Fishing in Austria, 2013, Days 3 & 4
Thursday, April 18, was hot and sunny with a strong Chinook wind from the Alps. Not a good day for fishing. The fish felt the pressure change and the bright sun, and basically went deep and stayed there. All the fish that I had seen in a variety of places on the Ager were nowhere to be found. Early in the day I caught three trout on the Orange Nymph, and lost a couple, others. About noon, the fishing collapsed, and we returned to the hotel.
Friday, April 19, was a much different day. It was cool to the point of being cold—quite the switch from yesterday. It was also rainy in the night, but we fished all day without rain. It started to rain as we left at 5:30 pm. I took 5 big fish (20” and over) and 3 smaller ones. Three of the big ones took an olive sculpin, and the others fell to a small bead head nymph—a Hare’s and Copper with a gold bead.
In mid afternoon I found several trout rising to a small, dark gray mayfly. Jurgen and Regina Baumann were nearby, and I showed the fish to them. Jurgen was rigged with a dry fly, and he waded in to take a nice brown after only a few casts. It was a good day of fishing.
A nice big rainbow that took a large olive Down and Dirty Sculpin.
The rainbows of the Ager are often brightly colored and very strong. These fish were taken on a Hardy 10 foot 3-weight . A great rod to protect light tippets.
A nice rainbow that took a sculpin fished on the 3-weight. It’s a great rod for this type of fishing because the butt is very strong, capable of fighting big fish with great success.
A nice rainbow that fell to a size 14, gold bead head Hare and Copper.
Jurgen with the nice brown that took his dry fly strongly and fought long and hard.