Fly Fishing - Brown Trout

Marcel_Karssies · Location: Enschede - The Netherlands

Last week I was on a 5-day fishing trip to Germany's deep south.
One day was spent fishing a very small stream up in the mountains
at an elevation of 3600 ft.
The main bridge that gave access to the streams valley was out we had some trouble in getting to our destination.
When we finally arrived at the valley our party of three had to split up and fish different sections of the streams.

View from a bridge.

It was my second trip to this stream and recollecting my last visit
I knew fishing would be though.
The section we where allowed to fish in centered around a small village.
There was also a tiny feeder where we also could fish.
I would fish the lower section of the water downstream from the small village.

The stream.

It was my second trip to this stream and recollecting my last visit
I knew fishing would be though.
The water was crystal clear and fish where very wary.
It took some time to get adjusted to fishing in that jungle, in the first few minutes I must have scared most fish away.
When I came to a deep pool just below a rapid I knew fish would be hiding there.
I kneeled down to get a low profile and dropped a small stonefly nymph into the pool.
After one drift the indicator went down and I could land a nice small brown trout.

First fish

I knew that such a deep pool would hold more than one fish so I took the time to fish the pool thoroughly.
It was no suprise that the indicator went down a second time, this time a larger fish had taken the nymph.

Fish nr. 2

Finally a third fish came to the surface.
I had pounded that little pool enough so I moved further upstream.
Every tiny depression was a possible fish hideout so I checked them all out.

From underneath the rocks

I soon overtook nr. 2 of our party who had a difficult time coping with all those darn trees around him.
Walking around him was no option since we where moving in a sort of canyon so I just walked by him trying to get to an upstream section I knew from the last time.
When I arrived at a crystal clear blue pool I knew thing where going to be interesting.

The pool.

Although the stream was shallow this hole was at least 8 ft. deep.
I spotted several trout including a large specimen.
I waited for my friend whom I had overtaken earlier and showed him the trout.
We both fished the pool with nymphs but could net get deep enough,
A scud pattern was briefly followed by a trout but the fish stayed deep.
I rerigged my outfit with a fast sinking polyleader and a conehead streamer to get into business with the trout.

Best fish of the day.

After several drifts one of the larger trout in the took the stream and dove right down under the ledge of the pool.
My little trout bum rod doubled over as I tried to save the leader from being shredded to
pieces at the sharp ledge.
Finally I managed get the trout to the surface and into the net.
I was very pleased with this fish, it was hard to believe that such a small stream could produce
such fish.

After a short coffee break with the other guys I decided to fish upstream from the small village.
Although we had a map that showed us where to fish many parts could not be accessed.
In the village itself a whole collection of high weirs and steep walls made it impossible to
get to water or move upstream.

In the village.

As I moved out of the village I finally found a way to enter the stream again.
The stream below the village was fed by several springs and feeders that came from the surrounding mountains.
In front of the village the stream got tinier by the minute.

A small weir with small fish.

I was now fishing parallel to a road and after bypassing some weirs I found a road crew up ahead with digging equipment that made me call it a day.
I doubled back and came across one of my buddies who also was in for a break.

Scenery on the way back to the parking spot.

It was a beautiful sunny day and we thoroughly enjoyed the scenery and the fishing.
The only drawback was the fact that some parts of the stream where not accessible and that
the water was really only suited for two people to fish in.
This part of our trip was surely one of the highlights.

Steelie · Location: Erie, PA

Awesome Marcel, that was for sure one of my favorite of all your posts. It is really cool to see how the coloring of the fish changes based on where they are living. The one fish is very light but so it the streambed where it came from. However, the ones from the deeper pools were a little darker. All of those fish are awesome. Nice Report.

Mike

troutaddict1 · Posted: Mon 03/30/09 9:38 pm Post subject:

Awesome stream and fantastic fish. What a great place to fish. My god is Germany beautiful. Would love to get back there and fish someday. And I totally agree. It's funny how good fish can hold in the smallest of places. Great report