Flyfishing FWSW

Last Saturday we attended the annual Fisher king tournament of our German fishing club.
This tournament was attended by the senior members of the club and consisted of a few hours
fishing in the river and at the well stocked pool below the watermill.
At 07.00 hours we gathered at our pub annex official meeting place in the middle of the countryside.

The first session on the river left us only 1 hour and 15 minutes to fish.
Time was short and since fly-rods where not allowed on the second part of the tournament
we decided to rig the spinning rods for this session so we where ready for leg two right away.
It was time to break out my ultra-light Fenwick 4’-6” spinning rod.
With a small twister I managed to catch two small perch from the river in a town downstream
of the watermill.


Perch on twister.

After the river session we returned for a solid breakfast at the pub. 
With the breakfast finished the whole circus moved to the pool below the watermill
to fish for the limit of five trout per angler.
People where staring at me when I entered the premises armed with my UL spinning rod.
Most of the local guys where fishing with pretty crude gear which looked to me like it would be better
suited to fish for mackerel at sea than trout in a river.
We where supposed to fish with a float and worms but I tied on a small black zonker streamer instead.
I moved away from the crowd to the end of the pool and tossed in the streamer.
By slowly retrieving the fly across the pool I quickly caught my limit of five trout.
At noon the whole circus went back to the pub again for dinner and the weighing of the 
catch. 

After dinner the new Fisher king was officially announced, the festivities would continue in
the evening for the so called Kings ball.
While the locals headed home for a rest or preparation for the evening event we had different plans. 
Driving all the way back to the Netherlands was impractical so we would fish until it was time
for the ball.
The normally off limits pool below the mill was now open to members of the club when they
would buy a special ticket. So we decided to buy the extra tickets and off we went to the mill.
This time we entered the grounds with fly rods.
The pool was full of trout and with some luck we might encounter the odd brown trout that
survived last years massacre.


Meadow Saffron, typical autumn flower

When we walked over the weir at the millers house we met the residents, a retired 
veterinary surgeon and his wife.
So instead of fishing we where sitting high above the pool drinking coffee and chatting
with the friendly inhabitants of the mill.


Coffee at the mill

My fishing buddy Joop was seated in such a position that he saw all the trout roaming below
in the pool. 
The sight was too much for him so after a while he made a comment that we had to go fish since there was so little time.



Joop in action at the mill.

In the beginning the action was ridiculous, anytime a fly went in the water a trout would race towards it and grab it. 
The pool was filled with chunky rainbow trout that put up a good fight, many fish went airborne.


Rainbow trout

This action did not last long since the trout pretty soon figured that the shores where an unsafe place to be.
Still the black zonker streamer was irresistible to most trout although the fish became more wary by the hour.



More rainbows

At the end of the day I had caught at least 20 rainbows from the pool and although the action was fun
I wished I had caught them elsewhere on the river. 
I do not have to catch trout every day but just one per session on the river would be nice or at least
the sight of moving or rising trout would be sufficient.
Next year the stocking regime of the river will be changed, fish will be stocked more evenly during the year.
Hopefully in the upcoming year we will encounter trout in the river during all months of the season.

September 28th is the date for a new adventure since on that date the die-hards of our Dutch club
will be off to the Danish Baltic sea coast.
Our mission is to catch seatrout and cod in the sea and grayling and trout in the rivers. 
It will be my second time in Denmark this year and I know it will be good especially if I have the luck to
catch at least one fine strong seatrout again.

To be continued….

Joop had been fishing the river some days ago and told me 
about large schools of roach that would attack any dry fly
that landed on the surface.
He even had some shots at brown trout in the upper reaches
of our river.

So yesterday we where ready for another visit to our river.
The sky was cloudless and the weather service predicted a 
warm sunny day.
When we arrived at the river we wondered where all the fish
had gone. 
There was hardly a single fish feeding in the surface.
After a few fruitless casts with a sedge pattern it was time to
go subsurface and tie on the trusty pheasant tail nymph.
The fish where hiding in the brushes but could not resist the nymph.


Roach


The hideout

Surprisingly we came across another flyfisherman from one of the local German angling clubs.
We talked about fishing and before we knew it we where invited for a days fishing on the river that his club had leased.
We knew the river in question but we never had fished the stretch of his club which was located near the source.
The club did not issue day tickets but for us an exemption would be made.
The interesting thing was that the person we met was responsible for stocking fish in his club water.
From the stories he told us it seemed that his club stocked more regularly trout than our own club.

In the afternoon we fished various locations and Joop landed a nice brown trout for a change.
We came across a fellow fisherman and apparently a few trout where stocked in the last month.
I only managed to catch some more Roach from underneath the tree roots bordering the stream.

At the end of the day we fished the upper reaches of the river where Joop had missed three trout
on the previous visit.
The stream flowed through a deep trough, both banks where heavily covered with shrubs and trees.
You had to climb down the steep bank and slowly wade upstream to get to the slightly deeper holes
where fish could be hiding.
Joop coached me to the right locations, casting was done by rollcast or just by flipping the nymph into
The deeper sections of the stream.
At my first cast the indicator went down instantly, at first glance it looked like a trout had took
the nymph but it turned out to be a rudd. 
Rudd where very uncommon in our stream so I was quite surprised to find one in the upper reaches.
The next cast yielded another uncommon fish for this section, a nicely coloured perch.


Perch


Rudd


In the jungle

Near sunset we fished one of the little feeder streams.
Even though the water levels where very low fish where present in the pools and undercut banks of the small stream.


