I have been carrying my new Trout bum now for a couple of days through the countryside in
search for the elusive first fish. I just could not manage to catch anything which caused me to
think that the darn rod was cursed, or was it me?

When club member Hans invited me for an evening fishing session at a local stream I knew
that had to be the place to catch the first fish. We headed via a short-cut through Germany to
the local stream where it crossed over the border into the Netherlands. As we walked along the stream we noticed loads of rising fish in the surface., dry flytime.
Why Hans was catching fish I was missing my takes, I was just to slow. Finally I got my first
fish on the Trout bum. It may have been a minnow but the curse was lifted.


First fish.

We where fishing on German soil, we always say fish got bigger mouths just over the border
Just like the G…. There was loads of activity in the surface. Especially at the place I was standing where the stream and the bypass from the local watermill upstream joined together.


The bypass from the watermill and the main stream.

The fish species in the surface where Dace. Little shiners but fast as lighting, especially in
spitting out dry flies. Since it was late in the day and relatively dark because the stream was
flowing through the forest I just a highly visible fly. It was a pattern called “green buoy buzzer”. The nymphs never worked for me but the dry version was very much in favor of
the shiners.


Dace on the green buoy buzzer.

We fished for half an hour on the German side when the action became slower and slower.
It was time to move on further downstream into the Netherlands. On the Dutch side the banks
where mowed. The dry grass was home to dozens of stinging flies who would take to the air
when you would disturb them. We walked to the second bridge on the Dutch side. The water was
quit clear, a welcome sight after a period of heavy rains and stained water.


In the clear again.

I have to admit that Hans outfished me in this minnow fishing contest. He managed to catch a few fish fishing the dryfly downstream.


Hans with one of the fish from below the bridge.

With daylight fading we switched from dry flies to nymphs. From the past I knew that the stream contained nice sized Roach shiners besides the Dace. I fished a heavy nymph with a strike indicator downstream from the first bridge on the Dutch side of the border.
When the strike indicator went under I had the impression that the nymph got stuck under a
submerged snag but when the indicator moved and went under again I struck. The nymph was
off course already hooked into the fish. I had just caught my first Roach on the Trout bum.


Roach.

So this time the rule “Snooze em and you loose em” did not apply. Tomorrow we will have another evening fishing session. That will take place in Germany and with some luck it might be the first time that Mr. Trout and Mr. Trout bum meet.

And since I know Hans is reading this it might be an idea for him to write a small report about his fishingtrip to Finland on this board!