November Graylings

So I had this mad idea about heading to Austria to do some fishing in November. Most fishing in Germany and Austria ends around the end of October. Only a few rivers and streams are known to stay open till the end of the year, I couldn't come up with one that was worth a long drive. Then my thoughts went to those big graylings in the river Möll in Austria some 15 years ago. Mmm... I haven't seen those for many many years.

After a few phone calls I headed for a three days trip to the town of Bad Ischl. Bad Ischl is known as the summer destination of the famous Austrian empress Sissi and her Franz Josef. Well anyway, Bad Ischl is some 50km south of Salzburg, which is just near the German/Austrian border. The main river is the Ischler Traun which is formed by the Goiserer Traun (which runs through the town of Bad Goisern), the Ischler Ache and several other smaller tributaries. Since I only planned three days, I decided to go for the two bigger rivers, the Goiserer and Ischler Traun. And these rivers hold some wonderful fishing, especially big graylings!

I don't know what game the weather is playing in Europe. It has been much too warm in Europe for late November. My first day in Bad Ischl was quite cold (2 C / 35 F), drizzling all day and just plain grey. The higher elevations had some snow as you can see in the pictures. The second and third day the weather cleared up considerably and it was quite warm (10 C / 50 F) and sunny. Not sure what this change does for fishing, but it sure was nice to be outside. The low sun did make seeing my fly or indicator quite a challenge. How about trying to avoid my long shadow spooking the fish in the crystal clear, slightly teal colored, water!

Back to the graylings. Graylings used to be quite common in the European waters, but due to the increasing numbers of cormorants, many rivers are having problems with decreasing numbers of graylings. Big graylings are getting more and more difficult to catch simply because the smaller ones don't get the chance to grow big and handsome. And boy, are those big graylings a magnificent fish to look at. The big graylings are quite strong too, especially when they manage to use the current to their advantage using the big dorsal fin. It may be a surprise to most, but big graylings like to jump when hooked! The ones I caught were all pleasantly nice, most being in the 16 - 20 inch range. Graylings can grow as large as 60 cm (almost 24 inches!), but these are obviously pretty rare.

The Ischler Traun and the Goiserer Traun differ quite a bit in characteristics. While the Goiserer Traun being a tad smaller in size meanders through the lower valleys of the Salzburgerland hills, the Ischler Traun is a much larger river that takes possession of the area. The Goiserer Traun starts on the estuary of the Hallstätter Lake. During its course the Goiserer Traun changes from nasty raging river to a very wadable riffle with neat structures like bends, rocky bottoms with nice pools. Then again to change into a slow moving and very deep river. I really liked the Goiserer Traun for its ever changing face, so it's a very interesting river to fish.

The Ischler Traun initially looks kinda boring compared to the Goiserer Traun. The large straight path of the Ischler makes it very intimidating when you first encounter the river. One might feel a bit lost at first sight, but soon you will see that the part where the low running river gets deeper the structure of the bottom changes. The pebbly stoney bottom becomes a rocky bottom with small boulders and weed filled pools. This is where I caught most of my fish. But don't forget to fish the lower stretches too! Here in a stretch of just 20 inches of water I caught the largest grayling of the trip.

These rivers hold some very nice spices of fish making fishing quite interesting. I've caught rainbows, brown trouts, graylings and brook trouts. One might even run into a nice barbel. I have fished mainly with heavily weighted bead head nymphs, sometimes doubled with a bead head prince or small pheasant tail. Just for the sake of it, I did tie on an Elk hair caddis. Although the water was quite cold, the eagerness to get the dry fly was nothing short of enthusiasm. The takes when fishing nymphs were quite diverse. The (smaller) rainbows took the nymph so hard and fast that the indicator just jumped. The graylings are the gentle takers, just pulling the indicator almost without notice.

So, what's the verdict of this trip? EXPENSIVE, amazing scenery and beautiful graylings. Since you get to fish three rivers (I didn't spend enough time on the Ischler Ache to get a real idea of this stream), it's really fun to fish a different river every few days. I stayed at hotel Stadt Salzburg (hotel has a new owner now with less focus on fly fishing unfortunately). This hotel issues the tickets to the rivers mentioned. Walter is a very nice host as well as an avid fly fisher. The last morning I stayed at the hotel, I ran into a group of fly fishermen from Germany and Sweden. They were in for a real treat because the weather was getting even better with temps up to 15 C (60 F)!

As mentioned earlier, the day tickets for these rivers are really expensive. The day ticket prices range from 60 to 90 Euro's (around 80-120 USD!). This is just too much. In fact, I don't think I'll come back here unless I feel the heart breaking urge to catch some nice big graylings. I know that the ticket prices are the result of the state licensing to the leaseholders, but with prices like this fishing is only feasible to the most wealthy fly fishermen. The people responsible for the licensing might consider rethinking how to finance the whole system. I'm sure putting reasonable prices for the tickets together with limiting numbers of tickets given per day would ensure the quality of the fishing resources as well as help the tourism to the areas.


A word on the equipment used:
I used a 9ft #5 rod. A #4 rod would be okay if you're fishing with dries a lot, but using heavily weighted nymphs needed to get them to the bottom might make a #4 rod probably too light.



Update 10 okt 2007:
Here's a nice videoclip on fishing on the Goiserer Traun.

