Germany 2013 Archives - Page 3 of 3

A bright and sunny spring day just begged for a visit to the stream.
The winter was long and cold and so nature was sort of on hold early spring.
When it finally got warm nature went in overdrive.
Trees are developing foliage and the live has returned in the stream.

The intention was to scout for roach and well there where hundreds of them sunning themselves in the stream.
Lot’s of small fish but also a few monsters that almost could be mistaken as trout by their size.
Algae blooming was in full force, the surface of the water was littered with patches of algea that came off from the bottom
of the slow moving stream.
There was a hint of winter but instead of the dreaded cold stuff it was this time thousands of white blossom petals from the
surrounding trees.

As there where so many fish around it might have given the impression that catching would be easy but it was not.
The typical behaviour of the resident roach to a nymph was to race to it, take a look and than most of the time just lose
interest as it was carried away with the current.
I got some fish but figured that I should have been catching a lot more.
Maybe it was time to use a spider or emerger fly instead, unfortuately those where in a fly box at home.

Besides the roach groups of dace where patrolling the surface picking out edible items amongst the floating algea patches
and blossom petals.
Fishing from the high bank though was of a disadvantage as the fish would spot me easily before I could even attempt to
make a cast – in the shallow water they where especially wary.
It might be time to aquire some boots or a wader setup for this shallow part of the stream.

In the afternoon I mentioned to my fellow fisherman that it might be time for lunch so we headed to my favourite
watering hole.
My assumption that it had to be busy at the pub / restaureant as surely everybody would be enjoying the outdoors on
this fine spring day was wrong.
We where the only guest so I was not sure if they even had bothered to staff the kitchen – luckily they did.

The remainder of the day was spent several miles upstream from the roach spot where the main objective would
be trout.
The particular stretch was designated as the guestbeat, visiting anglers could purchase a day ticket for that stretch.
This was the spot where now and then trout would be stocked.
For some reason there where never much roach or dace around so I did not bother to use a nymph, instead I tied
a small zonker streamer on.
It was not long before I saw a telltale agressive rise, I missed the fish but knew that the trout where present,
At another pool two fish came racing behind the streamer, their odd coloring confused me – predatory dace … nah.
One fish was clearly visible in the current so I tried a more subtle approach by using a small goldbead PT nymph.
When the nymph passed I saw the fish turn and grab the fly, turned out to be a little brook trout.

It looked like the syndicate had recently performed a stocking so I expected to come across more trout.
Another cast close to some tree roots confirmed my suspicion as a trout almost jumped at the fly.
The trout missed but when I made a second attempt he nailed the fly right away.

I had several more hits on the fly but missed all fish.
It was already late in the day and as my friend had obligiations back home we called it quits – it had been a good day.
To celebrate this fine day we made another stop at the pub for a last drink.
The logical option for me should have been to return the next day and enjoy some more trout action while
it lasted but I was content with this day.
Instead I would have to give my fishing equipment some attention as my supply of nymphs was drastically reduced
due to the trees and the obstructions on the stream’s bottom.

Germany 29-30-04-2013

5 May 2013 admin

With the recent abdication of our Queen the opportunity rose for a trout trip
to the Möhne river in Germany.
It was our tradition to use the holiday called Queens day for a trip to this river.
As Queens day 2013 was on a Tuesday my boss found it a good idea to close the
company down also on Monday so I had two days off.
As the proprietor of the river also ran a hotel I asked my friend if it would be
a good idea to a two days fishing package.
It was not cheap but we always did well at the Möhne river.

So arrangements were made and the next day we arrived timely at the hotel.
After check in we immediately headed out for the river and as we were eager
to fish we choose the so called senior citizen stretch of the Möhne river.
The main characteristics where that there was ample room for back cast at that
spot as one bank was a meadow, the other a hillside where the main road was
located.
This stretch resembled more a canal as the end was blocked off by a Watermill.
A small bypass left the main river at the end to join the main river behind the mill.
The main reason to fish there was that there were always a lot of fish on that
stretch due to the deeper water.

