Winter proved to be far milder in comparison to recent years, and the early Spring weather has also been kind. Taking advantage of these good conditions resulted in a couple of successful days here on the streams in Switzerland, at two very different locations.
The first day saw Jon and his great fishing pal Markus head off to their club water, a small stream in Canton Luzern, the Rümlig. This is a stream that descends quite rapidly down a gully which has been carved out over the centuries by nature, and is flanked by steep woodland on either side.
Our early fears of there being too much snow melt were unfounded, and we were pleasantly surprised by the clarity of the water. These water conditions tempted Jon to take out his dry fly box and to try and tempt a fish or two to the surface, with the pattern of choice being a Yellow Wulff. (A tying video of the Yellow Wulff can be found on Jon's Youtube Channel here). A great fly for these turbulent waters, but on this day it only tempted two fish to the surface (both of which Jon missed!) and it became quickly apparent that nymphs were the way to go.
Markus kicked off with the first fish of the season, a nice Brownie caught on a dark brown gold head nymph on his new stream rod! He continued his success with this set up, and landed several fish by the end of the day. Jon switched to a gold head pheasant tail nymph and finally landed a couple of fish, one of which was captured on this short video.
A sign of a healthy stream, copious amounts of nymphs were observed clinging to rocks.
April 1st saw the streams of Canton Schwyz open to season ticket holders, but it was a few days into the season before Jon headed out to try a stretch he had observed pre season that looked promising.
Conditions were good, with clear water at good levels and the warmth of the Spring sunshine encouraging some up-wing flies to hatch. A 7' #3 rod was the rod of choice, ideal for the small stream dry fly fishing and a Parachute Adams attached to 6x tippet.
These long glides had some deceptively deep pockets of water located behind large submerged rocks, and the clarity of the water gave the fish time to see a well presented dry fly. The fish were keen to rise to the surface but the takes were not very aggressive, barely breaking the surface to take the fly and any lack of concentration resulted in a missed take!
A beautifully coloured fish that took the #14 Parachute Adams.
Just before snow melt from the local mountain started to colour the water and put an early end to the day, this nice fish was tempted to the surface. In all an enjoyable, interesting, and challenging day, with as many missed takes as successful hook ups.
Tight Lines to all for 2014!!!
