A few days ago some friends and I went to the Mohne river in
the Sauerland region of Germany.
The particular stretch we fished was managed by a local flyshop
and well known for its large trout.


Mohne river.

My friends dropped me off at the end of the stretch.
I fished the river upstream from an old stone bridge where I
always had good results in the past.
There was not a lot of insect activity going on so I started
with nymph fishing.
I did not got any hits until I tied on a Copper John, that was
the ticket for a nice size brook trout.


Brook trout

With a large pool in front of me I expect more hits on the nymph but it remained awfully quiet.
Maybe it was time to get the streamers out and see what would happen.
In the pool where I was nymphing the streamer was left untouched.
As I moved upstream to visit another deep pool I fished some of the shallower sections with the streamer.
To my surprise a few fish exploded on the streamer but unfortunately they did not stay connected.
At the deep pool upstream however things where different, this time the fish stayed on.


Contact!


Nice Brooktrout

To my surprise I encountered yet another Brooktrout of respectable size.
Every time I fished the streamer through the pool a Brooktrout would come and chase after it.
In short order I landed about three good size Brooktrout.



Beautiful strong fish.

This madness could not go on off course and so after catching several fish in a row the action died down.
I moved further upstream and decided to work my way downstream to the pool I had just fished.
There where a few deeper sections in front of me so I just fed line out and fished the streamer back upstream.
Before I knew it a Brooktrout jumped up from the stream and I felt a tug on the line.
But that flying fish was not the one that took the streamer, most likely two fish where chasing the same fly.


Brooktrout on white zonker streamer.

The section I was now fishing also seemed like a Brooktrout hotel since on several occasions fish where chasing the streamer.
I managed to catch one other Brooktrout before I had to return to my friends for lunch.


Last Brooktrout before lunch.

When I met my friends one had blanked while the other one had caught about five good size Rainbow- and Brown trout.
After lunch we first visited the local flyshop to stock up in gear before we returned to the river.
I decided to get back to the Brooktrout section.
In the meantime the weather had changed dramatically, it went from clouds and sunshine to rain and strong winds.
The temperature had plummeted and the few insects that where buzzing around in the morning where gone.
Although I got a few more hits on the streamer I could not get a solid hookup anymore.
We had agreed on a departure time and with only 1 hour to go I decided to visit the other guys.


Mohne river

My friends fished the dammed section of the river that was located upstream from a watermill.
This deep water stretch was known locally as the trophy stretch and my friend had done well down there.
Both had caught several good fish from that stretch on nymphs and streamers.
I too was soon into fish but I did not manage to stay in contact.
Time was running out as the assembly time arrived.
During one of my last casts I suddenly received a solid take and the fish stayed on.
I had hooked a real fat Brown trout.


A bonus Brown trout at the end of the day.

I was however in big trouble because I only had a wading net on me and it was fact that steep clay banks and felt-sole waders where a combination for disaster.
There was a small ledge where I could barely stand so with the risk of an involuntary bath in mind I slipped down the bank.
I could barely manage to net the fish and I even dared to make an awkward picture.
As I released the fish my friend came looking for, it was time to go and they thought I had gone swimming.
The problem was now that I could not get up the bank, it was no use with the wet felt soles.
I handed all gear over to my friends and made last ditch attempt to grab an overhanging tree to haul myself onto shore.
Luckily I just made it although I was covered in clay, it was worth the effort though.

Anyway I had a great day on the Mohne river and hope to visit that river on a few more occasions this season.

As usual an excellent read and great photos Marcel, BTW what altitude were you fishing at as your Spring seems to be a fair few weeks behind us here in the UK?

Cheers,

JayP

The altitude was about 300 to 400 meters.
Nature is always behind in that area but I guess the cold spring of
this year added a couple of weeks to that delay.

The current weather predictions only talk about high temperatures
so maybe we might see some feeding on top soon.
Maybe I will visit the Diemel river tomorrow in search for my first
Grayling of the season.

Was expecting you to say upwards of a 1000 meters Marcel, let us know how you get on with the Grayling!

Cheers,

JayP

I did pretty bad with the Grayling since I caught none.
I was lucky enough to catch a tiny brown trout.
All my fault though since there where plenty of fish around.

Destination last Sunday was the Diemel river that forms part the
eastern border between the states of Nordrheinwestfalen and
Hessen.
The river looked good, small gray mayflies where in numbers on
the water and fish where rising.


In the afternoon on the river.

Tried a gray klinkhamer first to fool the trout but I got fooled since they would not fall for the pattern.
Out of desperation I tied on a Copper John nymph and hauled in a tiny brown trout.


Small brown.

One of my friends showed me how it was done when he fished an all white
mayfly imitation.



On the dry fly.

I made a severe miscalculation, I left my maifly collection at home figuring it was too early in the season.
So I was left on the water without the proper patterns to fish, my nymphs where ignored.
At least I learned something on that day.

There are plenty of fishing days to come though, in about three weeks I am off for the deep south in Germany which should be interesting.