I fished a small nymph and within a short time I was in to a good size rainbow
trout that took a small bead-head nymph.
The rainbow trout put up a good fight and even made some nice jumps.
Unfortunately during all the mayhem the barbless hook came out so no fish for me.

It was eerily quiet at the water, although the temperature was rather low and nature
was probably two weeks behind schedule due to the cold winter insects where
around.
I spotted Alder flies, small midges and other unidentified insects but nothing was rising.
Even worse I could not spot any fish in the water which would be normal for this spot.
When I fished a streamer I finally got in to a good rainbow and landed the fish.
A little while later I managed to hook a small brown trout.

In the meantime my friend remained fishless which was a very rare occurrence.
As it was midday we decided to end the slow fishing session and head to one of the local
restaurants for lunch.

At the restaurant we pondered how we would spend the remainder of the day.
As things where so slow I opted to fish the end section of the river where it entered
the Möhne reservoir.
The end often boasted large schools of roach and chub which entered the river from
the reservoir, at least I would be having some action.
My friend opted to fish the upper section of the river with as goal to catch a trout.

When I entered the lower section I had to pass underneath a bridge where you could
normally spot the chub.
Unfortunately I spotted no signs of live, not a single fish was around.
A little further upstream a deeper pool always held roach and chub but
even there I did not got a single hit.
Maybe it had just been too cold and the fish where still in the reservoir,
I had no idea .
I continued fishing and after an hour or so I finally got a hit on the fly.

Fishing the four weight with 5x tippet and a size 14 gold bead nymph was
a suitable setup for the coarse fish.
There was however something else at the end of the line, when the fish
flanked I saw that it was a large brown trout.
A rare catch at the end stretch as it was a place I figured was never stocked
because the fish would probably swim right into the reservoir anyway.

The battle was nerve wracking as the strong fish continued to make strong runs.
My full flex rod however dampened every escape attempt , I kept my cool and
in the end could net the fish.
The fish looked like one of the so called lake trout, large fish that live in the reservoir
and head up the river in spring to spawn.
During all the time I fought the fish one of the locals was a spectator on the bridged.
When I released the fish he asked me bewildered why I let the fish go.
I just replied “fish too big” , the spectator figured “oh well it probably does not taste that good then”
Yeah right 

For a while I continued fishing the lower section but it was pretty dead so I made a long
walk to the senior citizen stretch where I met my friend.
He had fished the upper section and all he caught was a small brown trout.
Having fished such a long distance his suspicion was that somebody might had forgotten to
stock the river with fish.
With a rather steep day ticket price you would expect to have a good fishery, not in this case.
After sunset the temperatures dropped and we called it a day.
At the hotel we noticed that people where fishing in the so called protection stretch of the river,
this was highly forbidden.

We wondered what the reason for this anti-social behavior was when we ran into the proprietor
of the place.
Apparently the other angling guests of the hotel had the same experience was we had, very unsatisfied customers.
Now the proprietor had given those people permission to fish the protected stretch which obviously would hold fish.
The word rip-off came floating in my mind.

The second day started with a breakfast in the hotel which was in our minds substandard.
This boasted nothing good for the rest of the day.
We would give the upper section of the river a try but after hours of fishing the only result was
that my friend caught another small brown trout.

The senior citizen stretch was visited but it remained pretty lifeless, a few small browns
followed the streamer I was fishing but no hits.
There were still insects on the water but again nothing was rising.

