Flyfishing FWSW

Netherlands 29-12-2012

30 December 2012 admin

As an official closure of our fishing season 2012 my friends and yours truly made
a final attempt to catch some fish at this years ends.
Goal was to catch pike in some of our local small streams.

Now I have to say that the pike fishing in not really my “thing” so while the rest
was armed with 8-weights and chicken size streamers I opted to take the
four weight with me.
I carried some small zonker streamer with me for the perch and I also had the
nymphing rig ready in case I would spot any concentration of roach.

A H2O streamer, this would have to do the trick according to our specialists.

Mr. H2O at work, he actually hooked a pike right at the spot pictured here but the fish got away.

The geese on their way to somewhere…

Renaturized part of the stream, wide and shallow with a smaller fast flowing ditch in the middle,
nice if you are a duck – bad if you are a fisherman.

The so called renaturized section of the stream, completely off limits to us but I
had to check it out anyway since I had not been there since they rebuild the stream.
The bad thing about these works is that when the work is finished the fisherman are kicked
out, I also believe that the stream way back when did not look like this.

Anyway besides the one pike attack mr. H2O got it stayed very quiet in that stream so we
had to activate plan B ie find another stream to fish.
With all that rain we had during the last week many waters where just going back from
flooding stage so the choice of water was limited.
We picked one of the streams that always had a minimal flow and it turned out that
water clarity and current where good enough to fish it.

One of my friends new the place well and told me he had found a spot where large
schools of roach where present.
I headed down to the location he mentioned and was greeted by the guard dog of
the nearby farm.
The water was teeming with small fish so I quickly removed the fast sinking polyleader
plus streamer with a floating one and a size 16 pt nymph.
Bites where instantly but the size of fish was a tad dissappointing.

The weather … very warm for the time of year and for a change dry.
It was windy however and with that strong blowing wind the choice for the four weight was
not the best move I made this day.
There could have been larger roach underneath the small fish but the hard wind had to
much grip on the fly line so I could not make a good presentation.
With all those small baitfish there should have been predators around so I switched to streamer
again and fished that part of the stream as the sun was setting.
It paid off as I finally hooked something bigger, not the intended perch but a little pike.

As the sun went down one of my friend that fished the opposite bank got his first pike attack.
He missed the fish and immediately fished the same area again which resulted in another strike
from the pike.
That second strike was also missed so he made a third attempt which curiously again caused the pike
to strike.
The third strike was also missed and the pike left the scene.
We did to as it became to dark to fish.

We fished with six people all together, five pike where landed by three people.
To conclude the day we had planned a dinner along our route home.

So this was the last fishing trip in the year 2012 down here which only leaves me to wish you all the best for 2013.

Netherlands 18-11-2012

18 November 2012 admin

My plans for yesterday where to fish the river and hope that the
chub would be active.
According to the weatherforecast light rain was expected but it turned
out to be heavy instead.
The conditions where not suited for river fishing in my book so I had to
think of a plan B.

The weather would clear up midday so I decided to fish one of the local
harbors instead, my intended quarry was perch.

The harbor was quit, the last rains subsided and blue skies appeared in the distance.
Like every winter the water turned very clear so I could see quite a distance in the water.
No fish to be seen though.
I tried my usual to go spots but I did not even get a hit.
At long last i finally caught a small perch so at least I would not get skunked.

The fly I use for perch fishing, Polar minnow (Fulling mill)

The floating docks did not yield any fish so my last option was to fish a dead end canal that
usually had some activity in it.
The far end of the canal was used as an overwintering ground for many small coarse fish.
Diving Grebe’s where an indication that the small fish where present.
My canal outfit consisted of a light 7 ft #4 rod fitted with a sinking line and a superfast sinking
polyleader.
A short tipped and a perch style polar minnow completed the set.

The first section of the canal yielded no contacts but near the end I could see the perch
standing in the water.
A huge school followed the streamer and one fish finally grabbed it.

