The weather was iffy yesterday so I postponed my fishing trip until today and it was a good choice.
The fish cooperated and oddly the small nymphs with orange beads that where normally useless did the trick today.
Also spotted a couple of trout, landed two of them and will get the rest the next week because I now know where they hide
My initial plan for today was to fish the chub section of my stream but the hard wind made me decide otherwise.
The chub section was located amidst large open fields so tossing dries at chub was out of the question.
The weather was more suited to fish the more sheltered trout stretch.
The surface of the stream was littered with the debris of blossoming trees which made fishing difficult.
The roach where again hard to catch, with sone luck I caught one fish.
I had expected to run into the large trout again that I had caught the day before but it was a no show.
There was however another trout feeding at a very difficult to reach spot.
I knew I could catch that fish but it took me quite some time to get a decent presentation.
In the end everything worked out and the trout nailed my nymph as it passed over its lie.
The day before I had spotted large roach at the upstream section of a weir.
A bait fisherman was at the spot but complained that the fish would not bite.
At first I tried a weighted nymph but when that landed it the water the fish scattered in all directions.
As the roach fed in the surface a dry fly was out of the question.
As I had only a partrigde and orange spider as wet fly that would have to do.
This time the roach did not scatter but they barely showed interest in the fly.
Spawning bream (Abramis brama)
Time flew and before I knew it midday had passed, time to head to the pub for lunch.
Before I left the water though I made a little walk along the banks and spotted spawning bream
and a couple of fat carp that where milling around in the surface.
Carp
The carp where in casting range but as I am not into carp flyfishing I left them in peace.
Having said that I have once purchased some carp flies so I might try them later in the season
as these carp are very likely accustomed to bread as there is quite a duck population at this
particular spot.
Due to a late start in the morning it was well past midday and I had not eaten all day.
A perfect motivation to head to the pub where I choose to sit inside as the strong wind
made it not that pleasant to sit outside.
After my lunch I took a look from the brigde near the pub and spotted some roach and a trout.
I climbed down the steep bank to get in position for a shot at the trout but the target had already seen me and shot away.
At another pool I spotted roach and yet another brown trout.
I tossed nymphs at both fish species but nobody was interested in flies.
It was already late in the afternoon as I approached my last fishing spots of the day.
At spot one a fish had eluded me on the previous day, now it was time to try again.
I was pondering what fly to use. A dry fly would mean false casting and that was no option in the jungle.
The nymph would get stuck in the obstructions of the stream bed so that was also not an option.
In the end I choose for the rather crude streamer option, tricky in shallow water.
When the streamer landed in the water the trout shyed away but when I started the retrieve it hit the fly instantly.
There where mayflies buzzing around but there was no visible feeding to be seen.
I tied on a segde which was soon attacked by tiny dace
My last hope was to make a long cast to reach the faster flowing water near the deadfall.
The extra distance was the ticket as a trout shot up to nail the fly.
The low light and advancing dark clouds where a sign for me to call it a day.
The day started rather cool with a cloud covered sky, oddly beautifull clear weather was
predicted.
When I finally arrived at the stream the cloud cover broke up and within a short time the
sky was clear and blue as promised.
Since it had not rained for some time the stream was again without much water.
Easy to spot the fish but als easy for fish to spot anglers.
At the first pool I visited I noticed that small roach and dace where present.
What caught my eye was a rather fat brown trout though standing in the current picking
up tasty morsels that floated by.
Any small roach that came to close to the trout was chased away or pursued.
Since the fish was obviously in feeding mode I tossed a small nymph right in the current.
I could see the trout take the nymph so I struck and was connected to a hefty trout.
The trout wanted to flee into the rootwork of the bankside trees but I coaxed it out
of there so it decided to run down to the next pool.
There in the deep water I could fight the fish and land it … well that last part was a bit
tricky as I had forgotten the landing net.
So I beached the fish, time for a picture – the fish thought otherwise and in a spray of mud
and water it shot back into the stream.
A few minutes later I spotted another trout, as the big trout had left its lie the next one
came to claim the prime feeding spot.
So again a nymph went into the water and the whole story repeated itself with as
exception that this time the trout stayed put for the picture.
I wanted to catch either roach or dace but could only spot the tiny ones and they did not
really cooperate.
In a shady stretch of the stream I blindcasted into deeper sections of the water and was
rewarded with an instant hit of a roach.
I fished the pool behind the watermill once again without any hits but noticed that some mighty fat
carp where moving right under the weir.
I had no time to target the fish though as I had an appointment with one of the members of our syndicate
to re-rig his fly rod, next stop would be our hatchery.
On the way to the hatchery I came across the largest roach I had ever seen in the stream, a
target for me on a next visit.
The weather was really perfect, clear blue skies and a nice temperature made it feel like summer.
At the hatchery members where busy cleaning and repairing some of the rearing ponds.
I met up with the fellow flyfisherman and re-rigged his fly rod.
