Bernd Ziesche | Wednesday, 20 May 2015
I am sorry to have missed my front page last Wednesday. But I was on a mission: Teaching how to fly fish for Atlantic salmon to a group of beginners. For about one week we fished the Danish Skjern River. We fished in two shifts (4 to 5 hours each) per day: One in the morning and one in the late afternoon.
Unfortunately we did not catch a single Atlantic salmon this time. Of course those of you who have fished for Atlantic salmon will understand this to be quite normal in salmon fishing! Salmon fishing often is a fight. A fight with one’s self. It’s about to never stop believing and always keep hope for the one fish, which then marks a very emotional (catching) moment.
We had a great week with lots of double hand casting tuition, fly tying tuition (thanks to the Danish experts Torben Thinggaard and Marc Scovby) and learning the different tactics on Atlantic salmon. I rent a house to which belonged a small lake offering us a perfect spot for casting tuition. In between the lessons we had lots of fun catching some Rainbow trout in the lake. Of course proper casting tuition asks for a lot of breaks to be included!? ;)
At the Skjern River we very much enjoyed to meet Viking Lars. Truly I gave him my personal favorite fly for Atlantic salmon (in exchange for some of his flies). Yet he did not find out how good it is, but soon he will! ;)
All in all we had perfect conditions. The water level was rising, falling, rising and falling again. Usually that is when some Atlantic salmon get in a striking mood. But this time only few salmon have been in the river. Most days less than 5 salmon per day were caught in the whole river (ca. 150 anglers). Helping out a nice Danish lady to land a 7,3Kg Atlantic salmon I at least was holding pure chrome for some seconds! :)
Marina and I decided to fish for Sea trout in the Baltic sea at the end of our trip. Marina directly caught her first Sea trout ever, which was very emotional for both of us. Simply unforgettable! In the next morning Marina hooked up with another (much bigger) Sea trout. It got lost, which left Marina in a very sad mood. After a week fishing for Atlantic salmon without getting a single strike she felt how hard one would have to work for catching such a fish. But then it happened and she hooked up with a third Sea trout, again in very good size. Finally Marina landed a Sea trout of 6 pounds. After such a week of hoping for the one large silver fish this was an extra emotional moment and some tears were running. Tears of happiness of course! Sharing these moments to me is the best part of fly fishing. No fly cast will ever beet these catching moments for me. In the end it’s all about fly FISH ing to happen.
Paul said in his Monday page: “For me at least, it is not only an advantage that my girlfriend fishes, but indeed a requirement.” I couldn’t agree more. It simply is fantastic to share fly fishing and all the great emotions it brings into my life with Marina!
Some shared EMOTIONAL fishing days to all of you!
All my best
Bernd
p.s.: Hi Glenda, here is a video presenting how I retrieve my line medium to highest possible speed. ;)
Retrieving techniques
A few pictures from the past days...