The end of the canal proved to be full of perch and soon I was catching the one
after the other.
Most where small but larger specimens where also present.
I even hooked a small pike for a short while but that fish was just holding on to the polar minnow fibers.

I fished untill the light was gone and action had died down.
Thanks to plan B a brilliant day in the outdoors.

Germany 04-11-2012

4 November 2012 admin

In the winter months the fishing in the small streams I frequent usually comes
to a halt as fish seem to dissappear for overwintering.
Since temperatures where favorable I could not resist to visit one of the streams
to look for myself how things where going.

It looked pretty bleak in the outdoors as most trees had shed their leaves.
Still there where a few midges on the waters surface and I even spotted a rising fish.

If I had taken the dry fly box with me I would have tried but I only carried nymphs
and streamers.
I tossed in a size 16 goldbead pheaseanttail nymph and soon had the first bites.
The fish turned out to be small chub, the big ones I had seen during the summer
where not to be seen.

Maybe I could lure the big chub by fishing a small zonker streamer in the
deeper sections of the stream.
I probed the mostly likely places with the streamer but only got one hit which
resulted in a bitten off tail of the streamer, most likely a pike.
There where no more hits on the streamer so I tied on a nymph again.
The nymph yielded one larger chub.

The forecast clouds rolled in around afternoon when I decided to call it a day.
First the rain was light but then it just poured and it did not stop untill the
evening.
Still a very informative day as I had expected all fish action would be over
because of the late season.

Germany 22-09-2012

22 September 2012 admin

Trout season was almost done so I made a last visit to the trout section of the stream I fish.
Fishing was difficult, not because of the lack of fish but because of the lack of water in the stream.

The spots that still had some depth to it also had fish.
Besides a few Dace and Roach and managed to catch a Brown trout and a Rainbow trout.
The weather was fine with the exception of a short downpour in the morning.
Fall is definetely in the air as the morning hours where chilly.
The wind and falling leaves made the picture complete, season’s end is near.

Florida 2012

19 September 2012 admin

Another visit to SW Florida this year.
Three weeks on the beaches of Collier and Lee county delivered quite a few snook along with the usual ladyfish and spanish mackerel.
The weather was still quite hot so I guess I was a bit too early for the fall migration.
No Tarpons sighted from the beach but quite a few sharks at certain places.

Netherlands 16-12-2012

18 September 2012 admin

Before the world ended as we knew it I headed out to the harbor to check
on the perch.
Actually the break from the freezing temperatures of recent times was the
main driving force.

The water was clear, very clear.
I could count several bikes that where partially covered by the silt, off course the other urban
garbage like shopping carts could also be found.
The clarity of the water was to such an extent that the fish where clearly visible.
Some huge perch where following my streamer but they would only follow.

The sheltered water at the end of the canal canal boasted lots of small roach so I expected to
run into some more predators there.
The perch where present and clearly visible but also very lethargic.
A pikeperch was slowly moving over the bottom completely ignoring my offerings.
I caught two perch in the end and then called it a day as the skies opened.

Denmark – Fyn Island April 22nd-25th. 2010

18 September 2012 admin

Another spring trip to Denmark has ended.
My fear of going home skunked did not materialize although in my opinion the fishing was very tough.
The long cold winter in Europe had surely left its mark
on nature as the Baltic sea was still cold and life in the sea was only slowly developing.

On April 22nd we left the Netherlands at 06.00 hrs to make the journey to the island of
Fyn in Denmark. We cleared main bottleneck on our route (the Elbe river tunnel in Hamburg)pretty easy with
just some slow traffic at the outgoing side of the tunnel.
The rest of the tour through Southern Jutland and on to the Island was pretty uneventful.
Instead of making a fishing stop along the way we decided to pick up the keys of our rental cottage and have something to eat first.

The cottage, a very luxury place this time.

Rain and hail showers in the distance.

My setup, Orvis T3 6-weight plus a clear intermediate line.

