Germany 30-06-2019
Again a very hot day … more people in the stream than fish and just a few tiny fish to show for. We need some serious rain.
Germany 29-06-2019
Another blazing hot summers day, the sheltered sections of the stream still yielded some trout for me.
It was hot and the break at the pub was more than welcome, nothing beats a couple of wheat beers in the beer garden on a hot day.
Started dinner with mozzerella/tomatoes, then the stuffed potato and finished it all off with cheesecake and coffee.
Germany 23-06-2019
High summer overhere and just like last year the drought is again a big problem for nature and farming in general.
The stream is almost out of water and the only major influx is now coming from the municipal wastwater treatment plant and two treatment plants the local dairy and slaughterhouse.
Another problem with the changing weather patterns is the rise of the oak processionary moths usually native in the southern part of Europe.
The caterpillars build nests, the little buggers have poisenous hairs that break off and are carried by the wind causing a whole lot of problems from rash to anafylactic shock in the worst cases.
Not the best of times to be outside but heck I tried anyway and since I had received intel on stocked fish I had a go at the more sheltered stretches of the stream in the forest.
All in all bearable … lots of action and even a few fish caught.
Off course all topped of with the usual break at the pub.
Germany 22-06-2019
A short session at the stream with the usual mix of small roach and dace.
Thüringen 06-2019
The opportunity came along for a road trip with my friends to Thuringia and so I did my best to get some time off work.
The plan was to fish the Werra river and some of its tributaries during an extended weekend.
On Friday the 14th. Of June we headed out east in the Volkswagen van of the chairman of our local flyfishing club.
After roughly four hours we arrived at the first stop of our trip, a small tributary of the Werra.
Travel
On the way to the east I did notice the many puddled on the field and that some of the rivers we passed had a quite chocolate coloration.
Obviously it had rained quite recently and from the looks of it quite hard.
We got our permits from the local fishing club and went to the small stream just outside a village.
It was hot and muggy, storks where working the fields and a red kite was patrolling the air.
Day one.
The small stream was indeed off color but deemed fishable to us.
I asked my friends wo already had been visiting the stream on an earlier occasion where the hot spots where and was quickly on my way.
As the stream was small I had chosen to use my Orvis clearwater 6ft #2 which turned out to be
the ideal rod for the work in close quarters.
The hot spots yielded fish and although small it was good fun.
I checked out the stream at various spots and caught fish at every location.
At one point the stream flowed along the hills and access was difficult.
A path along the hill only went higher and higher and as I wanted to fish and not walk all day I doubled back and started fishing upstream.
First I fished with nymphs and some surprising decent fish came from deeper bends and pools.
At the end of the session I fished in a slow moving wider section of the stream and complained to my friends about the lack of rising fish.
As soon as I mentioned this a large fish rose to nail a sedge on the water.
I quickly tied on a dry fly and was able to catch some more brown trout the classic way.
We had booked a hotel in a larger town which was a converted prison.
The plan was to seek out a place for dinner first before heading to the hotel and when we came along a sign for a restaurant in the village the choice was quickly made.
Not many people where attending the restaurant and we wondered why it was so quiet on a Friday night.
The landlord did not look that happy with us as customers.
We had the impression that we torpedoed the staffs plan for an early weekend.
Still we got our food and drinks and in the end all was good, a place worthwhile to add to our records.
Trouble
It was already late when we headed to the hotel, crowds where in the old town as it seemed festivities where in progress.
We soon hit a snag as the old town was cordoned off with gates, behind those gates the alleyway to the hotels car park was located.
Besides the all present security staff some coppers where present so we asked them how to get to the hotel.
Their answer was that security would have to let us in.
As the cops went on patrol we relayed the messaged to security but they would not let is in citing insurance and safety.
We called the hotel for instructions and let them know we where at the gates but only got the advice to find a spot to park the van elsewhere.
With the town full of party-goers this was impossible.
The parking garage had no clearance for the van and all the other spaces where posted private with the message that falsely parked cars would be towed.
After five rounds around the old city we parked the van outside the city at a shopping mall.
So we dragged our gear to the hotel and along the way we even managed to get through security.
At the hotel however everything was dark … no staff in the lobby anymore.
While waiting and calling the phone number of the hotel other people joined us as they had faced the same problems.
In the end a manager came and we got our “cells”.
Outside in the town the party was in full swing and the loud music even penetrated the thick prison walls. Those cells where darn hot and opening a window was not an option due to the racket.
The noise finally stopped at 0300 hrs or it must have been the time that I finally fell asleep.
With the knowledge that the party would continue the weekend we had decided to ditch the hotel after breakfast the next morning.
The trouble was that the employee at the lobby wanted to charge us for an extra night.
We refused and off course the manager was called in.
The manager argued that we had to pay because he could not rent out the rooms in a short notice.
He also informed us that he was not required to tell us in advance about the noise.
The fact was however that the hotel was not fully occupied, we came to sleep and not to be held awake by a DJ untill the early morning.
If we had known this we would never have booked that place.
In the end we had to pay a fee as the manager was not up to reason.
You can guess how my rating of that hotel will be…
Day two.
The next day we fished the Werra river in town.
While breakfast we had already booked a new hotel, this time out in the middle of nowhere.
The inner city fishing was tough with turbid water and not a lot of bites.
We would fish the evening session at the river near our new hotel but first dined at an Italian restaurant in town.
We fished the main river in a quaint valley several miles outside of the larger town and encountered
better fishing with quite an evening rise.
The hotel was located on the edge of the village and totally booked, lots of bikers.
After dropping our gear in our rooms we joined the other guests at the restaurant for some cold ones.
Day three.