The gentlemen had not fished with it for a long time so I fixed his setup and gave him
some of my flies that I use on the stream.
One the guys remarked that it was time to test the setup so he took the rod and went
to what I call the mutant pool, a small pool stocked with several diffent kind of trout.
The mutant trout pool was inhabited by rather large rainbow trout, brook trout, brown trout
and a few tiger trout (hybrid brown – brook trout).
Off course it took only little time before one of the fish nailed the fly and put up a
good fight.
It was a brightly coloured brook trout that took the small barbless streamer.
So the rig was officially tested and approved.
It was already mid day when I left the hatchery and as I had not eaten anything this day it was time
for the pub to get lunch.
After lunch I fished some of the old haunts where I had spotted trout at an earlier visit.
The fish where difficult to approach with the low and clear water but with a bit of care I managed
to catch some more trout.
Lots of mayflies about but curiously nothing rising for them … untill I came
across a spot where something was feeding agressively behind a fallen tree.
I tossed a sedge at the commotion and was instantly awarded with a fine
brown trout.
So on this beautifull day I managed two roach and six brown trout, not bad at all.
For the next day I might try the chub section of the stream, have not caught one
of those yet.
Sunday promised to be the best day of the week for fishing so off to the stream.
Spring has let us down temperature wise for now, only the foliage on the trees
reminds you that it is not fall.
A bright and sunny start of the day
I decided to fish some of the old spots on the stream that I had not visited
for a long time.
I fished some promising pools but found no signs of life there.
At one spot I noticed a rising fish, the same I had spotted last week – for sure a trout.
There was however no way I could make a decent cast in the jungle surrounding the stream.
I was upstream from the fish but could not get a good drift downstream because of a newly
formed bunch of debris had settled in the middle of the shallow section in front of the deep pool.
So I moved quietly downstream, went down the steep bank and hid behind a big tree.
With a roll cast I managed to launch the fly to the general holding area of the trout.
The fish came to the surface, grabbed the fly but got off – bugger.
I moved on upstream where I did notice signs of fish but again I was not able to approach
the fish before they spotted me and ran.
Steep banks, very shallow water and loads of trees and shrubs make the life of a flyfisherman
difficult at the stream I fish.
I did target a couple of Roach I spotted in one of the deeper pools and finally caught the
first fish of the day – tiny it may have been but a fish is a fish.
I moved further into the forest coming to our little no-go area where a local farmer won’t
let fish.
At one of the last pools I noticed something big in the water, it turned out to be a bream.
The fish had spotted me first though and slowly moved into cover.
Since it was midday I decided that it was time for lunch.
The pub was for a change loaded with people, all due to the local marksmen festival.
Those Marksmens festivals where always a big deal in the little rural towns and villages
and so it was on this day.
I figured it might take a long time to get something to eat with all these people
around but I got my food in a remarkably short time, guess good tipping helps 🙂
In the afternoon I fished the area around the pub.
Again not much fish around but I did notice some rising fish here and there.
A cast into a fast flowing rocky section delivered my first trout of the day,
not a monster but a trout anyhow.
Action was slow, out of boredom I decided to see what food sources the local
trout had.
Allthough the stream has a mainly sand bottom there are section that have
a soft sandstone bottom, besides that fallen tree branches provide cover for insects
and small fish.
So I put the landing net on the river bed and kicked up a few stones and branches
and voila – the little critters got caugh.
The catch consisted out of a loach, a millers thumb and some shrimp.
No wonder that natural colored streamers work so well in my stream.
Late in the day I decided that there still was time to check out or so called visitors stretch.
That stretch was available for non-members who could purchase day-tickets to fish that section.
It was usually better stocked that the rest of the stream so maybe there could be some
trout to be caught there.
The water was low and clear so approaching fish was almost impossible.
Fishing a streamer or nymph with indicator in these conditions just was to crude, even the landing
of a weighted fly in the water would scare of the fish.
As I had noticed that fish where rising I tied on a segde pattern.
There where insects on the water most of the St.Marks flies where
gone.
A hopefull sight however was the appearance of the first big mayflies of the season.
At a dead fall I noticed some irregular water movement thinking it might be a
feeding trout.
I carefully placed the segde along the deadfall and a trout shot right up from the deep
and nailed the fly – great action.
It was a small trout but it was a scrappy one that put quite a bend in my
light 4-weight rod, first fish on the dry fly this season.
I checked out a nearby bridge where I though I had seen a rising fish during a recent visit.
At the time I was not sure it was a fish rising, it could have just been drainage water from
the bridgde but on this day I actually saw that it was a rising fish.
Now it was time to figure out how to approach the fish, get close from the side or
wade to it.
I opted for the easier land approach which resulted in a fleeing fish, the water under the
brigde was really shallow – bad move.
Maybe the trout would come back later so I fished another spot.
The other spot boasted a feeding trout but it fed right in front of a fallen tree that
lay at right angles over the water.
