Troutfishing Germany 05-20-2004

Once again I have been out fishing to the home-waters of the German fishingclub I recently joined. In the morning I went fishing with our local contact Michael. First we visited a local
lake where several clubs from the countryside had an fishing match. All barbarians drowning
worms and sweetcorn to catch trout, carp and god knows what. There where some fish rising
but that’s no good when you are fishing the barbarian way. We decided to dash out of there
a.s.a.p. to see how things where looking at the river. At the guest stretch of river I met two fellow members of my local Dutch flyfishingclub who where slinging dries at rising fish. They had not caught anything when we arrived. The first mayflies where dancing over the river, a very pretty sight. Soon the mayflies will be out in full force.


Mayfly time.

We decided to go fish a members only stretch of the river where the stream entered a small village. This stretch was canalized so there where no deep pools to fish. There was however
A weir and that’s where we made our first stop. One cast with a streamer behind the weir and I was in contact with a small brown trout. I did not manage to keep the fish on the line though.
Several other casts in the same direction yielded no fish. When I looked in the pool behind the weir I spotted several large shiners though. I switched from streamer to goldbead nymph and
launched it with a strike indicator into the eddies of the current. I could see a big shiner home in on the nymph and struck to set the hook as the indicator went under.


My first Roach of the year, caught on a small goldbead nymph.

I tried to catch more of the shiners but they all refused to strike the nymph. It was time to move on and check out the river upstream of the weir. As walked upstream until I spotted more fish. There was a very large school of shiners moving up and down in the currents.
Tried a small dry to see if any Dace where present. Not a single fish went for the dry so I
concluded that the fish where Roach. Time to pull out the goldbead nymphs again.
I could see fish swim after the nymph but none of them actually inhaled the fly.
Only after half an hour casting I managed to catch one little fish.

It was time to head back to the guest stretch to meet up with fishing buddy Joop who
promised to join us later in the day. I managed to jump one rainbow trout, missed several hits and finally landed a very small brown trout on the streamer. To our horror we spotted six canoes further downstream on the river. The stream barely had water in it and all the fallen trees made it virtually impassable for Canoes, still they where there. Six of them loaded with loud children and their parents. No fishing for us anymore on that stretch.
It was time to move upstream to find a place where we could fish without disturbance. We skillfully eluded the mean farmyard dog of the local farmer and fished some deep pools know to us from recent visits. Some fish where rising but with all the jungle surrounding us it was difficult to get a fly on the right spot. It took quite a while before I could land another smallish brown Trout.


Small brown trout on the streamer.

As we progressed further upstream we ventured into unknown country. The stream flowed through the dark forest there. Shrubs where so thick I could not proceed along the banks anymore. As I walked along the cornfields to search for a passage through the forest I startled a deer just 10ft in front of me. I came across a small creek, followed it to the main river and waded upstream until I reached a bend in the river where a deep pool had formed. One cast through the pool and the streamer was attacked. I missed the fish and hooked a sunken tree along the banks instead. As I tried to pull the streamer out a branch of the tree dislodged and came partially out. The line broke, lost the streamer and made it impossible to fish the pool because I had just created a new obstruction. Bummer.


Another deep pool in a newly discovered stretch of the river.

As I was battling the snags Joop crept by me and a short time later I heard him shout that two large browns where showing themselves in a nearby inflow from a small creek.
He was trying to catch those fish, it appeared though they where carp instead on trout.
Streamer fishing had no use then. I am still not sure if those fish where carp since they rather lean shape-wise, they where surely no trout. Maybe they where chub, a large shiner species that formally where not present in this river.


Joop trying to catch some unidentified fish species.

We fished the river until late in the evening but did not hook anymore fish. The mosquito’s where out in force and had a field day. Those little bloodsuckers where having a ball with two anglers in the stream. Past sunset we dragged ourselves back to the car to call it a day.