Where have all the big fish been in march and april? No matter where I went, I struggled to catch anything… and when I did, it were mostly the small ones… nothing beyond the “magic” 20in so far…and yes, I admit, I do enjoy stalking the big fish… the bigger is not always the better, but in fishing… well… it is difficult 😉
Since finally some rain ended the near drought in april, nature has woken. The green is getting thicker, the trees are in bloom and when the sun pierces the sky, it gets warm under the rain coat… Nature is somewhat behind this year, and it is not only the vegetation. Also the hawthorn-fly (Bibio bibio) which usually hatches in plenty around Saint Mark’s Day (25.April – we call this fly therefore “Markus-Fly” in Germany) hasn’t shown up yet. Everthing feels a bit like mid-April, and since a small black streamer usually fishes very well at that time of the year , I did tie on just such a streamer yesterday afternoon:
It was the same mix of rain, sun and strong wind, the we have had the last few days already. The water a little murky, and on the bank the first small flowers among the fresh grass. I fished beneath overhanging banks and bushed, and soon caught a very beautiful, fat and feisty trout, but not particularly large. After such a drill the pool is “burned” usually but I had a feeling to keep on casting, and with a few rollcasts, I reached a little further each cast…. and suddenly I felt that long awaited solid tuck, almost like the hook getting stuck in a tree, but moving at the same time, headshaked, solid… whoooaaaaa!
It took quite a while until I saw the fish for the first time, but in the meantime, I never had any doubts that that it would be the biggest this year so far.
The minutes or seconds (no chance to reliably tell the duration of such a fight) it took until I finally had it in the net, were both torture and joy… after many good lost fish in the last year, I still am far from cool in such situations… another flight, another change of direction… the brown trout fought cunningly. But I succeeded in the end, and was completely happy! What a fish, what a moment!