The next day we were well rested, the only racket came from the frogs of the nearby retention pond.
After breakfast we went to the river and fished the same stretched as the previous day.
The weather had shifted from warm and muggy to cloudy with the chance of rain anytime.
The fishing was tough but we still managed to catch brown trout.
In the afternoon the skies looked threatening as we made plans for dinner.
With the evening session in mind we where on the lookout for a place with a terrace so we could sit outside with our wading gear on.
The little village boasted such a restaurant and so we sent our scout out to investigate.
In the mean time the skies opened and it rained cats and dogs.
Meanwhile a message came on the radio that the place was open and suited our requirements so off we went through the rain.
The temperature had dropped considerably in the mean time but it was still bearable outside.
At first glance you would not give much for that restaurant by the looks of it but the scale of pork chops variations was enormous.
I settled for the Lumberjack porkchops with bacon, mushrooms and cheese … it was great.
After a few cold ones it was back to the river again hoping to catch the big one.
When we left for the hotel the moon was already up in the sky.
We had a Friday the 13th feeling when we drove up to the hotels parking lot, a day before fully packed now not a single car.
The hotel was dark … all the guests had left … the restaurant closed.
The next morning we where the only guests at breakfast.
Staff told us that in the afternoon the first new guests would arrive and the hotel would be booked full.
Day four.
Our last day of the trip brought us close to the former East-West border to fish a small tributary of the Werra.
Nearby on the Western side of the former border an US Army observation post was located that went by the name of “Observation point Alpha”.
It was the spot where the Red army planned to go when invading the West.
Permits where obtained at the pub, I was on the water in minutes.
Surprisingly the fish where rising like crazy in the early morning and dry fly fishing was out of this world. The fish where again small but oh boy there where tons of them.
The stream was very pretty with a lot of variation in riffles and pools.
Again a hot day with the sun burning, sometimes you just had to find a deeper pool to cool off.
With the long home journey in mind we had decided that 17:00hrs would be the end of the fishing session. Close to that time the radio call came that it was time to hit the beer garden of the pub for dinner.
Four days had passed and we had a ball of a time, surely to be continued.
Germany 10-06-2019
I headed back to my home waters after the no shad show in the Port of Rotterdam.
As I scanned the water i noticed a fish of size in the stream that could only be a trout.
With all the shrubs and trees a bankside cast was out of the question.
I slipped down the bank which was possible due to the low water to position myself for a cast.
The lower position made it possible to toss a small dry fly in the path of the trout and I got an immediate take.
On the open stretches the dace where surface feeding and I could land a few fish on dry flies.
With crowds and heat getting to me I escaped to the shady forest.
A drift with the nymph yielded a subtle bite like that of a gudgeon but it
turned out to be trout instead.
Unfortunately the trout managed to throw the fly in a blink of the eye.
I thought I had messed up the spot but suddenly a fish took an insect of the surface with gusto.
Obviously that also had to be a trout so I switched to a dry fly which resulted in a hookup and a thrown fly.
I moved on as the spot was now disturbed but soon noticed a trout in the shallow water.
I tried a dry fly first due to the shallow water but got no reaction from the fish.
A plain small nymph was also ignored by the trout.
Last option was to use a nymph with a red tag which ultimately triggered the trout to strike.
A look at the weatherapp showed that thunderstorms where on the way so I took a break for dinner.
I cut my fishing day short as electrical storms where imminent and arrived home just as the rains and thunder started.
Netherlands 09-06-2019, trying for shad.
At our local flyfishingclub plans where made for an outing to Rotterdam to pursue shad.
At one of the club meetings the neccesary flies where tied and dates where picked for the venue.
The location was the ” Nieuwe Waterweg” which was in facto the artificial mouth of the Rhine with the North Sea.
The best time to fish for shad was towards the low tide when the shad
would gather in the lower part of the waterway as they entered from the sea.
The signs to watch out where jumpin fish and diving gulls as the shad would hunt for small baitfish.
My equipment consisted out of a #6 sinking tip line with a short leader and a small chartreuse weighted fly.
So far the plans, we arrived at the outgoing tide and carefully positioned ourselves near the breakwater.
The waterway was a major shipping channel for oceangoing vessels we took care to watch for bowwaves.
We did not wanted to be flushed out to England.
In the beginning of the tide a few shad showed themselves but not in the numbers we had hoped for.
I was into fish at the first few casts when I caught my first be it little european sea bass.
Unfortunately that was it for the rest of the day as the shad where just not there.
From locals we gathered that fishing for shad had been really bad so
I guess they had not arrived in numbers yet.
In the end I had caught one fish of a new species.
Watching all that shipping entertained me through the rest of the day.
Germany 02-06-2019, flyfishing for trout.
Fishing for trout on a hot summers day.
At the pub the previous day I chatted with one of the locals.
I received vital information about the location of trout.
Appearantly the boys from the local syndicate had been stocking trout.
I ditched my next day plan for chub fishing and went for the trout instead.
I arrived early at the water where I expected to at least some trout.
Off course my first though was that this would be easy pickings but to my surprise the trout where in no feeding mood.
Whatever I tried the fish where not interested in dry fly, nymph or streamer. I did get three trout and a couple of dace on nymphs and dry flies but it was not easy.
Even at the end of the day when the mayflies appeared in some numbers action did not improve.
Germany 01-06-2019
With the last session falling in the water due to a lost reel I went back for a rematch.
I was fishing the same spot and well it was absolutely dead.
The weather was very hot and supposedly ideal for the chub.
The big chub I spotted where not inclined to hit the dry fly.
I caught only two small chub despite my best efforts.
I found the the heat unbearable so the only thing left to do was hit the pub for some cold ones.
