There are still mayflies around, but the trouts do not seem to care much any longer. 
I
am stalking the streambanks and hardly see any rising fish. Throughout the day, there are some short intervals in which trout are rising, and I am able to catch a medium-sized fish here and there… but most of the time, freshly emerged mayflies drift on the water without being molested.
“It cannot be over yet!”, I try to motivate myself and keep on walking many kilometers along the stream this day. Something keeps me going, the hope for yet another good fish never ceases!
And indeed in the late afternoon, the sun is already approaching the horizon, I see a nice fish below the opposite bank of this little stream. This fish seems to stand motionless against the current, and very much to my displeasure it stays like that when my fly passes it in a perfect drift. I notice some gurgling to my right, below the overhanging gras some meters upstream. Through the gras I see a brown actively picking flies from the surface, a really rare sight today! But because I do not fully see it, I cannot estimate its size… my first cast already gets taken and I very suddenly have to learn that the fish is far larger than I had imagined!
A beautiful brown of 56cm finds the way into my net, and all the long walks and the waiting, the insect bites and the nettles are forgotten! This is what I came for, what I live for, I am full of joy! After some moments admiring the fish and shaking my head in amazement about all the things I experienced this mayfly-season, I pack my things up and make my way back home in the red light of sunset.