Flyfishing streams on the Dutch / German border.

20 August 2018 admin

Chub

Introduction

The idea behind this site is to document my flyfishing exploits.
Living near the Dutch / German border in Enschede offers interesting fishing opportunities.

The streams over the border are well suited to flyfishing.
That resulted in memberships of German fishing clubs so I could have access to several small streams.
The major attractions are chub and dace but as a bonus a few brown trout.

Although I prefer to fish small rivers saltwater flyfishing has always been of interest to me.
Saltwater flyfishing for me ranged from sea run browns in Denmark, Stripers and Bluefish in Rhode Island to several different species of saltwater fish in Florida.

Small stream Dutch / German border / Chub / Dace / Roach / Barbel / Brown trout / Asp — Upper reach during summer

Lower reach during summer

The water

Most of the small streams entering the Netherlands at the eastern border with Germany originate from the remnants of a bay from the cretaceous period.
The streams I fish are mostly straightened watercourses by man but some parts are still more or less left untouched.
These streams have a high fluctuation in water level as they are for the most part dependent on rainfall.
The streams are lowland streams with sediment consisting mostly of sand with some sections made up of sandstone.
Man made obstructions like weirs and watermills have made the streams impassible for migrating fish.
Due to the EU guidelines many weirs have been removed in recent years while others have been made passable for migrating fish.
I have not seen any migratory fish myself yet but have heard stories of other anglers who did encounter them.

The fish

The species of fish available in the streams I fish varies widely.
Upper reaches often hold dace, roach and trout.
Further downstream where the streams go wider species like bream, chub, barbel and asps join in with off course pike and perch.
Any section above a weir will have carp roaming the slow moving water.
The fish species I have caught in the stream where: bleak, bream, brook trout, brown trout, chub, dace, gudgeon, perch, pike, rainbow trout, and roach.

Flies

Duo to the limited clarity of the streams my preferred fishing method is fishing small nymphs most of the time.
Besides shrimp the nymphs of caddisflies and mayflies are often found.
There are however always moments where a well fished dry fly is a killer.
Mayflies can be abundant in spring with St.Marks flies (bibio) with caddis flies being a favorite of mine as they always seem to work.
I seldom fish with streamers due to the shallow nature of the streams but sometimes when dryfly and nymph are fruitless a streamer can work.
The chub fishing can be good in Summer when hopper flies are in demand.

Equipment

Upper part of the streams often feature a landscape I refer to as the jungle with shrubs and trees everywhere leaving no room for back casts.
A short rod like 7ft. with a 4-weight line is best suited for fishing close quarters.
The lower reaches of the streams feature an open landscape with steep banks.
A longer rod up to 9ft. is then more practical to use plus a telescopic landing net with
some considerable reach.
In the upper reaches wading or crossing the stream is usually possible, the lower sections
are often to deep or impossible to get out due to the steep banks.