Flyfishing FWSW

I had heard some rumours that big chub where sighted inone section of the stream
I fished so I had to investigate.
I spotted the first big chub in the waters of the other syndicate.

When I arrived at my own syndicate water I could spot many
chub in a spot that was usually unfishable due to the current.
With the extreme low summer water table it was now possible to get a decent drift with the fly.

I hooked one big chub but he broke me off as he immediately dove into the vegitation.
Only managed some small roach and chub before the midday
sun got to much and activity slowed down to a minimum.

There was one spot left that could yield big fish so I positioned
myself near a rebuild weir where I had caught a big chub earlier this season.
I had one good shot at a massive chub as it moved under my klinkhamer fly and was about to inhale it.
At the last moment the chub hesitated and moved off.
I had a go at some other passing chub but none of them was interested in eating flies.

Out in the windy fields the sun burnt relentlessly.
When my last drinking water was gone and action did not improve I decided to call it a day.
I headed straight to my favorite pub in the nearby hills and enjoyed some good food and drink.
(BTW the pancake contained a filling of mushrooms – chanterelles)

The big chub are out there but catching them is something different, I will get one though before the year is out.

The last fishing day was upon us, after an early breakfast it was time to check out.
The hotel manager was a funny guy, he asked us why we wanted to check out.
My friend stated “we are out of money”, he replied “I don’t believe you”.

It was not true that we where out of money but this trip was a whole lot more
expensive than our regular trips.
But then again it was worth it every dime as the fishing was fantastic.

The journey home would be a long one, at least 8 hours driving
time where ahead of us.
Fishing time would be limited.
By planning lunch in Hammelburg on the way back home we could
maximize our fishing time.

It was easy to decide where we would fish on this last day, the
same spot as the day before.
As usual I was in no time in my wading gear and while my friend
was still busy getting geared up I was already fishing.
It almost looked like all fish had gone, maybe it was just that I
had arrived on another part of the day and fish would show
themselves later.
The fishing turned out to be pretty tough, not at all like the day before.
I had caught a few fish though so it was time to explore the river downstream, a
new spot for me.

It looked like there where only very few fish located downstream.
My friend had concluded pretty fast that the upstream section near the outflow of
The hydroelectric plant was different on this day, he had not caught a single fish.
We travelled quite a way downstream without ever seeing a rising fish or getting a hit.
When I finally fished a deep bend in the river I got a hit.
I saw a decent rainbow trout follow my streamer but the fish would not take the fly.

At the pool below the deep bend I did get into fish, directly.
I saw two fish shooting away, one was attached to the streamer I fished.
The fish was heavy as it almost doubled my little 7’ #4 rod.
Since I was fishing with a barbless hook I was not sure if I would stay connected
with the fish.
I had no clue what I had hooked, I could only spot a golden colour and assumed
That it either had to be a carp or a barbel.
To my big surprise it turned out to be a big brown trout.

I landed the fish and when I took a look I knew it was a personal best.
This was not something I had expected on this last fishing day.
I walked to a big rock in de middle of the river and just sat there pondering
that I had arrived in fishing Valhalla …

It took a while before I got of my cloud and started fishing again.
The pool also housed a few rainbow trout and some ended at the end of my line.
As I wanted to move further downstream I noticed another fisherman.
I could not move down so I picked my rock again and waited until my friend
Arrived.
He had gotten some fish also so time was not wasted.
As the other fisherman moved away I told my friend to fish the last deep pools.
I would just take in the surroundings for a while.

Time flew by and before we knew it we had to head back to our car.
I arrived first at the pool where we had started the day.
My friend was still busy fishing some sections of the river downstream.
I noticed that all the fish had returned to the pool or at least they where
visible now.
This just called for a few lasts casts so I hauled in three rainbows before
I headed to the bridge where we got out and in of the water.
At the bridge I wondered if the big chub would be anywhere around but I
Only spotted a lonely bream cruising the slow moving water.
That bream would surely be pike fodder one of these days.

The home journey was tedious as we left on a normal working day with lots of
returning holiday traffic and truckers on the road.
All the work crews on the road did not help either.
Due to all the obstacles on the road we arrived at our planned stop in Hammelburg
Bavaria later as planned.
That was not a problem however as we arrived on time for dinner at our Italian restaurant.
The temperature had lowered to a pleasant level while the last sunlight lit up
The valley of the Fränkische Saale.
Dinner was as expected very good at this restaurant.
We could not have wished for a better ending of this perfect five day fishing trip.

After a second fishing session to the mountain stream we once again spend the afternoon session at the main river.
There was a nice spot we wanted to visit that lay just downstream of a reservoir.

We stopped at a nearby bridge to see if anybody was fishing the spot we intended to visit.
We spotted no fisherman but we did notice that some monster chub
and a single large trout where moving about in the water.

