Flyfishing FWSW

Germany 11-03-2012

11 March 2012 admin

Last saturday the weather was not so pleasant for fishing so I tied some nymphs and lures instead.
On sunday the weather was decent so I decided to field test the new flies.

Besides the pheasant tails I had tied some brassies and fitted them with a tungsten gold bead hoping they would do the trick.
I scouted the stream for suitable test objects but the stream looked empty.

After a while I found some fish but to get near to them was quite difficult.
I managed a few drifts and caught the first small dace of the season.

I wondered where all the roach had gone – none to be seen.
As I came near the watermill in the village I noticed that the roach where present.
It looked however like something was chasing them so I figured that somebody might have stocked trout for the opening of the season
next week.
Since I could not clearly make out what moving in the water it might also
have been a perch so I tied on a small lure to see what was in the pool.
One small perch had a go at the fly but that was it.

It was time to switch to the nymphing setup again and vist the good spots where more roach could be found.
At one spot where a tree had fallen in the water I could spot dozens of roach between the submergded branches.
It was an unfishable spot though as the nymph would get tangled in seconds in the debris.
Further upstream I managed to catch a couple of roach and I am happy to day that the fish are increasing in size.

I had a little talk with one of the villagers who mentioned that he had seen quite a few cormorants this winter.
We have to see what effect they have had on the fish population.
It is still early season though so I suspect that the big schools of roach and dace will pop up when the countryside is green again.

Lake Oostvoorne Jan. 2nd. 2012

2 January 2012 admin

The first day at work was traded in for a day¡¦s fishing.
My friends and I decided that the first Monday of the year would
be better spend at the shores of Lake Oostvoorne in pursuit of
brackish water trout.

The weather was wonderful, a light North-westerly breeze and finally some sunshine after days of rain.
At the lake the fish did not show themselves, it was quiet ¡K at least at the spot I was
fishing.

When my friends came ashore for a break they told me that they saw loads of tailing fish but could get into proper casting range.
After the break we all headed to that attractive spot but conditions had changed quickly.
The wind had gathered force and was pushing nice little waves on the lake, the fish had stopped feeding and where nowhere to be seen.
We still tried desperately to hook one of those elusive trout but the fish where just not cooperating.
At least not for us because another Fisherman who just arrived managed to catch one within 15 minutes.
Most likely one of the locals who know the lake very well.

It was always very difficult for outsiders like us to do well at the lake especially during the winter.
The only thing we could do was to keep trying and wait for sunset because then the fish would enter the shallows and hunt for small fish and shrimp.
In the dark I finally spotted fish, to bad a large trout jumped right next to me instead it should have attacked the fly ƒº
Even our bellyboat captain who always was into fish blanked on this memorable day.

We stayed pretty long after sunset but things where not working out so we left early.
When our friend drove in front of us on the highway we noticed something sticking out of the car.
We drove besides them and saw that one of their landingnets was still attached to the outside of the door via a magnet.
Even at 120 km/h it stayed put so we phoned them and told them they had forget
something.
They eventually safely retrieved the net by opening the window and grab it.

So Lake Oostvoorne will not see us in the near future.
Maybe we have a go at it in spring when the trout are more active and will hunt in the shallows.

Florida 2011

30 October 2011 admin

I roamed the beach in Naples FL for three weeks and tossed flies at the tricky Snook.
It was sight fishing at its best in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Besides the Snook I encountered numerous Spanish Mackerel, Snappers and Ladyfish.

A pleasant surprise was catching Pompano, sort of a poor mans Permit.
I spotted Tarpon gobbling up mullet in front of the pass and tried to coax them
with a larger fly.
It was a futile action as they did not fall for it and honestly if they would hit the fly
I figured one jump would be the max I would get out of it.

Möhne river April 29th 2011

29 April 2011 admin

The 30th. of April is a national holiday in the Netherlands to celebrate the birthday of the queen.
We use it to go fishing in Germany at one of our favorite haunts which is the Möhne river run by
the fishing store Flyfishing Europe formerly known as Flyfishing Brinkhoff.
Since Queensday fell on a Saturday this year we decided to skip work and fish the Möhne on Friday

My friends and I live near the German border so to reach the river only requires a drive about an hour plus.
We arrived just before the opening of the store and first stocked up on flytying gear before we got our
licenses and headed for the river.
At the store they directed us to the upstream part of the river where we curiously had never fished even
though we had visited the river for years.

The upstream stetch looked good, it even was wadable which is not always the case at the Möhne river since the
banks are usually high and are formed of slippery clay.
It was low water and in this case that was good, even now some of the pools where so deep that
I hardly stayed dry.
I opted to fish with the streamer, on my first retrieve I already had two trout chasing the fly so fish where
stacked in this section.