Time passed and out of pure boredom we decided to have lunch early.
At least lunch was good, as usual at the Al Lago restaurant on the banks of the
Möhne reservoir.
I decided that the highlight of the day was probably the waitress there, a real looker 

Since the fishing was so terrible my friend wanted to fish the protection stretch since the
other guest where allowed to go there the day before.
I guess the proprietor was allowing this to prevent any negative promotion of his operation.
Well, I would not go for that so I told my friend I would stick it out at the end of the
stretch.
So I entered the lower section again and on this day it was still void of fish.
I waded upstream to a shallow section where I noticed that there were a lot of insects on the
water.
Swallows and other birds where picking up small mayflies from the water.

There was one single fish rising pretty predictable in front of me.
I tied on a small dry fly and launched my fly towards the feeding fish.
Every time I would do so the fish would stop feeding, when all was quiet again the
feeding would commence.
I figured that due to the shallow water even the landing of the leader on the water would
put off the fish.
I was beginning to fear that I would end the day with a blank and since it was a travelling day the
end was nearby.
I head back to the deeper pool in vicinity of the bridge and made some more futile attempts to
catch chub or roach that where not there.
An hour before sunset I finally got a hit on the small nymph.
From the resistance I knew it was not a roach or a chub, too my surprise another big brown
trout.
I suspected that I had hooked another lake trout and this one was equally strong as the one of
the previous day.
So another tough battle lay ahead for which the outcome was very questionable.
Again I kept my cool and the rod absorbed the runs of the fish.
I was very happy when I finally landed the fish, a perfect chubby brown trout.

When my friend picked me up for the return journey he could state that he had caught a couple
of standard size browns in the protected stretch.

Although the cold winter might had something to with the minimal results we figured that
the river probably was not stocked the way it should have been.
Combined with the rather steep day ticked prices and our experience with the hotel we
concluded that visit might have been the last one to this place.

Since we no longer have a Queens day as official holiday but a Kings day this might be the
incentive to start a new tradition on another river where there is a proper balance between the
fishing and the price you have to pay for it.

Germany 13-04-2013

13 April 2013 admin

Plan A today was to go fishing the stream but when a unscheduled work party was
called in I had to ditch plan A.
Plan B … get to the Hatchery at 0900 hrs and so I did, to bad though that I was
the only person showing up.
So it was back to plan A again.

The cold weather had finally gone and life slowly returned to the land.
Roe deer where out in the fields this morning.

Roe deer

The first windflower where showing in the forest, these are one of the first
flowers to appear in spring after the snow drops.

Windflowers

At the stream I first went to one of my always producing pools but today it yielded
no fish.
I should have taken waders with me as my options for making a decent presentation where quite limited.
Next stop was the spot where I had caught my first trout of the season but nothing happened there.
As I walked along the bank I spotted a moving trout and made a few casts at it only to scare the fish.
I would be back later for that fish.

I found a nice pool further downstream and with some climbing I positioned myself to make a cast
into the pool.
The streamer moved nicely along the opposite back when it was suddenly attacked by a decent
brown trout.
This trout was an acrobat as it jumped twice high in the air.
I was still connected to the fish though and was about to land the fish when the hook came out, bummer.

The next spot was an undercut bank where a trout literally jumped on the streamer but
alas also this fish threw the hook.
I decided to leave the stretch alone for a while and head up further to the source of the stream.
When I spotted some roach or dace I had a go at them with the nymph and hooked another fish …
and lost it consequently.
Two small carp came shuffling by and as happens each spring the brook lampreys where out in force.

Undercut bank

In the afternoon I head back to the stretch I had fished in the morning and probed all
the spots I had fished earlier again.
At one spot I had three cautious hits but those did not result in a solid take.
I tried the pool again of the acrobatic trout thinking no fish can be so stupid to take a lure
twice a day but it did and it saved me from skunk.
Maybe it was another fish but it did not matter as I could land my second trout of the season

Second trout of the season

So with the main mission being accomplished it was time to get something to eat.
A look at the clock showed me that one of my favorite haunts was just about to open
and since I had not had anything to eat all day decided to call it a day.

Still cold enough to need the fire.