As usual my friend wanted to fish upstream so there was only one way for me to go.
It was not a problem for me though as the downstream section
Boasted the inflow of turbine channel from the hydroelectric plant.
This was a spot with a lot of flow so there had to be fish there.

The water at the outflow itself was quite shallow and I did not get any fish there.
Further downstream though the fly was immediately intercepted by rainbow trout.

Things where going pretty swell as one after the other fish took the fly.
I got my friend on the radio and asked how he was doing at his spot.
Not that great was the answer, he had managed to scare all fish away
In the slow moving water behind the reservoir.
He then ran into two German fisherman who told him not to go any further
Upstream as it was a waste of time, they had only seen and caught pike –
Lot’s of them but tiny fish.

I told my friend he should join me as the pool I fished was large enough to
fish with two people and the fish where once again stacked.

Most fish I caught where rainbow trout but sometimes there was a welcome change when
a brown trout would take the fly.
The surprise of the day was when I hooked a small pike amongst the rainbow trout,
the little bugger imitated the trout by making a few nice jumps.

My friend did also well with the trout so the day still turned out to be good for him.
We fished as usual well into the dark, another perfect fishing day.

The morning session took place at a small stream up in the mountains.
In the afternoon we would hit the main river again.
At the river the water level had gone down quite a bit since the rainfallon Monday.
The sun came out in full force, luckily some clouds and a light breeze
made it tolerable to be outside.

We would visit the same section of the river as we had done the previous day.
As expected the fish where still present in large numbers.

After a while I did get the feeling that it was all too easy so I decided to explore
the river further downstream.
The goal was to eventually get to the spot where the Tenkara boys had fished before.

Oddly on my way to that spot I hardly ran into any fish.
With fish so concentrated in one spot you could not get rid of the thought that fish
had been recently stocked.
When I came near the deeper pools where I wanted to fish I noticed that somebody
was already fishing there.

I stayed upstream from the fisherman until I saw that he took a break on the riverbank.
I walked over and talked fish for a while.
This person was a regular visitor to this river so it was interesting to hear what he
Had to say about the fishing conditions.
I had the luck that he was planning to move to another spot so I could go ahead
With my plans to fish that nice pool there.

The fish where very active in the surface feeding so I picked a very small CDC sedge
pattern and tried my luck.
The pattern I had was just the ticket as I managed to catch some nice rainbow trout.
The fun did not last that long as the deep pools also doubled as a bathing spot for
The local kids.
Before I knew it they where swimming in the spots where moments ago dozens of
Trout had risen.
That was the drawback of fishing this river during the summer, holiday time and
low water….

So back upstream was the only way to go.
When I arrived at the pool where I started the day I noticed that loads of sedges
where on the water.
Oddly they where not bothered by the trout at all.

I could still catch fish on nymphs, action was kind of slow though.
When the sun finally went down surface activity increased and fish began to feed
aggressively on top.

Like the previous days we fished until it was so dark that we could not track our own flies.
The fish however still feeding well into the dark.

Day 2 of our fishing trip had arrived.
After a good breakfast we headed out to find a new fishing spot for the day.
My friend wanted to fish upstream which left me just one direction to go.

The water had risen and the river was slightly murky due to the rainfall of the previous day.
I could not spot any rising fish although small mayflies where on the water.

The first stretch of the river that I fished seemed lifeless.
In the past this part of the river had a fair amount of chub in it so something had to bite.
After a while I could at least catch one fish.

The end of my beat was formed by a weir.
A turbine channel led from the top of the weir to a small hydroelectric plant.
Usually the deep water would house some fish but even when I switched from
nymph to streamer nothing showed up.
The end of the weir was silted up and I deemed it impassable so I headed
back upstream where I knew some likely fish hideouts.

The first deep hole where I suspected fish only yielded one bite,
It stayed quiet after that.
The next pool housed a nice brown though and when I fought the fish I
noticed that the trout was accompanied by a huge chub.
The trout was landed, the chub disappeared.

Further up I ran into my friend who was doing pretty well catching several
brown trout and even a brook trout on nymphs.
I passed by and walked quite a distance upstream so I would not disturb the water.

Eventually I ended up in the Canyon where the deep pools yielded numerous fish.
Time flew by and so we had to take a break for lunch.
The Italian place was closed now for the summer holidays but the Greek one was still open.
Normally you would combine Greek food with wine but a cool wheat beer is personally more to my liking.

After lunch we headed to a spot far downstream where we had some issues
in the past with a local (pretty deranged) farmer over parking.

On the way to our spot we crossed a bridge over the river and just had to stop
and see what was happing in the water.
It turned out people where already fishing, our colleague from our local flyfishing
club and his son where Tenkara fishing.
We had a grand view from the top of the bridge and gave directions to the
anglers below where the trout where located.
The place was really full of fish.
The kid showed his dad how Tenkara fishing was down as he caught a nice
Rainbow trout.

