Flyfishing Germany – June 28th

The decision where to fish last weekend was easy since we picked up rumours that our usual pretty vacant stream had received an injection with brown- and rainbow trout.
In the past we noticed a sharp decline of the shiner population in the stream and after a lot of complaints these fish where also stocked.
The stream was not carrying much water during these summer days so the method to catch fish was to fish along the undercut banks where the water was just deep enough to shelter fish.


The stream

I fished a small pheasant tail nymph with my four weight rod, a piece of strike putty acted as
indicator.
I would make small rollcast to the adjacent bank and soon I noticed the tell-tale movements of the indicator.
The irregular movement of the strike indicator was a sign of shiners nibbling at the nimf.
When the indicator went down a small tap with the rod was enough to hook the fish.


Roach

At some of the deeper pools I switched to heavier nymphs and even small streamer to see if any trout where present but nothing materialized.
Other fish species where more cooperating, most fish where very small though.



Perch and gudgeon

My buddy Joop was fishing downstream from me and without my knowledge switched to a new tactic, summoning higher powers.


Joops location for divine intervention

So with the help from above Joop was able to catch some pretty brown trout from our little stream while I was working my way through shiner after shiner.



Joop’s brown trout

Joop had a field day and qith his quota full he decided to spend some time photographing his surroundings.



Pictures by Joop.

In the mean time I had arrived at a place where a large tree lay over the stream, it just screamed trout.
Drifting a fly there was however impossible due to the minefield of branches in the water.
I decided to just drop the nymph behind the tree and just left it circulating in a small eddy.
The indicator suddenly went down and as I struck a beautiful rainbow trout shot in the air.
My first trout of the day was on but then the fish jumped over the deadfall and swam back underneath jamming the leader around the tree.
So I waded deep trying to dislodge the fish, while doing that the fish surged and the leader broke.- bummer.
The only witness I had was a juvenile jay that looked on from the base of an oak tree.


Jay

When I noticed a fish upstream from me that was moving close the bank the size of the rise only meant one thing to me – trout.
So for my second chance I dropped the nymph close to the bank and waited for the strike.
That strike came but to bad the fish had to target the strike putty instead of the nymph.
Time had passed quickly and it was almost time to pack.
On my way back I fished some of the deeper holes for a second time.


Typical fish hideout

Another trout was spotted and after two casts the fish was on.
And yet again the trout managed to get in the underwater woodwork and tangle itself.
This time I took more care to get the fish, rod and bag where stored on the back.
With only a landing net I waded into the pool and carefully followed the leader until I felt the fish.
A quick grab and the fish was in the net.


Brown trout

So at the end all the effort was awarded with a nice little brown trout.
It was good to see that there was so much life in the stream and I can not wait to go there again.

Once again Marcel well done what an array of fish, some good pictures too!
I cant beleive that gudgeon took a fly, have you had them before?

I have had the gudgeon's on several occasions in that particular stream.
Once I sightcasted to a couple of bream and one of them actually took the nymph.
At this time of year the fish respond very well to nymphs.

Paul, you can get them in the UK on fly too.
I catch lots at mallory fishing coloured water blind but I've also had 5 in my last two trips on the River Soar(Leicester). These I took on a variety of nymphs/spiders...couldn't work out a pattern to it...5 fish on 5 different flies
I could see the fish on some clean gravel and so tried for them, for a rest from stalking chub more than anything. They would go for a surprisingly big fly more than the tiny ones I tried...could even induce a take by lifting the nymph a little. Wasn't particularly hard, just 15 minutes of experimenting.
Dee

I must try for a gudgeon, they may be small but they are cracking little fish. Used to them catch a lot when coarse fishing very bold fish, come to think of it I havent seen one for a while.