After settling in we headed to the beach to try and get our first fish.
It was windy, chilly and sometimes rain and hail blasted us.
From the six guys on the trip only Tom caught fish, two searun browns from whom the largest measured 57 cm.
I ended up with two takes but could not materialize the fish.
I developed cold feet near sunset, after returning to the cottage I noticed that my waders where leaking.
Not pleasant in cold water conditions.

On the 23rd we would hit Odense Fjord on the northern shore of Fyn.
Since Odense boasted a very nice tackle shop we went there first so I could get a pair of waders to continue
my fishing spree with more or less dry feet.
Since tackle was expensive in Denmark I asked for the cheap stuff and by chance they had bough a container load of waders from a well known English manufacturer.
The two layer fabric did not boast my confidence but I figured it would last at least the remainder of this trip.

At the shop we asked for some tips and with the intel we got we decided to change our plans and head for the southern coast.

The southern coast and my first couple of seatrout.

There was a stiff breeze blowing at the southern shores but still manageable to fish my 6-weight rod.
After a long wait I was finally rewarded with my first seatrout of the
trip, a 47 cm specimen caught on a pink ep sparkle shrimp.
In short order I managed to land two more fish, respectively 55 and 45cm all on the pink shrimp pattern.

On day three some of the guys wanted to fish a freshwater river on mainland Jutland.
It was way to early to go there and this was after all a saltwater fishing trip.
The infidels left for the Omme A river, the diehards went to fish the Little Belt sound.
Due to the cold weather the seagrass field had not developed yet so large parts of the place where barren and void of life.

The Little Belt sound.

Marsvin aka harbor porpoise in the distance.

At the Little Belt.

We concentrated on a boulder field and spotted schools of sandeels running out with the tide.
Trout where actively hunting on the outer side of the boulder reef but where out of casting Range.
I was lucky enough to get a stray fish that hunted over the boulders.
The fish was yet again caught on a pink shrimp pattern and put up a pretty good fisht.
The fish measured 52 cm and was my fourth fish of the trip.
One of my buddies decided to switch to the dark side and headed up the cliff to get his spinning rod in order to reach the far away trout.
When he came back the trout where gone but he also managed one smaller searun trout.

On the last day we had breakfast and cleaned out the cottage first.
After delivering the keys of the cottage we fished the local beach until 15.30 hours.
One of us managed to catch one smaller fish on a ragworm fly.
The rest of the guys Blanked.
I did have two fish chase a brown shrimp made with EP shrimp brush but they
did not take the hook solidly and escaped.

Getting ready to go home.

We left around 16.00 hours on our 6 hour returned trip to the Netherlands.
It was fun as usual but tough fishing in the chilly and windy conditions.
I once again left as the guy with the most fish, four to be exactly due to pure luck and persistence,
Tom had the Largest trout of the trip nd ended with three fish.
Joop en Alfons both avoided skunk by catching one fish, Hans and Wiebe blanked.
I had tons of fun though I look forward to another trip to the Baltic coast.

Germany 09-09-2012

9 September 2012 admin

I had heard some rumours that big chub where sighted inone section of the stream
I fished so I had to investigate.
I spotted the first big chub in the waters of the other syndicate.

When I arrived at my own syndicate water I could spot many
chub in a spot that was usually unfishable due to the current.
With the extreme low summer water table it was now possible to get a decent drift with the fly.

I hooked one big chub but he broke me off as he immediately dove into the vegitation.
Only managed some small roach and chub before the midday
sun got to much and activity slowed down to a minimum.

There was one spot left that could yield big fish so I positioned
myself near a rebuild weir where I had caught a big chub earlier this season.
I had one good shot at a massive chub as it moved under my klinkhamer fly and was about to inhale it.
At the last moment the chub hesitated and moved off.
I had a go at some other passing chub but none of them was interested in eating flies.

Out in the windy fields the sun burnt relentlessly.
When my last drinking water was gone and action did not improve I decided to call it a day.
I headed straight to my favorite pub in the nearby hills and enjoyed some good food and drink.
(BTW the pancake contained a filling of mushrooms – chanterelles)

The big chub are out there but catching them is something different, I will get one though before the year is out.

