Flyfishing FWSW

The dilemma of the early season …. either cold and dry or warm and wet.
Both situations not exactly ideal to go after roach, dace and the like.
Currently the weather pattern was warm and wet, the stream never got near to a decent
fishable level.

The long term forecast was in the cold and dry department so I choose this day with
a balmy 12 degrees C as my fishing day for the weekend.
Since it had been dry for a longer time I had hoped the stream would be fishable but 
the level just would not drop towards a more fisherman friendly level.

With so much water pushing through the stream it was hard to find a spot that was
fishable and would likely hold any fish.
I again tried the current seam of a deeper pool but the nymph did not track well
with the current picking the nymph up after a short drift.
All the effort was finally rewarded with one dace, only after I had tied on a heavy dropper
to get to the fish holding depth.

The second spot in the forest looked good but again to much turbulence in the
water for a decent drift and so no hits on the fly.
With the big storm from a week ago many trees where downed and on a windy
day such as this I took care not to be in harm’s way as trees could still be
unstable and come down.

The last and final spot for the day was messed up because a big branch had fallen right in the deeper pool
where I wanted to fish.
As the branch likely provided cover for fish and a narrow seam of the current was relatively calm I tried
anyway and was rewarded with fish number 2 of the day, a small brown trout.
I tried one pool upstream but even there the current was blasting through the otherwise calm section of
water. Normally you would find dace and roach here and maybe a stray brown trout.
The dace and roach did not show up but surprisingly at the end of several drifts the indicator went down
and I was into a brown trout.

I was happy with the three fish I had caught today as the last outings where single fish ones.
All that fishing made me thirsty so it was off to the pub for some cold ones and a good meal.

As I generally have a dislike for Stillwater I opted to fish the German stream instead of the Dutch canal today.
With the stream still returning from flooding stage and a temperature around 2 degrees C or 36 F I knew
it would be difficult to get my first fish of the season.

The current at my usual haunts was still too strong meaning the eddies with calm water
where not present, it just rushed over all the deeper pools I liked to fish.
Even at the slower dammed sections upstream nothing was happening.
I tried nymphing first and then a small streamer hoping to get a yellow perch.
Since the previous nights had clouds the temperatures did not go below freezing but it
was still too cold for decent action.
In the afternoon the skies cleared and a weak sun appeared.

With the last fishing outing being fishless due to circumstances I was still on a mission to catch at least one fish in the month of December.
With nothing to do at work due to lack of orders I decided to take a day off and go fishing despite the fact that the stream still carried more than twice as much water as normal.

Once at the stream I noticed that the water was still a lot higher than I liked.
Sand was deposited far up the bank from the time that the water was about four times higher than usual.
There was one spot I expected fish and that was in a deeper pool behind a removed weir.
The current was strong and the visibility was very poor so I was not sure that the fish would be active despite the rather high temperature.

I fished the current seam along the calmer water hoping that the one or the other fish would be stationed there to pick up food items carried along by the current.
The first bite came after a while and actually yielded a roach on the nymph.
I had one other take but could not convert that into a hooked fish.
I tried other likely spots but I could hardly get to them because of slippery banks and short boots.

It rained practically most of the day, light rain but it made the landscape look dull and off course darkness came pretty early.
The end of my fishing session came right on time with the opening of the pub and although the landlord only wanted to
serve me one beer because of that one fish I took two 🙂

This could be the last fishing report of this year so just in case Merry Christmas and a happy New Year but then again with the high temperatures I might sneak in just one more session.

The local flyfishermen from the other side of the border always organized casting sessions at various locations during the year.
The last one was called the Christmas casting session and usually an excuse to party at one of the local ponds with maybe do some casting along the way.

So I attended the party eh… last casting session and met up with fellow anglers from the region.
And as usual people brought food and drink with them so everybody had a good time.
The instigator of the last session had purchased some Salmon from the fishmongers and prepared the so called flammlax, a specialty from the Scandinavian neck of the woods.

