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Tag: Low water

Germany 08-08-26

Germany 08-08-26

With the continuous drought conditions during the last two months I had not been out on a fishing session.
When I noticed how long it was since I had been fishing I figured it was time to head out once again.
With no relieve of rain in sight I opted to fish the lower end of the waters I am allowed to fish in.
With this darn heat the only thing that would work was probably going after the chub with surface flies.

I checked out the most easy spot at the feeder stream and boy what was the water low.
The stairs at the measuring gage ended in a pool of mud with only little water standing.
The stream was still flowing but at below minimum rate.
Plenty of small chub around but for some reason I could not get hits.

Further upstream I noticed some pretty big bow waves moving so I figured that had to be the location of the big boys.
One cast and bingo, I had a pretty decent fish on.
Luckily I had my Daiwa street fishing net with so I could land the fish over the mud securely.
A few casts later I landed the second fish, an even larger specimen.

By now I had spooked all the fish in the section I was fishing.
I opted to fish the more open section of the main stream.
At the main stream levels also looked very low, lots of algae growth and pretty clear water.
I noticed a lot of big chub but extremely wary fish, they spotted me and stayed deep.

I finally spotted one fish close to the bank without being spotted and made a cast  to it.
The fly was slurped down the moment it hit the water.


I checked out the final stretch of the day encountered lots of fish but I was spotted early so no joy with them.
By now it was midday and the heat was getting to me so I took a break under a tree to hydrate. 
Next I went to a section with no tree cover at all and boy was it hot.
Again I was spotted early on and bow waves upstream signalled the fleeing fish.

At the first weir of a fish ladder I spotted several chub, the water was so shallow that the landing of the fly made them scoot.
The final insult was when I chub moved into reverse when I presented a large dry fly pattern to it.
That was the sign to call it day and head to the pub.
At the pub I got surprised looks … they probably thought I was dead being absent for two months.

Germany, 19-07-2025

Germany, 19-07-2025

This was the first session on the stream since my return from the USA.
I had already gotten a warning about how low the stream was and boy it was certainly low.
Since it would be a hot day I left early and was at the water on time.

When I stepped into the remaining stream I had planned to fish a deeper spot downstream.
What I did not expect was to encounter a fish in the shallow water in front of the pool.
So the first fish of the day was scared away, one of many.

I dropped a nymph in the deep pool and soon was rewarded by a bite.
A solid hit by a nice rainbow trout which I suspected was the fish I scared away.
I checked out some other spots nearby and actually had hits on a dry fly from small dace.

When I returned to my starting point I noticed a trout again in the shallows.
It was clearly a brown trout so that was the fish I spooked right at the beginning.
With the water being so shallow I opted to change to a dry fly as not to scare the fish.
That did not help though … scared away the second time.

I checked out many other spots on the stream but the low water made it tough.
Approach fishing without spooking them was difficult.
Still I had plenty of hits from roach, rudd, dace and the odd gudgeon.
I even had a large perch chasing one of the roach I caught.

The low water meant that you had to fish many spots with deadfalls and debris
as the fish where hiding there.
It also meant losing a lot of flies by getting hung up in the rootwork and debris.

Late in the afternoon the heat reminded me that not taking anything to drink with me
was a foolish decision.
I called it a day and went to one of the local restaurants for something to drink and eat.

The hot weather reminded me also that the season was slowly slipping away and I
had not even been on a proper chub session.
So I chub session is called for in the near future when the weather conditions allow it.

Germany, 13-04-2025

Germany, 13-04-2025

My goal for the weekend’s fishing was to check out the chub section of the river.
The coming Saturday would be the warmest day so far with a whopping 22 degrees C.
Alas a terrible headache kept me from going out.

Instead I went out on Sunday with a 180 degree change in weather.
Light rain showers and a considerable drop in temperature.
My first fishing spot was at the entrance of the stream to a village.
I had not been there for a long time and noticed some pretty drastic changes.

Two of the large willows on the stream where in the process to be chopped down.
No cover thus but access to spots otherwise inaccessible.
And despite the sprinkles and strong wind I could see fish moving about.
Unfortunately they where not in the biting mood and the only bite ended in a lost fish.

I finally ended up in a forested stretch of the stream.
Some of the big trees leaning over the water looked pretty dead and dangerous in these windy conditions.
With the drought going on the water was extremely shallow and I could not see any fish.
Only hits from the tiny bottom feeders aka gudgeons.

Not many insects around so surface fishing still out of the question.
Nymphing was again unproductive so the squirmy came into action again.
Only managed one roach, a dace, a gudgeon and a small brown trout.
Even the spots where I was not supposed to fish where empty… 

Around five in the afternoon I called it a day and coincidentally that was precise the time
when you could order something to eat at the pub.
So while it started to rain again I sat inside and chatted with the landlord and the usual suspects.
The landlord provided me with some high octane drink to flush away my fishing sorrow.

Cuckooflower
Yellow Archangels
Yellow Archangel
Buttercup
Roach
Brown trout
Dace
Orange tip butterfly
Gudgeon
Roe deer
Roe deer