for TROUT

In New Zealand
by Allan Burgess
Free ebook

fishingmag.co.nz

Brown trout taken on Yellow Tassie Devil in the Waitaki River.

Spinning For Trout

In New Zealand
by Allan Burgess
For the novice angler wanting to catch his or her first
trout the vast range of fishing tackle available in many
sports stores can be bewildering and confusing. Where
do you begin? The answer to that question has, for
many anglers, been on light trout spinning gear. Not
only is trout spinning a great place to start out; it is also
an enjoyable, exciting and productive way of fishing for
both the novice and experienced angler!

must confess to having caught far more trout on spinning

gear than I have on the fly rod. In certain situations the fly rod
is a better option than spinning gear. When fishing crystal clear
headwaters, particularly on a bright sunny day, the fly rod is the
way to go.
The fly rod is also a better tool to use for dropping a tiny size
18 dry-fly, wet-fly or nymph to a weary old brown trout that has
plenty of time to scrutinize your offering before taking a bite!
If fishing a back country stream bed strewn with sharp irregular rocks and small, fish holding pools you could loose an aw-

fully number of metal spinners before finally

landing a trout. If you tie your own flies you
can afford to loose plenty of them without becoming upset at the cost. But spinners are a
bit more expensive.
The fly rod, which takes more effort to master than spinning gear, enables accurate presentation of the fly to a fish that has been spotted beforehand. Whereas for the most part
spinning is more a case of blind prospecting.
Generally speaking you would use a fly
rod where delicate presentation is essential to
success, and where the fish holding water is
small, and would more often than not result
in lost of spinning tackle.

The author testing a

new spin fishing set in
the Waimakariri River.

It is however, still possible to fish a fly on spinning gear. This

can be done either by the use of a small lead weight - usually a
metre or so above the fly - to make casting possible for a sunken
streamer fly or nymph, or with the use of a plastic bubble float in
order to fish a dry fly on a lake. You can also use spinning gear to
fish a live bait where this is permitted. Spin fishing is very flexible in this respect.

Rivers
Casting a lure across a wide slow flowing river is a great way to
spend an afternoon. In the South Island we have many such rivers that, in their lower reaches especially, are perfect for this style
of fishing. The lower Waimakariri, Selwyn, Clutha, Mataura, Oreti,
and so on, are wide and frequently slightly discoloured. On these
waters spinning is the best option for covering plenty of fish holding water.
Where do you start? These wider rivers can seem daunting.
Hundreds of cubic metres of water are passing your fishing spot
every second. The trout are surely out there somewhere!
Often fish will be close to the bank, under willows, or behind
fallen trees and large rocks, or other obstructions on the riverbed.

They like to sit close to the bottom just

out of the main current where they can
dart in and out of faster water. They also
like to hold in the slack water behind obstructions.
Trout are not always in the deepest part
of the river. They can often be found close
to the bank where the water is quite shallow.

When purchasing a new spinning reel it is a good idea to

As darkness closes in fish come on to get a spare spool at the same
feed. This is the best time of day to fish. time. Some quality models like
The falling light also helps to disguise this Shimano eggbeater
your lure and make it appear more fish- come with a spare spool.

like!
A spinner which might seem large and clumsy during the day
can be just the thing to take a big trout in late evening. This is also
the time when fish will come into shallow water chasing silveries
and bullies. So dont neglect to fish close to the hank when retrieving your spinner. Sometimes
trout will chase your lure to the bank
You can take some great fish on light
spinning tackle. These rainbows were and take it right at the rod tip.
caught in Canterburys Lake Selfe.

In big water you cant always tell

where the fish will be. The best option is to cover as much water with
your spinner as possible. Sooner or
later you will catch one. It is amazing how many times I have arrived
at a particular river, assembled my
rod, strolled over to the river bank
and caught a trout within just a few
minutes!
Start by casting upstream and
across towards the opposite bank.
Allow your spinner to sink as it drifts
downstream before you begin winding the handle on your reel. Dont
wind too fast. You should be able to
detect your spinner touching the bottom every now and again. If you

