dry fly Archives - Flyfishing FWSW

Last Saturday was another unusual hot spring day thus perfect for another fishing session.
I opted for inner village fishing hoping to encounter numbers of good roach and maybe the odd stocked trout. With the relative dry weather lately the stream level was more or less back to normal with the exception that clarity was not that great.

The first pool had a good flow and I was expecting many fish to be caught but I only managed
one small gudgeon on the squirmy.
I tried several spots with both squirmy and nimf but no reaction at all from the fish.
To be honest I did not see much life except for some carp moving along the banks in a slow moving
section above a weir.

I finally ended at the edge of the village and spotted for the first time this season rising fish.
A school of small dace had settled in the current in the foam line picking at debris floating by.
I switched to a small dry fly and caught one of the small dace, first dry fly action of this year.

I was hoping the forest would bring some more nymph action but nothing was moving.
There where quite a few insects on the water and I had expected more action.
The best I could do was one small roach on the nymph.
I was also hoping for stocked trout but I saw no signs of them.

The last section of the stream I visited was the so-called guest stretch where outsiders could
fish with a day-ticket. Figuring the club should at least stock some fish there I scouted for trout.
Again I could see no signs of any larger fish.
On my search I noticed some large dace feeding very actively in a difficult location.
After a few missed takes and tangles in the trees I finally hooked a good fish.
Of course with the racket of that first catch the school was gone.

Just before I called it a day I noticed another school of dace feeding in the foam line.
Big fish again and although I had already packed in and rigged up again and made a few casts.
The strong wind made it difficult to place the fly at the right spot and I missed one or two good takes.
The disturbance I made scared the fish eventually away and they did not return so I called it quits.

So dry fly fishing this day was the best method.
The foliage is exploding on the scene, insects are on the increase.
Hopefully the weather stays civil over the next weeks.

Germany 29-04-2023

30 April 2023 admin

For a change I tried some spots in the village hoping to do well with the silver fish.
Hopes where high but reality kicked soon in as I could not spot any fish and did not get any bites.
Many spots seemed shallower and I could not spot any fish.
Normally you would expect schools of dace and roach moving about this time of year.

In the end I found some tiny dace feeding in the surface and did some target practice with a dry fly.
This resulted in a tiny dace but it was the first fish caught on sight with a dry fly this season.
Could not find any larger dace roaming the stream though.
That whole village plan did not work at all so to save the day I went back to the spot where I had
previously caught the trout.

The location switch paid of as I landed two trout, missed two and landed a few dace.
Fly of choice was again the perdigon nymph with the squirmy being totally useless.
Ran into a buddy of mine but he blanked at the stretch he was fishing.

Overall the action was very slow despite seeing numerous BWO’s on the water and
some dace going for them.
Spring so far has been pretty cold in regards to previous years so I expect it
will take a while before the bite gets be

Germany 20-09-2020

20 September 2020 admin

Another sunny day was upon us so again back to the chub hot spots.
As it had not rained for ages the water in the stream was extremely
low and almost stagnant.
I did not manage to spot any large fish or many fish to be precise.

With the sun low in the sky I had again problems just seeing fish.
The many bow waves in the shallow water indicated to me that
the fish had none of such problems.

I finally spotted a collection of fish near a brigde.
The reaction to a dry fly landing in the water was not what I was hoping for.
The fish scattered with even the larger ones running scared.

Switched to a squirmy brought a small chub to surface and later on
a small sedge did the same.
The fish which I did not where totally uninterested in any flies I
offered them.
Hopefully some rain will fall soon to get some action started.

Germany 19-09-2020

19 September 2020 admin

A bright sunny day just beckoned for chub fishing.
An early start was out of the question as it was fall and the morning
temperatures where quite low.
The first spot I visited boasted some chub and I had the first fish quite
early on.

A little walk along the stream revealed a very big chub in the middle
of the stream hovering in the surface.
I managed to put the fly right in front of the fish without scaring it
as I usually do.
The chub moved slowly towards the fly and tried to gulp it down.

Tried because yours truly was again to quick on the strike and yanked
the fly out of reach of the fish.
The fish submerged to be never seen again.
A trip to a feeder stream yielded chub nr. 2 of the day and later finally
the largest one of the day measuring 40cm.

Fishing was tough, quite some wind from the east and also a sun low
in the sky that made spotting fish very difficult for me.
Alas the fish had less problems seeing me … they ran …

Germany 06-09-2020

6 September 2020 admin

I left for the stream just as the sun was appearing in the sky.
The weather forecast was questionable but early morning started with patches of fog and a clear sky.

Fall was here, crisp mornings with fog and still the possibility of warm afternoons.
With the sun low in the sky I could not really have a good look in the water and thus had difficulty with spotting fish.
I scared the fish off before I could make casts with only on one occasion a fish that took a look at the large dry fly twice before rejecting it.

With time the sun came higher but also clouds appeared and the wind picked up messing up my chances for sight fishing.
A small sedge yielded a small chub so at least I did not blank.
The spot I fished was clearly not yielded any fish so I headed to a feeder stream where surprisingly the fish where absent.

With some luck I got two larger fish but still not the size I wanted, fish in the 40 to 50cm range.
It was late afternoon when I tried my last spot which frankly had not been good to me this season.
Again the lack of sunshine made spotting fish virtually impossible with the fish seeing me first and running for cover.

I was lucky that I spotted the orange fins of a large chub upstream from me close to the bank, I noticed in fact two large chub.
I could not place the large mayfly under the bank from my position but I did manage to toss the fly near to the fish.

The fly was close enough to make both fish turn and one of them gobbled up the mayfly without any hesitation.
I kept my cool and struck at the right moment resulting in the landing of
an 48cm long chub on the 4-weight.