As the weather looked like rain this morning the pub was void of the usual daytripper
but lucky for me the kitchen was staffed.
The weather forecast for tomorrow shows warm temperatures so I guess I have the
visit the stream again and catch those other trout 🙂

Germany 23-03-2013

24 March 2013 admin

Some time ago I received an invite from a flyfisher of a neighboring syndicate to
join their season-opener celebration on this day.
The plan was to start with breakfast at the house of one of the local flyfisherman,
then head out to the river to fish to be concluded by dinner in a local pub.

Early morning in the Netherlands

It could not have been a worse day for fishing as the a stormy wind came blowing out of the east
and temperatures would be below freezing all day.
At the breakfast we where with 7 flyfisherman.
Breakfast took a long time, I guess we dragged our feet more or less to avoid getting out in the miserable conditions.
Finally we did decide to head out to the stream but at that time we where left with 5 flyfisherman as two
of us had other obligations.

At the water the conditions where harsh, even though the stream was more or less sheltered the
cold wind was blowing over the land with much force.
There was a constant flow of debris from the trees that fell around us.
The stream looked good though with clear water and a nice flow.

The stream

The flyfisherman dispersed along the stream and tried their best to catch the first trout of the season.
After about an hour or two we gathered again at the parking lot when another flyfisherman had to leave
because of chores.
Now left with four people we decided to take a break from the cold and head for lunch to a nearby
guesthouse … which was surprisingly closed.
Plan B was put into action so off to the next village to another guesthouse … again closed.
As faith would have it the only option open for us now was the Ice parlor – apptly named “Ice age”.
Luckily for us they also had one warm dish on the menu so we went for the hot chocelatemilk with cream
and a warm apfelstrudel.

It took a long time to warm up and an even longer time for us to finally head out again to the
stream.
In the mean time flyfisherman number 4 had left due to chores at home so we where only
three as we hit the water.
In the stretch we where about to fish I knew for sure that fish would be present but with this
adverse wheater conditions I had not high hopes that fish would be willing to bite.
I suspected that the fish would probably be hunkering in the tightest cover they could find
right now which mean right amoung the tree roots that lined the stream.
After donating some streamers to trees I finally hooked into a fish when I drifted a streamer
right into the treeroots.
My first brown trout of the season was a fact.

First brown trout of the season

Ice…

Trout number one was a fact but off course there would be more fish hiding in the depths.
At another spot I actually had three takes in a row but missed the fish.
I headed out further in the woods for some good spots I knew from last season.
Access was a problem though as I had no waders with me and was fishing from the bank.
At one of the steep banks it went wrong as I slipped and voila yours truly landed in the water.
Damage was only emotional but I got pretty wet which is no fun at subzero temperatures 🙂

Steep banks.

I recovered quickly from the water, dusted off the mud and emptied my shoes before I headed
up the bank to see how the other guys where doing.
I met up with the other guys who clearly had had enough of the cold weather so we decided to
head up to the pub where a warm fireplace would greet us …. we thought.

Well on this day nothing went as planned, we headed to the pub but there was missing something.
No smoke from the chimney … allthough the pub should have opened according to the sign nobody
was home.
I opted to then visit the pub of my angling syndicate nearby which luckily was open.
The fireplace was running at full blast, just what we needed.

What we needed at the end of the day.

The only drawback was the fact that we could not get the food we wanted as the pub would only
cater for weddings, birthday parties andsoforth.
We could get a sandwhich dish though which was rather good and off course the beers tasted
like usual.

All in all a challenging day but spend in good company and hey … I caught my first trout for the season.
Pretty pleased to say the least.

Germany 16-03-2013

17 March 2013 admin

The trout opener coinced with a working party at the hatchery.
I suspected that the hatchery would probably be the only place
on this day where I could see trout so I took some pics and
made a little video to remind me how trout looked.

{wmv}Trout-2{/wmv}
In the hatchery pool

At the hatchery

With the work all being done it was time to head out to the stream.
I fished the deeper pools with a heavy streamer to coax out any stockies but
unfortunately nothing moved.