As I was not a great fish eater  I had only one sandwich with the salmon but did have a tasting of the Connemara Single Malt and the Mulled wine with a shot of rum.
My goal was to go fishing once  the party had ended which would be about noon …
Off course the whole thing did not end which reminded me of the time I asked about the ending time of another party where the reply was “The party stops when the last drunkard leaves” .

The last two guys excluding me had promised that the beer keg would have to be emptied and so I stayed along while the daylight faded and the fog settled over the land.
The  temperature dropped near freezing and with the low light and the extreme rainfall and snow melt from the last weeks I figured fishing was useless.

As my buddies had finished their task in emptying the beer keg  and where about to be picked up 
I left for pub for some food more to my liking and vowed I would still have to catch a fish in December before the year ended.
With a couple of dry days the stream might be fishable again and maybe I take a day off from work to end the year with some fish being caught.

With the miserable weather the last couple of weeks fishing the stream seemed not to make
much sense.
This weekend was again miserable weather wise with  temps in the 40 F range and off course rain … cold rain.
As it poured this morning I pondered wether to tie flies and enjoy the wood burning stove or take
a chance and get outside for a fishing outing.
The fishing outing eventually won and so I went out late in the morning during a break from the continuous showers.

At the stream I noticed that I had severely miscalculated the amount of precipitation from the last week as the stream
was very high and dirty – visibility very poor.
Poor visibility and cold temperatures are a bad mix for catching fish especially the shiners that would
be the main target for me.
I tried to find calm water but both nymph and streamer yielded no response from any fish.

Things where looking gloomy and I dreaded being skunked on this day so I had to come up with a
plan to save the day.
There was one spot in the river which I was absolutely sure that fish would be present thus off I went.
The water at my hotspot was high and dirty but still a little clarity was present which I deemed enough to catch fish.
I tied on a pink/black pheasant nymph and fished it deep in the calmer water.
After several drifts I got a good hit and to my surprise I hooked a brown trout.
The day was saved ….  further drifts yielded another strike this time from a shiner but that fish came off.

Even though it was in the afternoon the light was already dim and with the threatening clouds in the background I called it a day early.
Mission was accomplished and there was now no reason left to go directly to the pub to warm up in front of the fire and get some good grub.

A very fine day with sunshine and a breeze and as it supposedly was the last one with decent weather I went fishing.

With the Algae bloom a distant memory the water has cleared extremely and the fish have vacated their usual hideouts.
So I struggled to get fish but at least the dace and one roach cooperated plus off course the bonus gudgeon.

Today I checked out the work party at the syndicate pond and watched how they transferred the fish to our stream.
The pond was a new addition to our clubs waters but being neglected for a long time a major
renovation was planned and the fish had to go before work could start.

The warm days where definitely over as a storm was brewing in the sky.
Going from a balmy Florida 32 degrees C to a German 12 degrees C was sure a huge difference.

While the work party guys were gearing up for hot soup in the outdoors I choose a more comfortable setup to enjoy lunch
namely in front of the fire in the pub.
The food and the beer were as usual A OK and it was tempting to hang around the fire for the rest of the day.

Somehow I found enough motivation to get up and so I ended up in the stream at the beginning of the storm.
I struggled at first to get any fish but after some adjusting of leader and flies the fish kept coming.
Nothing big but very nice colored out of season trout and the usual shiner species from the stream.

The weather got worse during the day with increasing wind and a continuous shower of light rain.
My timing was a bit off today and darkness came earlier than expected which left me only one option and that was to call it a day.
The water was clear today so I suspect the algae bloom is over, fish where pretty active though.

Another day of stockie bashing and surprisingly no competition from my fellow syndicate members …
well I did not miss them … the whole place for me alone.

Crazy action with the rainbow trout plus a couple of browns mixed in.
The pike got me again … at least that is my conclusion to the loss of yet another streamer without feeling any resistance.

At the annual gathering of our syndicate members at the mill pool we had some spare time
and fished the nearby pools for anything with fins … fishing was poor but some of the small
stuff did show interest in the nymphs we fished.

When we where lot loose in the mill pool if was stockie bashing allthough there where also
some silver fish to be had.
Even the illistrious pike under the weir made its presence known by cutting me off before
I even knew what hit me.