This summer is a little different than others. Many things didn’t go as planned: I had so much to do at work that I often felt too tired to go fishing in the evening (and this means something!). Then, while playing soccer, I hurt my ankle and had to hop around on crutches for three weeks, and most recently I caught a fever and was hardly able to move out of the bed or from the sofa. Well… it sometimes happens, people say. A highlight surely was a short fishing trip to the Black Forest with my brother. Unfortunately a strong change of weather was predicted for this day, but in the end, it wasn ..read more

Mountains somehow trigger the most positive feelings in me. And I am not even really sure what the reason is, probably a mixture of all the impressions the physical exhaustion from hiking in steep terrain. It is easy to leave behind the stress and the worries of every day’s life. The air is clean up in the mountains, but full of fragrances from herbs, rocks and the animals which graze the alpine pastures. Insects are humming, the water gurgling down the valley over rounded rocks. But few manmade sounds can be heard. Having the opportunity to fly fish in such an environment, is a blessing and o ..read more

Wenn ich mir meine Beiträge und Videos zur Maifliegenzeit in den vergangenen Jahren anschaue, dann muss ich mich unweigerlich fragen, was denn da eigentlich dieses Jahr los war? Vermutlich wegen des kalten Frühjahrs begannen der Maifliegenschlupf dieses Jahr recht spät, erst um den 01. Juni herum sah man einzelne Fische nach den Maifliegen steigen. Tag für Tag hoffte ich darauf, dass der Schlupf zunehmen würde. Und ich fing durchaus auch ein paar gute Fische, aber zu keinem Zeitpunkt waren die ansonsten üblichen „Teppiche“ von Maifliegen auf dem Wasser zu sehen, oder die „Trauben“ von Subimago ..read more

Our pike season starts on May 16, and if somehow possible, I try to spend a few ours fishing. The day was cold and windy, pretty much the same as the entire spring so far… the water high and murky. To fish for pike in these conditions involved both a little insanity and much optimism. The pike are not very numerous, but the number of potential spots is endless. Being well hidden, some of these pikes grow to quite impressive dimensions. So where do you fish when you don’t see anything? The reason I know that there are pike in this trout-stream derives from my own catches in the past and from ..read more

I cannot remember when we last had so much water in spring, after so many dry years… finally the water is back! And this is also the reason why I hadn’t yet fished this little Black Forest stream with so much water. But I do love challenges and was looking forward to this day. During the last weeks it has been relatively cold and therefore I did not expect to see many hatching insects. So on the eve of that day I sat at my tying desk and filled the box with big stonefly nymphs. The Black Forest luckily still has a good population of these gorgeous insects. And not only me, but also the trout d ..read more

Dieses Messer hat eine der schönsten Klingen, die ich bislang wahrscheinlich je geschmiedet habe: ein feines Muster aus etwa 600 Lagen. Die drei Stähle, die in der Klinge verarbeitet wurden, sehen aber nicht nur gut aus, sondern sind in Bezug auf Schnitthaltigkeit und Schärfe eine Hochleistungs-Kombination. Die Schmiedearbeiten fanden wie immer mit dem Handhammer, ganz ohne Maschineneinsatz statt. Durch den entsprechend länger andauernden Schmiedeprozess (im Vergleich zu einem Maschinenhammer) entsteht ein deutlich lebendigeres Muster im Damast. Die Grundform des Messers ist schlank, mit eine ..read more

And finally fall is here… somewhat like a colorful flash of nature, just before the white veil of winter covers it all. Here in the Swabian Jura in southern Germany, fall is especially colorful with all the mixed beech forests. It hardly falls short of the famous “Indian Summer” in Canada…. From a fly fishers perspective, it is similarly a last highlight, before all the waters of our area either freeze up or are closed for fishing, so that trout and grayling can spawn unmolested. But just now, fishing an hour or two in the warm October evening sun, is absolute pleasure. And the grayling bite r ..read more

Fischen und Familie lässt sich nicht immer ganz optimal vereinbaren. Aber dieses Jahr ist uns das auf unvergleichlich gute Weise gelungen, und zwar am Lago die Bolsena in der italienischen Provinz Latium, nahe Rom. Der Lago di Bolsena von Montefiascone aus gesehen. Der Bolsena-See ist der größte Vulkan-See Europas. Er hat keine nennenswerten Zu- und Abflüsse, ist fast kreisrund, glasklar und mit 151 Metern recht tief. Die Gegend ist seit Jahrtausenden besiedelt, weil die vulkanischen Böden sehr fruchtbar sind. Olivenhaine, Feigenbäume, Wein… in Mittelitalien lässt es sich leben. Etrusker und R ..read more

A trip to Greenland is something I have long been dreaming of… and this year, it finally happend. I have not yet found the time to translate my long report into English, but here are some pictures of the trip. Please check again in a few weeks, I will try to add the English report a.s.a.p. The post Greenland appeared first on Troutfishing Germany ..read more

It has been quite a while since I last fished this little stream. The opportunity came when three friends from Switzerland came to visit: through whatsapp I suggested to go fishing together, but was a bit reluctant to suggest these waters. “It is a mountain stream, I fear this is nothing special for you guys”, I wrote in our chat group. “Mountain streams are always fun,” was the answer, and indeed, we have had a lot of fun fishing alpine creeks in the Swiss Alps through the years. The fish are usually rather small, but the population is quite good and they take the dry fly really well. Of thi ..read more