Episode 275: Mersey River Brown Trout With Jenna Westwood

Jenna’s Top Trout Fishing Tips

• Trout in the Mersey River during October tend to be recovering from spawning and often hold lazily in eddies and backwaters waiting for an easy feed.

• Jenna’s first step when land-based fishing for trout in a new area is to study Google Earth, looking for access points, vegetation and habitat that might hold fish. Then she goes exploring and gets prepared to do some walking.

• Trout in flowing water usually face up current and you’ll get best results by casting upstream of the fish and bringing the lure back into the fish just fast enough for the lure to have some action.

• Move quietly and stealthily. It’s not a bad policy to fire a cast or two from well back from the waters edge before wading so as to get a lure to the fish without revealing yourself.

• The Mersey River is mostly relatively shallow and boulder with some pebble and gravel. Fish will hold in back eddies pressure points and other respites from the current. Take care wading, a solid pair of felt soled or studded wading boots is a good investment.

• Trout tend to bite more freely when there’s a little bit of breeze, a rising barometer and some cloud cover. Recent rain or a rising water level can also help, as long as the water doesn’t become excessively dirty.

Jenna’s Preferred Trout Fishing Tackle

• A 7’2” 1-3 kg line class spin rod and a 1000 size Shimano Stradic Ci4 reel loaded with 10lb Siglon braid is Jenna’s preferred rod and reel combo. This line casts well and rarely causes wind knots. The combo is completed by a rod and a half length of 6lb fluorocarbon leader.

Jenna’s Trout Fishing Lures

• The Ecogear MW72F hard body lure is great for fishing moderately deep runs. It has a reasonably wide action that seems to readily attract trout. Jenna cranks this lure at relatively constant speed but uses plenty of side to side rod action to create darting action.

• The 65mm Atomic Jerk Minnow is a great casting lure and Jenna gets these custom painted by BK Custom Tackle in Hobart. They have a tighter action and a different vibration than the Ecogear lure but are worked in a similar way. The Atomic lure is a better option in shallower water due to it’s shallower diving depth.

• A Mepps Inline spinner is a simple but classic trout lure and is especially effective when the water is shallow, as it can be worked quickly with the rod held high to keep it above the algae that commonly infests the Mersey over the summer months. If you feel the lure stop fluttering, pause for a second to let it sink a bit, or speed the retrieve up temporarily until you feel the blade start spinning again.