Flyfishing FWSW

Today the weather service warned of severe thunderstorms at the end of the day as a cold front
and warm air would meet in the general area I was fishing.
To get my timing right I skipped some of the downstream spots and headed straight for the place
where I had done well on the previous days.
And again the fish turned up, but I have to say they looked rather familiar …

After my lunch I decided it might be wise to check up on some old spots  I had not been to for some time.
It was a jungle out there and some of those deadfalls where leaning pretty awkward against other
trees … big trees …
Fish where rising but in the jungle getting in a right position to toss a fly under a tree is difficult.
The banks were steep and with only boots there was not a lot of wading you could do.
Dries where out of the question but drifting a streamer down a pool did yield a small brown trout.
It is always interesting to see how a river can change in time when downed trees create new pools
while old ones fill in with sand.
Spotted plenty of rising fish but could not get a decent cast out to most of them.

When I left the water light rain set in, only at home I noticed rumbling in the sky and now the lightshow is on and sometimes it rains.
One more day left for bumming around at the stream so I hope the rains will not be to bad on
the stream … it will be cooler though.

And yes … another day spent fishing … to put it in the words of my friends … they can’t take that away from you.
The day started bright and sunny … the stream surprisingly clear and lower than the day before.
The fish … dormant … did not spot any at my hotspot and had to revert to dirty tactics to get something going.
The tactic consisted of tossing a streamer through the water … that streamer tailed a nymph.
It worked just as planned as a small trout raced after the streamer and then took the nymph.
Bigger fish where absent or not willing to show themselves.
Further upstream at a “no fishing” section I spotted an army of dace in the surface but they
where not moving at all.
Tried other spots but nothing going on.

As the fishing was slow I had planned an early pub session but before that I tried the spot where
I got the stockie yesterday.
This time the nymph coaxed another brown trout out of its lie and as it pulled hard and ran all over the
place I was not sure it would stay connected, luckily for me it did.
That brown trout was a day saver so I could happily enjoy a meal in the pub.
In the mean time one of my buddies was en route to the stream and we met up at the pub.
His plans were to visit a downstream section of the stream, I on the other hand would move further
upstream.

After my break I checked out the upstream sections and noticed a lot of surface activity … the kind
of racket that trout make.
I tied on a sedge and made some clumsy casts under a tree but in the end it worked, brown trout.
Apparently the stockists had put out a batch of trout as I caught a few of them at places that where
void of life before, just a pity that all the fish where small.
I informed my buddy about the status of the upstream section and met up with him later at the water.
With the low and clear water sneaking up on the trout was difficult so I am not sure how effective our efforts were.
Fish remained small and as my buddy was on a tight schedule he left early.
I tried one other spot for half an hour hoping the setting sun would trigger some activity of the fish but I came
no further that one bite from a small dace.
I ended my fishing day half an hour before sunset when the temperature was already notably lower.
Two fishing days left ….

As my time of leisure is coming to an end as my new job starts soon I had to make
the most of the spare free time that is still left to me.
As it had rained cat and dogs last night I was anxious about the state of the stream
as I had seen a sharp rise in the level at one of the online gages.
A strong wind was blowing, the temperature was low and at times showers rained
down on the land.
The stream looked ok though with only a slight murkiness to the water.

The nymph was the weapon of choice but just as during the last weeks it did not yield
many fish.
A small trout was the first fish of the day followed by a dace and small roach.
I was wondering what happened to the legal size trout that I had encountered in the
past at my hot spots.
I soon found out as one was racing behind a dragging nymph.
I mended the line to slow the drift and would you believe it the trout actually took the fly.
The rod was in a nice bend … the trout jumped and voila the hook came out.
Since that trout was so eager I figured I would have another go at it with a streamer.
The streamer did coax the trout out for an attack and again it jumped … and threw the hook.
A third go in a row seemed to me a little far fetched so I decided to take a brake first for
a drink and something to eat.

