Flyfishing FWSW

Fishing lately was pretty bad, could be the weather … a late start of the season or just to many
anglers since the syndicate issued fishing licenses through an online service provider.
One of my buddies (an accomplished fly fisherman) even managed to blank two times in a row.

On April 26th I scouted a section of the stream for the first time this year and could absolutely not
find any visible fish. The water table was very low but the usual deeper holes were void of fish.
The only thing I managed to catch was a small shiner on a nymph.

The next day we had an official holiday in the Netherlands so instead of visiting festivities 
celebrating the birthday of the king I went fishing.
This time on the stretch of a neighboring syndicate that did not issue licenses to strangers.
Alas again no fish to be seen, even in the deeper pools.

My luck turned when I noticed a shadow of a large fish in one deeper pool.
I could just make out the back of that fish and wondered if it was a carp.
Since it was very unlikely for that particular spot to hold any carp I presumed it was a trout.

The current in that pool was tricky, it was in a bend and for this stream quite deep.
A drift with an indicator prior to seeing this fish had yielded no takes at all so I had to try
something else.
Drifting a squirmy without an indicator seemed the way to go and that actually worked
as I felt the take of a big fish.

I fished with a light tippet and a barbless fly so the outcome of the battle was not sure.
Luckily there was a small legde of shallower water so I slid of the bank into the stream
to have a better angle to fight and land the fish.

After landing that fish I took a small break as it would be unlikely to catch anything else
that day with the current miserable fishing conditions.
Waited until the pub opened which was quite remarkable as in Germany Mondays are
usually resting days.
Was twice as lucky as the representative of the local distillery came by promoting some
new drinks so I had a tasting.

Early season but nice weather on this so out and about on the stream.
Foliage was slowly appearing, windflowers were starting to pop up and I spotted some cowslip starting to bloom.
Not much insect life yet and not much fish action either as the water was high and clear.

I spooked a trout but figured it could not have far so I probed the most likely hiding spot and got a hit.
Hooked the fish for a short time but it came off.
The second hit was from another trout but on the indicator and no second hits afterwards.

Since I did not get many hits I had to take drastic measures and use the mopfly.
To my surprise that yielded two dace.
Also deployed the squirmy and had some takes of dace.
Talked shop with one of my friends who was also fishing the same water and heard the tales of slow to no action.
Called it a day in the afternoon for lunch.