The story so far

[Marcel_Karssies]

Well, season is starting to take shape only the catching is still behind schedule. My tally for the season is one little brown trout and five shiners so far. The weather has turned from high temps. to chilly conditions recently. Our last big trout trip to the Mohne river was a disaster due to flooding. One of us called the shop to ask about conditions and was told fishing was good, when we arrived three times more water flowed through the river as during normal conditions. It is still a little early to catch fish in numbers I guess. Below a photo collection of the last two weeks.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Marcel_Karssies/Beek-X-02042005/IMG_6839.jpg
One of the little trout my fishingbuddy Joop caught, last fall they where half this size.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Marcel_Karssies/Beek-X-02042005/IMG_6826.jpg
It is starting to get green in the countryside

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Marcel_Karssies/Beek-X-02042005/IMG_6824.jpg
One of the first shiners (Roach) I caught this season

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Marcel_Karssies/Beek-X-02042005/IMG_6817.jpg
Best fly a deep fished gold bead nymph

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Marcel_Karssies/Beek-X-02042005/IMG_6808.jpg
Windflower time, the forest floor is covered with this little white flower

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Marcel_Karssies/Mohne-05042005/IMG_6853.jpg
Up in Germany's Sauerland region nature legs a couple of weeks behind,
Mohne river under flooding conditions.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Marcel_Karssies/Mohne-05042005/IMG_6850.jpg
Bypass of the Watermill at Niederbergheim, Mohne river.
Normally almost no water flows through the bypass.

[OneMoreCast]

Hey Marcel...is that flower an edelweiss?
(Patiently waiting some of the knuckledraggers to comment on my manhood now)

Man...our rivers are WAY flooded right now. With another 1 to 2 inches of rain tonight...we are hosed. Oh well...who likes catching 20lb stripers in 3 feet of water anyway? Or shad in all the rivers.....or...maybe I'll stop talking now before I start weeping out loud at work.

That's a fine little trout.

[Marcel_Karssies]

Nah, not an edelweiss. A windflower (proper English name), also known as wood anemone, in Dutch "bosanemoon".
We where a little too early at the Mohne river. We are kind off stupid though because there are several measuring stations along the river that display online data about river flow and water levels. If we would be smart (we're not[grin]) we would have checked the flow levels and compared them to the average levels.

Anyway we did visit the beer garden again and I can tell you from experience that sitting at a riverside terrace with a nice plate of porkchops and a cool Warsteiner beer in front of you beats working at the office any day[angel]

The owner of the guesthouse recognized us and asked us why we didn't gave him a call in advance to ask about the river status. Someone called the shop though that issued the licenses and they stated fishing was good. Another confirmation that you can not trust salespeople.

I only see pictures of muddy rivers on Tidalfish. Maybe someone should declare winter as officially over. It will get better though, really.

[Cutter]

Pork chops and beer sound like a fine way to celebrate a skunk. We can all sympathize with conditions since they seem to be global, and just pray it improves soon! The pics are great though, thanks.

[DF]

M -
The rivers in the Catskills flooded badly last weekend - one particular place was the worst since the 1950s and I know of at least one lovely home (on what's normally a small stream) which is now broken pieces of lumber spread out for several miles.
Your anemone reminds me of our Bloodroot (sanguinaria canadensis) which is one of the first flowers we find along our Northeastern trout streams.
Hopefully things will soon return to more normal conditions and all the local pent up frustration can be vented on the fish.
Have a good season and keep the reports coming.
D
(OMC - I gotcher back against the knuckle draggers!)

[Barefoot]

I hear DF has a thing for Julie Andrews[grin]

[DF]

B/f -
I dunno...I'd have to see her cast first. Anyway, Pax and OMC would persecute me for dating someone so much younger...
DF

[Ladyfish]

Marcel,
So far this spring you are doing much better than I am! This year it seems that when the weather is good then I must work...and when the weather is bad I am home! Pretty fish!