Flyfishing FWSW

With high pressure building over Russia and the winds shifting to the east the end of
regular fishing seemed to be near.
I started my fishing session late in the afternoon to be on the water when the air temperature peaked.
Wind and frost had made short work of the remaining foliage and the predominant color now
was brown.

Normally I would have betted on the inner village stretches of the stream to get at least some
bites but today it was different.
Fearing a complete blank I headed into the forest to see if fish where to be had.
As it had not rained properly since April the stream was ultra low and with the extreme clarity stalking
fish was almost impossible.
Surprisingly however fish where moving about and eventually I caught a few small ones.

As the sun was setting the temperature dropped fast towards freezing so it was time to end
the session and head for the warmth of the pub.
Now I had hoped to order some new dishes from the menu but after inquiry I was informed that
it was still in the works … delayed.
Off course I could not file this report without any food pics so I made a few.
Also notice the Christmas setting … decorations are already in place.

From the menu today:  Beef soup, Grilled Feta Cheese with Salad, French fries all washed away
with the dark wheat beers and off course the obligatory cake and coffee to finish it all off.

With the last week of my vacation the endless summer also ended.
The heavy rain that we needed did not materialize, just low temperatures and some sprinkles.
Temperatures plummeted abruptly last weekend, when I started my fishing session
it was barely over freezing.

In the early cold morning the sky was still clear, with the low temperatures I expected that
the fish would not be in the biting mode.
I tried one of my former hotspots and surprisingly the first fish that hit the nymph was a small
perch, even a small dace decided to bite.
The flow through the stream was still minimal but at least the water was more or less
clear.

The wind picked up quite early in the day and the clouds rolled in making it not that
comfortable to be at the water.
In a sheltered part inside the village I noticed some fish in the shallow water, a couple of
dace where moving about.
I scared the first school but when the second school came around I managed some fish on the
nymph.
At a weir at the beginning of the village I also spotted dace in the current but one cast made them
scatter in all directions.
I waited for things to calm down and eventually had a second shot at the fish and managed one fish.

With the wind, cold and low water messing up the fishing it was not difficult to make the choice
to visit the pub early.
As daylight saving time had ended it would be dark soon anyway and it just seemed to make more
sense to enjoy a few drinks and a good meal at the fire in the pub then to be outside in the cold.

With the ending of the trout season on oct. 20th. I went for a last time to the mill pool.
It was the first time I had a real fall feeling with all this mist and the low temperatures in the morning.

My action of the previous day by removing some debris from the lower weir had helped to clear the mill pool

and early on fish where active at the front of the weir.
The only competition at the time was luckily another flyfisherman from the syndicate who early on was into two trout.
The trout eluded me and when they came near the interest went out to the strike indicator and not the fly.
At least I could catch a dace early on.

Fishing was really slow but in the afternoon some fish started rising so I fished a small emerger hoping
I would get at least one trout before the end of the season.
All I got though where more dace and when some high level clouds dimmed the sunlight the action died down.
When the sun was setting I feared I might end the last day of the trout season troutless.

In a latch ditch effort I tied on a heavy nymph and fishing it deep near one of the walls of the mill where I
knew the water was deep and where I had a hit on the previous day.

My prayers where answered as the indicator went down and I was in to a good fish.
The fish on the other end of the line was a nice rainbow trout fighting very well.

With that last trout I could end my troutfishing season properly and go to the pub for a well deserved meal.
I had noticed that my waders where not so watertight anymore and that the water temperature was quite
a bit lower than the outside air temperature.
Luckily the fireplace at the pub was in service so I grabbed a chair and warmed up first before
I started my meal.
The bad news … no dinner pictures, the good news … at the pub they where busy assembling a new
menu so who knows what the future might bring.

My holiday was pretty ok but alas it could not last forever.
Now I still had three day tickets left for the mill pool, in this case Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The session on Wednesday fell through the roof as one of my friends sold me firewood
which needed proper storing … it took longer than expected so fishing was off.

Today I went ahead to the mill pool and was shocked at what I  saw, the pool full of leaves
and white foam lines on the water.

