Fly Fishing Fabisch, the Weekly Picture Archive 4 - 2019

Fly fishing in muddy water resembles a lottery, especially nymphing. Not only the number of strikes is reduced, but also the number of snags and lost nymphs goes up proportionally. Not to even speak of wading, one false step and down you go! Downstream of Lend there´s enough water in the river to make a round of swimming an activity with a doubtful outcome. Also there is a lot of rafting, which indicates that there is a lot of water going down the river. Anyone panning for gold should always act with caution, because he will also be in full contact with the current.

2018 and 2019 I spent my vacation in the Yukon, and I fished there, too, but this isn´t steelheading, and as far as steelhead are concerned, it feels a bit like cold turkey right now. As I have spent 3 months in the Yukon already this year, another trip to Canada this year is not possible. Therefore I can hardly wait to hear from my friends. I want to know about their steelhead experiences this year, about the situation on the Copper after the rockslides, and much more. If all goes well, I´ll be traveling in BC again next year, fishing for steelhead with nymphs and dries.

There isn´t much to say against this yearning for remote places, if people only behaved adequately. No, I´m not blaming each and everyone, fortunately there are exceptions. Some negative examples: discharging cigarette butts wherever you go, likewise empty glass or plastic bottles or used tippets. List to be continued almost infinitely. No again, I´m not forgetting I myself was on about 50 cigarettes a day in my heyday, and not all of these ended up in ashtrays.

The next day all four of us headed for the fly caster´s meeting in Hamburg. My last visit to this event had been about 15 years ago, so I was rather curious what to expect. In short, the conditions for casting are excellent. There is enough room for for casting one-handed fly rods as well as two-handed spey rods. The casters are standing almost at water level which is very helpful for all casting into water. It is definitely a location that could host many other events. We had lots of fun and we are very grateful to all the people making these events possible for us.

Thus equipped, temperatures up to -5° C pose no problem whatsoever. I went to the Salzach to try a few new things at gold panning. Meeting a group of other prospectors served to considerably enhance my knowledge. It is good to find out that even though you have thoroughly studied a subject for many years there is still room for new experiences and understanding. Of course there are always contemporaries who know (and can do) absolutely everything, but I prefer the other kind. The best is a situation where both sides learn and profit from each other.

There I slept for another two hours before shopping victuals for breakfast. Well stocked, I finally reached the Salzach. One look was enough to kill any hopes of trying anything whatsoever on or near the water. I had picked the very weekend that the Gasteiner Valley had been hit with landslides and heavy floods had taken place all around, e.g. in Zell am See. While I had been driving in the dark I had not noticed anything. That changed considerably on my drive back home, which I started right after breakfast. Giant floods everywhere, and the Saalach, too, way over its normal riverbed.

Tufa barriers are not only formed by the Lillach, but also by other streams in the area. The picture shows a stretch less than 1 km from the source. Unfortunately, the area from which the Lillach draws her water is rather small. So in hot summers her flow is reduced down to a trickle, next to nothing at all. Just upstream from Weissenohe there is a fish hatchery which will also suffer from water shortages in hot summers. Near the source of the Lillach you also find some rare damselflies, mayflies, and caddis, which will also suffer during times of water shortage.

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