Flyfishing FWSW

The guys from the fishing club had planned a trip to the Eifel region, basically the part of Germany
that is adjacent to the Belgian Ardennes area.
Since I already had a few fishing trips on my sleeve and a upcoming trip to Rhode Island planned I declined the offer to join them.

It looked like it would get busy at work so I did not take the chance to ask for more time off.
When I discovered that it would be quiet at work for some time I decided at the last minute to join the trip.

The first destination would be the Rur river at the village of Blens.
Two of our party had already fished there last year during the summer and had good results.
Since the hotel was full we got the rental house on the other side of the street which was nice.

The first day of our trip was purely a travel day, after 3,5 hours we arrived at the village of Blens and off course
the first thing we did was park the car and walked to the bridge over the river to see if we could spot any rising fish.

We did not stop at the hotel though but ran straight to the end of the stretch we where allowed to fish.
Halfway at that spot the river would make a s-curve, at that curve there was a deep hole.




A cross at the roadside was placed in remembrance of an unlucky soul who died there due to an accident in 1881.
Lokal folklore stated that the man in question in was drunk at the time and ran his horse drawn carriage
right in that deep hole to be never found again.

A nice tall story although the divers of the local fire department estimated that the hole would be 40 meters /
120 feet deep, enough to swallow man and horse I guess.




“Pray for the soul of the Joseph Kühl ,born on the 4th. Of Mai 1881, who crashed here on the 13th. Of July 1881.
Watch and pray because death will come to you at an hour you do not suspect.”

After our little sightseeing trip we headed to the hotel and occupied our rental house.
We would not fish this day, instead we went to the hotel’s restaurant for some good German food and
of course some fine wheatbeers.
The next morning we would visit the river well before breakfast for a short fishing session.

The part of the Rur river we would fish was located behind the Rur reservoir at Heimbach.
This meant clear water with a constant temperature and a quite steady flow of 7.5 cubic meters per second according to
the measuring station at the reservoir.
In the early morning we headed to the river when it was still dark outside.
The river looked good, mist was still hanging in the valley and over the cold water.




I had some difficulties coping with the fast flow and the wide river, not a place I was used to.
What disappointed me was the total lack of visible fish, I already was told to fish into the adjacent bank
but somehow I did not got a single bite.
The guys who had visited this river last year had fished there with a guide and that obviously paid
off since they managed to catch a few fish.






I scouted a large stretch of the river but it was to no avail, in the end I decided to join the other guys
to see how they where faring.

Tom told me he had seen a rising fish near the bridge but could not get it to take his fly
and suggested I might have a go at it.
I decided to launch a klinkhamer dry fly at the spot mentioned and behold after a few drifts a trout sticked
it’s head above the surface and took the fly.




Luckily skunk was avoided, the brown trout was a pretty specimen with a nice dark brown coloration.
When we left for breakfast Tom had six fish, Alfons five and Joop and I both one fish.

According to the other guys the water was slightly higher than usual but not extremely high.
We settled in the restaurant of the hotel for breakfast and would visit the stream later in the morning.






The afternoon session was tough, we fished downstream from the bridge and had a hard time
getting into the water because of the steep banks.
I could not get a single hit on the fly even though I fished a lot of places that would have to hold the one or the other fish in my book.
The other guys did not fare well better and I must confess that I felt a bit disappointed that a water with
such a heavy price tag for a permit would not yield more fish.

The icing on the cake came when my wading staff decided to lead a life on its own.
The staff was new and came with a warning in the manual that some people had lost their staff due to a
faulty connection on the line that secured the staff to the holster.
Off course I checked that connection as suggested in the manual but it still came loose and so 
I stood there in the full current without my wading staff.
I had to think quick to avoid a swim in the cold water and made my way to the bank,
picked up a suitable wooden stick and secured it to a line.