wind the handle too fast your lure will rise to the surface and you
wont take many fish.
Vary your casting distance, direction, and sink time in order to
cover as much water as you can. Think of the trout as being lazy
and holding in just one place near the bottom. By carefully quartering the river your lure will eventually find where he is holding.
I like to make a few casts downstream as well, winding the
lure back to me close to the bank.
You have to be both optimistic and patient: these are the anglers best assets! Make every cast in the firm belief that a fish will
take your spinner at any moment from the second your lure hits
the water, to when you have it in the air for the next cast. Fish will
often follow your lure to the bank and strike just as you are about
to lift it for the next cast!
If fish are following your lure in but not striking try something
different such as: a smaller lure, twitching the rod tip, stop/starting your retrieve and so on. You will often find this happening in
crystal clear water such as the Canterbury high country lakes. If
the water is flat calm the better option is a small nymph fished on
a fly rod, or better still a dry fly fished with a bubble float.
With river fishing you are going to
loose more gear than around a lake margin. There will be many lure traps that
you cant see from the river bank. A certain number of losses is inevitable. When
a lure does get snagged try letting the line
go slack before winding again. Or let the
line go slack, then walk downstream or
upstream before trying it again.
Another old salmon anglers trick when
snagged is to make yourself an otter
from a stick found on the river bank. Take
the stick and tie it to your line with a
length of mono. Let it slip down your line
to be pulled along by the rivers current,
letting go line as it floats down. With luck
the pull from the opposite direction will
free the lure.

You dont have to restrict yourself to traditional spinning tackle.

Trout will readily take these soft
plastic worms - though they
soon get chewed to bits!.

With experience your ratio of fish on the bank to lost spinners

will improve a great deal. My twelve year old son seems to loose
spinners at about four times the rate I do! He also gets upset every
time he gets snagged and a spinner is lost! Fear of snagging will
prevent you from fishing your spinners effectively. Always carry
a good selection.

Lakes
A big advantage with spin fishing is that you dont have to worry
about your back-cast. Some Canterbury high country lakes such
as Selfe, and Coleridge when the water level is high, are difficult
to fish with thick matagouri down to the waters edge. If fishing a
fly rod in these sort of situations you really need to wade out a bit
from shore to give yourself a bit of casting room, otherwise you
can waste a lot of time retrieving your fly line from this thorny
native plant.
The same thing applies when fishing in strong norwest wind;
spinning gear is much easier to operate than a fly rod. But again
in calm bright conditions presentation is important and a well
worked fly will often produce better results.
Modern rods and reels are made mostly of plastics and
composites. Generally speaking the better quality reels
have at least three ball bearings. Always carry your rod to
and from the river in a solid tube as most accidents happen around, and in the car!

I remember a
winter s day a
few years back
when six of us
travelled to Lake
Coleridge for a
most enjoyable
day spin fishing
at the Picket
Fence. It was a
glorious day at
Coleridge: snow
on the high tops,
crystal
clear
mountain air,
blue sky, the sun
shinning, the
lake flat calm,
and the company
stimulating and

humorous. However we
werent catching many
fish. From memory I
think it was only two fish
in total. We were all fishing a variety of spinning
tackle that had proven
successful here in the
past: Cobras, Tobys,
Tassie Devils, Hexwobblers, and the like.
Even bottom of the range eggbeater reels
are much improved nowadays. This inexpensive Shimano has taken many fish!

We had already been

fishing for an hour or so
when a bloke arrived
and joined us with his fly rod. You guessed it! He was soon pulling out fish after fish! In these flat calm conditions his small well
presented nymph was king. While our clumsy hardware wasnt
fooling even the dumbest of fish. In this situation our fly rods
would have been a better bet.
That said, it isnt often that Lake Coleridge is flat calm. In fact
it is more often than not blowing a gale. In these conditions spinning is much easier and just as productive. I feel that a bit of wind
on the water is an advantage when spin fishing. It helps to disguise the plop of the spinner hitting the water. For this same
reason spinning at dawn and dusk when the light is poor, or even
after dark, is also more productive. The trout are general more
active at these times as well. It always amazes me how a trout can
catch a small moving target in the inky darkness of a lake or river
at night!

Rods & Reels

There are so many spinning rods and reels on the market that it
can be difficult to decide which set to buy! Your first consideration is line weight. For river and lake work most anglers, myself
included, would fish with 6lb monofilament line. You can go down
to 4lb mono but I wouldnt. With lines that light it takes only the
slightest nick or bruise on the line and it will break under the
strain of a good fish.

