Fly fishing in Germany

After the satisfactory experience of the trip, we repeat countries, although not rivers. I knew part of Möll, although I wanted to know some stretches that I had never fished before.

In Germany we fished the Urschlauer Ache, a tributary of the Weisse Traun whose fish population is almost 100% common trout. With this fly fishing trip, I have fished in Austria for fourteen years now, and it will certainly not be the last time.

Disenchanted with the national, in which in the last two decades are less and less the strongholds in which the fisherman has certain guarantees that his fishing trip is successful, and having to make long trips on many occasions, the truth is that a long week of fishing in the alpine country more than fulfills the expectations of enjoying a fishing holiday.

The landscape is beautiful, the rivers seem designed for the enjoyment of fly fishing, the crystal clear waters maintain an excellent population of trout and grayling, and if that were not enough, some accommodations like the one we were in, have an almost unbeatable value for money. We stayed in a nice apartment in the Gasthof Dorfschenke, in the small town of Stall, three hundred meters from the beautiful river Möll.

Its owner is Gerhard, a friendly man who is a fisherman, owner of the fishing rights of one of the stretches we fish, and that every day, after breakfast accompanies the fishing guests to the river to indicate the best fishing areas of each stretch, thus avoiding in a big way to give blind sticks in areas that might be less interesting to fish. We fish for Stall, Winklern, Bachforelle, Kelag and Gerhard's private stretch called Rossignoli. All of them are stretches worth visiting, and although very different from each other, they maintain the common denominator of an excellent fish population.

All the stretches are very close to the accommodation, as the furthest one is fifteen minutes away. Fishing was excellent in all scenarios. In Winklern a day of fortune you can get a hundred fish, although the average size is usually smaller than in other stretches. Some long and very uniform postures may be less attractive, but it certainly deserves to be caught inch by inch.

The stretch of Stall has a very long stop at the bottom, most of it not wading, although from time to time you can go down to the riverbed. We fish this part of the stretch at dawn and take out many trout between 20 and 30 cm to dry fishing only the subtle baits that happened continuously especially near the shores.

The middle part of the stretch is beautiful, an area where there are currents and wells and fishing can be more technical. Upstream the river is wider and more uniform, with frequent runs of an average depth of 20 to 40 cm, but always with many fish. Another thing is to locate them, since it is very frequent to find them stationed near the shore, but grayling tends to be gregarious and has a desire for any small hollow to bet in group.

The stretch of Bachforelle is that of the fishing club and Gerhard, who is a member of it, only has a limited number of permits for its guests. A very nice stretch with deeper currents and like all the stretches we fish, it has a lot of fish.

The stretch of Kelag gave me one of the greatest satisfactions of the trip, because one day I took out a dozen and a half trout and ...forty graylings. Throughout the day they released water at intervals from a minicentral at the head of the stretch, but the only difficulty was wading the river, as the fish were active throughout the day, both dry and nymph. In the lower zone the channel is much wider and more plentiful, perhaps less attractive, but just as interesting for fishing as the middle or upper zone, where if they do not release water there are frequent skimmers with some small wells. It is special in the lower zone, there is the possibility of fishing the fish of your life. The biggest thing we get would be about a kilo, but I've seen photos of trout up to 16 kilos taken in the Kelag reserve.

And a fly... Finally, the Rossignoli section, which can only be fished if we stay at the Gasthof Dorfschenke, since it is the owner who currently owns the fishing rights for that section. It is to be framed. In its four kilometers there is not a meter of waste. Beautiful, with lots of fish. In the middle of the stretch there is a straight, long, slow run with a depth in the center of about three meters but perfectly waded by its shore, in which it is a wonder to fish very slowly locating the larger fish and try to catch them, most often with small nymphs. At a time when the flow rose and the water became slightly cloudy, we drove some trout and grayling from authentic trophy to dry, but the larger fish were either released or split the bass. Without a doubt, one of the best stretches I have ever caught in Austria.

This season, again in September, it is our intention to go back to fishing the Möll and stay at the Dorfschenke, where all expectations were fulfilled, both for the quality of the waters we fished, and for the proximity of the scenery, the comfort of the apartments, the food, the hospitality and attention received by Gerhard, as well as for an extraordinary value for money. Returning to Munich, we stopped for two days to fish a section of the Weisse Traun that I did not know and a river I had heard of very well, the Urschlauer Ache, whose fishing rights are owned by the Ortnerhof Hotel in Ruhpolding.

The Weisse Traun, upstream of Siegsdorf, about 300 meters from the hotel, has a very comfortable course of transit, parallel to a bicycle lane in almost all the stretch, completely wadeable with little depth and continuous small waterfalls easily circumvented in whose vicinity are concentrated most of the trout. We saw specimens of up to three kilos, especially elusive given the transparency of the waters and the low flow of the river in mid-September.

My brother and I caught about sixty trout fishing a little more than half a day, since before we had to go to Siegsdorf to get the fishing license. It is an ideal stretch for people with limited mobility, in which an 8-foot rod will be enough to fish comfortably, since the channel is between eight and ten meters wide, shallow, and the shores are permanently flanked by trees. With low flow, crystal clear water and clear days, it is a river that can be demanding when it comes to fishing with long fine lows, small flies and delicate presentations. Permits are provided at the hotel reception.

On the last day of the trip we fished the Urschlauer Ache. Delicious. that forces to fish inch by inch every corner, because where you least expect it you find a trout. The average size of the trout, almost all common -something unusual in Germany-, was from 25 to 30 cm, although we took out several of around a kilo and saw them bigger.

The stretch is about ten kilometers long and as we go up the channel has less flow, but we must bear in mind that it was the end of the season and the rains had been scarce during the summer. In some urban posture there was an unusual concentration of trout, many of them of very good size and especially indifferent to most flies, as they are used to people passing by the river throwing pieces of bread to those who are thrown like piranhas. In spite of everything and based on trying and trying, we managed to take out many trout in the bakery postures. In the whole day we took out about one hundred trout, and more than 90% of them were common and without appearance of having been introduced. It is a very demanded stretch, so if you are interested in fishing it you must make the reservation well in advance.

As with the Weisse Traun, an 8-foot rod line 3-5 will be sufficient and possibly more fun to fish than a longer rod. The Hotel Ortnerhof, a luxury, both for its facilities and for its exquisite cuisine. Very important: To fish in Germany is absolutely essential to obtain the fishing license, without which NO fishing permits will be issued even if they are private waters. The nearest place to obtain it is in the town of Siegsdorf in the City Hall. It is open from Monday to Friday at eight in the morning and you must bring your ID or passport and a passport photo. The Gasthof Dorfschenke is in Stall, four hours drive from Munich airport.