Flyfishing FWSW

The strong wind and overcast skies did not make it easy to pursue the chub.
Nymphing only yielded small tiddlers so it was off into the fields to find the fish.

I missed some good shots on the big ones but finally got a good fish lined up
that took the sedge textbook style.
Now that I had the fish on I had to land it which posed a problem as the banks where steep and the net way to short.
So I went in … tad deeper than expected but besides filled up wellies and wet pants all good, afterall it is summer

With the drought continuing it was off again to the lower sections of the stream where the
chubs where happily roaming in the current for food.
I have never seen so many large chub in there so plus side of the low water is that it has
given me insights in where the fish are holding up.

By pure coincidence I came across a whole lot of fish at a bridge and curiously caught my
first ever bleak from the stream, maybe these fish ladders along the larger weirs work
after all.

Although I spotted many large chub as usual the small tiddlers always beat them to the fly
first. One of my friends however gave me a tip how to get the big ones namely by using a
hopper fly so that is what I am planning to do on the next outing.

With the drought and high temperatures around here I had to move my fishing activities
further downstream in the open countryside where the many chub seem to thrive in the hot weather.

The open country side and high banks  prevented a sneaking up on the big fish and
usually the landing of the fly caused the big fish to move and the small ones to attack.

At one pool I saw a fish that had eluded me for several sessions now.
It saw me and slowly moved to the start of the pool out of my visual range.
A few probing casts to the front yielded the desired reaction and at last I had caught
one of the better chub of the stream.

I checked out some other spots I had not fished before and behold they had many
good fish present.
Missed a few shots but also got some of the fish I targeted.
Now I only hope for rain and cooler temperatures so that we have some water left for the fish to swim in.

My friends always organized an annual meeting at the beginning of the year to plan various
road trips to go fishing.
The idea of matching schedules to eventually find common ground seemed nice but alas more
often then not when a date was due nothing tended to be organized.
So it happened that at one club meeting just prior to a planned trip my friend Wiebe and I were the
only ones present at the meeting … the rest … no word from them.
Wiebe asked me if I had heard anything from them about the planning but no … nothing was clear.

One of the destinations discussed was the Wenne river and as I knew that it was a mighty popular spot
I remarked to Wiebe that it would be prudent to take immediate action.
I contacted the local hotel and as expected the place had no vacancies left.
The options given were to go one week earlier or one day later than the planned date.

I discussed the situation with Wiebe and made a reservation for the day later under the condition
that I could get time off from work.
I received the go ahead from my manager so the road trip was a fact.
We would leave for our destination on a very hot and sunny Saturday afternoon.
The river was at the lowest level of the year but we knew that it would still be a worthwhile place to visit.
We arrived at the hotel around dinner time and after a meal we went to the river to check out the
fish.  Just was expected the fish were rising aggressively so al signs were green for the first fishing day.

On Sunday after breakfast we went both our ways and had an excellent time on the river fishing
with dry flies, nymphs and streamers.
The pools that held fish on previous visits did not disappoint.
Most fish were brown trout but I also managed a quite decent rainbow trout and as bonus sometimes a grayling.
Our hotel “Landgasthof Seemer”  was perfectly located on the river and our port of call during the midday break
when we had lunch in the beer garden (in waders).
After a short midday fishing session we would again hit the beer garden for dinner and then fish
until sunset to get the most out of the evening rise.

Monday was the last day of the trip and as the catering staff of the hotel was off duty on Mondays and Tuesdays
the only thing served to us was breakfast.
Our plan was to fish until 17:00 hours in the afternoon and then hit the local Pizzeria to end our fishing trip in style.
The weather was hot and with no clouds in the sky the river turned into a public swimming pool for the kids of the village.
Luckily we could still find some solitude and fish to make it all worthwhile.
A bonus was the steady breeze that at least kept the temperature down when you were wading in the river.
The midday session was slow as the insect activity was minimal probably because of the strong wind but at least some fish came to the net.
We assembled at the designated time and packed in our gear to head to Toni’s Pizzeria were we had a good meal before heading home.
It was a short trip but all in all a very good one and something we must sure do again this year.

There had been a change it the weather pattern on this day … it was even hotter than usual and humid.

I was again off to the chub spot but could not get much responses from the fish.
The water table had even got a little lower and fish would run for cover if the leader hit the water.
I did get a few small chub but the bigger ones were just milling around showing no signs of feeding.

The only shot I had at a good fish was when it positioned itself under my dry fly and was about to inhale
it, to bad it had second thoughts and moved away.

With the land so scorched right now insect activity was low, maybe the fish are feeding at other times.
I had to make a visit to the clubs hatchery in the afternoon and by now the heat was unbearable and
clouds massed in the sky – thunderclouds.

When I left the hatchery the sky was rumbling and sooner or later a thunderstorm would come.
I took my break at the pub as usual and waited for the rain to come … it took a while.
I was already on the water when it started to rain, it was not much but at least it flushed the dust
away.

I was lucky enough to end the day with a few small trout, the rainbow trout was the best fish.