Fallen blossoms from the trees collected in front of the obstacle.
I missed about four takes on the segde at that point and then it went quiet –
the trout had gone.
Time to check out the bridge again and yes the fish was feeding in its old spot.
This time I waded to it, as I did the trout was happily feeding.
I had to wade a little closer to make a cast, the trout was still feeding…
When I made the cast though the trout spotted me and raced off, on the shallow
sandy bottom it almost looked like a torpedo had been fired off.
I tried some other spots in the area to no avail.
It was already late in the day and the fading light and clouds where a sign to call it day.
The boss once again decided to close down the factory this friday as thursday
was a public holiday.
With deteriorating weather being predicted for the weekend I opted to go
fishing on this day.
The roach spot was visited first but I could spot no fish as the skies where
covered by a blanket of clouds.
I soon got a hit though by a roach that fought like a trout, it ran all over
the place.
After the racket being produced by the roach I recieved not a single hit anymore, time to move on.
Further upstream in the village it was quiet, all the villagers where still asleep.
It was a fine moment to engage in some gardening as a thick thorny bush was blocking access to
a deep pool I had been fishing in the past.
With the proper tools access was restored.
There was a small weir in front of me and tons of roach where behind it.
It was hard though to get any of them to bite, managed just a few fish with as bonus
my first hybrid roach – probably a mix of bream and roach.
As there where so many fish it was the time to experiment with fly patterns.
My usual favorite – the goldbead pheseanttail nymph did not yield as many fish as I had hoped for.
Since my friends used once specific pattern all the time and caught many fish with it I
tried it also.
They used a so called Ritz D nymph with a red tag, I used a basic red tag nymph.
For some odd reason I never had much succses with the fly but on this day it worked pretty well.
When I looked upstream from the weir I noticed hundreds of roach in the clear water.
I carefully moved upstream from the weir and had a good look at the fish.
All roach with one odd goldfish mixed in.
Amongst all these roach there was one fish that stood alone near the bank, a trout.
Everytime a small roach would be in reach of the trout it would charge from it lie.
I was pondering if I would use a dry fly in the shallow water but opted for a small nymph.
As the nymph drifted by I saw the trout move, it nailed the nymph instantly.
After the trout it was the turn of the roach, I caught a lot of them but most where small.
At one of the deeper pools I noticed a striped fish = perch.
A streamer was tied on and it surely followed it but unfortunately it did not strike.
Besides the perch I even saw an eel moving by.
I had hoped for some surface activity of the Dace but it was rather cold for the
time of the year.
The skies where filled with cloud and it looked like it could rain any moment.
Besides that the strong wind did not help either.
Next stop was further upstream at some pools I had not fished this year.
There where tracks on the bank and it was not only from the roe deer, obviously the
place had been already checked out by the locals.
I noticed there where a lot of Hawthorn flies about, these terrestrials might be landing on the
water as they are bad flyers.
Maybe some of the stocked trout would be keyed in on this prey.
Most of the pools where void of fish but at one location I saw a steady rising fish.
Since I already had a streamer tied on I decided to use that fly and dropped it near the fish.
It striked two times but missed, after that no hits anymore.
I had no luck anymore so it was time to move on to the stretch where I had done well
with the trout on the previous visit to the stream.
There was a disturbing sight at the riverbank though, not only fresh footprints but a
foam indicator was hanging at one of the treeroots in the water.
I knew exactly who was fishing with these indicators, one of my friends.
After a while I ran in to two of my friends who had already fished all the pools I
intended to fish.
They had done well with the trout which meant that my chances where close
to zero as the place had been disturbed.
Not that it mattered as I had already done pretty well in the early morning.
After a chat with my friends I fished on, I spotted a few trout but they had also
seen me and scooted off to safer places.
I ended the day with a beautifull little small brown trout and headed to
the pub for a well deserved dinner.
A bright and sunny spring day just begged for a visit to the stream.
The winter was long and cold and so nature was sort of on hold early spring.
When it finally got warm nature went in overdrive.
Trees are developing foliage and the live has returned in the stream.
The intention was to scout for roach and well there where hundreds of them sunning themselves in the stream.
Lot’s of small fish but also a few monsters that almost could be mistaken as trout by their size.
Algae blooming was in full force, the surface of the water was littered with patches of algea that came off from the bottom
of the slow moving stream.
There was a hint of winter but instead of the dreaded cold stuff it was this time thousands of white blossom petals from the
surrounding trees.
As there where so many fish around it might have given the impression that catching would be easy but it was not.
The typical behaviour of the resident roach to a nymph was to race to it, take a look and than most of the time just lose
interest as it was carried away with the current.
I got some fish but figured that I should have been catching a lot more.
Maybe it was time to use a spider or emerger fly instead, unfortuately those where in a fly box at home.
Besides the roach groups of dace where patrolling the surface picking out edible items amongst the floating algea patches
and blossom petals.