Chilly bamboo afternoon

Today I got together with Christian and Wolfhard to talk about bamboo, fishing and Pizza. Although this November afternoon was wet and chilly we had a great time. It's nice to see these two bamboo enthusiasts talk about their favorite rod building material, the Arundinaria amabilis. I'm nowhere an expert as these guys. And let me tell you, these guys eat and breath bamboo! Okay, I found out they appreciate a good pizza as well...

Our friend Wolfhard decided to start building (and restoring) his own rods and he is improving VERY rapidly indeed! He took several classes from the well known German bamboo rod maker Rolf Baginski to soak up the basics of bamboo rod making. Wolfhard showed us his new bamboo studio where he has spent (and will be spending) many hours working on his many bamboo projects.

Seeing all the equipment needed to build a bamboo fly rod is just fascinating. It's really interesting to see how systematically Wolfhard arranged his studio to work on his bamboo rods. He makes everything from scratch: ferrules, hardware and the bamboo blanks. And his 'office' is as clean as an operation room!

Before and after the lunch we decided to do some inevitable casting of several project rods as well as newly (to be) acquired rods. Wolfram Schott seems to be Christian's new hero. The demo 'rods' Christian brought were looking promising. Not sure how this builder's finished rods look like, but I'm told that it's one of the best Christian has ever seen. The two rods from Schott were parabolic rods, which were slightly too soft for my taste. Wolfhard showed us a three piece rod he is building for a guy to try in New Zealand. Boy, this rod is a real cannon! Beautiful flaming marks too.

This afternoon brought us back to what makes bamboo such an interesting material. The many different tapers that can result in totally different rod action, it's simply astounding! Not to mention the different cosmetics that makes the rod the eye candy it can be. Now, this is a personal thing of course.

The nice thing about such a get together is the lazy pace and learning from each others experience. We talked about details on building bamboo rods, how to get the best taper by trial-and-error as well as how women see men as parquet (once laid, they just walk over them for well over 40 years! *grin*).

Fishing in November?

I got a few days off during the second half of November! How about some end of year fishing? Nearly all rivers are closed in Germany now. I'm looking up for possibilities to fish a few days in Austria. There seems to be some rivers in Austria that are still open until the end of the year. I'll have to find my cold weather clothing to keep me warm. It sounds weird but I hope to see some snow during the fishing. That should deliver some nice pictures. We'll see...


Update 11 november
There are indeed some rivers in Austria still open until the end of the year. These rivers like the Salza, Salzach, Goiserer Traun are pretty amazing both in beauty and price. Daily tickets are 50-87 euros (about 64-110 USD). Ouch... But some rivers are 'on sale' during the winter months, so I'll try to see what bargains I can get. But as you can see these rivers are amazing. Here are some pictures of the Salza. Mmm....

Catskill dry flies (II) - The Dettes

Although Theodore Gordon is considered to be the founder of the (Catskill style) dry fly fishing, the public awareness of the Catskill flies has been broadend for a great deal thanks to the Dette family.

This family of fly tiers have thus influenced an important part to the American fly fishing history. During the harsh times of the early 1930's Walt Dette and his family tried to make a living selling flies through their catalog and later from their tiny fly shop (and home) in Roscoe, New York (update: fly shop moved to Livingston Manor).

Today the family business is still in operation (the longest still running fly shop in the world) as it's run by Walt's daughter Mary (update: now her grandson Joe Fox is running the shop).

Eric Leiser wrote a book about the Dettes and their flies. It's a very interesting book as it tells the story of a family's choices to combine their love for the art of tying while trying to make a living just like every one else.

Anyone who has the chance to visit the Catskill area, a visit to the Dette Trout Flies is a must. I for one haven't had the opportunity yet, but I for sure will try to visit the birthplace of the Catskill flies one day. Oh by the way, there's a waiting time of over a year if you want to buy a fly tied by Mary Dette... (update: probably impossible now since Mary retired)

A must read about the Dettes is this whole issue of the journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

Update May 2022:

Here is my collection of Dette flies I got nicely framed

Fly fishing music video

There is an increasing amount of DVDs available on fly fishing and fly tying these days. You've probably seen at least half a dozen DVDs on fishing exotic destinations. Many are directed using National Geographic scripts trying to give the viewer a valuable view on what the visitor can expect there.

Then there is AEG Media's Trout Bum Diaries. This is a compilation of a six month journey by a group of friends in to the Argentinean Patagonia region. This first volume of their Trout Bum Diaries has more resemblance to a music video clip or an episode of MTV's Jack Ass than the carefully edited DVDs mentioned earlier. The pace is sometimes fast, frantic and full of adrenaline while other parts it takes you in a dreamy flow. The speed of the action on screen is accompanied by corresponding music. This is 90 minutes entertainment captured in Patagonia's trout filled heaven.

Fly fishing can be so much more than just poetic casting with the snow packed mountains on the background. Like the explosive rises to the Chernobyl ants! Here's a trailer that gives you an idea of the 'MTV fly fishing'. You can order the DVD directly from AEG Media (Update: they are no longer in business).

The guys at AEG are now finishing up the final edits of their next journey to New Zealand and this episode looks like another 90 minutes of fast paced monster trouts galore. Their Kiwi trailer is here.

If you want to be entertained on some amazing fishing during the long winter evenings with friends, check this out! If you're looking for a 'how to' DVD, move on to the next shelf...