Flyfishing FWSW

Since the mill pool visits where pretty fruitless I skipped the purchase of a day ticket.
Instead I focused on the main stream.
Curiously I had no hits on the squirmy and the Perdigon nymph was apparently also not in great demand.
I sticked to the Perdigon and fished it deep.
That paid off as I battled my first brown of the day.

The silver fish let me down with only two dace.
I figured the pool I fished might hold more trout and boy it did.
After catching trout nr.2 from the pool action went dead.

Next I concentrated on fishing the spot under a bridge.
My strike indicator was hit by a trout and on a second cast I hooked the fish.
I lost the close quarters battle though as I had too much slack in the line, fish lost.
I kept trying though and within an hour I had caught three trout from under the bridge. My day was made and with the knowledge that it would be unlikely to get more fish from these marks I moved on.
 The remainder of the day I tried several marks of the beaten path but they where totally dead. I could not even get a bite, weird.

Next stop the pub and the landlady told me that people had been stocking fish a day before.
That sounded mighty interesting and just as I was zipping on a cold I noticed an
Fisherman moving to the mill pond.
A familiar face as it was the guy in charge of stocking for this stream.

Went outside and chatted with the guy whom I knew well.
Supposedly the mill pool was stocked with several brown- and tiger trout.
Finished my meal early and fished the mill pool.
Water still higher than normal and wading extremely difficult because of all the rubble
used to stabilize the banks from way back when.

Tried nymphs and squirmy’s to no avail and for a while it seemed as dead as the other
stream I had finished.
The day was ending but suddenly I noticed rings at the end of the pool.
With nymphs being ignored I went for a sinking polyleader with a streamer and
hooked several perch in succession, no trout though.
Vacated the place near sunset as the action died down.

Had another go at the stream and started a little earlier because a rain front was 
predicted to roll in early evening.
Tried to sure shot spots but could not get any fish to bite, water was clear but could not spot fish.
The squirminator was useless, a perdigon nymph yielded a small dace.

With the mill pool void of people I gambled on purchasing a day ticket 
hoping I would have the pool for myself.
Unfortunately it was not to be … as soon as I had purchased the ticket
two other syndicate members turned up with the same intentions.

The bait guys fished one side of the pond, both with two rods.
I had the other half but nothing was biting, even the bait slingers had no hits.
We blamed it on the east wind, always bad fishing when that happens.
I got bored and fished the outflow of the mill pool.
Managed a nice little brown trout on the perdigon.

In the mill pool itself I tossed streamers about and finally hooked one trout
but lost the fish.
Several hours later I hooked a larger trout but ran into trouble as the resident
pike intended to eat my catch.
Tried to land the fish quickly before the pike attacked but again lost the fish
prematurely … trout gone and pike gone.

The skies got darker in the afternoon so I called it a day.
Skipped the pub as I wanted to be home before the mess started.
Reached home as the first sprinkles fell.
Still early season on the stream so not much happening.
Hope it gets warmer and some foliage appears on the trees.

I Saw a news report that the Netherlands was no longer considered a high risk area by our
neighbors to the east.
This meant I could once again visit the good fishing waters of my German syndicate.

The trout where still on station where I expected them and soon I had the first one hooked.
Water was a tad high so I fished most of the time with a squirmy to offer some substantial to the fish.
I also managed to catch a few dace and roach along the way.

Big mayflies where sporadically on the water but not many fish on them. mostly the small dace.
I noticed a big splash near some flotsam and figured it had to be a trout but a big mayfly pattern
did not coax a reaction of the fish.

I fished some small deeper ridges at a steep wall when I got a decent hit on the squirmy.
The fish got off though and I was not sure it had felt the hook.
I fished some other spots downstream from the last hit and returned later in the day to
give it a second try.
After a few tries I got again a good strike and landed a nice brown trout.

The early start and the warm water had made me thirsty and hungry so I tried to get
a seating at the beer garden of the pub.
Managed to get a spot in the end and enjoyed some cold ones and pork chops.
With months of bad weather and everybody holed up it was no surprise the crowds
where out today.