TROUT FISHING WITH SPINNER by Eduardo Fontela
This is a very comfortable, easy and effective art for specialists and novices.
It is another method for salmon river fishing, which seems to be invented by the American J.T. Buel more than 150 years ago.
I think this method has a lot of supporters thanks to its comfort, its simplicity and the fantasy of its throws when tricking the piece once you get the skill needed.
The trout is usually placed in areas with little water flow, behind some obstacles, under some plants or branches, making difficult the throw to the fisher, who sometimes loses some gadgets.
When fishing, we have to consider some circumstances: the weather, the water flow, the depth, the clearness, the movements of the water, the (green) color of the river, etc.
THE EQUIPMENT
This method does not need a very big economic inversion for buying the equipment.
The rod, the reel, the nylon, the boots, the basket and the clothes are necessary for the rest of methods. Regarding the clothes, it should camouflage with the environment; on the contrary, the trout could watch us soon.
The rod: it should be light at its pointing part. The lenght depends on the fisher, but in this case, it could not be higher than 1.80 and lower than 1.30. This one is the most used in Galicia, because of the big amount of vegetation we can find in this area. I personally think that it should not have more than three rings, so as not to stop the throw.
The reel: thanks to my own experience, I would recommend to use a reel whose spool is hidden, in spite of the opinion of some people. Since the spools have a big capacity, my advice is to use insulating tape and fill the rest with 100 meters of nylon, almost reaching the edge of the spool. We have to choose nylon without memory and change it once a year, because the humidity and the heat could damage it.
Because of its features, this kind of reels are the only ones that allow to use the slim nylon (number 8 or 10) without breaking it.
The nylon: It has always been a very important tool in the trout fishing. I would like to say that, when it is very slim, the spinner would work very softly, without being forced as in the case of the thick nylon. It would have the same round the food has when it is pulled by the current.
SPINNER
I wanted to speak about the spinner at the end because it is the only tool which is different from the others and because I could modify it thanks to my experience and the amateur’s advices. I made a standard spinner, because there are some trading houses having spinners for speed and slow waters. Spinners Edu can be used in both types of water.
Thanks to my experience, I can say that brass spinner is the standard model for every river. When it is sunny, veteran fishers usually use a trick consisting on getting the spinner dark with a flame (from lighter or a match) so it gets black. We do that because, with the sun, the spinner lights, so we could be found easily and the fishes does not bite. On the other hand, if it is cloudy, we can return the spinner to its usual condition by rubbing it with the river sand.
The copper spinner is usually used in rivers whose water is not very dirty and have some mud in the depth.
The steel spinner should be used at the beginning of the season.
The black spinner should be used when the water is very clean, usually in summer, making the movements of a cricket.
Spinners Edu has been selling zinc spinners, which are very appreciated by veteran fishers, because when they are used, their color become blue and they could be used on the evenings, when the sun comes down.
As far as colors are concerned, I have to say that veterans never use nor colored spinners neither new ones.
THE THROW
The spinner fisher usually works inside the water, making the throws depending on the river conditions. He should make a ‘zigzag’ throw, not far than two meters, so the trout do not be scared.
I would like to say that, when I make a 10-meter throw, I do not get bitten by the trout, because they are already scared. That is why I prefer to make the ‘zigzag’ throw. We have to pick up the spinner slowly, depending on the speed of the water flow. With practice we will know how to do it properly.
When making a throw, we have to watch the spinner arriving to the chosen objective or place. We just have to let the nylon go out of the reel. In that moment we must control the reel, because the spinner is now working on its own.
In my opinion, the nylon is the most important part on this method. Since it is very slim, it does not make any force on the spinner, letting this one to work alone thanks to the water flow. If we use a very thick nylon, it would make the spinner doing another different movement, so it would not be natural.
There are a lot of people who think that we should make a 45-degree throw from the other side of the river. Nevertheless, if we make this kind of throw, we should pick up the spinner against the current, so the trout would think this is not a natural movement, because the food does not go up.
When we make a throw to the other side of the river, we try to throw the spinner 45 degrees up, so it can come down with the river flow like a natural food. When it comes to our side, we should take the spinner carefully, because we could be bitten by a trout. In this moment we have to show our experience, because we could lose part of the equipment, since the trout control all the area. What we would have to do is to try the trout does not hide (branches, weeds…) by making a movement with the rod and showing the way the trout should follow.
When the trout move to one side, newbie fishers usually move the rod to the other side so the trout escape because we have helped it to release form the spinner. Nevertheless, if we move the rod to the side the trout has chosen, we will not let it to get out of the spinner.
The water flow indicates when we should drain the spinner. What we have to do is to try the spinner float in the same way the food would do in the river. It will go slowly to the backwater; this is when the trout will attack.