In the past we had a little run-in with before mentioned farmer and it
was really not a big deal to us but the farmer thought differently.
In the past we had dared to park our car at the roadside on a patch of
grass that according to him was absolutely vital for the survival of his cows.
We did not block traffic or do any damage to this not fenced in roadside
Patch of grass near a bridge but the guy obviously did not like strangers
and foreigner where I guess even worse.

This time we choose a spot to park the car that seemed unlikely to provoke
a conflict with even that deranged farmer but I guess we would only be sure
of that at the end of the day.
My buddy once again wanted to fish upstream (strange guy) so I had to
take a walk downstream.
I walked into the river and on my third cast I hooked into a very lively Rainbow trout.

Fish was present, as I worked my way upstream I came to a deep pool and noticed
That the fish there where really stacked.

Although the airspace just above the water was inhabited by a legion of sedges the trout
Did not go after them.
Instead they nailed something in the film on the surface but as on the previous occasion
I could not see what they where after.
Maybe it was about time to get a small scoop net to see what kind of food was present in The surface.
This time however nymphs where also ready accepted.
After sunset the feeding intensified and we just fished all the way until it got Really dark outside.

When we could not spot the fly anymore we just called it a day.
Another perfect fishing day had ended.

On the first fishing day of the trip it was obvious where
we would fish, the spot where the fish had been spotted
on the previous day.
The pool with the fish was however to small to be hammered
by two people so I told my buddy he could have a go
at the good spot.

I had to move downstream and the spots I came across
did not hold any of the big fish we had seen upstream.
After a while I did manage to catch a tiny brown trout
so the ice was broken.

Further downstream I knew that a few nice pools where located
that used to boast a lot of trout in the past.
On our scouting trip the day before the place was however
full of bathers so I expected not to much from that place.
I spotted a few trout in the pool and managed to catch one
of them – the trout where getting bigger.

The next spot on the list was the so called canyon where
the river boasted some nice deep pools.
The place looked fantastic, bathers where not to be seen so
there had to be some fish around.
Things where going great in the canyon and so time flew by.
It was also very hot outside and the horse flies where pretty much
getting to me.
We got together again in the afternoon and traded places.
Now I had a go at the trout, my friend told that he had only gotten
a few fish out of the stack as they seemed to be very picky.

I noticed that the trout where taking something in the surface
but I had no clue what they where taking.
My attempts to serve them a dry fly where in vain.
Maybe a streamer pattern would do the trick then.
When the streamer landed at the head of the pool the effect was
instant, the trout raced behind the streamer and grabbed it
without hesitation.

The skies started to darken and before we knew it the promised
rain began to fall.
Unpleasant was the fact that there was also thunder and lightning
so we headed for the safety of the car as it rained cats and dogs.
It was late in the afternoon and we where not ready to call it a
day so we headed for our hotel for a break to see how the
weather would develop.
It continued raining so we decided to head into town for dinner
at an Italian restaurant.

During dinner we looked at the sky and for a moment we believed
the skies would clear but it was just a pause for even more
rain.
The lightning had gone however so after dinner we headed back to
our fishing spot and started fishing in the driving rain.
The river had risen slightly but fish where still eagerly
taking flies.

Late in the evening the rain stopped, even a rainbow appeared
in the sky.
Fish where still rising during all this time and later at near
dusk I started fishing a small segde.
Now the trout would take the larger patterns with gusto.
When I finally could not see the fly anymore I knew it was time
to stop.
So this was the first day of the trout, tons of fish where
caught and the conditions where just great.

On a recent fishing trip to Germany’s deep south we had the chance to fish
a tiny stream called Eschach up in the mountains on the border of Bavaria with Baden-Württemberg.
It was a challenging water where it was difficult to approach the fish unseen.

I managed to scare most fish away but managed to catch a few small wild brown
trout in the deeper sections where the disturbed water surface blocked my movements.

This small water was more or less divided in two sections, the lower section was probably
The best since it carried more water due to feeders from the surrounding mountains.
Now most trout are small there and have a very light colouring that makes that provides
Perfect camouflage with the light stream bottom.
Some of the deep pools however held huge brown trout, only managed to scare them under
the rocks but at least I knew they where present.

We decided to go for a rematch to this stream and switched beats where I would fish
the upper section.
My friend had not fished all the stream on that previous day so I ventured up far upstream.
Few fish where present but I managed to catch at least two brownies.
I was in short contact with a big brown trout but it got off.

On my way back downstream I tried to get the big brown fishing a nymph downstream of
The weir where it was located but it would not come out to intercept the nymph.
I hopped over the small weir instead and looked for the fish which was tucked away
under a large stone.
I did a bit of hillbilly handfishing and felt the fish which consequently raced out of its
Cover to head over the weir upstream.
Next time I will get that fish….