Flyfishing FWSW

I fished a local stream late in the afternoon.
The perdigon nymph yielded the first fish quite early in the session.
I caught a good size roach and hoped for more of the same.
Alas it stayed quiet for a long time.
I tried the squirminator but only had a few hits of small fish.

I switched back to the perdigon as the worm did not perform that well.
The perdigon was intercepted by a gudgeon, fish species 2 of the day.
I tried several other spots hoping for fish but nothing happened.

I switched to a heavier tippet and a lure as the sun was low in the sky.
My choice of weapon was a small woolly worm with a bullet shaped head.
Something was chasing the fly, a perch lunged forward and took it.
To my surprise a second perch about twice the size tried to eat the fish
I had just caught.

I continued fishing the spot where I had last fish contact.
The perch where wary though and only nibbled at the fly.
I suddenly felt a tug on the streamer.
A small pike had hit the fly and was actually going ballistic.
I landed my first pike of the season despite the lack of a trace in the leader.

I tried the last mark of the day as the sun was setting but only
hooked a piece of submerged wood.
I called it a day when the mosquitoes came out at dusk.

Another trip to the local stream on a bright sunny day.
Since it was Sunday a lot of people where out in the outdoors.
Even though the border should be only open for essential travel it looked like people on both sides disregarded that fact.
With a steady east wind fishing was difficult, hardly any bites.
The bites I had where from tiny tiny fish.
When the sun was setting I feared another skunk but in the last minute
a small roach went for the nymph so it was not all in vain.
Hoping for winds from the southwest and some rain as it is needed.

I took a short trip to the local stream in the Netherlands as the border was semi closed.
I only blanked on this stream this year so far but with the warmer weather maybe conditions would be better.
Ader flies and St. Marks flies where about but surface feeding dace where
totally absent.
In the past this stream boasted a Dace population but the water looked dead.
The stream although shallow was also pretty murky.
In the end the small nymphs did the trick and a few small roach where caught.

As a master of social distancing I slipped out for a few hours to check out the local stream.
Took the back roads and a path that was just across the border to reach my fishing spot.

The stream fishes bad in early spring and with a frosty morning and a steadily blowing east wind my hopes for finding fish where not that great.
It was a short session so I choose a spot where I had lost two pike the last time I visited the stream.
The water was high and quite dirty but I figured clear enough for any predator to strike the fly.

I tried for a couple of hours but nothing moved.
Plan B was to get a dace or roach by drifting a nymph deep along the bottom but that also failed to haul in any fish.
Still nice to be in the fresh air for a while.

I had hoped the rains would stop so my favorite stream would be fishable again but last Thursday and Friday the skies opened again.
The river was up in flooding stage in no-time so I tried another canal session at my side of the border.

Goal for today was to catch a perch.
The last two sessions at the canal remained fruitless, I came no further than hooking a fish.
Today I finally had a solid take of a good perch and was able to land it.
I noticed that the water was not as clear as usual so that might have helped.

I probed the canal thoroughly but had just one good hit.
It was a short session which I ended at the junction of an old canal to the harbor.
Nothing much moving until a pike tried to nail the polar minnow I fished.

The pike missed the fly but remained in the surface looking for escaped prey. I quickly tossed the fly back in and twitched it a few times resulting in an instant attack.
In hindsight not a wise move as I had only a trout net with me.
So I played the pike hoping to somehow perform a gill grab but the hook came out so all was well.