Flyfishing FWSW

I timed the second session of the year between two stormfronts.
It was still windy but waterlevels were ok, temperature a tad low
at 6 degrees C.

At first I tried nymphing at the feeder stream hoping to encounter
dace, roach and chub.
The wind blew strong over the water so I could not see moving fish.
The nymph travelled unhindered along the stream.

With no action to speak of I tied on a streamer hoping to get a
perch or other predator.
After a few casts I saw a boil near my streamer and felt the missed
strike of a pike.
The second cast yielded a solid take of a nice fish, it was a real jumper.

I suspected more pike would be around and after another missed
strike I had pike number 2 on.
Unfortunately the wire trace broke so that fish was lost.

End the day on another section of the feeder tossing a squirmy
in the depths hoping for a chub or perch.
It was no good though, nothing moved so I called it a day.

And again more rain, at least the competition stayed in.
As the upper section of the stream yielded small fish I tried the village stretch
for a change.
The former hotspot however did not yield much fish, at least some other species.
The best I could do was a couple of small roach and perch with the squirmy.

I dodged the rain and fished the mill pool hoping for larger fish.
Since the mill bypass was installed the fish population had deteriorated.
Now the fish could freely travel up and down the sections.
I still got some bites but missed the takes.

When I finally tried dead drifting the squirmy I managed a few small perch.
It was my intention to stay in the village to check out some other spot.
The amount of dog walkers and other people made me change my mind
so it was off to more rural parts of the stream.

The rural parts delivered some more dace as expected.
With the rain continuing to fall I decided to call it quits early and head to
the pub.
It turned out to be the last day the pub would be open as the pandemic
killed of business and new restrictions could happen any moment.
A bittersweet ending of the season in Germany.

Another week but still lousy weather.
The forecast … light rain and yes it rained again but at least it was not freezing.
Crossing the first major stream gave at least a positive feeling as visibility was good.
I actually spotted some fish moving about.
With the year coming almost to a close I still had hope to catch an out of season
brown trout, conditions looked right this day.

The stream was now very clear and the tactics of dumping the squirminator
into the deeper parts did not work at all.
The other standby pattern, the perdigon did its magic however.
The dace could not stay of the pattern, crazy how many bites it received.

The highlight of the day was the out of season brown trout that hit
the perdigon in one of the deep pools.
I had noticed some larger fish in past visits but had not thought that
any trout would be left in the stream at the end of the season.

Winter fishing, against better judgement due to recent rains I went out.
In my opinion it was better to fish flooded streams than being holed up inside a house.
As the ditches already carried a lot of water and the first stream I crossed was blow out
hope was low.

To increase the changes of catching any fish I stopped at a sandpit en route to the stream.
I had never caught anything there and this time was not different.
I tossed a stream near the reedbeds and submerged trees in hope to get a pike or 
pike but nothing showed up.

When I finally arrived at the stream the coffee colored water was blasting through.
The hip waders were barely high enough to keep the water out.
The only way to catch fish in these situation was to use the squirminator as it head
enough profile to entice fish.

I had plenty of bites from the gudgeons who were active and in the end one stuck.
With some luck I also tackled two small dace and that was it for the day.
Darkness came quick and so I ended the day at the pub early, the Brightside of the day.

When I was at work last Friday I got a call to join a short road and my first answer was no.
Not that I didn´t like fishing but it was more that I did not want to go unprepared.
I wanted to be sure the proper licenses could be arranged in time and since that turned out
to be the case I opted in.

My buddies did not know the particular destination but I had been there before on multiple occasions.
This was the river where I caught my first ever grayling.
After a drive of a couple hours we arrived at the scene, I had suggested we park at the end
of the so called guest stretch open for visiting anglers.

The end of the guest stretch was formed by a weir so the water was slow moving.
We took a look and immediately saw rising fish.
With the end being shallow I opted for hip waders but soon regretted it as the
upper parts had some spots that where to deep to wade through.

Nonetheless I stayed with the hip waders as I knew the stretches further on would be shallow.
There was a lot of surface activity so I choose to fish a sedge.
As I figured that some parts of the stream would be overgrown the rod I choose for this day
was the four weight Hardy glass.

I was soon into fish … pretty rainbow trout and a lot of them…
I was pretty amazed at the amount of fish I encountered and I caught tons of them.
A few browns where mixed in and my buddies also caught some nice grayling.

With the sun hiding behind the clouds the insect activity tapered off in the afternoon.
I tried nymphing but the lack of results caused me to use the ugliest fly in my box aka the
squirminator.
That pattern did not fail me and many more rainbows came to the net.

Late in the afternoon we regrouped for a quick lunch and headed out again.
My buddies checked out the fly only stretch further afield while I did a rerun on the lower stretch.
I had hoped the afternoon would see some rise but it was quiet so the squirminator was put
into action again and yielded more rainbows.