If you intend to fish near rocks, or in a Canterbury braided

shingle riverbed, heavier line would be a good idea, with even
10lb not being too heavy. Therefore you need a reel that will accommodate from 120 to 240 meters of 8lb line. I would go for
reels at the upper end of this range.
Rods are designed to cast a particular weight. Lets say you
want to cast Tassie Devils, Tobys and Cobras. These weigh between 12 and 20 gm. Therefore you need a rod designed to cast
lures in that weight range.
For most trout spinning I like to fish a 7 froot rod. When spinning around the shore of Lake Coleridge for trout and landlocked
salmon many anglers, myself included use an 8 foot light weight
salmon rod. In this situation you are using heavier lures and often fishing in a strong head wind.
On the other hand when spin fishing from a boat towards the
willows around a lake I have often used the same 6 foot rod I
have been using for trolling. However I feel a six foot spinning
rod is a bit short and restricts
casting distance. My advice is
go for a trout spin rod of 7 foot,
or 7 foot six inches.
The fixed spool reels (eggbeaters) are the best all round
option. They are easy to cast and
a top quality model can be had
for a very reasonable cost these
days.

Bar spinners like these from Mepps and

Fire Fox come in at the top of the action
scale. They produce plenty of flash even
in still water and at slow retrieve speeds!
They are more expensive than simple
spoons. I tend to fish these in lakes or
slow moving rivers.

Light weight bait-casting

reels are preferred by some anglers. These reels make it possible to cast very accurately, so
you can land your spinner
within inches of the opposite
river bank and so avoid the willows. However, you are more likely
to gets a birdsnest casting into the breeze, and they are more
difficult to fish with in the dark.
Generally the better quality eggbeaters employ more ball
bearings in their design.

Entry level spinning reels

often have no ball bearings. Better quality light spinning reels
will feature at least three ball
bearings. At the very top end
reels such as the remarkably
smooth TiCA Libra series distributed in New Zealand by
Kilwell Sports incorporate an
incredible ten ball bearings in
In contrast to bar spinners these ticers
their construction!
are almost lifeless when retrieved in still
water. Their advantage is that they cast

When looking to buy a new well and sink down quickly to where the
reel ask your tackle store assist- fish are holding. Use in fast flowing rivers
ant if you can have a go at turn- or for fishing deep water.
ing the handle on various different models from several manufacturers. You will soon feel the
difference between a top quality reel and a budget model. A quality product from a leading manufacturer will be very smooth as
you wind the handle.
There will also be little viToby
bration. There should also
be only slight resistance as
you wind.
Gypsy
It is always a good idea
to order an extra spool
Zed Spinner
when purchasing a spinBingo
ning reel. Though many
models now come with a
Zed Spinner spare spool in the box.
This enables you to carry
This selection of spoons comes in someseveral line weights; say
where between ticers and bar spinners.
ten pound for a braided
They are a good all round choice on any
river and 4lb for lake
water. The faster you wind the reel hanwork. I like to have both
dle the more pronounced the spoons
action during the retrieve. But if you wind
spools loaded with 6lb. If
too fast they plane to the surface. I have
the line gets a bit worn or
caught many trout on the black Toby.
nicked, I can quickly swap
The 12g Toby would be my first choice
them over.
when fishing new water.
It pays to have a selection on hand. If the
trout arent biting: try a smaller lure, a
different colour, or try a slower or faster
retrieve.

My advice when buying fishing tackle, particularly rods and reels, is to

get the best you can afford. They

will perform better, last longer,
be more reliable, and most importantly be a pleasure to fish
with.

Spinners
There are enormous numbers of
different trout spinners available on the New Zealand market. These come in a bewildering range of colours.

The Tasmanian Devil is the best selling

trout spinning lure sold in New Zealand. The Australian made Tassie
comes in a huge number of colour
combinations. Pictured here are three
of the most popular. Top the Frog
pattern, next the Traffic light and
bottom, gold and red.
The Traffic Light is popular on lakes for
rainbow trout, while the other two are
fished for brown trout. Some colours
are all the rage among anglers for a
season or two, and then something
else becomes more popular. However I
wouldnt go trout spinning without a
selection of Tassies.

My advice, if you can afford

it, is to get a couple of dozen
spinning lures all at once. You
will soon forget the cost, and
having a good selection in your
tackle box will work to your advantage later. Down at the river
you will be less concerned about
a few inevitable losses if you have heaps more lures in you bag or
tackle box. Take it from me; if you go down to the river with three
lures you will loose them all in the first ten minutes! You are sure
to hook a few unseen snags beneath the surface such as tree
branches, rocks, weed beds and so on. If you are anything like me
the occasional overpowered flick can also result in your Cobra
or Tassie Devil becoming hopelessly hung-up in willow branches
on the opposite bank. This is particularly annoying when you can
see the offending projectile but can do nothing to retrieve it!
You will also need a colour selection based on the time of day.
Black or dark coloured lures work best during late evening, after
dark, and when there is a bit of colour in the water following
rain, or from melting snow.
Brighter colour schemes - silver and gold - seem to work better
during bright sunshine. Rainbow trout also appear more inclined
to go for bright colours than do brown trout.
Pick a selection of lures that will give the best action when

retrieved at different
speeds. Ticers have relatively little action. The
advantage with ticers
though is that they cast
well, even in a head
wind, and they sink to
fishing depth quickly.
This makes them a good
choice when casting
from the shore of deep
lakes, and when fishing
in faster flowing rivers.

