to inspect the fly before refusing an obvious imitation. He also pointed out that the trout were not "rising", they were "leaping" well above the water into clouds of black spinners that hovered above the surface when the wind died down. Even though this was obvious, it was not a distinction I had made before, probably because this was the first time I had seen it.

Peering across the river, I couldn't even see a black spinner. Apparently when the trout are feeding like this their eyes are intensely focused above the water. So not even a great presentation can interest them because they are looking above the water surface. The local said that even his mate, a professional fly fishing guide, couldn't tempt these fish.

He also pointed out something interesting. When I was casting I couldn't get as close to the fish as I would have liked but he was right on top of them. I was fishing by slowly making my way upstream. At each step, probably every 15 seconds or so, I was grinding the river rocks underfoot without knowing it. The fish could hear this ever so slight commotion and it scared them. The local just stood in one spot for 5 minutes and although the fish were initially spooked they came back to feed. That's the other thing that surprised me about this spot. The fish were obviously spook proof as they were clearly aware of our presence yet they continued to feed. Maybe it was the arrogance that comes from being an  untouchable?

The lesson in all of this is its probably best to avoid long slow guides and leaping fish but if you really must have a go, make sure you stand still.