Rigging a Mepps Aglia Spinner
When
rigging a Mepps Aglia it is best to tie the spinner directly to your
line. An improved clinch knot works well and is very strong. If you are
fishing for northern pike or musky, your Aglia should be attached to a
6” ball-bearing steel leader. This is very important as these are the
only two fresh water fish that can cut your line with their teeth.
Many spinner fishermen prefer fishing with a snap swivel. The only
advantage to this is it allows them to change lures quickly. We do not
recommend attaching a spinner directly to a swivel. Most fishermen use a
swivel that is way too big and this can interfere with the action of
the lure. If you are set on using a swivel, we recommend you tie a very
small top quality ball bearing snap swivel to the end of your main line.
Then take a piece of lighter line about 18” long and tie it to the
other end of the barrel swivel. For example, if your main line is
12-pound-test, make an 18” leader from 8-pound-test. The lighter leader
will allow the full action of the lure, and – should you break off – you
will be leaving no more than 18” on line in the water.
Trout Fishing with a Mepps Aglia
Spinners
and trout go together like peanut butter and jelly. A good rule of
thumb is to match the size of the spinner to the size of the trout. #00,
#0 & #1 Mepps Aglias are perfect for small stream brook trout,
rainbow trout or brown trout. Larger trout may prefer a #2 or #3 Aglia.
Brook Trout Fishing with a Mepps Aglia
In
areas where Brookies are found they are usually the favorite of the
trout fisherman. They are truly beautiful with bright red spots and blue
aureoles on their sides and dark wavy lines on greenish brown backs and
dorsal fin. The lower fins are pink or reddish with white on the
leading edge and the males get a bright orange belly at spawning time.
They are not only beautiful but hit hard, fight gamely and taste great.
Because they are without scales, they are the easiest of the trout to
prepare for the frying pan and when you bite into one cooked to a golden
brown, it is a taste you will never forget. Brooks are wilderness
trout. They are found only in cool streams or spring-fed lakes and are
among the first to retreat from pollution. The absolute upper
temperature limit of Brook Trout is 75 degrees and even then there must
be places in the area that are not above sixty five degrees. They like
to lie close to the bottom in eddies, pools or undercut banks, behind
rocks and under logs.
Brook
trout are native to Northeast America from Georgia to the Artic Circle
but have been introduced to the rest of the United States wherever there
is suitable habitat. They grow largest in the big streams of Northern
Quebec and Labrador where they sometimes live to be ten years old. In
most areas they are short lived. Four years is about the age limit and a
five pounder is truly exceptional. The average size is about eight to
ten inches and less than one half pound. They are fall spawners,
starting in September in the northern part of their range to December in
the South. Eggs spawned may run from about a hundred in a six inch
female to a couple thousand in a sixteen incher.
Nothing can beat the thrill of fishing brook trout. Part of it comes
from the beauty and solitude of the area in which they are usually
found, part of it comes from the trout themselves. Seems like they are
almost always hungry, like kids when they get home from school and start
looking for something to eat. Their strike is quick and hard and they
don't give up without a good struggle. Because they are most always
looking for something to eat, they can be caught consistently and they
are not too fussy about how the lure is presented, upstream, downstream
or across. If they are hungry it is “bang” and you've got one on. We
recommend #0 and #1 Mepps Aglias. For brookies larger than 10-inches we
recommend a #2 or #3 Aglia. Apply Mepps color technology to all of your
fishing, making sure to select lure colors that will contrast with the
water color and background the lure will be seen against.
Rainbow Trout Fishing with a Mepps Aglia
“Wow, look at it jump.”
“Where?”
“Over to the left.”
“I don't see it.”
“Look to the right now.”
“Where did you say?”
“Right straight ahead.”
That's
the way it is when you hook into a nice rainbow or steelhead. It has
been said the rainbow trout can come out of the water in two places at
one time, and each time those silvery sides with their beautiful pink
stripe glint in the sunlight.
The rainbow grows faster than any other trout. It is also the most
migratory and even in the inland fresh water streams, it sometimes
travels many miles. Rainbow trout in the Great Lakes and Pacific
Northwest migrate from their streams to one of the Great Lakes or the
ocean back into the stream. Once they re-enter the stream they are
referred to a steelhead.
The rainbow or steelhead spawns in the spring of the year with the
exact months varying according to the area and water temperatures. Once
they enter the ocean or a Great Lake, the rainbow trout grows rapidly so
catching seven to ten pound Steelhead is not at all uncommon.