Fishing from the high bank though was of a disadvantage as the fish would spot me easily before I could even attempt to
make a cast – in the shallow water they where especially wary.
It might be time to aquire some boots or a wader setup for this shallow part of the stream.
In the afternoon I mentioned to my fellow fisherman that it might be time for lunch so we headed to my favourite
watering hole.
My assumption that it had to be busy at the pub / restaureant as surely everybody would be enjoying the outdoors on
this fine spring day was wrong.
We where the only guest so I was not sure if they even had bothered to staff the kitchen – luckily they did.
The remainder of the day was spent several miles upstream from the roach spot where the main objective would
be trout.
The particular stretch was designated as the guestbeat, visiting anglers could purchase a day ticket for that stretch.
This was the spot where now and then trout would be stocked.
For some reason there where never much roach or dace around so I did not bother to use a nymph, instead I tied
a small zonker streamer on.
It was not long before I saw a telltale agressive rise, I missed the fish but knew that the trout where present,
At another pool two fish came racing behind the streamer, their odd coloring confused me – predatory dace … nah.
One fish was clearly visible in the current so I tried a more subtle approach by using a small goldbead PT nymph.
When the nymph passed I saw the fish turn and grab the fly, turned out to be a little brook trout.
It looked like the syndicate had recently performed a stocking so I expected to come across more trout.
Another cast close to some tree roots confirmed my suspicion as a trout almost jumped at the fly.
The trout missed but when I made a second attempt he nailed the fly right away.
I had several more hits on the fly but missed all fish.
It was already late in the day and as my friend had obligiations back home we called it quits – it had been a good day.
To celebrate this fine day we made another stop at the pub for a last drink.
The logical option for me should have been to return the next day and enjoy some more trout action while
it lasted but I was content with this day.
Instead I would have to give my fishing equipment some attention as my supply of nymphs was drastically reduced
due to the trees and the obstructions on the stream’s bottom.
With the recent abdication of our Queen the opportunity rose for a trout trip
to the Möhne river in Germany.
It was our tradition to use the holiday called Queens day for a trip to this river.
As Queens day 2013 was on a Tuesday my boss found it a good idea to close the
company down also on Monday so I had two days off.
As the proprietor of the river also ran a hotel I asked my friend if it would be
a good idea to a two days fishing package.
It was not cheap but we always did well at the Möhne river.
So arrangements were made and the next day we arrived timely at the hotel.
After check in we immediately headed out for the river and as we were eager
to fish we choose the so called senior citizen stretch of the Möhne river.
The main characteristics where that there was ample room for back cast at that
spot as one bank was a meadow, the other a hillside where the main road was
located.
This stretch resembled more a canal as the end was blocked off by a Watermill.
A small bypass left the main river at the end to join the main river behind the mill.
The main reason to fish there was that there were always a lot of fish on that
stretch due to the deeper water.
I fished a small nymph and within a short time I was in to a good size rainbow
trout that took a small bead-head nymph.
The rainbow trout put up a good fight and even made some nice jumps.
Unfortunately during all the mayhem the barbless hook came out so no fish for me.
It was eerily quiet at the water, although the temperature was rather low and nature
was probably two weeks behind schedule due to the cold winter insects where
around.
I spotted Alder flies, small midges and other unidentified insects but nothing was rising.
Even worse I could not spot any fish in the water which would be normal for this spot.
When I fished a streamer I finally got in to a good rainbow and landed the fish.
A little while later I managed to hook a small brown trout.
In the meantime my friend remained fishless which was a very rare occurrence.
As it was midday we decided to end the slow fishing session and head to one of the local
restaurants for lunch.
At the restaurant we pondered how we would spend the remainder of the day.
As things where so slow I opted to fish the end section of the river where it entered
the Möhne reservoir.
The end often boasted large schools of roach and chub which entered the river from
the reservoir, at least I would be having some action.
My friend opted to fish the upper section of the river with as goal to catch a trout.
When I entered the lower section I had to pass underneath a bridge where you could
normally spot the chub.
Unfortunately I spotted no signs of live, not a single fish was around.
A little further upstream a deeper pool always held roach and chub but
even there I did not got a single hit.
Maybe it had just been too cold and the fish where still in the reservoir,
I had no idea .
I continued fishing and after an hour or so I finally got a hit on the fly.
Fishing the four weight with 5x tippet and a size 14 gold bead nymph was
a suitable setup for the coarse fish.
There was however something else at the end of the line, when the fish
flanked I saw that it was a large brown trout.
A rare catch at the end stretch as it was a place I figured was never stocked
because the fish would probably swim right into the reservoir anyway.
The battle was nerve wracking as the strong fish continued to make strong runs.
My full flex rod however dampened every escape attempt , I kept my cool and
in the end could net the fish.
The fish looked like one of the so called lake trout, large fish that live in the reservoir
and head up the river in spring to spawn.
During all the time I fought the fish one of the locals was a spectator on the bridged.
