dont think so, and the code i pasted works just fin here.. so the problem must be at ur place, make shure the slap look as it does in the code..

slaps your_nick around a bit with a large trout

if it doesnt match exactly, then it wont trigger, try add a "echo -a something" in the code, then u see where it stop run the code..
Code:
on *:ACTION:*:#:{ 
if ($1- != slaps $me around a bit with a large trout) { return }
else {
[color:red]echo -a Yes working so far[/color]
if (%trout.temp) { inc %trout }
else { 
set -u10 %trout.temp 1
inc %trout 
describe $chan takes the trout from $nick and puts it back in the river. Now I've saved %trout
}
}
}

and put that echo below every line in the code, then u see where it fails and maybe we can help u more then..