Fly Fishing - Trout season opener

Marcel_Karssies · Location: Enschede - The Netherlands

Season´s opener.

We had been waiting for the opening of the trout season eagerly. In recent weeks we had made several trips to our beloved trout river to see how things where looking.
Past weekend we finally could fish again. Since the river was cleaned out by local fisherman and poachers during the last season the chance of seeing a trout was very slim indeed.

The warm front promised to hit us this weekend never materialized. Instead the grey skies dumped light rain on us for most of the day. The weather guys where wrong, again..
Since word came out that a trout river was so close to our doorsteps the foreign membership
in the German fishing club soared. So this morning I was not only fishing with Joop but also
with HansF and HansA.

We fished at our usual haunts but the river was dead. No trout or shiner was to be seen. The water was pretty high but fortunately not discoloured. Old deep pools had filled with sand, riverbanks had collapsed and new deep pools where formed during the past year. There where no fish stocked yet, it looked like no fish remained in the river. Normally you could expect to see and catch some shiners but those fish usually became active later in season. Somehow they always disappeared during winter and we always wondered where they would go.

HansF in action on day 2

During fishing HansF got a call from one of our German members who was also involved in the clubs own hatchery. He was taking some youth members out to fish and told HansF he had stocked a few fish in the front part of the so called guest stretch and some more several miles upstream. So to the start of the guest stretch we went. My favourite hole was taken by Joop who soon had a hit on his streamer. He missed though.

One of my sure-shot spots. If there are fish stocked this is a place where fish will always be hiding.

We tried our luck further downstream but nobody got any fish. When Joop left my favourite spot I moved in and started fishing a heavy nymph close to the bottom. Twice I hooked a little brown trout and twice it got away. After an hour or so we decided to move further upstream.

A little brown for Hans on day 2

At the next location we came across the youth members and our German club members. One of them had an eel with him. The work of poachers who left baited lines just under the waters surface. The eel was apparently his dinner. Changes of catching fish where other people just had been fishing where slim. We tried anyway. HansF managed to catch his first trout of the season. I had a fish hitting the nymph two times and then it went for the bait-indicator.
I missed on all occasion but vowed to return a little later to try again. We fished the river for a mile upstream but had no luck. As I returned to the place where I saw the fish I switched from nymph to streamer. As soon as I retrieved the streamer a brown trout came out from underneath the bank and nailed the fly. My first fish of the season was a fact.
Not bad for the beginning. We fished until dusk but had no more luck.

First little brown of the season.

The next day I went again to the river with HansF. The weather had turned around 180 degrees. The sky was blue and the sun bathed the river in light. We fished the guest stretch where I fished my favourite pool again with a heavy tungsten nymph. I hooked a small brown who managed to throw the hook. Obviously just a few fish where stocked in that stretch so after a while we moved upriver again. Hans managed to catch a shiner and a small brown trout while I hooked a small brown at the same spot I fished the day before. The fish came off but I was sure it was the same fish as yesterday. After a while Hans and I called it quits. At least we had seen some fish. We will just have to wait until it gets warmer to catch shiners or wait until they stock the river again. Hopefully they will put in a few rainbows instead of the guppy sized browns.