day off as saturday there was a working party planned on the hatchery of my syndicate.
My first intention was to pursuit some more of the big chub in the stream but as I
came nearer to my destination I opted to scout out a little stream of another syndicate
I had joined last year.
I had looked up the new water with satellite imagery and quickly found an access road to get
near to the water.
The new water looked like it was stagnant - off course it had been dry for quite a while so the levels in
every local would have been low.
From what I saw I figured the water was roughly three feet deep, had a lot of vegitation in it and
little fish activity.
Having said that a monster size carp appeared and raced through the stream to somewhere.
The carp was lightly colored and big thus easy to spot, the next fish that came in few was a decent
chub with was harder to spot.
The color of the bottom was generally very dark, most likely due to the low flow rate.
Only at certain shallower parts a sand bottom was visable where you could more easily spot fish.
The problem with this water was that it was quite shallow and had a lot of these man made steep
banks which made you as an angler very visable to the fish.
I walked the stream for miles and encountered mainly bream, a few carp and some chub.
Almost all these fish saw me first and ran off.
In order to get any fish I had to find some faster flowing stretches of the stream, preferrably a weir.
From satellite images I knew there where a couple of them in the general area but it took quite a walk
before I reached the first one - well the images I looked had where old as the weir had been replaced
by a series of big stones that provided fish with the possibity to migrate up and down the stream.
No fish where to be had there, allthough the presence of three herons meant that something edible
should have been there.
As I was now a long distance from the road I continued my trek along the stream passing by some
more bream.
Nothing moved in the surface so I wondered where all the chub had gone.
At the location of the next weir I encountered yet another set of big stones that had replaced the old
fish-unfriendly structures.
A little feeder stream came in from the side providing some deeper water that beckoned to be fished.
Still not a single hit on the nymph.
It was time to head back to the access road where I had spotted the big carp.
A quick peek from under the brigde showed me another removed weir.
When I came crossed the road and walked into the meadow I noticed some fish activity in the surface.
Still looking fishy and catching fish are two completely different things.
Again nothing moved in the water and several drifts with the nymph went unanswered.
This water would prove to be difficult indeed.
After the weir the stream got smaller and shallower.
I spotted a very nice chub but off course it had already seen me wandering up on the bank.
Its reaction was to slowly move downstream and then it downright dissappeared into the overgrowth
of the bank.
I gave up on this stream for now and opted to fish my regular water.
When I crossed the first bridge however my plans where turning out to be pretty useless - for some
reason the water had gained the color of coffee even though there was no rain or flooding.
Most likely the authorities where digging again in the stream removing some old weir somewhere
upstream.
It ruined my fishing but at least it was for a good cause.
At the confluence of main stream and feeder stream you could see the clear and dirty water mix.
I also spotted some huge chub standing in the current at the inflow of the clear water.
The chub saw me first though and anticipated the upcoming danger so they swam off.Z
All that remained where some little chub feeding further downstream.
I tried fishing a dry fly but the chub where so tiny that they could not even drown the fly.
It was time for a brake as it was late in the day.
My plan would be to get lunch at a pub, by the time I had finished eating the workforce digging at the
river would have probably stopped working and the main river might clear up then.
After an extended lunch I tried the main river again but unlike the last time activity was non-existant.
Only later I spotted some rising fish under a brigde but those where tiny.
I caught a few of the small fish and then called it a day as would probably not improve.
All in all it was a nice day though that showed me that I had to spend more time to figure out
how to fish the new water.
I guess I have to invest quality time there in order to catch some decent fish.
On Saturday the 13th. fishing was not really an option as a working party was organised at the
hatchery of my German syndicate.
The work involved clearing the area around our hatch pools and fixing the protective net over the
pools that had gotten a beating during a recent storm.
After the work was done and most people that had attended the working party had left
some of the remaining people wanted to see some flyfishing action.
One of our ponds contained some left over stock fish, I called it the mutant pool as it
contained some tiger trout.
Besides the tiger trout the pool contained rainbow trout, brown trout and brook trout.
All these fish had grown to pretty respectable sizes during the last half year.
They where also very aggressive - not so long ago a mole tried to swim over the mutant pool.
It was a fatal mistake by the mole as it was devoured by the trout.
To make a long story short I tossed in one of my small mink streamers, stripped a couple
of times and before I knew it I was in direct contact with the largest tiger in the pond.
The sizeble fish fought well ... like a tiger but after a while I could subdue and net it.
At lunch at the local pub I discussed the fishing with one of my fellow club members.
It appeared that some more work parties where ahead as the mill pool was filling up with sand.
That pool was off-limits to fishing as it was on private land but it contained some huge roach.
Off course I offered to volunteer with just a small demand - I had to fish there :-)
Later in the day I still had an hour or two left to fish before other duties beckoned.
In the woods I noticed some roach and dace in the water which had gone down to its usual low
summer levels.
One fish took my attention by its size, it almost looked like a trout.
As the fish did not react to the nymph I dropped in its path I tried to check out with a
streamer if it was indeed a trout.
The streamer did not produce the desired effect so I tied on a heavier nymph.
I guess the depth was the issue here as the heavy nymph got the fish to bite,
the fish was not a trout but a pretty decent dace.
At some other spots I caught a few small roach, not many fish where visable.
When my indicator was attacked in a rapid flowing stretch I knew I was dealing with a trout.
As the fish ignored my nymph I tried to coax it out of its lie with a streamer, to no avail.
I was pondering weather to use a dry fly or continue to fish the nymph.
In the end I choose the nymph in order to pick up any of the present roach if the trout did not
want to play.
The trout did want to play after several drifts and it put a good bend in the rod.
It left its rather shallow hideout immediately for deep water but then managed to threw the hook.
