Germany 19-05-2013
Sunday promised to be the best day of the week for fishing so off to the stream.
Spring has let us down temperature wise for now, only the foliage on the trees
reminds you that it is not fall.
A bright and sunny start of the day
I decided to fish some of the old spots on the stream that I had not visited
for a long time.
I fished some promising pools but found no signs of life there.
At one spot I noticed a rising fish, the same I had spotted last week – for sure a trout.
There was however no way I could make a decent cast in the jungle surrounding the stream.
I was upstream from the fish but could not get a good drift downstream because of a newly
formed bunch of debris had settled in the middle of the shallow section in front of the deep pool.
So I moved quietly downstream, went down the steep bank and hid behind a big tree.
With a roll cast I managed to launch the fly to the general holding area of the trout.
The fish came to the surface, grabbed the fly but got off – bugger.
I moved on upstream where I did notice signs of fish but again I was not able to approach
the fish before they spotted me and ran.
Steep banks, very shallow water and loads of trees and shrubs make the life of a flyfisherman
difficult at the stream I fish.
I did target a couple of Roach I spotted in one of the deeper pools and finally caught the
first fish of the day – tiny it may have been but a fish is a fish.
I moved further into the forest coming to our little no-go area where a local farmer won’t
let fish.
At one of the last pools I noticed something big in the water, it turned out to be a bream.
The fish had spotted me first though and slowly moved into cover.
Since it was midday I decided that it was time for lunch.
The pub was for a change loaded with people, all due to the local marksmen festival.
Those Marksmens festivals where always a big deal in the little rural towns and villages
and so it was on this day.
I figured it might take a long time to get something to eat with all these people
around but I got my food in a remarkably short time, guess good tipping helps 🙂
In the afternoon I fished the area around the pub.
Again not much fish around but I did notice some rising fish here and there.
A cast into a fast flowing rocky section delivered my first trout of the day,
not a monster but a trout anyhow.
Action was slow, out of boredom I decided to see what food sources the local
trout had.
Allthough the stream has a mainly sand bottom there are section that have
a soft sandstone bottom, besides that fallen tree branches provide cover for insects
and small fish.
So I put the landing net on the river bed and kicked up a few stones and branches
and voila – the little critters got caugh.
The catch consisted out of a loach, a millers thumb and some shrimp.
No wonder that natural colored streamers work so well in my stream.
Late in the day I decided that there still was time to check out or so called visitors stretch.
That stretch was available for non-members who could purchase day-tickets to fish that section.
It was usually better stocked that the rest of the stream so maybe there could be some
trout to be caught there.
The water was low and clear so approaching fish was almost impossible.
Fishing a streamer or nymph with indicator in these conditions just was to crude, even the landing
of a weighted fly in the water would scare of the fish.
As I had noticed that fish where rising I tied on a segde pattern.
There where insects on the water most of the St.Marks flies where
gone.
A hopefull sight however was the appearance of the first big mayflies of the season.
At a dead fall I noticed some irregular water movement thinking it might be a
feeding trout.
I carefully placed the segde along the deadfall and a trout shot right up from the deep
and nailed the fly – great action.
It was a small trout but it was a scrappy one that put quite a bend in my
light 4-weight rod, first fish on the dry fly this season.
I checked out a nearby bridge where I though I had seen a rising fish during a recent visit.
At the time I was not sure it was a fish rising, it could have just been drainage water from
the bridgde but on this day I actually saw that it was a rising fish.
Now it was time to figure out how to approach the fish, get close from the side or
wade to it.
I opted for the easier land approach which resulted in a fleeing fish, the water under the
brigde was really shallow – bad move.
Maybe the trout would come back later so I fished another spot.
The other spot boasted a feeding trout but it fed right in front of a fallen tree that
lay at right angles over the water.
Fallen blossoms from the trees collected in front of the obstacle.
I missed about four takes on the segde at that point and then it went quiet –
the trout had gone.
Time to check out the bridge again and yes the fish was feeding in its old spot.
This time I waded to it, as I did the trout was happily feeding.
I had to wade a little closer to make a cast, the trout was still feeding…
When I made the cast though the trout spotted me and raced off, on the shallow
sandy bottom it almost looked like a torpedo had been fired off.
I tried some other spots in the area to no avail.
It was already late in the day and the fading light and clouds where a sign to call it day.