Germany 02-09-2012

2 September 2012 admin

Trout season’s end is closing in fast so I tried the home stream to see if any trout where left.
Unlike the UK it has not rained that much down here so the water table was really low.
Some of my good pools had filled up with sand and I even noticed a shopping cart had been dumped in the stream, what next …

I could only catch roach and dace allthough I did my best to catch one of the
remaining goldfish that somebody had dumped in the stream.
Amazing that they still have not been cleared out by the herons by now.

I hooked one trout during the day but it snagged me and the light tippet broke. Next week we will try again.

Germany 10-08-2012

10 August 2012 admin

The last fishing day was upon us, after an early breakfast it was time to check out.
The hotel manager was a funny guy, he asked us why we wanted to check out.
My friend stated “we are out of money”, he replied “I don’t believe you”.

It was not true that we where out of money but this trip was a whole lot more
expensive than our regular trips.
But then again it was worth it every dime as the fishing was fantastic.

The journey home would be a long one, at least 8 hours driving
time where ahead of us.
Fishing time would be limited.
By planning lunch in Hammelburg on the way back home we could
maximize our fishing time.

It was easy to decide where we would fish on this last day, the
same spot as the day before.
As usual I was in no time in my wading gear and while my friend
was still busy getting geared up I was already fishing.
It almost looked like all fish had gone, maybe it was just that I
had arrived on another part of the day and fish would show
themselves later.
The fishing turned out to be pretty tough, not at all like the day before.
I had caught a few fish though so it was time to explore the river downstream, a
new spot for me.

It looked like there where only very few fish located downstream.
My friend had concluded pretty fast that the upstream section near the outflow of
The hydroelectric plant was different on this day, he had not caught a single fish.
We travelled quite a way downstream without ever seeing a rising fish or getting a hit.
When I finally fished a deep bend in the river I got a hit.
I saw a decent rainbow trout follow my streamer but the fish would not take the fly.

At the pool below the deep bend I did get into fish, directly.
I saw two fish shooting away, one was attached to the streamer I fished.
The fish was heavy as it almost doubled my little 7’ #4 rod.
Since I was fishing with a barbless hook I was not sure if I would stay connected
with the fish.
I had no clue what I had hooked, I could only spot a golden colour and assumed
That it either had to be a carp or a barbel.
To my big surprise it turned out to be a big brown trout.

I landed the fish and when I took a look I knew it was a personal best.
This was not something I had expected on this last fishing day.
I walked to a big rock in de middle of the river and just sat there pondering
that I had arrived in fishing Valhalla …

It took a while before I got of my cloud and started fishing again.
The pool also housed a few rainbow trout and some ended at the end of my line.
As I wanted to move further downstream I noticed another fisherman.
I could not move down so I picked my rock again and waited until my friend
Arrived.
He had gotten some fish also so time was not wasted.
As the other fisherman moved away I told my friend to fish the last deep pools.
I would just take in the surroundings for a while.

Time flew by and before we knew it we had to head back to our car.
I arrived first at the pool where we had started the day.
My friend was still busy fishing some sections of the river downstream.
I noticed that all the fish had returned to the pool or at least they where
visible now.
This just called for a few lasts casts so I hauled in three rainbows before
I headed to the bridge where we got out and in of the water.
At the bridge I wondered if the big chub would be anywhere around but I
Only spotted a lonely bream cruising the slow moving water.
That bream would surely be pike fodder one of these days.

The home journey was tedious as we left on a normal working day with lots of
returning holiday traffic and truckers on the road.
All the work crews on the road did not help either.
Due to all the obstacles on the road we arrived at our planned stop in Hammelburg
Bavaria later as planned.
That was not a problem however as we arrived on time for dinner at our Italian restaurant.
The temperature had lowered to a pleasant level while the last sunlight lit up
The valley of the Fränkische Saale.
Dinner was as expected very good at this restaurant.
We could not have wished for a better ending of this perfect five day fishing trip.