When I released the fish he asked me bewildered why I let the fish go.
I just replied “fish too big” , the spectator figured “oh well it probably does not taste that good then”
Yeah right 
For a while I continued fishing the lower section but it was pretty dead so I made a long
walk to the senior citizen stretch where I met my friend.
He had fished the upper section and all he caught was a small brown trout.
Having fished such a long distance his suspicion was that somebody might had forgotten to
stock the river with fish.
With a rather steep day ticket price you would expect to have a good fishery, not in this case.
After sunset the temperatures dropped and we called it a day.
At the hotel we noticed that people where fishing in the so called protection stretch of the river,
this was highly forbidden.
We wondered what the reason for this anti-social behavior was when we ran into the proprietor
of the place.
Apparently the other angling guests of the hotel had the same experience was we had, very unsatisfied customers.
Now the proprietor had given those people permission to fish the protected stretch which obviously would hold fish.
The word rip-off came floating in my mind.
The second day started with a breakfast in the hotel which was in our minds substandard.
This boasted nothing good for the rest of the day.
We would give the upper section of the river a try but after hours of fishing the only result was
that my friend caught another small brown trout.
The senior citizen stretch was visited but it remained pretty lifeless, a few small browns
followed the streamer I was fishing but no hits.
There were still insects on the water but again nothing was rising.
Time passed and out of pure boredom we decided to have lunch early.
At least lunch was good, as usual at the Al Lago restaurant on the banks of the
Möhne reservoir.
I decided that the highlight of the day was probably the waitress there, a real looker
Since the fishing was so terrible my friend wanted to fish the protection stretch since the
other guest where allowed to go there the day before.
I guess the proprietor was allowing this to prevent any negative promotion of his operation.
Well, I would not go for that so I told my friend I would stick it out at the end of the
stretch.
So I entered the lower section again and on this day it was still void of fish.
I waded upstream to a shallow section where I noticed that there were a lot of insects on the
water.
Swallows and other birds where picking up small mayflies from the water.
There was one single fish rising pretty predictable in front of me.
I tied on a small dry fly and launched my fly towards the feeding fish.
Every time I would do so the fish would stop feeding, when all was quiet again the
feeding would commence.
I figured that due to the shallow water even the landing of the leader on the water would
put off the fish.
I was beginning to fear that I would end the day with a blank and since it was a travelling day the
end was nearby.
I head back to the deeper pool in vicinity of the bridge and made some more futile attempts to
catch chub or roach that where not there.
An hour before sunset I finally got a hit on the small nymph.
From the resistance I knew it was not a roach or a chub, too my surprise another big brown
trout.
I suspected that I had hooked another lake trout and this one was equally strong as the one of
the previous day.
So another tough battle lay ahead for which the outcome was very questionable.
Again I kept my cool and the rod absorbed the runs of the fish.
I was very happy when I finally landed the fish, a perfect chubby brown trout.
When my friend picked me up for the return journey he could state that he had caught a couple
of standard size browns in the protected stretch.
Although the cold winter might had something to with the minimal results we figured that
the river probably was not stocked the way it should have been.
Combined with the rather steep day ticked prices and our experience with the hotel we
concluded that visit might have been the last one to this place.
Since we no longer have a Queens day as official holiday but a Kings day this might be the
incentive to start a new tradition on another river where there is a proper balance between the
fishing and the price you have to pay for it.
Fyn 2013 day 1
One of the highlights for me was always the spring trip for sea-run browns in the
clear Baltic sea around the island of Fyn in Denmark.
We would usually go on such a trip with 4 to 6 guys but the lack of success and
adverse weather had put off some of the usual suspects in the past.
This year it was the same story, a long very cold winter prompted our friends
to decline the offer to join us on this trip.
In the early morning of April 18th. 2013 only the true believers where ready
to go – thus Tom and myself.
We had the attitude that we would go whatever the weather would throw at us.
The trip to Denmark was pretty smooth, even the Elbe tunnel at Hamburg
was free of the usual traffic jam.
The ride was pretty smooth, we left at 0600 hours in the morning and around 1200 hours
we entered the Kolding area on the Danish mainland.
Since we were early we decided to fish a small Fjord on the mainland first.
The weather was horrible as a strong westerly wind was pushing whitecaps over
the otherwise rather placid Little Belt.
It was possible to fish though although it sure was not easy.
The water was exceptionally low but still clear enough to give us some hope
to catch fish.
Tom moved inside the Fjord, I would not dare to go there as the bottom consisted
of pure muck where I would sink in right away.
Instead I fished the open shoreline outside of the Fjord and soon had the first
fish on which threw the hook rather quickly.
I had quite some takes and following fish but no solid hookups anymore.
Tom was on a roll as he had found a good spot inside the Fjord where small
Sea-runs had been gathering, he had several fish in a row.
After a couple of hours we decided to drive over to the island to get the keys
for the house at the rental agency in Middelfahrt.
Since we had not been able to get all our supplies in time we made a quick
stop at the local supermarket to get some food.
We had booked a little rental house in the general area of south of Middelfahrt,
that was where the first challenge came popping up.
Although the navigation told us we were at our destination we could not find the house.
It should have been a blue house but we only saw two yellow houses at the roadside.
We drove further along the road but could not spot the blue house so we doubled back.
We got out of the car and looked around and finally spotted the blue house up on
the hill.
The rental was found but now we had to figure out how to get there with our 4WD car.
We drove around trying to find an access road to the house but to no avail.
Finally we spotted one of the locals who could only speak a few words English where
to find the road to the house.
He told us more or less that we had to return to the main street to get to the house.
Meanwhile some other locals had popped up at one of the yellow houses and
they pointed out that the small path between the two houses at the roadside was in fact
the access road to the house.
When Tom asked if he could drive up to the house using the narrow path they laughed
and said “ you might get up there but never down because there was no room to turn around”
The only option was to leave the car at the roadside and drag our gear up to the hill.
After getting settled in we had lunch and discussed where we would spend our evening fishing session.
Since the winds came from W-SW we picked out the spot on the northern coast of the island.
As we pulled in the car park we noticed a familiar car, turned out that some of our friends from
The flyfishing club were also on a trip to Fyn – it’s a small world after all.
The spot at the Northern coast was a place of fond memories for us but on this day it was pretty dead.
Very noticeable was that the water on the opene coast was a lot lower in temperature than in the Fjord
we Fished earlier that day.
There were quite some fisherman present besides us but nobody was catching anything,
there were no bites and no signs of fish.
The only marine life forms besides the birds where two seals that popped their heads up far.
out to the open sea.
We called it quits after sunset when the temperatures really began to drop fast.
Fyn 2013 day 2
More or less rested we started day 2 at 0630 hours.
I had come up with a nickname for the house = hobbit house as everything was so small,
I barely fitted in the bunk and had to watch my head when moving around the upper floor.
Still the place was perfectly suited for two fisherman.
After a good breakfast we decided to fish in our backyard which was a sheltered Fjord.
I had fished that Fjord on one earlier occasion and although I did not caught anything
then I liked the place because it looked great and had a hard bottom = easy wading.
The wind was still blowing in force but came from the left-hand side making casting still possible.
Pretty soon I had hits on the fly and managed to catch a few small sea-run trout.
Tom had no luck and was struggling with the seaweed as he was fishing with an intermediate
line where I was fishing with a floater.
At the previous day I had fished with the 8-weight rod due to the strong wind but had switched now to the 7-weight rod.
My to-go fly was the Fluff, a pattern I got from the book Baltic sea flies by Martin Joergensen.
My version consisted of a Partrigde CS54 saltwater shrimp hook, some lead wire and a hackle of brown polar chenille.
The Fluff was really simplicity itself but it looked good in the water, it pulsated when retrieved and looked just like a shrimp.
The fish liked the Fluffen and so did I.
We took a break from fishing in the afternoon and headed to our house to get something to eat.
Tom wanted to go back to the mainland to fish his precious small fjord and I just tagged along.
This time he managed to get three fish from the Fjord, I got two fish.
Fyn 2013 day 3
The wind had shifted from W-SW on day 1 to W-NW on day 2.
On day 3 the wind was blowing from various directions.
After breakfast we fished again near our house but this time the open coast near our rental.
Conditions where not favorable as the strong wind of the past days had kicked up the sediment
and washed off some of the clay of the cliffs.
So the water was murky but further out we could still spot the seaweed patches we usually
sought out to fish.
We walked up to the beach to see how far the murky water reached.
At first Tom wanted to immediately leave to look for cleaner water but I mention
that since we were there anyway we should backtrack and fish for a while.
We carefully waded out and reached a sandbar where we could move along the beach.
Tom managed to catch one fish on this stretch, I had no contacts.
The trouble with the murky water was that the fish would probably have difficulty
finding our flies but more importantly we could not really see how the consistency of the seafloor was.
We found out when we wanted to head back to the beach.
Fact was that at some point the sandbar connected to the beach.
We were far from that point however as we noticed that we had to pass the so called bathtub
– a deeper through that runs parallel to the beach.
We made it safely to shore though without too much problems.
The next stop would be further south at the open coast.
As we walked to the beach we noticed that the water looked really good.
Very clear with the perfect leopard bottom consisting of sand and boulders/stones covered with seaweed.
Looks where deceiving however was we both covered a large distance fishing
without getting any contacts.
No action meant that we had to get on the move again and thus continued our
trek to the south.
The destination would be a very interesting stretch that boasted both shallow and deep water.
The eastern shore of the beach was covered by a large patch of murky water.
No other anglers where present which might have been a sign.
We stopped anyway and walked out to the southernmost point of the beach in search
of cleaner water.
Further out the water was indeed cleaner and soon we had the first contacts with trout.
Tom landed several fish, I only got nibblers.
This was the first spot where I actually found some live critters amongst the seaweed.
Small shrimp where moving about in force and I spotted a few ragworms swimming in the surface.
Allthough I found my ragworm fly pretty convincing the trout thought otherwise.
I got only nibbles, insult to injury was the fact that a trout took a live ragworm within rods length from me.
In the mean time Tom has taking a nap on the beach as all the hard work had tired him out.
The highlight of the day for me came at midday when a harbor porpoise decided to hunt close to the shore.
I was the first time I had seen them so close to shore and this time I was ready with the camera.
The porpoise made two runs along the beach so there was ample time to enjoy the sight.
We still had bites at the end of the day but action was slowing down.
The easterly winds had almost died down completely and the Baltic sea resembled a mirror.
I headed out to the shallower part of the beach and noticed rings in the surface.
The trout where probably picking up shrimps from the surface.
I re-rigged with a small red tag fly on a size 6 hook and waited for fish to come within casting range.
A ring formed on the surface and I made a cast to it.
It took two strips to get a strike and so I finally ended the day without being skunked.
Tom had his share of evening luck and so we could head with satisfaction back to our base.
It had been a great day with lots of action.
Fyn 2013 day 4
The last day of our trip was a travel day meaning that we could only fish for a limited time.
After breakfast we cleaned the rental and pondered where would go.
Tom had the idea to visit the narrow part of the Lille Baelt near Middelfahrt
I mentioned that the chance for big fish would probably best there but the basic chance
of catching something at all would be the Fjord right near our rental.
Since the Fjord was right in our backyard it was the place to hold our last fishing session
on Fyn. The wind was now coming from the east and increased during the day.
We waded out to the belt with seaweed in the Fjord and started to fish.
It did not take long before I was into my first fish.
I saw the silver shape in the surface and noticed it was a small fish, the hook came out
though after a short while.
The next cast immediately resulted in another bite and yet again the fish came off.
Tom mentioned I should check the hook but a close inspection of the red tag fly I fished
showed that the hook was in perfect working order.
We moved further to the Western end of the Fjord where the water became deeper.
There I got another hit on the red tag and this time It was a big fish.
The fish did not jump but pulled pretty good, when it came close I noticed how big it was.
Figure I was telling Tom that the Fjord would probably hold a lot of small fish, well there where big fish present as well.
As the fish came close Tom wanted to take some pictures.
Since we had left the landing nets in the car figuring we would only encounter smaller size
fish we know felt a bit stupid.
So I managed to get a hold on the fish and put it partially in the stripping basket so I could
get a better grip on the fish.
Unfortunately the fish had some reserve energy left en made a successful attempt to get back in the water again.
The tippet was snagged behind one of the rod rings and snapped as the fish made a quick escape.
Tom estimated the fish around 65cm and boy it was a fat fish.
I could kick myself for this stupid action but as they say “shit happens”.
After the incident I went further to the west of the Fjord while Tom made a run for the
shore because the cold water got at him.
On this morning we entered the Fjord at high tide, soon I was into water that was
Too deep for comfortable fishing so I also made a short break at the shoreline.
Tom had moved out into the eastern part of the Fjord that was shallower and he soon got into some good fish.
Although he was very far from my position I could see that the big fish he was battling
put up a spectacular fight, the fish came several times clear out of the water.
As Tom was catching a series of fish around and over the 60cm mark I caught
a small fish and had some following fish.
In the afternoon it was time to go home so we packed in our gear and told ourselves
That this had to be the best spring trip to Fyn we had ever witnessed.
The wind battered us the first two days but the places we visited had mostly some action going.
The water was still cold but temperatures varied very drastically.
We measured 4 degrees on the open coast, 6 degrees in the Little Belt and 8 degrees in the
sheltered Fjords.
Since the winter had been so long and cold we did not expect to see the usual inhabitants
of the seaweed like shrimps and small fish but at certain locations they were out in
decent numbers.
When we compared which flies we used we came to the conclusion that it was probably
more important to find fish than to use a certain flypattern although they where always exceptions.
We where quite content about the amount of takes we had felt and wondered why the
fish where so hesitant to take our flies.
I think I learned a lot again on this trip and look forward to future visits to Denmark.
Plan A today was to go fishing the stream but when a unscheduled work party was
called in I had to ditch plan A.
Plan B … get to the Hatchery at 0900 hrs and so I did, to bad though that I was
the only person showing up.
So it was back to plan A again.
The cold weather had finally gone and life slowly returned to the land.
Roe deer where out in the fields this morning.
Roe deer
The first windflower where showing in the forest, these are one of the first
flowers to appear in spring after the snow drops.
Windflowers
At the stream I first went to one of my always producing pools but today it yielded
no fish.
I should have taken waders with me as my options for making a decent presentation where quite limited.
Next stop was the spot where I had caught my first trout of the season but nothing happened there.