When I was finally done with my break the sun had broken through the clouds and insects
where flying in masses of my spot.
Surface action was minimal with one small fish constantly rising.
I served a sedge to the rising fish but all I got was one take which I expertly missed.
During all this action I did however noticed a disturbance in the water that must have been
a trout and most likely it was the same I had hooked twice … must be a stockie was my thought.
So it was back to the nymph, a PTN with a black tungsten bead and a pink spectraflash hotspot.
After a few small roach something solid took the fly and as predicted it was the trout.
This time there was no escape and eventually I landed the fish, the tail of that trout was a telltale sign.
Nevertheless it was nice to once again have a fish at the end of the line that put a good bend in the rod.

The rains and cooler weather raised the stream a little and the clarity was quite a bit down.
Could not get any fish on my regular spots but found one in the end that produced small dace and roach.
Also got one of the larger roach, have not seen those for a long time.
Alas it did not end so well as the camera took a dunk in the drink … looks pretty dead now but might come back to life once it has dried.

Still working my way through the new menu at the pub ….

As long as this warm weather persists I might as well enjoy it … 84 F and the fish where biting …

After the misery of the Denmark trip I had to get redemption so I headed to the local stream and encountered
loads of small trout and a few larger ones.
Got one of the larger fish on a squirmy worm dare I say.
I spotted some dace surface feeding but mist almost every strike, at least one fish stayed put.
It was nice to be out in the sun and the warmth.

With the mornings still cold I figured it might be wise to start the fishing session late.
At one of my favorite spots I just could not catch anything and I began to think I had lost my fishing mojo.
The only hit was from a small brown trout that threw the hook with lightning speed.

A visit to the mill pool did not yield much as only a small gudgeon went for the nymph.
I spotted some pretty big dace further upstream and they were actively surface feeding.
The first fish on the dry fly this season was my goal but I only got the small fish.
It was overcast and as the wind picked up the surface feeding ended.

A haul with the streamer through one of the weir pools yielded not the perch I had
hoped for, no hits.

At another spot I finally caught some dace but again very small size.
I hooked into a solid brown trout but the fish went absolutely ballistic and threw the
barbless hook out with ease.
Now that I knew fish where present some fine tuning of the nymph setup yielded larger
fish and best of all a very strong and nice colored rainbow trout.
The fact that the brown trout got away made me think, as it went so aggressively for
the nymph it might be willing to take a streamer also.
After a wait I got back to the pool where the brown trout and one cast with the streamer
was enough to solidly hook the brown.

After dinner at the pub I figured there was still some daylight left and with all these trout
around (stocked I guess) I wanted to try one last spot.
It was getting late as the bats where on the wing (first time I have seen them this season).
Nymphs did do nothing but the streamer once again revealed a very aggressive brown trout.

The fish missed at the first attempt but the second was a solid hookup.
A very nice day and good to get some larger fish for a change.

Yesterday a call came from the syndicate that the mill pool boasted an unsightly log
that the inhabitants wanted to have removed.
As I was near the premises I agreed to take a look and if possible get rid of the log.
This morning I went to the mill pool armed with waders as my plan was to float the
log out of the pool and send it on its way to the sea.
I had volunteered quickly for the job as I had a double agenda.
Somebody had done some tree trimming at one of my good fishing holes and had
dumped the branches into the water = could not fish there anymore.
To float the big log downstream those debris had to go so I removed them first
and noticed that indeed one of the larger trout lived at that spot.
The big log was heavy but once it was in the water only the shallow rocky spots
required some pulling and hosting.
The log was send off, I could go fishing.
It was another warm day and for the first time in the season I noticed some blue winged olives
buzzing around.
The fish where not surface feeding so the small size 16 nymph once again came into action
and brought up a mix of small dace and some small trout.
I could not find any good fish so I guess I have to visit some haunts far upstream and see if
any fish are left there.

Somehow I spotted more cormorants today than fish and that was not very
encouraging.
A small nymph size 16 did the trick in the feeder stream and brought up some small dace and chub.
Insect activity had increased quite a bit but did not lead to rising fish.
The main river pushed too much water for me to fish it properly but it yielded
one dace while nymphing without the indicator.
Hopefully with the longer days the temperatures will rise and maybe the landscape will
turn green soon.
Plenty of roe deer about and I spotted hares in spring modus.
Notably absent where the white herons but instead I came across a pair of Nile geese.