Getting some fresh air

The river Kyll always has been the first introduction to fly fishing for trout for many Dutch fly fishermen. I think I spent 10 years fishing the several stretches of this river before heading for more exotic places.

My friend John and I decided to do a one-day-trip to get some fresh air. The river Kyll was the logical choice since it's only a 3.5 hours drive.

We got a day ticket and headed for this 1 km long private stretch near the town of Mürlenbach, just below the town of Birresborn. The Kyll stretch near Birresborn is probably the most visited stretch of the Kyll. At weekends this stretch can be really crowded.

I had to recall when I fished the Kyll for the last time. It must be around 12 years ago. I heard about the near extinction of the once so abundant grayling. I remember those trips where we caught around 100 fish a day on the stretch above Birresborn, most of them being grayling.

Well, no grayling to be found today... In fact, the river looked pretty deserted. Just a dozen of tiny brown trouts were all we saw. The rain of several days before kept the water a bit murky. Ah well.... we got a smell of fresh air under a bright sunny sky!



So this trip marks the start of a new season.
Next stop: mid May.
Destination: southern Germany!

Spring casting

What a nice and warm easter spring day it was today.

Martin Hengelsport, a local fly shop organized a demo day where one could try out a nice selection of rods made by Guideline. Guideline is a Swedish manufacturer of fly rods, reels and lines. Similar to Loop and Vision.

It wasn't a big happening and that's probably why I liked it so much. We got to talk to our fly fishing friends, cast a rod or two and basically enjoy the warmth of the spring sun. They even made a little water basin to demonstrate the various spey-casting techniques.

I'm not into two handed atlantic salmon fishing, Skagit-style casting or even switch rods, but the experts say Guideline's two handed fly rods are among the best, if not the best. Can't comment on that, but their one handed fly rods appear to me as nothing special, if not a bit stiff and kinda 'lifeless' if you ask me... The price range is just below the premium brands like Sage and Winston.

It's remarkable how these Scandinavian brands have been working their way up the fly fishing industry the past 10 years. I remember Loop started the large abor reel craze with their Traditional reels in the mid 1980's. In the early 1990's Sage had their 700 reel-series made by Loop, which in turn commissioned Danielsson to build the reels under the Loop brand.

Nowadays the original large arbor reels from Loop are built and marketed by Danielsson as an independent reel manufacturer. It took a while these large abor reels really took off. I think it was Jon Bauer with his award winning MacKenzie reel series in the late 1990's really kick started the large abor hype as we know today.

I think these Scandinavian brands are giving the premium brands a run for their money in terms of value-for-money, no-questions-asked service as well as innovation on fishing for sea run brown trouts and atlantic salmons. The Scandinavian fly fishermen are considered the true experts on the sea run brown trout fishing along the endless coastal shores of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Our first trip to the trout streams is just about a month away. However, I managed to squeeze a one-day-trip with my friend John within 2 weeks from now to the river Kyll in the German Eifel region, just over the southern Dutch border.

Ah...memories! My first steps in the trout streams were made on this river, now some 20 years ago. Stay tuned for a little trip report on this one-day event!