After a week of fishing in Germany’s Harz mountains fishing the local trout stream for the first time would be tough.
It would not be able to withstand a comparison with the trout laden waters in the east.
It had been raining for the past couple of days and I feared we would be faced with a dirty brown river.
Luckily I was wrong and one look over the bridge revealed that the water level was actually pretty low.

Our stream today, a little dirty and still low water levels.
As usual we started fishing at the first pool.
I had the honor of fishing it first with the nymph while my fishing buddy Joop would try next with the streamer.
Several drifts with different nymphs yielded no fish for me so it was Joop’s turn to cast.
It was amazing that he got an instant hit on the small zonker streamer.
Joop’s fish managed to escape but it was obvious that streamers would do the job today.
I fished all my usual honey holes with the streamer but had no hits, not even on the spot
where I had just seen a sizable fish rising.

It was time for a change in tactics.
The bead-head nymph that worked to well in Eastern Germany was rigged.
The bead-head nymph plus strike indicator where launched to the adjacent bank to see if anybody was hiding under the tree roots.
As the nymph moved downstream I saw the strike indicator move.
I struck and felt the trout running away.
After a short fight I landed a beautifully marked brown trout.


A nice brown trout to start with,

I was sure that there would be more than one fish under that back so the nymph went for a rerun under de tree roots.
Almost at the same time the strike indicator disappeared under water.
Trout number two was a fact, it was smaller than number one but fought nicely.


Trout number two of the day.


Two fish from the same place was ok.
Maybe there where more so the nymph made the same journey for the third time. And once again a fish struck.
This time a shiner (Roach) had taken de bead-head nymph.


A roach caught on a goldbead nymph.

After three fish the spot was disturbed and void of fish.
It was time to move upstream to another pool. At the new location the goldbead nymph yielded one little brown trout.
Light rain was falling, if the rains would intensify than flooding would come rather sooner than later.

From the locals we got the tip that the weather conditions on this day where ideal to catch large shiners in the village center of a little town along the stream.
First we would try a weir down at the edge of town.
Joop had two strikes there but could not make a solid hookup.
I had no takes at all. The only thing that happed was me falling on my backside because I slipped over the wet grass.
So it was off to the town center, amidst a heavy downpour we tried to catch fish.
When the rains momentarily subsided I
was able to hook one of the fat shiners.


A nice full bodied Roach.

I wanted to take a picture of the fish but noticed auto focus did not work on the SLR.
As I inspected the camera I noticed my lens was not at right angles with the lens body. This mishap happened during my fall.
I pondered over what to do and came to the brilliant conclusion to use brute force to get
The lens straight in its housing again.
I feared a total loss but too my surprise it worked.
I got the roach out of the water and made a few pictures. I was not sure if the lens
escaped this ordeal without permanent damage but at least it would still take pictures,

Weather was getting worse and worse and soon we where fishing in the driving rain.
Joop managed to hook a little trout, I got a few more takes but had no solid hookups.
Time had past quickly and it was time to go home.
I had a little problem though, all this rain had made the 45 degree bank extremely slippery. Felt waders and wet clay where not a good combination.
With some luck I finally ended on top of the embankment.
Those East German rocky streams where a lot nicer to fish.
I ended the day with six fish, not as good as during our Harz trip but very acceptable for our local stream.
As we left we counted us lucky to have spend yet another day in the outdoors and being
able to catch an odd trout now and then behind our doorstep.