Fishing the Weed-lines for Trout

Fishing for trout in weed-beds can be challenging but like physical exercise, it is a necessary means to an end. Trout like patrolling amongst the weeds and if you want to catch them you have to go where they are, and then figure out a strategy to catch them says Greg Morton.

Trout like hanging out in the green stuff for a number of reasons. Firstly, the critters they like to eat live there; secondly, the weeds provide a habitat for them to stay cool and hide in; and thirdly, the weeds provide thick cover for them to ambush prey.

A good example of the weed conundrum is the top basin in the Upper Manorburn Dam located in the Idaburn Valley. The shallow flats provide good trolling action in November when weeds are thin but trolling becomes hard fishing by January/February because of increased weed growth. The previously clean lures become festooned with weed, and each time the wind blows it also causes loose weed to float on the surface, fouling lines and hooks. Anglers persevere because rainbow trout caught in these weed-beds are invariably the best conditioned trout harvested.

Across Otago the best low weed window is in spring through to early summer when the newly growing weed-beds attract the trout but there is still a gap between the top of the weeds and the surface of the water.

Sometimes you just have to put up with a bit of weed in order to fish the most productive waters.

So how does a shore spin fishing angler handle the problem of weeds tangling his or her fishing gear? My advice is to ‘grin and bear it,’ and accept that a weed hook-up is the price of possible success. Most weed snags come loose without losing gear so it’s not costly, just annoying.

Recently I went fishing on a local Clutha River tributary that I have done well on in the past. On those earlier trips I caught trout in all the traditional spots – under the trees, in glides, in drop offs and behind flood debris. I avoided the weed.

This trip was different, however, because my previous hotspots failed. The river was lower than those earlier trips and that meant there was no obvious current. The water was sluggish and murky and weed growth was already bad. I spotted two or three rises but even my favoured brown spinner for this location brought no action. No follow ins and no strikes. I had a sinking feeling that it was to be a long day and I often got snagged on weed strands.

Perseverance is in an angler’s nature so I stuck to my guns and keep casting away where I had encountered fish before. I tended to pick away in the clear water and avoid the large weed clumps. When I failed to get even a strike in my favourite pool on this river I knew I was in serious trouble. The only bright spot was finding a harrier hawk nest and getting a snap of her quartet of white eggs

I took some time out to have lunch and after packing up, was on the point of retracing my way back to the truck. A couple of rises in the other direction changed my mind so I carried on. I knew this place to be full of muddy shallows and weed out further so it was only my lack of options which sent me that way. Things had changed since my last visit, however. Floods had ripped through and the area was deeper now and the weed-beds were right by my bank. It was a game changer, and just as I had that thought a feeding trout cruised out of the weed and stalked his way past me.

A trout hugs the weed line in search of an easy snack.

The fish were clearly here and on the feed. I now needed a strategy to deal with the weed. I selected a 7g white Mepps spinner as my weapon of choice. The first cast predictably caught weed, as did the next two, but in all three cases it was when the cast entered the water. The answer was to wind fast as soon as the spinner splashed down, then slow the retrieve speed later when it was clearly above the weed. The gap between the weed and water surface was about 60 centimetres and there was the odd channel and bare patch. The white spinner colour meant I could see what was happening and steer the lure around the worst of the weed and across clear patches.

Another victim of the white spinner, which was fully engulfed by the fish.

I cast for the sixth time in the direction the seen trout had gone earlier and, bang, I was hooked up. I was not to realise then that over the next two hundred metres and one hour of fishing, I would land six good sized brown trout and lose two others. The most exciting part was that I visually saw every one of the trout hit the spinner because they smacked it just below the surface and above the weed. Each hit it like a mini Air Jaws shark incident, rocketing out of the weed at full tilt and engulfing the spinner above them in a spray of water before accelerating away at speed. This was obviously how they ambush bigger prey within the weed-bed. All were well hooked and the two I lost were line breakages. One went under a submerged tree branch and the other got foul hooked in his top fin and took me to the cleaners. I had no strikes, just full on attacks.

The last trout was the icing on the cake. I spotted him cruising along and cast over him, then steered the spinner across his path. His reaction was priceless. He instantly went from mooching to kill mode and whacked it in a spray of water. This trout was a stunning gold colour, obviously camouflaged for the weed-beds. This weedy hotspot meant a slow day had turned to a top day real quick.

January 2022 - Greg Morton
New Zealand Fishing News Magazine.
Copyright: NZ Fishing Media Ltd.
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited