Flyfishing FWSW

At the end of May a fishing trip to the Harz mountains was planned.
The crew for this trip would normally consist of three people who would
go on this trip every year.
This time it would be a different as some other friends had asked to join us. In the end we counted seven people.
Arranging a trip with a lot of people caused problems, especially when you wanted to pin a date and get a confirmation that everyone was actually going. So in this case setting a date and getting confirmations was a problem.

In the end the whole process dragged on and when my friend finally wanted to arrange the desired hotel it turned out that it was fully booked.
He called me what to do, simple I replied get another hotel.
As I had traveled often to that region I named another hotel and when he called that place rooms where still available for the desired time period.
Now my friend asked what to do with regards to the other guys who
where not sure if they would go or not.
Again the answer was simple, book a room for us regulars – let the others know that we have a different hotel and that they have to act right away.

In the end everybody was booked in the same hotel and so on May the 29th we went on the road to Eastern Germany.
With all the feet dragging in the beginning nobody had realized that the date of our departure we coinciding with a German public holiday.
The roads where packed to full capacity.
The total drive would take less than four hours which we would normally drive in one go.
Not this time, we where barely over the Dutch German border when the first request for a coffee break came by the non-regulars.

At about a quarter of the trip we where about to enter a traffic jam on the Autobahn – normally we would just wait it out as circumventing would usually not outweigh the time wasted in the traffic jam.
The non-regulars wanted to try it anyway so we left the Autobahn only to get stuck on the slow road that went to countless little villages which had traffic lights a and heavy traffic because of that public holiday.

We did not only have bad luck with the road conditions, the weather would be terrible also.
I had told my friends that a weather warning was in place for the region we would visit and that extreme rainfall was predicted – at first they would not believe me.
When we crossed the Leine river near Hannover they got worried – it was well out of its banks.
The further we headed east – the more clouds we encountered.
As we drove into the mountains I could see that the little brooks that ran down from the hills carried a lot of brown water – not a good sign.

With all the delays we had experienced we arrived late afternoon at our destination.
I had a feeling that it would be a waste of funds to get a fishing permit for this day as in a couple of hours it would become dark.
My friends and I aka the regulars had to make some decisions fasts in order to get out most of the day.
On our way to the hotel we would come along one of our favorite restaurants wo we would eat first, the next place along the route would be the trout hatchery where we would get our fishing permits.
Finally we would then go to the hotel, check in and fish afterwards.

When we arrived at the river and saw the water our fears where confirmed.
The banks where flooded and the water was muddy, it would be difficult to extract trout under these conditions.
Normally I would not fish flooded rivers but since I had traveled a long distance to get here I had no other options.
My thoughts where that the trout would seek sheltered spots behind larger stones or inside bends.
As the riverbank was well under water I figured that fish would also be in there.
It turned out I was right – any of the spots I mentioned had fish and so I did quite well.

We returned to the hotel late in the evening, it was raining again – in fact it rained cats and dogs all night.
In the morning at breakfast we heard roaring water, the little brook that flowed past and underneath the hotel  was now a little monster.
It pushed so much water that the manager of the hotel had stood watch all night as a section of the hotel was build on pilings over the brook.
Rocks and tree limbs came down that little stream which could potentially get stuck at the pilings flooding part of the hotel.
The road from the hotel further into the mountains was closed due to a landslide and fire engine crews where in constant action to clear the roads – not a good forebode for the days fishing.

There was some discussion of where and how we would fish this day.
Our other friends always wanted to fish in a pack – we had more or less the idea that we would fish like we did every year.
I would not deny that I might be a bit socially impaired but I could not stand the thought of fishing a rather small river with seven people at the same spot. In the end we all went on our own (different) way.

There was a large reservoir in the middle of the river we fished, the downstream section was the part most fisherman knew and thus crowded.
We as regulars had often fished the river where it entered the reservoir, a favorite spot for us.
It was not that well known and boasted besides the rather rare grayling huge quantities of shiners that ran up from the reservoir in spring to spawn.
We decided to fish that section of the river which was now even murkier and higher because of all the rain that had fallen in the previous night.

Getting to the river provided a new challenge, the access road was closed off as a new bridge was being built.
To reach our desired fishing haunts we had to follow the trail that ran along the mountain.
With all the wet weather this trail had been converted into a narrow slippery path, passable with good walking shoes but a nightmare to walk with felt soled wading shoes.
My friends headed directly for the spots they had done so well one year before, I stopped earlier at a deep and wide pool where I thought I had the best chances to catch fish.

At first I was fishing with a nymph just to see if any of the shiners where around.
I got no hits which was not entirily a wonder as the water was so murky.
Something bigger had to be tied on, in this case a streamer might be more visible to any hungry fish and it turned out to be the right choice.
The streamer did not travel long in the water before the first trout hit it.
There where many trout and so I expected that the pool must have been stocked recently.
Most of the trout I caught where off color and had damaged tails, a sure sign that these fish had been reared in a concrete hatchery basin.

At least I was catching some fish, the other guys did conserably less well.
Only one of my other friends caught a couple of the fish, the other one blanked.
We fished until late in the afternoon, after that it was back to the hotel and then into town for dinner at the Italian restaurant.

The third day was even worse than the previous day.
More rain had fallen and many part of middle and eastern Germany had serious flooding.
We where not sure if we would go fishing or go home that day.

With the river even higher and muddier than the day before we decided to tour the area and see if we could find a fishable spot.
We all ended up at the large reservoir and I had serious plans to rent a boat and fish the reservoir instead of the river.

A view from the dam showed us that (as is often the case) the outflow was pretty clear.
The run-off from the mountains caused the stream to color the further you came from the dam.
The plan came in to mind to fish the first section of the stream behind the dam.
The problem was that we where not alone with that thought, other anglers had the same idea and they where with even more people than we where.
Again our party split up – the regulars would try and fish further downstream – the part timers would join the crowd.

I fished the spots I visited on day one and did again pretty well.
There where also many nice spots further upstream and although wading was tricky I could reach and fish all those spots.
Well upstream there was a section that I normally would not fish because it was so shallow – off course now it was flooded.

One side was marshy and before I knew it I got stuck in the mud – I had to get out of there quick.
There was a small road that ran through the river and it was easy passable during normal conditions.
I tried to walk over it but the heavy current convinced me to turn around.
Instead I carefully waded over the flooded bank as I had seen rising fish in the distance.
In the end I found a good spot to fish and was catching little brown trout on sedges.

I did very well on the shallow stretch but as I lost radio contact to the other guys I wondered how they fared.
If they had no luck at their locations they could join me as there was ample space to fish.
I headed downstream and found them at the adjacent bank halfway from our starting point.
They had caught their fair share of fish and where doing fine.
I decided to fish the road bridge downstream where two East Germans where already fishing.
I fished well upstream from the two other anglers and did quite well catching the stockies on streamers, I saw not much action with the other guys though.

At the end of the day we would all meet up at the local trout hatchery in order to drive to the next town for a visit to a Italian restaurant.
When we arrived at the hatchery and the others did not show up at the designated time a radio call was made to the part timers.
They replied that they still fishing – so we waited – and waited – and waited a little more.
Finally a phone called was made, the part timers where already at the restaurant.
So we cursed them as we could have been fishing during all the time we waited.
Off course we ended at separate tables in the Italian restaurant which was btw. a very good place to eat.

During the last night of our stay it had actually not rained.
A look at the river showed that the level had gone down quite a bit and the water had become cleaner.
We as regulars had a short fishing day ahead of us as some of us had other obligations later that day,
the part timers would stay a little longer.
After breakfast we had a discussion of where we would fish – I had the preference for the area near the
hatchery, my friends wanted to fish below the day.
By mistake we ended up at the spot I desired.

Although it was dry it also was very cold for a day in spring, in fact the temperature did not climb higher than eleven degrees Celsius on that day. Combined with a very strong wind it almost fell like fall.
I fished with a small nymph and caught quite a few trout near a hot spot at the road bridge.

After a while I headed further upstream as there was another nice pool only a short wading distance ahead.
One of my friends had the same idea only he used a path along the river to get there.
As I had reached the end of the pool he was fishing the start of it.

Despite the cold windy conditions small mayflies where on the water and the trout where rising all over the place.As the water was rather deep especially in these conditions fish where rising right in front of me.
At first I fished the nymph but then tried a sedge to get any of the rising fish.
I did get a few of them but it was clear that the sedge was not entirely convincing.
At noon we called it a day and headed back home only to get caught up in another traffic jam as all regular holidaymakers also returned home at the same time.