Because of their rapid growth and fighting abilities both rivers and
suitable lakes are often stocked with rainbow trout. They provide a real
thrill when taken with a spinning outfit. Although they will hit a
spinner traveling either up, across or downstream, the most consistent
producer is to cast across. The half tumbling action as your spinner
swings downward with the current brings the strike.
When lake fishing, troll slowly, just fast enough to keep your spinner off the bottom and the blade turning.
With the exception of the rivers in the Great Lakes and Northwest in
the winter time, we would recommend a #I or #2 Aglia. Apply Mepps color
technology to all of your fishing, making sure to select lure colors
that will contrast with the water color and background the lure will be
seen against.
Steelhead fishing requires a little different approach. If you are
after steelies, we recommend a 71/2 to 81/2 foot rod with 6 pound test
line in the summer and 8 pound in the winter. The Sizes #3 and #4 in the
Aglia and Aglia Long are right for winter time steelies. Because the
rainbow or steelhead has so many acrobatics, you can usually plan on
losing more of them than you catch. That's what makes it fun and the man
who takes his limit has something to be proud of.
Brown Trout Fishing with a Mepps Aglia
The
brown trout is the “sly fox” of the trout family. In some areas they
are called German Browns or Lochs. Browns are natives of Europe and were
introduced into the United States about 1883. Because they can live in
water with quite a degree of variation in temperature, they are found in
most areas of the U.S. and are known as the most adaptable of all
trout. They are also the most difficult to catch and therefore the
average size can be slightly larger than the other trout species. Their
coloring is golden brown with numerous black spots that have light
colored halos around them. There are a lesser number of red or orange
spots on the sides of the fish. Its belly varies from dusky yellow to a
creamy white.
An
average size brown trout weighs less than a pound and one that weighs
more than ten pounds is a trophy. However, because they are difficult to
catch, they can grow large and a seasoned brown trout fisherman can
sometimes come home with a trophy. The larger they are the more
difficult it is to fool them into striking. As a rule, the brown is most
active at the crack of dawn or late evening. They spawn from October
through February, depending on the area, and it is usually done in the
shallow rips on the gravel stream bottoms.
Although they are found in lakes as well as rivers, they seek the
streams to spawn. The number of eggs spawned runs from six hundred to
three thousand depending on the size of the female and in their wild
state they do not hatch until spring. Commercially raised in a hatchery,
the incubation period is from 48 to 54 days in water with a temperature
of about fifty degrees.
Brown trout are usually found in the slower stretches of water in
eddies behind a rock or log where it is shady. They like water that is
not too cold. The best water temperature for brown trout fishing is from
55 to 65 degrees. Although browns can be taken quite readily with a fly
in the early morning or late evening fly fishermen find it extremely
hard to catch one of any size during the middle of the day. With spinner
fishermen it’s a different story. Many big browns have been taken
between 8 am & 4 pm by fishermen casting Mepps spinners. This is
because a spinner is an enticer, not an imitator. A spinner excites a
fish, causing it to strike, whether it is hungry or not.
The #I Mepps Aglia is an excellent choice for brown trout up to a
foot long. For bigger fish try a #2 or #3 Aglia. Larger brown usually
are found in deeper water, so it’s good to keep in mind that larger
Aglias weigh more and they can be fished slower to run deeper. Apply
Mepps color technology to all of your fishing, making sure to select
lure colors that will contrast with the water color and background the
lure will be seen against.
Never fish a Brown Trout downstream. Always fish upstream or across.
Your best bet is to face upstream, make your cast at an angle of about
ten o'clock. Start with as slow a retrieve as you can without hanging
up. This allows the spinner to come toward you and at the same time the
current is sweeping it downstream. A big brown will usually hit. when
the spinner starts to come directly toward you. As soon as it feels the
hook, it almost always jumps. This will happen only once or twice
before it will run and dig for bottom.
Finally. . .
Fish
see color, so lure color is important. Mepps Color Technology has
proven this. After all, in order for a fish to strike a lure it has to
see it first. So, fish with lures that contrast with the background they
will be seen against. If you are fishing a pond with a dark mud bottom
try a silver Aglia. Because it's silver plated, the Mepps Aglia blade
provides a bright white flash that is easily visible against a dark
background. If you are fishing a lake with a light sandy bottom, try a
copper or brass Aglia with a black tail.