Fly Fishing

Marcel_Karssies · Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 9:57 am Post subject: Flyfishing Germany, April 30th

Yesterday 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.

ChrisR · Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 11:22 am Post subject:

Very nice Marcel!!! Those Brookies are aggressive aren't they? My favorite trout for sure. They aren't the toughest trout to trick. Not picky eaters. But the fight they put up sometimes makes up for that. Congrats on a nice day out.

Marcel_Karssies · Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 11:30 am Post subject:

They are indeed agressive and not surprisingly those where the most active fish in the section I fished.
It was a blast seeing the brooktrout charge at the streamer and boy I never thought they would jump.
Strong fish and finally I had one with some coloration on it.
I almost feel like experimenting next time with a mouse pattern to see if
they would hit that on the surface.

Valentin · Newbie Joined: Nov 25, 2007 Posts: 20 Location: Vienna

very interesting, I am really impressed. Usually the brook trouts in European waters go after small flies, nymphs and dry flies and it is the first time I see a brook trout taking a streamer. Excellent catches.

TroutBone · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 4:28 am Post subject:

Nice story and great pics again Marcel, can't wait to toss some flies, still waiting on my package to get here from the state.

Marcel_Karssies · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 6:13 am Post subject:

Next Friday I will be close to your neck of the woods, destination is the border area of Bavaria / Baden-Wurttemberg / Austria.
That will be my I think my third time to the area and seeing the weather reports up till now the first time that it will not be extremely hot.

Having some cooler weather is great but all the forecast rain does worry me a bit.
So I guess I will have to plan ahead with heavy flies, raingear and so on to make the most of the trip.

spector82 · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 10:34 am Post subject:

Nice looking area and river, looks pretty fishy to me.
Those big brookies are pale huh? Almost look like salters fresh from the ocean... do they get more colorful in the fall?
They must.

There appear to be a couple of different subspecies there, top may be the standard brookie,(temiscamie variety,... lots of small spotting and vermiculations) the bottom 2 are the Assinica variety fewer larger spotting on the fish.... when did they first stock brookies in this river? These are "natives" if they clip fins as they do in the USA.

TroutBone · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 12:09 pm Post subject:

Thats great to hear Marcel, I did some scouting near the town of Neudingen, district of Donaueshingen and the Donau river runs along the outskirt of town saw some nice size trout in there, they had some recent rainfall in this area to my surprise the water level still remain low and clear, I might be hitting this place up real soon.