As it had not rained properly since April the drought had reached epic proportions.
The water had an eerie tannic color probably caused by the leaves.

Normally the river would be flushed by the frequent rains in fall but now nothing.
I found the water level in the pool high, all the leaves blocked the flow at the end of the

pool. Before I could do any fishing I made an opening at the lower end of the pool so
some of the leaves could be flushed out.

It worked out pretty well as after an hour or so some open spaces appeared.
A nymph dropped right under the main weir yielded a variety of roach and dace.

I had figured the last week of the trout season and thus the last week of the mill
pool being open would be quiet but I had not calculated school vacations.
So before long other anglers appeared, I was not sure if the lead bombs they tossed
where intended to hit me standing at the opposite bank or if they were just bad casters.

These anglers where more busy watching their smartphones than the floats they fished.
So the fish got scared and nobody was catching anything anymore.

I decided to move downstream to see if there was a quiet spot to fish and there was but
just no fish to be seen.
When after a while I came back at the mill pool I noticed that the competition had gone.

Peace and quiet at last … and fish started rising.
The overgrown banks where the spot to go as I had numerous bites there catching
a few rudd and at last some pretty decent brown trout.

When the sun was gone I went to pub for dinner, it all worked out fine at the end.

Usually I would be spending my holiday by now in Southwest Florida but the
environmental problems caused by dumping polluted freshwater into the Gulf
and the Atlantic caused a change in plans.

Instead I decided to go to nearby Germany and spend two weeks troutfishing
at the Wenne river.
Maybe a bit too long for the short river stretch but the pampering at the hotel
made up for some of the lesser days of fishing.
I did get the big fish, even caught a few decent grayling and had the most
beautifull fall weather you could imagine.
The down side was the very low river but then again as it had not rained
properly since April of this year that problem was present at most locations.

Another day spend at the mill pool where the action was fast and furious in the first
couple of hours.
The rainbow trout responded well to the nymphs but after a while the bites died down
and I switched to streamer fishing.
The midday action was close to zero allthough the worm anglers who appeared mid day
cleared out quite a few rainbows from the pool.
I had a faint hope of some rising fish in the evening but the crowds stayed too long to
make that happen … too much racket on the banks.
Where have those brown trout only gone …

It is that time of year again … fishing the mill pool.
We where on a roll at the start but soon the action died down, totally.
In the end it we caught our limits and some more, a fine day.

There is a saying here over the border “Reale Welt … Ponyhof” which roughly means
life is not always perfect which could cover todays fishing.

As no meaningfull rain has fallen the local stream is still at its lowest level and frankly
it seems the fish have gone in the upper reaches.
All I could manage was a small roach and the tiniest gudgeon of the season.

In a last ditch effort I fished a slow moving stretch inside a village hoping for rising dace.
The sun was already low in the sky so spotting fish was difficult but I found an army of
dace in the surface and the first cast was a direct hit.
Off course all the racket dispersed the remaning fish in all directions so that spot was
ruined.
The last spot I fished was already void of sunshine and pretty dead so I called it a day
early.

For a change I visited the upper section of my stream and well it still was pretty miserable
due to the low water conditions.
The levels had risen slightly but the water was still murky and almost stagnat.

It was very windy with rain mixed in so the dry fly fishing was not really an option.
As fishing the nymphs got me nowwhere and I could still spot fish in the surface of the
murky water I decided to give the dry fly a shot.

The first dace came from a distance to intercept the fly, a cautious bit but a bite nonetheless.
I tried to pick up some dace from a slow moving stretch that was out of the wind but
I just could not connect to the fish, again very cautious fish.
As I spotted so many yellow jacket I wonderered where they came from and soon noticed
a hole in the river bank dotted with them … nasty critters and a dangerous location near
a public footpath.

Near a brigde I spotted some very large dace but the wind and waves where making
my life difficult, with some luck I managed one fish from the school and that was it.
Other locations further afield only yielded tiny roach on nymphs and a few small
brown trout, guess without a decent amount of water the fishing stay like this.