It has been quite a while since I last fished this little stream. The opportunity came when three friends from Switzerland came to visit: through whatsapp I suggested to go fishing together, but was a bit reluctant to suggest these waters. “It is a mountain stream, I fear this is nothing special for you guys”, I wrote in our chat group. “Mountain streams are always fun,” was the answer, and indeed, we have had a lot of fun fishing alpine creeks in the Swiss Alps through the years. The fish are usually rather small, but the population is quite good and they take the dry fly really well.
Of this little creek in the Black Forest I had fond memories, but it has been many years since I last fished here – and back then, I still fished with the spinning rod… it would not be the first stream to take a dramatic turn for the worse, due to climate changes, fish diseases and overfishing. I was excited to find out and hoped for the best.
As we met at a parking site for hikers, we encountered a first big stonefly with a big egg ball at its rear. This state of the stoneflies is actually the ideal time to try some really big dry flies. As the stoneflies touch the water to release their eggs, some of them geht caught in the current or simply dip too deep and cannot take off again – the fish then rise to these massive protein bars while for the rest of the year, they feed on the stonefly larvae which are hiding underneath stones in fast water.
Stoneflies do fascinate me! They are not as elegant as a mayfly but rather share the rough beauty of a dinosaur. The hulls of the larvae resemble porcelain somewhat, but the final insects look somewhat like a reptile with bat wings – a pterosaur indeed. I tied a stimulator fly to my tippet – except for the colors and the size, they do not really resemble a stonefly, but it somehow seems to do the trick, and it floats very reliably in fast water. The stimulator has proven a great pattern in other stonefly-waters, and so it did here….
There was nothing to complain concerning the frequency of takes, and in the end, we relized that all large patterns worked somehow – large caddis patterns, big Royal Wulffs… And time and again I marvel at the brown trouts in the Black Forest, which are especially beautiful, with intense colors: big red dots and a golden belly… is there any fish more beautiful than that? Although I must admit, that the rainbows in the Black Forest are better than elsewhere aswell: the natural reproduction seems to work in these streams, and consequently, the proportions, fins and colors look way better than anything I have seen in other regions, where they are usually being stocked.
To fight big fish in these fast waters proved a challenge. Whereas most trout in the Swiss Mountain Streams are rather small – hardly more than 10 inch, several fish we caught measured +16 inch, and much bigger ones (+25 inch) exist in these waters. The fish seemed to know exactly where the next branch or stone in the water offered protection and raced for this cover with brutal force. Once the line was wrapped around the obstacle and line tension ceased, the fish shook off the barbless hooks… But it was great fun nevertheless, it never got boring!
Later, my friends gave me a book about stoneflies as a present, with personal signatures of both them and the author. They do know that I am a little crazy when it comes to flyfishing, and especially to stoneflies. What a wonderful book! I just whished I could remember all that I read… 😉
