Today I went fishing with fishing buddy Joop to the river managed by our German fishingclub.
There was a strong breeze blowing when we went on our way. Clouds and sunshine where mixed in an even portion on this day. When I waded along the stream the signs of fall where clearly present. Leaves where falling all around me and mushrooms popped up from the forest floor and dead timer. In the beech forest we where subjected to a bombardment of fruits fallen from the trees.



Signs of fall.

I had an instant hit of a trout while fishing an undercut bank in the meandering river.
I was fishing with a gold bead caddis nymph. When it traveled under some floating debris I
could feel the trout take the nymph. As usual I was to slow and the fish managed to
escape. In the mean time Joop did his best to get a trout. The shiners where more numerous however and showed quit an appetite for nymphs.


Joop in action


Another nice Roach for Joop.

Off course I could not stay behind. I did all in my powers to nail one of those shiners. The shiner where still faster than I was so I remained fishless for the time being. Persistence paid of when I finally hooked my first fish of the day on the gold bead nymph. The shiner where feeding aggressively this day because they virtually swallowed the nymphs. Normally they would cautiously nibble at nymphs but today everything was different.


A nice Roach on the fly.

The fishing went extremely well, sometimes the nymph was intercepted as it punched through the surface of the water. One fish species that was notable by its absence was trout. It was a long time ago when the last trout where stocked. There still had to be some trout in the river even though their numbers where decimated by all the anglers that visited the stream during the summer holidays. There where plenty of spots where access was very difficult so there was still hope for catching a stray trout. Joop was the first one who spotted a trout. He saw one in the stream when the sunlight lit up the sand on the river floor. Before I knew it Joop was gone to find a way to enter the stream via the steep banks. I did the same upstream and was soon into more shiners. In one pool I got numerous hits on the nymph and landed one shiner. After catching the shiner I was soon into another fish that put up more resistance. It turned out to be a little brown trout. It was a small fish but I was very happy to have finally caught a trout again.


A small brown trout.

Al that wading and scaling the river banks was tiring. Joop had the bright idea to hold a lunch break. So said so done.


Lunch break

Time had flown while we where fishing. In half an hour Joop had to call it a day because of other duties. He had to pick up his wife from work and if he would not show up
in time it would mean trouble. We decided we should make a quick run to the guest stretch and
check out the pools down there. The guest stretch was the only part of the river where rainbow
trout where stocked. Personally I liked the rainbows more than the browns. They where bigger and displayed acrobatics when you hooked them. We would fish the first two deep pools closest
to the road. Joop went for pool nr. 2 while I fished nr. 1 We both blanked so we switched pools.
Joop was ready to leave but I just had to make a few cast near some deadfall in the river.
Shiners where active in the surface but I was fishing deep with a nymph. The nymph went dangerously close to the underwater snags when the strike indicator suddenly went under.
I struck and was into a hefty fish. I had to apply steady pressure to get the fish out of harms way.
I had hooked a nice rainbow trout. This was the silver lining of the day. This last ditch effort hat
paid of big time.


A nice rainbow trout to finish the day.

It was a good day at the river. The shiners where very active and eager to take the nymphs and
even the trout where cooperating. We had fished a lot on the river this year since we became members. We had adapted pretty well to small stream fishing and got to know all good spots
almost by heart. Just four weeks from now and the trout season would close. Then we would have to wait for April to go trout fishing again.

i always love yourreports and the pics. thanks - mark

How is life in Naples? From what I read on the Naples Daily news website it is quiet in town. Three hurricanes in a row must be bad for the local businesses.

I plan to take plenty of pictures when I am in Naples. Do you know of a place where I could transfer the images I take with my digital camera on a CD rom?

hi marcel, you can do it at my shop in the back. yes it is dead in town . three hurricanes have hurt us very much at the worst time of year for us.
looking forward to seeing you
mark

I enjoy your reports and pictures, Marcel. I especially liked this one and the pictures are crisp. Too bad I'll miss you when I get down to Naples, but I'm sure we'll hook up later on. Best Wishes,

Marshall D