As I walked along the bank I spotted a moving trout and made a few casts at it only to scare the fish.
I would be back later for that fish.
I found a nice pool further downstream and with some climbing I positioned myself to make a cast
into the pool.
The streamer moved nicely along the opposite back when it was suddenly attacked by a decent
brown trout.
This trout was an acrobat as it jumped twice high in the air.
I was still connected to the fish though and was about to land the fish when the hook came out, bummer.
The next spot was an undercut bank where a trout literally jumped on the streamer but
alas also this fish threw the hook.
I decided to leave the stretch alone for a while and head up further to the source of the stream.
When I spotted some roach or dace I had a go at them with the nymph and hooked another fish …
and lost it consequently.
Two small carp came shuffling by and as happens each spring the brook lampreys where out in force.
Undercut bank
In the afternoon I head back to the stretch I had fished in the morning and probed all
the spots I had fished earlier again.
At one spot I had three cautious hits but those did not result in a solid take.
I tried the pool again of the acrobatic trout thinking no fish can be so stupid to take a lure
twice a day but it did and it saved me from skunk.
Maybe it was another fish but it did not matter as I could land my second trout of the season
Second trout of the season
So with the main mission being accomplished it was time to get something to eat.
A look at the clock showed me that one of my favorite haunts was just about to open
and since I had not had anything to eat all day decided to call it a day.
Still cold enough to need the fire.
As the weather looked like rain this morning the pub was void of the usual daytripper
but lucky for me the kitchen was staffed.
The weather forecast for tomorrow shows warm temperatures so I guess I have the
visit the stream again and catch those other trout 🙂
Some time ago I received an invite from a flyfisher of a neighboring syndicate to
join their season-opener celebration on this day.
The plan was to start with breakfast at the house of one of the local flyfisherman,
then head out to the river to fish to be concluded by dinner in a local pub.
Early morning in the Netherlands
It could not have been a worse day for fishing as the a stormy wind came blowing out of the east
and temperatures would be below freezing all day.
At the breakfast we where with 7 flyfisherman.
Breakfast took a long time, I guess we dragged our feet more or less to avoid getting out in the miserable conditions.
Finally we did decide to head out to the stream but at that time we where left with 5 flyfisherman as two
of us had other obligations.
At the water the conditions where harsh, even though the stream was more or less sheltered the
cold wind was blowing over the land with much force.
There was a constant flow of debris from the trees that fell around us.
The stream looked good though with clear water and a nice flow.
The stream
The flyfisherman dispersed along the stream and tried their best to catch the first trout of the season.
After about an hour or two we gathered again at the parking lot when another flyfisherman had to leave
because of chores.
Now left with four people we decided to take a break from the cold and head for lunch to a nearby
guesthouse … which was surprisingly closed.
Plan B was put into action so off to the next village to another guesthouse … again closed.
As faith would have it the only option open for us now was the Ice parlor – apptly named “Ice age”.
Luckily for us they also had one warm dish on the menu so we went for the hot chocelatemilk with cream
and a warm apfelstrudel.
It took a long time to warm up and an even longer time for us to finally head out again to the
stream.
In the mean time flyfisherman number 4 had left due to chores at home so we where only
three as we hit the water.
In the stretch we where about to fish I knew for sure that fish would be present but with this
adverse wheater conditions I had not high hopes that fish would be willing to bite.
I suspected that the fish would probably be hunkering in the tightest cover they could find
right now which mean right amoung the tree roots that lined the stream.
After donating some streamers to trees I finally hooked into a fish when I drifted a streamer
right into the treeroots.
My first brown trout of the season was a fact.
First brown trout of the season
Ice…
Trout number one was a fact but off course there would be more fish hiding in the depths.
At another spot I actually had three takes in a row but missed the fish.
I headed out further in the woods for some good spots I knew from last season.
Access was a problem though as I had no waders with me and was fishing from the bank.
At one of the steep banks it went wrong as I slipped and voila yours truly landed in the water.
Damage was only emotional but I got pretty wet which is no fun at subzero temperatures 🙂
Steep banks.
I recovered quickly from the water, dusted off the mud and emptied my shoes before I headed
up the bank to see how the other guys where doing.
I met up with the other guys who clearly had had enough of the cold weather so we decided to
head up to the pub where a warm fireplace would greet us …. we thought.
Well on this day nothing went as planned, we headed to the pub but there was missing something.
No smoke from the chimney … allthough the pub should have opened according to the sign nobody
was home.
I opted to then visit the pub of my angling syndicate nearby which luckily was open.
The fireplace was running at full blast, just what we needed.
What we needed at the end of the day.
The only drawback was the fact that we could not get the food we wanted as the pub would only
cater for weddings, birthday parties andsoforth.
We could get a sandwhich dish though which was rather good and off course the beers tasted
like usual.
All in all a challenging day but spend in good company and hey … I caught my first trout for the season.
Pretty pleased to say the least.
