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Tag: Gudgeons

Germany 06-04-2025

Germany 06-04-2025

During last week the weather was very warm, sunshine and hardly any clouds in the sky.
During the weekend temperatures would drop significantly.
When I went out on Sunday the temperature was about 34 F early on.
Once I was at the water the temperature had risen somewhat so it was not that cold.
A strong easterly wind was blowing over the land.

I was prepared with some heavier clothing as the highs for the day would be about 53 F.
Since my visit to the stream last week the outdoors looked quite a bit greener.
 I also noted that the algae mats where growing on the bottom of the stream. 
Those mats would die off later in spring when the foliage would block out the light.

My first goal was to catch those trout I missed last week.
Tried the same spots and heck nothing was present, in fact on most spots I got no bites at all.
Finally I spotted some tiny fish moving in a pool.
I order to avoid skunk I tried to get one of those, it was a school of gudgeons with some small
dace mixed in.

I wanted the dace but the gudgeons where more numerous so I caught one of those.
Maybe the trout had moved upstream so I checked any deeper pools there out.
Surprisingly  I got a hit from a small trout and it went airborne a few times only to throw the fly.
A pool further upstream the same happened.

Spots where I would normally catch shiners guaranteed where all dead.
Nymphs where useless, I got all bites on the squirmy.
There was one pool that was promising and since access was a bit harder than usual it
could be a bonus for finding fish.

I launched the squirmy in the beginning of the pool and got a hit from a good fish.
Turned out to be a brown trout of a decent size for this small stream.
I fished a light tippet so I had to fight the fish carefully with the chance that the
barbless hook would come out if I did not take care.
Luckily it all went to plan and I could land the fish.

I tried some other spots in a downstream section but although I could spot fish I did
not get any bites.  Surprisingly as I spotted a lot more insects in the air than last week.
I blamed it on the east wind.
Spring was in full swing, a lot drier than last year though so again weather in extremes.
Noticed the first swallows in the sky back from Africa, also spotted the first stork.

Germany 23-06-2024

Germany 23-06-2024

Last Saturday I deemed the waterlevels of the local streams too high due to the many downpours but
on Sunday all looked good.
I went for an early start hence the number of deer encountered en route was significant.

As I had noticed last week that fish where stocked I tried one of the upstream stretches hoping to
find feeding or rising fish.
Well, I found plenty and had some nice battles with jumping rainbow trout.

Most fish came on the mop fly but also a few on the squirmy.
Although mayfly action was zero I tried a spent pattern on some dace I spotted in front of
a pool. I could only nail one on the mayfly but it was good fun.

The particular stretch I was fishing should better be left alone on Sundays due to the path
alongside it = to many dogwalkers tossing sticks in the stream.
I had one dog jumping right next to me in the drink but on its own accord … 
The fish returned though once the dog was gone.

I caught most of the fish species available in the stream.
From gudgeons to roach, rudd, dace and trout all where inclined to take the fly.
Not many insects on the water but at some spots fish where regularly taking
stuff from the surface.

Germany 29-08-2021

Germany 29-08-2021

For a change the weather frogs got it right … it rained … a lot.
I checked out the upstream part of the stream hoping to find a leftover trout, didn’t find any …

Now my friends and I had a theory about the lack of trout being caught.
It had not been the first time that the guy responsible for stocking trout
also was the one to clubber them out of the stream the next day with his friends.
No proof of course but this had to be the worst season I had experienced concerning trout catches.

Anyways I tried my best in the rain as the stream started to discolor and rise due to the heavy rainfall.
The fly of choice for these low visibility situations was the squirmy and it attracted a lot of bites.
Alas only bites from gudgeons … smallest bottom feeder in the stream that usually grabbed the tail
and hanged on till the last minute like little pitbulls.

The plus of the murky water was that even in the shallows you could approach the fish close.
Some spots also yielded dace and a couple of small roach but no trout.
Plenty of action but no good fish to be found at the spots I visited.

When I got enough of the gudgeon bites I headed straight to the pub for dinner.
The pub was void of the usual bikers and day trippers due to the weather.
I did ran into my fishing buddies though … they also had seen no trout on another stretch.
The highlight of the day sure was not the fishing but the dessert, waffles with ice cream and hot cherries…