The days had passed quickly during our trip, this Sunday was already our departure
day.
We decided to make the most of the day, we packed the non-fishing gear in the
car before our breakfast so we could depart quickly.
The plan was to fish until the afternoon and then return home for the four hour drive.
Temperatures had been steadily rising during the last days, this day would be one of the hottest all week.
After breakfast we said goodbye to our landlord and fellow club members, we headed
straight for the river section that provided the most shade.


Brown trout

I did not bother with dries this morning, I would only fish with the goldbead PT nymph
and the dark brown caddis nymph.
Getting the first fish took much more time than usual, it almost seemed like all fish where
hiding from the hot weather.
There was not a lot of surface activity going on so I probed all possible trout lies
while wading upstream.


A hot and sunny day

I arrived at a familiar spot where the river flow had undercut the opposite bank and had created some interesting lies.
I had caught six trout from that stretch just a day ago but now only a single brown decided to
take the nymph.


Brown trout

A little further downstream from the spot some tree roots where washed out.
The tangle of roots surely would hold a fish but it was difficult to present the
fly there properly.
The overhanging branches of the trees, the roots and the strong current where
challenging.
Still I managed a few drifts along that edge and was rewarded with a take from an escaped rainbow trout.


Rainbow, probably encountered a heron or cormorant

The trout had large scars along its flanks most likely caused by a cormorant or a heron.
A day ago I chatted with one of the local anglers and heard the river had gotten quite a beating in wintertime by marauding cormorants.
While wading upstream I came to a open part of the river where the riverbed widened.
The water was shallow there and upstream from me fish where rising.
I tied on a rather small pheasant tail nymph and made long casts to reach the fish,
Unfortunately one of my companions who had not fished much in rivers passed to get upstream from me.
I guess he had not seen the fish or knew what would happen next.
His high profile send the trout for cover so it made no more sense to fish there.


In the shade

I had not fished the crowded section at the hatchery downstream so I got on the road
and walked quite a distance.
When I crossed the river to reach one of the hot spots I spotted three anglers fishing in single
file, it was clearly time to go somewhere else.
Judging from the trampled paths along the riverbank whole armies fished there.
The paths ended however at the beginning of the hatchery so I went a little further
and found myself in absolute solitude.
The only sound where of the water and the birds.
I shared my the river only with the dippers and the occasional ducks.


Dark coloured brown

All that walking around in the hot weather was not very comfortable so I searched
for the deepest pool I could find and waded in.
It was pleasant to stand in the cold water while a cooling breeze blew through
the valley.


Deep pool

It was time to remove the indicator from the leader and fish the beginning of the
deep pool in front of me.
That method had worked in the previous days and on this day it also provided
yet another trout for me.
Most of the fish where rather where quite small but there where plenty of them.
Some people moaned about the small fish but I did not mind.
I admired the trout for their beautiful patterns and colouration.


Wild water

Our driver had stated clearly that we had to leave at 13.00 hours precise, anyone who would
Not show up had to walk back home.
None of us fancied that so we slowly made our way to our assembly point probing
every possible trout lie with the fly.
I managed to get one last fine dark coloured trout from the river when it was time to pack.


Last brown from the Bode

When we disassembled our rods we felt sad that we had to leave but also satisfied that
we had been on a great trip.
By a navigational mistake we missed an Autobahn junction and headed south to
Herford/Bielefeld instead of the desired westerly located Osnabruck.
We had to take a local road north to get on track again and passed many beautiful
valleys.
My buddy Joop and I where eagerly trying to spot every little stream we could find so
we could visit them in the future.
Our driver just shook his head and probably thought we where ripe for the asylum.

Every time we where on the water we where learning something new and this trip was not different. I am sure we will be visiting the Harz mountains again in the future, maybe even this year.