Flyfishing FWSW

At this time of year my fly-fishing friends usually gather for the last official fly-fishing session, the so called “oliebollen snoeken” .
Where “oliebollen” is a treat during the fishing (deep fried dumpling with raisins usually coated with sugar powder) and
the “snoek”  stands for the northern pike as target for the fishing.

One of us suggested to do something different for a change and go to a put-and-take pond instead.
The plan was accepted so we would trade pike for rainbow trout at a place called “Visdorado de Kool”.
Our scout had been several times to that venue and the stories of large rainbow trout sounded promising.

The opening time of the fishery was 09.00 hrs., being an one hour drive we left early and we could just witness
the sunrise before gray clouds took over.
It was cold … just above freezing with a strange weather pattern where the north of our small country
was about eight degrees warmer than the south.
After registering at the proprietor of the fishery we headed to the fly-fishing pond, C&R only.

The place looked really good despite the low water and I immediately spotted some large rainbows in the shallows.  
It did not take long before our scout got his first fish, a nice rainbow trout.
The fish where everywhere and sometimes you could spot them at the surface or racing along the shallows.
However … we did not get any bites … only our scout did as he was into fish number two pretty soon.
We tried to do the same as the scout but somehow it did not translate into results.

I tried the intermediate line, the sinker, the floater, all the flies in the box but got nothing to show for it.
The best I could do was a bitten off squirmy worm and one large rainbow tracking the fly without biting,
I guess these fish had probably seen it all before.

In the middle of the day number five of our party showed up, somebody with a dislike for early hours.
This person was also known for his outright luck … the kind of guy that shows up with some outlandish
light gear and catches a fish on the first cast.
Well, not this time at least for the first hour or so.
Then while we where still fishless he had hooked into a big one and one of us rushed towards him with the net.
The line broke and he mumbled something about using light tippet.
When he later disclosed how light the tippet was we could not grasp how in heavens name you could do something so stupid.
 

Anyway the time passed quickly and the trout showed up less and less.
A cold wind was blowing over the pond,  not that comfortable .
Before closing time at 16:00 hrs. I spotted several trout passing just a rod length from
me but none wanted to grab the streamer.
So in the end only one of us got two rainbows … the rest blanked.

To close off the fly-fishing year in style we asked the folks at the fishery where we
could best go for dinner in the neighborhood.
We finally settled at the grand café in a small village to warm up and have dinner.

Off course this means that it is the second blank of this year for me with Denmark
being the first and I can not pass the year with a blank.
The plans for tomorrow are to get the last fish of the year and the stream in Germany
is the place where it has to happen … to be continued …