Today I left for my favourite stream quite late in the afternoon.
Back in the Netherlands I had noticed the large number of mayflies
at a particular stream, over the border in Germany the same thing
was happening.


Mayfly

With the Mayflies in the air it would make sense to use the dry fly for a change.
I noticed for the first time this season that the Dace where actively roaming the
Surface of the stream again.
Under a tree I saw a fish rising constantly and figured it had to be a trout.
After several careful casts the fish was on, for a short while....
The surface of the stream had a lot of debris on it so I decided to try the nymph
For a while.
I noticed in the clear water that the Dace and Roach showed almost no interest in
my nymphs at all.


Fish where present.

From time to time a fish would race into the school of Dace and Roach and scatter them around.
I could not clearly make out what it was so there was only one way to find out, tie on a streamer to see what would happen.
The first attack on the streamer from the mysterious predator did not result in a hook-up but the second one was a solid take, a nice Perch was the culprit.


Perch.

I fished the stream at some other locations and hooked and lost two Rainbow trout, both fish managed to throw the hook after a short fight.
I had to hurry back to the station in order to get in time for the train back home.


Should have been in there = missed the train.

I missed the train so all I could do was to wait for the next time.
Since there was a pub next to the station I ordered a nice cold Erdinger Dark wheat beer
To finish the day properly.
If the Mayflies will be present in numbers than it will not be long before even the Roach will rise for them.

Good stuff, nice write up & pix. I was out on the canal yesterday & saw quite a few mayflies, but no fish rising to them. In fact I fished sub-surface for ages without so much as a tickle. I can't wait until the proper rivers open again.
Dave.

Same here, in the Netherlands plenty of Mayflies but nothing besides
birds eating them.
I tried flyfishing with dries in the stream back home but for some reason unknown to me I only see Dace in the 5 cm range trying to drown my Klinkhamer.
In Germany however Dace and Roach will attack the Mayflies.

Nice stories, I find fish always need a few days to get tuned into the Mayfly hatch, its almost like they are confused at first but soon tuck in to the feast