September days

Fishing mainly with nymphs, I almost forgot how much fun it is to fish with a dry fly on light gear. The first few days were spent casting dry flies all day on a tiny stream in the hills of the upper Austria region in Austria. Austria is such a wonderful country filled with yummy trout streams and rivers.

We were the only fishermen on the entire 10 km of this stream. Under the canopy of trees it felt like being lost in dry fly wonderland. Casting can be awkward at times with hanging branches at just about every corner. The population were predominantly browns and a few rainbows. Unfortunately we haven't seen any graylings. Fish were generally in the 8 to 12 inch size with a nice sized fish every once in a while.

Bring along a short (no longer than 7.5 ft) and light rod and a dozen dry flies and you can have rising action all day long. We fished with a simplified version of the elk hair caddis the whole three days. Easy to tie and floats for ever. Just make sure to get that tight loop under the branches and you'll have tons of fun.

The stream ran low so you have to keep on moving to the next profitable stretch of water, be a pool or a undercut bank with that stretch of depth for hiding. Clear water and low water conditions means spooky fish. Try to walk along the banks rather than in the water when possible.

The temperature was just right (around 24 degrees Celsius) yet the sun stayed behind the clouds. A few rays of sunshine appeared by the end of the third day. Too bad we had to leave for our next chapter of the trip. We'll be back here in a few years and see what spring conditions look like.

Next stop was one of my favorite rivers for the past 15 years. Since the river has 4 sections of each about 5 km long, all with a different character I could easily spend a whole month here. Nymphing is the key to success here and on a good day 40+ fish a day is possible. Just make sure you wade carefully when the water levels are low in the fall. Fish are spooky after seeing fishermen all summer long.

Grayling population has been very low the past 5-7 years here, but it seems the lady of the stream is working on a come back and that's good news. Don't forget to cast under the hanging branches along the flat section. A nice surprise can be your reward. We did have a rainy night the second day so the river turned into a cafe latte the next afternoon. Fortunately the next day the river was a clear as it could be.

This week has been very enjoyable and once again strengthened our near 20 year friendship. Rolf, next time look around and you'll see a familiar scenery! And do get rid of the chest waders on a hot day when water levels are only calf deep...

I did capture some video footages, but not enough of it! I'll see if I can make anything decent out of them.