After finishing to lower stretch I moved upstream and came across my buddies wo told me
that the upper section was shallow, overgrown and did not boast many fish.
As I had not fished that stretch before I checked it out, indeed very shallow.
I caught a few fish there but fishing was tough because of the nature of the water.

With the sun about to set I continued upstream until some shiny in the water caught my eye.
This was like a scene from Lord of the rings … it was a golden ring.
With a bridge nearby I figured somebody had a bad day and tossed it in.
When I passed the bridge the river boasted a deeper pool which was filled with rainbows.
As the sun had gone I figured it might be time to head back and used the path that ran along the river bank.

At the spot where we parked the car I did not see the other guys so they where still fishing.
With the river nearby I did the same.
As the fog started to roll in over the meadow I was still catching rainbow after rainbow.
When it became dark I head back to the car and spotted my buddies doing the same.

It was chow time now and as I spotted a restaurant near the main bridge in the village I suggested we would go there to eat.
It was a traditional German restaurant so no worries about the food.
The outside dining area was fully occupied so we headed inside and ordered pork chops topped with eggs and bacon accompanied by a glass of tasty Maissel Weizenbeer.
Glad I went on that trip, a very good day indeed.

September used to be the month for the annual fishing contest of the German club.
Last year the venue was skipped due to the pandemic but not this year.
Location was again the mill pool where the owner graciously allowed us access to the premises.

The early morning session on the home waters was a bust.
Shallow water and lots of anglers around where not a recipe for angling bliss.
I had hoped some of the stocked trout had it made out of the pool into the river but I only encountered tiny gudgeons and dace.

After a breakfast held in the big shed at the mill we fished several hours in the mill pool.
The goal was to get five trout, those would be weighed in with any fish the anglers might
had caught during the morning fishing session.
The one with the most fish in weight would be the angler king, crowned with a chain and billed
for the drink.

I fished the flyrod as usual but darn that pool had become really shallow with most fish
being held up in the deepest part just under the mill weir.
I managed three pretty ugly rainbows and lost three others.
After the official part with the crowning of the angler king and the obligatory barbecue I ended
the day in the pub for dinner.

I was pondering if I should get a day ticket for the mill pool as it was open for us members the
next day by means of a special permit.
As it usually it would be a zoo then so I figured I be better off chasing chub.

I was a bit unprepared for the next day … I forget my trusty hopper selection.
When I arrived at the first chub spot I saw plenty of fish but only got two small fish.
Whatever I tried nothing would work.
The weather had not been that friendly also.
The day before the sun sometimes came out and it was warm, now totally overcast skies with wind
and a significantly lower temperature.

I tried the main river but with the lack of sunlight I could not spot the fish or very late.
The only way I spotted fish was when they shot off as they saw me first.
With the knowledge that the chub fishing was not going to happen pub time came early.

Just out of curiosity I checked the mill pool and saw nobody fishing which puzzled me.
Then I got a short bright moment when I remembered that the day before the famous
Applefest was held … all the locals would be drunk at home.
It was not that long before sunset but I quickly arranged a ticket for the pool and started fishing.
 

Fishing the nymph yielded however no reaction at all … the fish where present though.
I could see the rainbows everywhere moving around.
The squirminator also did not work with the exception of one rainbow from under the weir
that came off during the fight.
It was getting late and I only had caught a small dace, light was fading.
I had not only forgotten the hoppers but also the streamer box which would be my plan B
to catch any trout.
I found one bonefish Clouser in my tackle bag and fished that on a heavier tippet.
The fish where chasing the streamer and I finally landed that trout I was hoping for.
Also jumped five other trout but that Clouser hook was not that sharp.
 

With the knowledge that the pub would be soon out of the usual day trippers and bikers meaning the kitchen would close down I called it a day.
I was the last guest present that got a warm meal that day, all good.

With the pandemic ditching many road trips for another year a last minute
decision was made to squeeze in a trip to the mountains.
The goal was to catch a lot of trout as the results on the home waters where
pretty dismal.

Hotels and licenses where booked in advance and nothing stood in the way
of a good trip.
Almost nothing as just a week before I noticed that extreme rainfall in the 
area had swollen the rivers to alarmlevel 2.

We had to expect that we would be fishing high and dirty water.
As part of the stream we would fish was a tailwater and I had been fishing
in such conditions before I was not worry we would not catch any fish.
It would be challenging though….

In the end it all worked out but water was high and off color for all day
of the trip.
Despite that fish where pretty active with the only letdown being the lack
of rising fish despite the presence of many insects.

I fished the squirminator almost exclusively to provide some silhouette 
for the fish in the dark water and that worked out good.
The only time I fished the dry fly was when I noticed rising grayling,
a short lived rise but a few fish where caught.

My goal of catching brown trout, rainbow trout and grayling where all
achieved with as a bonus a brook trout which I had never seen there
before.  The upstream section above the reservoir also yielded the
usual roach that enter the stream from the still water.