I made my way downstream until I was at the S-curve where Joseph Kühl plunged to his death in 1881.
I found that close to that abyss there was a rock ledge where you could walk on.
I crawled along the willows of the bank and positioned myself on rock ledge so I could reach that
single rising fish that was located near an otherwise unreachable deadfall.
I did get a good shot at the fish and voila, the fish took the fly.



The problem was that the fish was rather small in my book, I tried for some bigger trout but could not find them.
While fishing Joop radioed in that the water levels had risen quickly, we also noticed that a lots of debris where floating by.
When I met the other guys at the river we decided to take a break and go for dinner to the restaurant.

We told the story of the increased flows at the hotel’s owner who stated that the people at the reservoir would inform him
on time if they would release water.
So a call went out to the reservoir, and indeed extra water was released “turbine cleaning“ so they told us.

We where directed to a second spot by the hotel owner that would surely yield fish in the evening so after dinner we headed way upstream.
The water was still running high though and the fish where nowhere to be seen.
In a last ditch effort we headed back to the abyss after sunset in the hope of catching more fish.
Only Tom managed to get more as he spotted some rising fish in a spot that was difficult to reach.

When it was to dark to see the fly we called it quits.
We retreated to our rental place and discussed the plans for the next day.
There was an option to fish a second day on the Rur river but with these results and the hefty permit price we skipped that option.
Calls where made to our plan B spot at the Kyll river in Kyllburg where we would rent a cabin on the local camping.

To be continued…

Went out for a late afternoon session on yet
another chilly day almost in the middle of May.
I was pretty soon into a fish which I suspected 
was a brook trout due to its tendency to fight 
deep. 
Lost contact with the fish and headed downstream
where I got lot’s of bites but could not make them stick.
After sunset I was fearing skunk but fishing a streamer
weighted with a split shot upstream brought me my
first brook trout of the season and a bonus rainbow trout.

Harz 2010 day 3 – May 22nd.

Fishing was good the day before but one of the members of our party had a serious mishap, he lost his full box of flies when he left the river late in the evening.
A search party in the dark yielded no flybox so it was decided that we would return to the upstream section for a second time.
After breakfast we headed back, my buddies sent me off to fish while they backtracked to find the flybox.



En route to one of the pools near the reservoir.

The stream was still running high but this time the water was a little clearer.
The pool where I did so good the day before still produced fish.


Roach

Grayling.

Allthough fishing was good I noticed that it was not as productive as the day before so I went upstream in search of more fish.
I eventually ended up at a nice pool where I caught a row of small brown trout.





Brown trout.

Wondering what the fish ate I turned over some stones and saw creepers and other stuff scurry away. Curious as I was I took a caddis nymph out of its case evergreen needles to its coloration.


Caddis nymph.

Well I figured my nymphs had the same size and looked like the real deal so I would probably fare well. 
The pool I fished was not very deep but deep enough to hold many fish.



The pool.

At the front of the pool the water was deeper, I took quite a few trout and grayling from the fast flowing water.





More fish.

In the afternoon one of my buddies called that it was time to get a grab to eat.
The good news was that the lost flybox was retrieved intact.
Not so good was that they had parked the car at another carpark.
I got the tip to proceed on the mountain path to get to carpark, as I went higher and higher
I had the feeling I would get lost big time.




On the mountain path.

The path went uphill all the way until I came into a small village where a small unpaved road winded through little old houses.
I expected banjo playing any minute now, the locals looked … well you get the picture.
From high in the village I saw the car down at the river, I was pretty quick off that mountain.
We took an extend break at our favourite restaurant and pondered where to go next.
The evening session would take place at the river below the reservoir.

In the second half of the day the weather began to change.
Suddenly the clouds came low, visibility and temperature came down.
That evening rise would was surely not going to happen now.