One of the deeper pools at the stream.

As I encountered plenty of footsteps on the banks of the stream I figured
I was not the first angler to visit the spot.
Maybe the first few fish that where stocked where already cleaned out.

In a last ditch attempt to avoid skunk I headed to the headwater to
see if any roach where active but alas nothing came out to play.

The headwaters.

So fishing was a bust today but at least I did something good at the hatchery.
As it has been too cold for a very long time I suspect that it will take quite some
time for the stream to get to life again.
In the mean time I will keep on trying, one day it will change for the better 🙂

Germany 03-03-2013

3 March 2013 admin

Allthough warmer weather was predicted for later this week I had to
check the river to see if I could finally catch my first fish of the season.
The first thing I noticed today that it was rather chilly so hopes of
catching fish where somewhat dimmed.

The river still carried more water than I had expected but I had brought
some heavier nymphs with me to fish deep.
I fished one of my summertime honey holes but to no avail.
At that spot fish where rising untill November but now nothing at all
was moving in the water.
There where a few insects about but for the rest all was lifeless.

Oh deer …

The lack of succses at the honeyhole made me move far downstream where the river got wider and
moved slower.
In that section I could always catch a perch or two during most of the year but again nothing would
come out to take a well presented fly.
I noticed that the competition was also fishing, a cursed cormorant was cleaning out the water.

Looks like spring, if it would only get warmer.

Last chance today was to fish a rebuild weir where I had hooked a big chub a year or two ago.
Maybe there would be fish in that spot.
As all stones where submerged at the former weir I knew that the water was still to high for
any activity.
I fished a nymph in the currents anyway but again no takes.

Plenty of water.

So fishing wise today was a complete blank bur at least I got my daily dose of fresh air in.
It will take some time before the river comes to life again so I hope the weather will get warmer in the coming weeks.

Germany 17-02-2013

17 February 2013 admin

It has been bugging me that I have been fishless since the start of this year.
The cold weather did not exactly help and getting hammered by the flu was
also not helpfull.
With a break in the below freezing temperatures this weekend I headed out
to see if anything was happening at my little stream.

With the membership in a new syndicate my pool of fishable water was yet
again increased so I decided to check out some of the new spots first.
What gave me hope today was the sight of the first snowdrops almost in
bloom and the fact that the first insects have hatched and are moving about.

Snow drop

The stream was carrying still a lot of water, more than I had hoped for.
Catching a fish in these conditions would be a miracle indeed.
I tossed some nymphs and streamers in the stream but to no avail.

Somebody cleaned out the freshwater mussels.

I found some pretty nice fishing spots that surely would hold fish.
When the season has progressed and temperatures and waterlevels are more favourable
I will return to see if the new spots are any good.

New spots to fish this year.

After visiting the new spots I headed down to one of my old favourites where the river
was wider so the impact of the current would be lower.
I fished the place thoroughly and had one certified take but missed the fish.
When the sun broke through it was rather nice outside.
As the first insects where hovering around the riverbank I had hoped that the sun would
bring out feeding fish but nothing happened, I guess it is still too early.

Geese

I came across one other flyfisherman at the stream today, also a member of my syndicate.
He had the same luck as I had, no fish today.
So fishing wise the day was not a succses but seeing the snow drops and insects today
assures me that it can only get better from now on.

Flyfishing FWSW

Flyfishing in fresh- and saltwater

Browsed by
Category: Germany 2013

Germany 04-05-2013

5 May 2013 admin

Germany 29-30-04-2013

5 May 2013 admin

Germany 13-04-2013

13 April 2013 admin

Germany 23-03-2013

24 March 2013 admin

Germany 16-03-2013

17 March 2013 admin

Germany 03-03-2013

3 March 2013 admin

Germany 17-02-2013

17 February 2013 admin