So this trip left some mixed feelings – despite the lousy conditions the fishing was actually
rather good and I learned something about fishing flooded rivers.
We had a good time nonetheless all the adverse conditions.
The downside was going on a trip with so many people and also importantly with people
that are not always on the same wavelength so to say.

Hopefully next year we will go as regulars only to avoid all the organization misery we had on this trip.
One of the regulars and I will return for a re-match later this year to the Harz mountains though, we will then probably complain about the low water 🙂

I was a bit late on this Sunday so there where already plenty people out and about
when I got at the water.
My first port of call was the spot where I would always guaranteed catch some roach.
Normally you could see the fish cruise in the shallow water but now the spot
seemed void of life.

Like so many day in this so called summer the wind was blowing in force.
Lots of debris covered the water, half the time the nymph I fished would be entangled
in blossom debris before it sank in the water.
Normally I would get hits near the Willow tree that covered the stream but on this
day the opposite bank was the ticket for the first couple of fish.

I had tied up some weighted buzzer type flies lately that worked pretty well with the fish.
The only drawback I noticed was the fact that the tinsel would be chewed off by the fish when they
hit the fly, the next versions will get a coat of bug bond.

The roach I caught where on the small side and I wondered where the big ones had gone.
When my indicator went down I felt something more massive swimming away with my
fly and was already thinking I had caught one of those really big roach.
To my surprise it turned out to be a brown trout, a rare visitor on that stretch of the stream.

I fished the spot thoroughly but no more fish came to the surface.
At a pool further upstream I noticed more fish but all where small and not interested in my flies.
I spotted two trout but they only only followed the fly probably protecting their lie rather than
intending to eat the fly.

Further sections upstream had fish but with the low water the fish would scatter before
I even was in the position to make a decent cast.
I was about to move to more secluded spots when I noticed upstream from a weir a pike.
The pike was very slowly moving in the middle of this slow flowing stretch of the stream that
had quite a population of tasty roach.
Unfortunately this was a sort of village green spot where lots of people would cycle along the
path that paralled the bank.
With no room to make a decent cast and so many people about I decided after a few failed
attempts to let the pike in peace.

My next stop was a spot in the middle of the forest where I had spotted trout on the last visit.
I saw a rising fish but could not determine which species.
With no room to cast I just flipped a little nymph into a bend and was rewarded with an instant
strike, Dace.

The dace where rather small though so I went on and looked for the trout.
I noticed that the stretch in the forest boasted a lot of mayflies, many of them
where landing on the water – and safely flew off again.

There was still a trout present but it spotted me first and retreated to a pile of debris in the
water.
I tried to coax it up with a streamer but failed, it would not come out to play.
When I tried the nymph I got constant hits of very small dace that where just nibbling at the fly.
After a while I got a hookup from another trout but it slipped of the hook.

While other parts of Germany where almost submerged my little stream had a definite shortage
of water as the banks become more exposed every week.

It was late in the day and as I had not eaten yet it was time to visit the pub, first though I would
take a look from the nearby bridge to see if any trout where visible.
A view from that bridge only revealed that some dace where milling around, I left them in peace.
After my well deserved break it was time to hit the road again.

In the morning the skies where blue with clouds but late afternoon the cloud cover got more thick.
It almost looked like it might rain allthough the weather people had not predicted that.
With the mayflies in mind I scouted some more upstream sections for rising fish, I saw none.
When I arrived at the last spot I would fish the first sprinkles fell, the forest sheltered me and
the stream from the rain but it was already pretty dark.

I probed a deadfall that lay in the water, there had to be a trout lying in hiding there.
A segde was carefully placed at the the edge of the tree and a trout shot out and tried to
get the fly – it missed however.
On the second attempt it just swam under the fly, I could see the bulge but the fish
hesitated.
More attempts followed but no response from the fish, still I knew it would take the fly at some point.
In the end perseverance paid off as the fish finally took the fly and I hooked it solidly.

Getting the last fish of the day on a dry fly was so they say the icing on the cake which I already
had at the pub to be precise 🙂
I took a last look at the green fields, smelled the fresh air and thought that I was privileged to
have such a nice place to fish close at thand. 

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.

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.