Hardly more than a ditch but it still holds fish.


A little perch


The pool

The pool yielded one decent roach and a few little ones.
I missed one fish that could have been a trout but maybe I was just imagining things.
So we spent another beautifull day at the river and made some new friends and we maybe
have found some new fishing grounds to explore in the future.

Yesterday we once again fished in our stream in Germany.
The weather was tropical with very high temperatures and bright sunshine.
These conditions would make fishing tough so our hopes of catching fish 
where not that high.
We left in the afternoon and picked a nice shaded stretch in one of the little 
towns along the river.
As expected the water was low but we where surprised that the water was 
so discoloured.


No clarity

Few fish where seen although now and then Roach where cruising the surface
Joop caught several fish on the dry while sight casting to them while I had little
Roach on the goldbead pheasant tail nymph.


Roach

The bigger fish where surely out there but all fish where very wary, most likely
due to the extreme low water levels.
There where not that many insects on the water, I only spotted one mayfly on the water.
Even though this stretch of the was shaded it still got hot.
We decided to move to a stretch I called the cows swimming pool.
Personally I disliked that place due to the presence of the cows, the extremely muddy
and thus slippery banks and the low flow speed. 
There was one plus to that spot though, there where always fish there.


The cows swimming pool

As expected the cows where in the stream, one of them waded deep and was obviously enjoying the cool water.
To my surprise Joop managed to get a trout on the dry on this stretch.
The water level was the lowest yet I had seen.
I fished in the remaining trickle and caught another Roach on the nymph.


Roach


Low water
We did our best at the cow pool but fish where not biting that eagerly.
We would take a break for dinner at 18.00 hrs and would then fish another part of the stream beyond sunset to see if there would be an evening rise.
Our local eatery was the official meeting place of our German fishing club, a rural restaurant in the middle of nowhere.
We where the only guests when we arrived, it was no problem to get a warm meal though.
Ten minutes later we where sitting outside with a couple of schnitzels and a large glass of cool wheat beer.



The local food

It was nice outside as we sat in the shade of the oak trees enjoying our dinner.
The sun was already low on the horizon when we left for the evening session.
At the next location fish where rising so we both fished with dry flies.
When I entered the water the fish where gone, with no signs of fish I opted to fish
the nymph again and slowly waded upriver.
Joop continued to fish with the dry and yet again landed a trout.
At sunset I was casting dries and nymphs to some rising Dace but the fish where small and 
refused my offerings.


At sunset

It was a nice day as they usually are when we go fishing.
Joop had caught four roach and two trout while I ended the day with two roach.
The hot and sunny weather was fine for outdoors activities but seeing the water table at
such levels was kind off worrying.
Maybe it was time for a rain dance but down here you have to take care what you wish for.

One of the waters we where allowed to fish was the Eschach.
This small stream flowed up in the mountains and was described in the hotels brochure as a
very pretty and very difficult water to fish.
We looked at the map and picked out the village of Eisenbach as our starting point .


Eschach

The stream was small indeed, to catch fish there would be challenging.
At the location where we stopped the trees along the river had just been trimmed.
It was too bright for our taste so we drove back and parked near the first bridge we came across.
Tom would fish far upstream from the bridge, Hans would take the middle section and I would go downstream.
It was tricky to find a way to get into the canyon since the walls very steep and covered with deadfalls and large rocks.
When I arrived at the streambed I had a very deep pool behind me and a less deeper one in front of me.


Deep pool.

I fished the deep pool behind me with a gold bead nymph but saw no fish.
When I looked into the pool I figured it was more than 1.5meter deep, amazing since the rest of the stream was so shallow.
Next stop was the pool upstream from me, it was clear that you had to keep a low profile here to have any change of catching fish.
I kneeled down and dropped the fly upstream in the deep pool.



Pool and brown trout.

A trout immediately took the nymph, it was a nice and strong fish.
The skunk was avoided, hopefully this success would continue.
There where plenty of likewise pools ahead but I had no more hook-ups.
Since I did not see fleeing fish I figured that I had not scared all fish away.



Eschach.

I carefully fished all pools and places I thought would house fish and finally arrived at the pool where we had our car parked.
This pool was surely checked by Hans but I knew he was not a fan for lure fishing so that was 
something I had to try.
The pool was at least 2m deep with a strong current so it was difficult to get the lure down for a longer period.
When I retrieved the lure next to the big boulders a really big brown came out from underneath the rocks and tried to hit the lure.
I had not expected this so I was a bit startled, unfortunately the trout did not appear for a second run.


Eschach.

I walked upstream to see how Tom was doing.
Tom was already out of the water and stood on a small bridge over the river.
He had also caught one fish out of three, all fish hit the dry fly.
We walked back to the car and waited for Hans to come and tell about his results.

I really got a Alpine feeling while fishing the stream due to the fact that the cows in the meadows
above had these bells around their necks.
The rings of the bells where a constant companion while travelling along the stream.



Livestock.

We had enjoyed our morning fishing trip but agreed that this was not a water to fish all day in.
We would do some more exploring of the main river in the afternoon.
I learned a great deal while fishing this little stream. 
Next time I will certainly probe the deep pools more thoroughly with a lure after learning that
large trout hide below the boulders.

I Just returned from a couple of days fishing down in the deep south of Germany near the Swiss border.
I had a great time down there and managed to catch some fish.
Below a small selection of pictures I took, detailed report will follow later.