Slow Rollin' Trout.

I’d become complacent, hadn’t had so much as a tap, a follow or a swirl on the previous four lures and my motivation was starting to fade. It was an hour off dusk and the rain was starting to build. I wasn’t expecting much from the last lure change but mid retrieve on the very first cast the lure got crunched and I came tight to an angry Great Lake brown trout. The fight was short and sweet and moments later my first lure caught Tassie trout was being photographed by one very happy angler.

It’s strange that for the past 15 years I’ve been fishing these lakes and not once have I spun lures. I’ve got a thing for flyfishing so it’s probably not that strange. This trip was a little different though. Having taken over the Melbourne Compleat Angler store a year ago I thought it silly to come back from a trip to some of the country’s best trout waters without anything relevant to tell my customers. So I made a deal with my mate that he could pick the water we fished each day and I would fly fish the “fly only” water but I’d spin everywhere else.
 

A beautiful Great Lake Brown.

That first fish came from a rocky shore in front of the pub in Swan Bay. Flooded timber intermittently lined the bank and there was obviously fish on the move. About half an hour later I let the lure sink down the eight count I’d been giving it and then started my retrieve. There was something different this time. The rod was loaded up like there was weed or a stick stuck to the lure so I just cranked it in mentioning to Merv that things didn’t feel right. Not far from the surface though the line moved sideways a bit and I realised it was a fish that was just coming with the lure. A split second later it was at the surface, mouth agape, waiting to be netted. Hardly the best fight I’ve ever encountered and the reason was instantly apparent. The little hard body was lodged sideways right in the back of the throat. Poor thing was gagging on it, must have inhaled it on the fall. I was pleased and it seemed I’d found my lure of choice for the next few days.

The Lure

The lure was a sinking hardbody from Japanese lure manufacturer North Craft called the Giulia (unfortunately no longer made). Like many sinking hardbodies on the market I was using this lure to slowly cover different water depths, counting the lure down before starting my retrieve. Adjusting the count depending on the depth I wanted to fish. This technique has been around for a long time and the classic Rapala CD5 would be the first choice for many lure fishers the country over and has accounted for more than its fair share of trout over the years. But the North Craft has a few little tricks up its sleeve that set it apart (something the Japanese are very good at). For starters there is a shifting weight system that allows a small ball bearing to run to the tail of the lure for longer casts and also to let it sink quicker. This ball bearing then shifts forward once the lure retrieve is commenced to give the lure the best balance and swimming action. Of course there are other Japanese lures that do the same thing but these were the ones I had on hand.

The Locations

Over the course of the next few days we fished several lakes in the Central Highlands area with the best of our fishing coming from water that was 2 and 4 meters deep in amongst drowned trees or along rocky shores. We tried to maintain a drift parallel to the shore so we stayed in a consistent depth and to keep the drift nice and slow we used a drogue (a sea anchor of sorts). This could also be adjusted to angle the drift slightly across the wind to keep us running along a shore even if the wind wasn’t blowing the direction we needed.

Classic Slow Rollin' water. Timber, rock a gentle breeze and 3 meters of water.

The Retrieve

Arthurs Lake Browns liked to Slow Roll too.

Slow Rolling, which is a slow constant retrieve, was the most successful for me although I would definitely put a few pauses and twitches in from time to time. At the end of each retrieve, as the leader knot came into view I’d let the lure sit for a few seconds before lifting it vertically to the surface and then pausing it again. This is a little trick I’ve picked up from fly fishermen who refer to this as the hang. It’s amazing how often a fish will hit on that last long pause before the lift or as the lure first starts to swim straight for the surface. I’m confident that it’s the radical change in direction that tips them over the edge. Of course as with any fishing I would still mix up the retrieves from time to time to make sure that I wasn’t missing out on fish that may have reacted to something different.

Slow Rolling sinking hardbodies is certainly nothing new but I think with the advancements in lure design spearheaded by the Japanese it’s certainly a technique I will be doing a lot more of over the coming seasons. I can’t wait to fish some of our larger rivers like the Goulburn to try swinging these same lures down and across the current to try and cherry pick some of the larger fish harder to reach fish.

With the rivers and lakes getting plenty of water this past year now is definitely the time to be chasing a few trout.

 

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