After a year of waiting it was time again to visit beautiful Denmark.
The goal for me was to catch some up to size sea-run browns that had so skillfully eluded me last fall.

Our first stop in Denmark was in Haderslev to visit the local subsidiary of The “Go Fishing” stores.
I stocked up on a couple of flies.
Since the Danish flyfishing festival was just about to start in Kolding some of the Stores inventory was shipped to the fair, stocks where low.

We got the latest fishing reports from the shopkeeper and where warned that with the flyfishing festival the shores of the island could be crowded. Fishing was good however despite the sunny weather.
After visiting the candy store it was back on the road again, we moved swiftly up The coast and crossed the Lille Baelt bridge onto the Island of Fyn.

When we called our landlord it became clear that we could pick up the keys for the rental cottage at 15.00 hours, several hours later than our arrival time.
We decided to drive to the cottage first to dump our non-vital = non-fishing gear upon the veranda of the cottage. When we drove up to our cottage Tom noticed one of the window was open.
I knew Tom sold software but his burglary skills where suspiciously good.
He slipped through the window and voila opened the doors.

We claimed our bunks and dumped our stuff in the cottage, now it was time for fishing.
The wind was strong from the east – northeast, we where located at Sandager Naes on the west of the Island. There was a good spot nearby at Sonderby Klint (Klint = Cliff) so that’s where we headed to. 
We all dispersed along the cliff and started fishing. Tom was the first one to catch a seatrout, that was promising.

During the last trip hook and line failure had cost me good fish so this time I was prepared. I had tied my own flies on good hooks and had stocked up on premium fluorocarbon. After an hour of fruitless blindcasting I got into a good fish. The line held, the hook stayed in shape and so I could land my first Seatrout of the season.

The fly was totalled though meaning I had to improve on my flytying skills. Luckily I had tied enough flies in advance that would surely last the four days of the trip.
Seatrout fishing for me on the open coast in spring was more or less a blind casting game as fish would not show themselves. With so much water and so few fish you need to be persistent in your efforts and look for the fish. The location we where at was a good spot with a nice current that would always hold some fish.

With this coastal fishing one or two fish a day would be a very good score so I was happy that I had my first fish. As I continued fishing I received another strike at the border of rocky bottom / sandy bottom. The fish hit far out and when I struck I could see that it was a big fish. When I fought the fish I worried that the tippet might break during the runs. Alfons was nearby and had the camera in hand to film the whole session.

The close quarter battle became especially interesting as the fish ran every time it saw the landing net. Fighting the fish on a short line was a classical moment to break the tippet. I took my time however and finally netted the fish. I measured the fish at 70cm, the biggest sea-run brown I had ever caught and well over my Previous personal record of 59 cm. With this fish the trip was already a great success, my buddies mentioned that they would never take me with them again – the price of fame I guess 🙂 After this intense fight I needed a break to reflect this great catch.

After the coffee break I headed out to the shore again in search of other sea-runs. As I stood in the water some wiggly moved in the waters surface, I turned out to be a ragworm. I had never witnessed the famous ragworm spawning that took place in Spring, this had to be one of the stragglers.

Off course the next step was to tie on a ragworm fly and hope that it would be the perfect bait for the sea-runs. Nothing happened for a long time though so I tied on the flammen again and probed the rocky shoreline. The flammen was the ticket as I soon hooked the third fish of the day. 

We fished until sunset and beyond but nobody of our party could get any fish again. It was my best fishing day in Denmark ever with the largest trout I had ever encountered. For me the trip was already a great success. After sunset we packed in our gear and got the keys for our little cottage, good sleep was assured for me.