I hooked and lost a lot of fish on this day.
Not the big monsters that this river was famous for (haven’t seen them for a long time now) but regular size fish.
There where a lot of brook trout around so I figured the fish had been stocked recently especially since I
spotted a whole group of them in one place.

I fished the river and caught rainbow trout, brown trout and brooktrout.
Furthermore I spotted one koi carp, a pike and a quite hefty chub.

At the end of the day the weather suddenly changed and clouds rolled in.
Suddenly it started to blow which was a sign for me to scramble back to
the car as lightning was immenent.
The first impact was too close for comfort so we sheltered in the car to
see if the weather would improve.
With dusk knocking on the door we moved to a more easily fished stretch of the river
and started to fish when we determined it would be safe to do so.
We where just halfway wnen lightning struck the nearby hillside so it was back running
to the car.

We waited half an hour and had a third go at the river.
The thunderclouds where gone, it only poured for a while.
I fished the last hour with a streamer and had many hits but only managed a last
brook trout and one rainbow trout.
A very good day for us at the river.

German Baltic sea coast 04-2011

15 April 2011 admin

I had to travel for work recently to the German Baltic coast
so just in case I had some spare time I took a flyrod with me.

My collegues and I where visiting a milk processing plant and
while I was thinking about searun browns at the nearby coast
my co-workers where more likely to go out drinking at the hotel.

With some persistance I managed to coax them into dropping me off
at the coast so I spend my couple of hours on the German Baltic
sea coast.
The water was clear, baitfish where around and the weather was nice so I was expecting some fish.
But … it did not work out as I planned and although I had fished extensively for a couple of hours I could not get a single bite.

Beach

My lodging, the barn to the left.
I picked the hotel and it turned out that the location was featured in
some well known German soap series … which I had never heard of, whatever

On day two of my visit I was quite early at the beach but then the weather had completely changed.
The placed Baltic sea was now boasting pretty whitecaps and the wind was blowing right in my face.
All that wave action rooted up the seasweed making the water a murky mess.
I could not even spot the large boulders that where spread around so I almost took a swim.
Still it was better to be outside than hanging around in some hotel.

I did chat to some of the locals though for some intel.
Appearantly in the morning when I was still working conditons where nice and searuns where spotted hunting along the shorelines.
Some bait fisherman where still out fishing and talked about catches
of flounder.
If the weather was favourable it was even possible to catch cod from the beach.

Maybe I should have invested in a fishing license for the river in the town where my hotel was located.
The banks there where packed with anglers since the Herring where running up the river to spawn.
Maybe I have more luck if I ever go there again.

Flyfishing Germany April 2nd.2011

2 April 2011 admin

Went out yesterday to see how the stream fished at the first hot
sunny day of the year.
I started out quite late but too my surprise I still found some deer
as I walked to the water.

Oh deer…

They smelled my socks.

…and ran off

The great outdoors looked a little bit greener than a week before with most
trees blooming and the first roadside flowers popping up

First flowers

My first stop where some willows where schools of coarse fish where gathering.
Some of them where feeding at a narrow passage between the willows where with
some difficulty I could drop a nymph in the currents to get a decent drift.
One of the fish took my nymph, it turned out to be a Dace of decent size.

Dace

Further upstream in the village I hoped to meet some of the stockies but it stayed
quiet there with the exception of one bite.
I fished the pool below the watermill with a sinking polyleader since some spots
where deep and hooked one brown trout that immediately went airborne and showed
some good acrobatics.
All that jumping also caused my barbless lure to depart from the trout.
A little further afield I spotted some fish feeding agressively below a small weir and
thought that it could be trout.
After a few casts I had a fish on but it turned out to be Dace.

Dace

I moved out of the village to some well known pools further upstream and came in contact with several trout that attacked the lure I was fishing.
I counted at least seven attacks and allthough I hooked four fish they all managed to throw the hook.
And the end of the day I called it quits and left home troutless, at least I got a tan.

Flyfishing Germany March 27th. 2011

27 March 2011 admin

Rumours where going around that the stream we fish had been
stocked so we decided to check it out.
If there where trout about we would quickly notice but it stayed
very quiet on the gamefish front.

Maybe the coarse fish would cooperate and so I tried my latest
bloodworm creation.
I got some hits on the nymph but those where not very decisive,
in the end I nailed one roach – skunk avoided.

From past expirience we knew that some of the people who stocked fish where lazy ***
so we checked out one of the bridges where easy access to the stream was possible.
No sign of fish though, what I did notice was that the windflowers had finally started to bloom.

So we could not find the trout …. but we knew someone who knew for sure since that person was involved with the stocking business.
Our informer would come to meet us and show where we had to go for some early season trout.
While we where tossing lure’s at the good spot our informer dunked some worms in the stream but even to his amazement nothing happened.

