Flyfishing Germany - September 24th.
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 4:15 pm
Like every year around this time my German angling club
organized the most important fishing venue of the year
locally known as "Königsangeln" - roughly translated
the Fisher king contest.
Basically it was a sort of contest of who caught the most and biggest
Fish of the day.
The venue had two parts.
First members would head out to one of the clubs waters to fish
for anything they could lay there hands on.
Part two would be a short fishing session in the heavily stocked pool below
The local watermill.
The watermill was inhabited by a retired veterinarian and his wife who
allowed the club to organize the festivities on their premises.
My usual buddy decided to go working instead of attending
this very important venue so I tagged along with one of
my fellow club members.
The morning session only yielded some small perch and
a little dace but the very nice fall weather made up for that.
Later in the morning it was time to head to the watermill for a breakfast arranged by the club in one of the buildings at the watermill.
After that it was off to the pool where most anglers already had set up shop below the weir.
The reason was obvious since large masses of trout where zigzagging in the deep part of the pool.
Normally only conventional angling tackle was allowed at this part of the contest but since there where virtually no flyfishermen in the club we could usually get away with wading at the end of the pool.
Now I would have liked to catch a couple of those trout but they where not present at the end of the pool and the good spots where obviously taken by the float fishing anglers near the weir.
Rules implied that each fisherman could take five trout and then had to stop fishing.
Since the pool was stocked very well this year it soon became quiet and I could move forward to the good spot.
After most people had left I quickly caught my limit, all rainbow trout.
When the fish where weighed I donated them to the elderly couple
that lived in the watermill.
The couple where very friendly people, whenever we would show up at the mill
we would get an invite for coffee so giving them some trout was the thing to do
and very appreciated.
Fishing stopped early and soon I joined my fellow clubmates to wait for the announcement of the new Fisher king.
While waiting one of the old guys came up to me and said “hey, you still have an hour of fishing time left”.
I completely had forgotten about the whole timeline for this event and so instead of filling up
with beer I raced down to the pool for some catch and release flyfishing.
All fishermen had left so I had the place all for myself and several dozen trout in front of me.
The trout had became weary after the mayhem earlier but I could still get them to take a small zonker streamer.
The constant action went not unnoticed as the banks began to fill with fellow club members looking in wonder how I caught one after the other trout.
My success rate was even higher that the guys that fished with worms in the morning.
Earlier on during the contest many had looked more or less with a little pity at that flyfishing
guy but now their eyes where opened and they liked what they saw.
I fished until the last and enjoyed every minute with as icing on the cake some very nice
brook trout on the fly.
One of the many spectators.
The announcement of the Fisher king was not a surprise this year as I already knew that one of my friends had gone to quite some lengths to obtain the biggest fish in the contest.
The champagne was popped and all kinds of alcohol went down in quite a rate, for some to much.
The new Fisher king.
The festivities ended with a barbecue and the option to buy a special fishing permit
to continue fishing in the pool below the mill with as option to take out three more trout.
I decided I had enough fun for the day and got a ride to the train station.
At the train station I wondered about the crowds and even more when the train in the
other direction came in late.
It turned out that regular service that day was done by steam train since the line had an
anniversary.
Public transport 1923 style.
P8 38 series locomotive from 1916.
The return train came late but it was in style pulled by a Prussian P8 type Locomotive build in 1916.
So I had a grand closing of the fishing season at one of my local German clubs.
In October the trout season would close officially as it coincided with the spawning season.
I would still be able to fish in other German waters that where not designated as trout habitat.
For the time being there will be no more freshwater fishing for
me since I will spend my vacation in SW Florida hopefully for some good saltwater fishing.
organized the most important fishing venue of the year
locally known as "Königsangeln" - roughly translated
the Fisher king contest.
Basically it was a sort of contest of who caught the most and biggest
Fish of the day.
The venue had two parts.
First members would head out to one of the clubs waters to fish
for anything they could lay there hands on.
Part two would be a short fishing session in the heavily stocked pool below
The local watermill.
The watermill was inhabited by a retired veterinarian and his wife who
allowed the club to organize the festivities on their premises.
My usual buddy decided to go working instead of attending
this very important venue so I tagged along with one of
my fellow club members.
The morning session only yielded some small perch and
a little dace but the very nice fall weather made up for that.
Later in the morning it was time to head to the watermill for a breakfast arranged by the club in one of the buildings at the watermill.
After that it was off to the pool where most anglers already had set up shop below the weir.
The reason was obvious since large masses of trout where zigzagging in the deep part of the pool.
Normally only conventional angling tackle was allowed at this part of the contest but since there where virtually no flyfishermen in the club we could usually get away with wading at the end of the pool.
Now I would have liked to catch a couple of those trout but they where not present at the end of the pool and the good spots where obviously taken by the float fishing anglers near the weir.
Rules implied that each fisherman could take five trout and then had to stop fishing.
Since the pool was stocked very well this year it soon became quiet and I could move forward to the good spot.
After most people had left I quickly caught my limit, all rainbow trout.
When the fish where weighed I donated them to the elderly couple
that lived in the watermill.
The couple where very friendly people, whenever we would show up at the mill
we would get an invite for coffee so giving them some trout was the thing to do
and very appreciated.
Fishing stopped early and soon I joined my fellow clubmates to wait for the announcement of the new Fisher king.
While waiting one of the old guys came up to me and said “hey, you still have an hour of fishing time left”.
I completely had forgotten about the whole timeline for this event and so instead of filling up
with beer I raced down to the pool for some catch and release flyfishing.
All fishermen had left so I had the place all for myself and several dozen trout in front of me.
The trout had became weary after the mayhem earlier but I could still get them to take a small zonker streamer.
The constant action went not unnoticed as the banks began to fill with fellow club members looking in wonder how I caught one after the other trout.
My success rate was even higher that the guys that fished with worms in the morning.
Earlier on during the contest many had looked more or less with a little pity at that flyfishing
guy but now their eyes where opened and they liked what they saw.
I fished until the last and enjoyed every minute with as icing on the cake some very nice
brook trout on the fly.
One of the many spectators.
The announcement of the Fisher king was not a surprise this year as I already knew that one of my friends had gone to quite some lengths to obtain the biggest fish in the contest.
The champagne was popped and all kinds of alcohol went down in quite a rate, for some to much.
The new Fisher king.
The festivities ended with a barbecue and the option to buy a special fishing permit
to continue fishing in the pool below the mill with as option to take out three more trout.
I decided I had enough fun for the day and got a ride to the train station.
At the train station I wondered about the crowds and even more when the train in the
other direction came in late.
It turned out that regular service that day was done by steam train since the line had an
anniversary.
Public transport 1923 style.
P8 38 series locomotive from 1916.
The return train came late but it was in style pulled by a Prussian P8 type Locomotive build in 1916.
So I had a grand closing of the fishing season at one of my local German clubs.
In October the trout season would close officially as it coincided with the spawning season.
I would still be able to fish in other German waters that where not designated as trout habitat.
For the time being there will be no more freshwater fishing for
me since I will spend my vacation in SW Florida hopefully for some good saltwater fishing.