There is an old saying

among anglers that
goes along the lines of
fish your feet first.
When you arrive at the
river or lake be quiet.
Walk softly. There
could be a big fish
right at your feet and
you dont want to
scare him off!
Start at one point and
quarter the river. Make
some casts long and
others short. Be sure
to work the lure all
the way to your feet
and in close to the
bank. Then move
along and start again.

On the other hand in

shallow still water you
need lures with more action. The amount of flutter or action a lure produces is very much linked to its rate of retrieve: too slow and it
will have little wobble and flash; too fast and it will rise quickly to
the surface and be virtually useless at catching trout.
Blade spinners such as Rublex and Mepps are at the other end
of the scale. They produce heaps of flash even when retrieved
slowly. They send out both fish attracting sound, and light flashes
from their spinning blade.
The Action Scale might look something like this:
1. Ticers - Very slow action
2. Spoons - Slow/medium
3. Cobras - Medium
4. Bar spinners - Fast spin
Spoons like the Zed Spinner, Bingo and Gypsy flash when they
kick-over to show their opposite side. Again retrieve rate is very
important: too slow and it will be lifeless; too fast and it will plane
to the surface.
Brass backed metal spoons can be polished with a piece of cloth
so that they catch the light as they wiggle through the water. The

effect is an overall blur rather than an accurate bait fish imitation.

A Few Last Thoughts

When you do hook a
trout try to keep calm.
Lift your rod tip immediately. Take your
time. Keep a bend in
your rod and dont be
tempted to get the
fish our of the water
too quickly. With a
big trout you may
have to follow it upstream or downstream. This is fine in
big water where the
banks are clear, but if This big Canterbury high country brownie took a
the stream is small, or yellow and red Cobra cast around the lake edge.
there is a lot of undergrowth and trees to the waters edge you could be in trouble! Think
about how you would land a fish before you even start casting. In
some situations it can be next to impossible to land your fish because of obstructions.
I once hooked a good trout in the Waimakriri River right underneath the old State Highway bridge. The big searun brownie
immediately took-off with my Cobra. It went about ten metres
down-stream, broached, and then headed back upstream on the
opposite side of the next set of bridge piles. The Waimak was running quite high. It was that deep green colour you get about a
week or so after a flood. l had that fish on for all of about 20 seconds before he broke me off. On reflection it was a silly place to
start casting from to begin with!
It is also a good idea to carry your lures, line clipper, pliers and
so on in your pocket or fly vest. This saves having to walk all the
way back to the car to get another lure following a bust-off.
Something I have had to do quite a few times.
A landing net is also worth carrying. You cant lift a fish clear
of the river on 6lb line without the line breaking. If there is a beach

area you can drag the fish out no problem. But if the river bank is
steep a landing net is essential.
Likewise waders are not essential for spin fishing but are worth
having in cold weather, as is a good quality coat with a hood to
stop the rain running down your neck.
Polaroid glasses are an essential item to have, not so much for
spotting fish but for cutting glare on a bright day.
Spin fishing is great fun. You can cover a lot of water with relative ease. This makes spinning gear a useful option when you
dont have a lot of time. You can leave you rod set up in your
vehicle and be casting within a few seconds of stopping.
Successful spin fishing requires more skill and experience than
you might think. Many times I have been out fishing with very
experienced anglers who know how to get the most from their
spinning gear. In a party of six anglers it is surprising how one or
two will often catch almost all the fish, despite everyone using
much the same tackle while fish a lake edge!
The difference between catching and not catching fish can be
subtle. It might be a slower or faster retrieve speed, allowing the
lure to sink deeper near the bottom, or running the lure close to
the bank when others are casting out into the middle. Another
good technique is to periodically stop winding for a moment during your retrieve. This can often trigger a strike from a following
fish. Keep experimenting!
I always keep a diary when I go fishing. In this I record the
time of year, day, weather, successful lures and so on. What works
well in one place often works equally well on other water, but not
always. For instance in a deep lake like Coleridge a fast sinking
lure such as a 1 oz. black ticer will be effective, but in nearby Lake
Selfe, which is clear and shallow, a green or gold Cobra or Tassie
Devil will have more action through the water and be more effective at fooling one of the big R-Strain rainbows.

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