Maybe catching trout on this day would not be an option afterall.
As a last ditch attempt we decided to fish the so called guest stretch of our stream.
The guest stretch was a section of the stream where non-members could purchase day permits to fish there.

I did not believe in trout anymore so I skipped all but one of the pools and headed straight to
the end of the stretch where I knew I had a chance to catch roach.
When nymph fishing did not even yield a single bite I decided to give the trout a last shot and tied on a small streamer.

A drift under the treeroots in the bend of the stream was the ticket as a brown trout shot out to grab the streamer.
In a short while I had three takes and could land and release two fish.

So in the end I got my trout.

I hope the weather will get a little warmer in the coming weeks and a few showers
might also come in handy since the water table is low right now.

Flyfishing Netherlands March 6th. 2011

6 March 2011 admin

Fellow flyfisher Joop called me yesterday and asked if I wanted to tag along
to one of the streams near the city to fish for perch.
It sounded like a good idea and so we headed out in sub-zero temperatures
to the stream.

Pike season had ended in February so I adapted my gear to the perch.

We walked the stream for miles without any signs of life in the water.
I did notice some of the rare white herons flying over – a more welcome
sight than those evil cormorants.
The first sign of life from the water came when I hooked the root of a
waterlily, appearantly the scuds where pretty active.

We thoroughly fished all the known hideways of the fish but nothing happened.
The spot I thought would produce fish was a junction of the main stream with
a small feeder.
That feeder stream came from a nearby nature preserve that consisted mostly out of heather and moorland hence the tea coloration.

The junction was usually full of reeds in the summer and loads of dace and roach would hang out there – a good spot for predators.
I hooked a fish downstream of the junction and noticed immediately that it was a pike.
I was fishing a small weighted zonker without a trace so I expected to disconnect at any minute but by some miracle the fish stayed on.

I quickly deployed my large landing net to scoop up the pike.
After a short photo session the fish was released back into the cold water.
It was good to be out today even though it was a tad chilly.

Just a short while for the trout opener – than we will be visiting our neighbors in Germany again.

Flyfishing Netherlands Jan.23 rd. 2011

15 February 2011 admin

Went out pikefishing today with the guys from
the local flyfishingclub and got hold of my
second pike of this year.

Last time I had to beach the fish and it got
away before I could take a picture.
This time I actually remembered to bring the
net with me 🙂

Flyfishing Germany March 19th. 2011

15 February 2011 admin

It was time for another fishing session in Germany.

This time we visited a stream that is optimistically deemed a trout
stream and thus was closed down untill March 16th when trout season
opened.
Since it was still early in the season the chances of catching any fish would be very slim indeed but then again there is only one way
to find out and that is to just fish.

With the clear water we decided to fish one of our honey holes in the beginning of our river system where deeper holes always had some
roach, dace and the odd trout.
I opted to fish with a bloodworm nymph pattern which did not travel long unhindered along the bottom of the stream.

My first guess was that it would surely be a roach but it turned out to be a dace.
Fish where present and feeding, allthough I got a few more bites the fishing was slow though.

My buddy had spotted a trout as it came from its hideout to check a passing streamer but the trout could not be fooled.
The roach that roamed under a tree nearby where tempted by a gold bead
red tag nymph.

I tried one of the feeder streams in the hope to come across a leftover trout from last season.
The bright sunny conditions and the lack of leaves on the trees did not help my stealth approach and I guess if there where any fish they
would spot me first and run like hell.

My search remained fruitless so i decided to kick over some stones to see how insectlife was doing this season.
I came up with a lot of scuds and one mayfly nymph.

The upper reaches did not provide much action so it was time to head down stream and see if we could spot any fish in the more build up
areas of our stream.
It was good to see substantial numbers of Roach swimming in the stream, the cormorants had not cleared out all life out of the stream
this harsh winter.

At one of my certified fish holding areas I actually spotted a rising fish which due to its behaviour and size could only be one thing, trout.
Most likely the place was recently stocked so I tried to catch the fish with a nymph.
After a few fruitless attempts I was in contact with a brown trout but the hook came out.
My second try was with a small streamer and on several occasions a trout came racing after the fly.
When I finally hooked the fish I was pretty sure I had caught my first trout of the season but as I grabbed the net the hook came out,
bummer….

I could not go home without landing a trout so in a last ditch effort I tied on a weighted streamer.
That did the trip and with a quick scoop of the landing net the fish was landed.

So my first trip after trout opener actually delivered a trout.
After a quick picture the fish was released, it will probably be
cleared out in the upcoming days by one of the worm anglers but that is how it goes.

Hopefully some of the stockies will last over the season to gain some weight and smarten up. I will be ready for them.