The first pool

The first pool yielded fish right away, it had always been a good spot for me.
What amazed me was the current width of the river, I had never seen it so wide.
When I walked down stream I found that flooding in spring had totally reshaped the river bed.
I could hardly catch a fish there so I doubled back and travelled upstream instead.
The upstream part looked good though.
At one of the pools I finally hooked a large trout.


The big one ….

The fish I had just hooked put a deep bend in the rod, when the fish surfaced I could see it was a very chunky brown dark in coloration.
Then the fish did something unexpected, instead of swimming upstream it went downstream and rolled in the surface. 
When the fish rolled the barbless hook came out, bummer …. catching a big fish down there 
was like winning the lottery.



Last action of the day.

The rest of the evening went slow.
I still managed a few fish out of the fast flowing water but big fish where not around.
At least I had gotten a shot at a big fish, fishing in such beautiful scenery was already a reward on its own.
When I spotted my buddies coming towards me I knew it was time to get back to the hotel.
We still had to reach our quota of Wheat beer so off we went to get a couple of cold ones and review the day.

Harz 2010 day 2 – May 21st.

After a good nights rest we enjoyed a very good breakfast at the hotel.
Since it was my birthday the other guys gave me the choice where to fish on this day.
I opted to fish above one of the large reservoirs that dotted the river.
My goal was to a catch grayling whom where more numerous in the upper reaches of the river.




Upstream.

When we came to the river I was a bit surprised by the high brown water, clearly not a tailwater upstream. 
I had never seen so much water in that section so I decided to change my tactics and go
Czech nymphing – basicly short nymphing with heavy weighted caddis nymphs.
During the long cold winter I had obtained varies literature and DVD’s about the subject so I was prepared.
My Trout bum rod with its 7ft length was too short for this type of fishing but with the colored water and heavy flow I would surely get away with it.
After some practice I actually started to get the hang of it and caught my first little brown trout on a green caddis nymph.
I had actually coaxed myself into tying some of my own flies, in this case caddis nymphs with tungsten beads on a Hanak B300 barbless hook.
Before I knew it I even caught the grayling I was after.


Grayling

I fished several pools and riffles until I came pretty near to the part of the river where it entered the large reservoir.
The banks where often completely dug out by the wild boar, from the tracks they appeared to be numerous but I never saw one.
Being close to the reservoir became appearant when I started to catch shiners.


Dace

Grayling



Roach

At a certain moment I reached the end of the river and saw that the reservoir was pretty full.
The grass on the banks was underwater. 



At the end

I spotted some rising fish at the end but there where not many insects around.
My first guess was brown trout, since the rising where so far inbetween I decided to probe the waters with a small streamer to see who was out there.
The streamer was intercepted but not by a brown trout.


Little yellow perch

Yellow perch was not the fish I was after so I tied on an emerger and launched the fly to where I saw the last rising fish.
That fly was duly taken by a fish, to my surprise a grayling.


Grayling.

In the afternoon we took an extended break at our favorite restaurant in the wilderness and then returned to the river for the rest of the fishing session.

I spend the rest of the day Czech nymphing the lower section of the stream catching loads of little brown trout, grayling and roach.
It was sunny, there where a few bugs around but fish where not rising to any of the insects.
Some insects where maybe a tad to large like a big beetle I saved from the floods.


Bug


More grayling




Scenery

The fish where on the small size but the catching continued throughout the day.
I even caught some of the obvious stockie browns that lacked the golden coloration of the native brown strain.


Stocked brown

Last fish of the day, Roach

Past sunset.

We fished until last light hoping for an evening rise but that never came.
On the way back I took the mountain path carefully watching my steps, you do not want to stumble over wild boars down there.
We ended our day at the hotel with some more dark wheat beers until we reached our quota and called it a day.
We still had to climb up the mountain to reach our quarters, sleep came quickly as it was dead quiet in the village with the only sound coming from the flowing water of the river.

This morning we went for a short fishing session to one of the streams we fish.
The main goal was to check if the chubs would be present and willing to take flies.
Before fishing we went for the obligatory stop at the Bakers for coffee and bread.
With the football mania going on the Bakery had a lottery going on, main prize a football in the German colours.
I actually won something, one Kaiser roll.
When we came at our fishing location I offered the Kaiser roll to the stream, just to see if any chub where around.
Oddly nobody was picking up the bread from the surface, not a good omen.




Crow foot.

The stream was full of water crow foot, a beautifull sight to see.
My buddy spotted some rising fish among the crow foot and tried to nail them with the dry fly.
I started nymphing a riffle that was bordered by the crow foot which surely would hold fish.
After a few fruitless casts the nymph was intercepted, to my surprise by a brown trout which was very rare at that location.


Brown trout

The spot I fished yielded only one fish but this meant the day was saved and I could now spend time finding out
where all those chub where gone.
I walked quite a distance along the stream and was pleasantly surprised to see several storks circeling high above
me in the sky.


Storks

After a long walk I saw fish, maybe fifteen of them of a species I could not indentify exactly.
Due to the high banks the fish also spotted me and they all ran off.
In hindsight those fish where either large chubs or barbels.
When I spotted some smaller fish I made my way down the banks and entered the water.
Once I was standing in the stream the fish had all but gone, plan failed.
I headed back to the place I started fishing, along the way lots of mayflies where flying along the river bank – not on the water.



Mayfly

At the first location I tossed dry flies at the rising fish but I only caught one mini size Dace.
There where plenty of chubs swimming in the clear water, mostly small but also some sizable fish amongst them.
The odd thing was that they just would not take nymphs or dry flies, only the small stuff fed on the surface.
We ended the fishing session early in the afternoon, maybe we will hit a different spot next time to get more fish.

Since the last trip to the Harz mountains turned out
so well we still had a follow up trip in mind.
Despite the risk of very low water tables in high 
summer we went and where not dissapointed.
Normally we would catch mostly small trout there but
this time we appearantly arrived after the streams had
been stocked heavily.
So we spend four days in flyfishing valhalla as we 
caught loads of fish in very nice weather.
Most fish where caught on nymphs and streamers but on
the last day I also did extremely well with a balloon caddis
pattern. 
The pictures will tell the rest of the story….

We had promised Tom, the president of our flyfishingclub to take him on a
guided tour to the waters we frequented just over the border …. that was five years ago.
So finally after five years a date was set to redeem our debt to him.

We started fishing in one of the headwaters of the stream we fish in.
You should have seen the Tom’s face when we entered the forest and came
to the creek that resembled more a ditch.
His face red something like “you fish in that :huh: “
Like all non-jungle flyfisherman he foremost battled with the shrubs since he 
was used to places with a little more headroom.
Still he was utterly surprised when he saw a fish and behold after some casts 
he managed to catch a little trout in that “ditch”





After showing him around some more spots of the upper stream we moved 
further along the stream. 
It was late in the morning when we stopped at a bakery for breakfast with 
some good coffee and eggs and bacon omelettes.

The afternoon was spend way downstream from the place we had started the day. 
The small ditch had turned now into a small river and flowed through the open landscape. 




One of my friends had scouted the place a week before and had caught some 
nice chubs, now only minnows where around.
We tried our best but the fishing gods seemed to be against us.



Do we need hundreds of dollars of fancy equipment for this :kook: 

The river was also frequented by quite a few people with canoes so the shy 
chubs where probably gone.
I decided to toss small zonker streamers in the river and was rewarded with a 
few little perch.




In the evening we checked out a few other locations but the fishing was slow 
to say the least. 
With upcoming thunderclouds it was time to make it to our final destination – dinner at the pub.
The pub used to be the old haunt of my German fishing club built way back in 1794. 
Recently reopened and very popular with bikers it was also rediscovered by 
us, good food at good prices – you can’t ask for more.




We ended the day with good food and good company, once again a perfect 
fishing trip in my book.