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GOOD FISHING IN GERMANY The Find and Experience of a British Officer in Conquered Lands Fine Sport from Grayling to Trout Water Teeming Avith Fixh at All Times Here is a story of fishing in a German trout stream by Sagittarius the pen name of an English ollicer serving with the Army of Occupation in con inered territory It is from the English Fishing Jazette a weekly jtmrnal that gets many interest ¬ ing Contributions of the kind from its traveling readers readersA A first glimpse of the stream was sufficient to satisfy even the most critical of fishermen that here indeed was water that must hold trout A close examination of the map hail led to the dis ¬ covery of the stream depicted as a tiny blue line winding through deep dales and thick forests and finally out n to the level flatlands Followed a ride riverward the nest day armed with a rod and a few homemade flies Tackle was scarce hut some old worm hooks were unearthed and with the help of the colonels ribbon silks and some feathers flicked from one of those terrible eiderdowns which every rightminded German covers himself with during the night season these were trans ¬ formed into fliis of a kind hitherto nnchronieled And the stream one comes round a sharp bend be ¬ tween steep woods and there it is at the roadside to greet you AVhat fisherman could go farther I fell victim dismounted and rigged the rod a little nine footer footerThe The stream here was some ten yards across and following on recent rains was running deep and slightly discolored discoloredAt At the third cast I tightened to a submerged tng and was fast in a good fish which kept me busy for some time fighting deep and making good use of the heavy water Hi proved to be a grayling of thirteen ounces and had taken a flv resembling a liracken Clock but of a size calculated to frighten most selfrespecting fish into the next parish His twin brother came at my dropper a yard farther down but old gnt lived up to its reputation and we parted Then came several trcutlets all to be returned Itnt how welcome the sight of them for now one could ride back to the mess with the welcome news of trout seen and caught Two things this first visit decided for me First that I must come again and come often and stc ondly that in hilly country a horse is too slow a means of progression in future I must push the humble and weighty army bike bikeXow Xow an officer in the Army of Occupation cant if only for appearlnces sake go fishing every afternoon liesides I was soon to learn that tho stream was heavily fished at that time of day Hence my decision to try the early mornings Oh happy inspiration Accordingly about a week later I gave orders to the noncommissioned officers of the guard and was duly awakened at 4 oclock one May morn just as the birds were starting their morning chorus and what a chorus chorusBEAUTY BEAUTY OF THE COUNTRY AND RIVER RIVERIlackie Ilackie and willow wren throstle and white throat blackcap and garden warbler chaffie and skylark each trying to outsing the other I dressed sleepily and crawled away on the bike Hut the sun climbing over the hill tops soon drove the drowsiness from my eyes and one began ttf drink in the soul filling magnificence of the earths awakening There were three miles to the stream through whitwashed villages and orchards heavy with blossom glistening in the morning dew and I never regretted a yard of the distance so beau ¬ tiful was the view from the hill one climbed Then a steep dasii downhill through forest trees where siiirrel and jay seemed surprised to see one astir so early and chattered their disapproval And then the sharp bend in the road and the stream at ones feet I hid the bicycle in the undergrowth and was soon at work I started at the same spot as on my previous visit and was almost immediately into a pretty sixounce trout which came safely to net This early success rather surprised m as it still wanted a few minutes to oclock summer time and the sun had not yet icached tho stream and I scarcely expected to find fish moving for another hour I went farther afield this time and oh the delight of that stream with its boulders and shingles its shallows and deeps its banks of priin ro e and anemone and its woods carpeted with liliesofthevalley campion and hyacinth and above all the freshness of the morn and the com ¬ panionship of the birds birdsIy Iy 730 I had seven in the haversack and deemed that sufficient for the mess breakfast so hurried back to give the cook time to prepare them And desperately good they tasted tastedMy My days with the army of occupation were num ¬ bered as I had elected to return to civl life but I managed to cram ten more of these early morning trips into my last fortnight 1 always found fish on tin move early One morning in particular There Avas a hard frost in tin valley and the banks were white with rime A gentle breeze was stirring and a host of hawthorn flics were floating down ¬ stream The frost had evidently proved too much for them and at the first rustle of the bushes they had fallen on to the water The trout were rising greedily at them and I put on a large floating Ilack Gnat as the nearest thing I had by way of imitation It met with immediate success anil thereafter I caught practically all my fish with a large imitation of the hawthorn fished sometimes dry and sometimes wet wetTROUT TROUT PLENTY IN THE EARLY MORNING MORNINGThere There were splendid hatches of fly later in the day especially Grannom Poult and Olive Duns but at tiiis early hour the trout always seemed t prefer my big chap lied with mixed peacock and black ostrich herl body back hen hackle and startling wing to any other imitation I offered them The fish for the most part lay in the shallowest water and as near the bank as possible A great wave indicated that ones flv had been seen and was being followed The difficulty when fishing wet was to know when the fly had been taken seeing the wave the tendency was to strike too soon and niany fish were missed or pricked before one learnt to use more restraint restraintThe The universal drought at this time seemed only to improve appetites and as long as one could keep out of sight the fish rose fearlessly to the artificial lint once show yourself and a succession of farrows moving upstream told their own tale and put an end to rises in that reach After the first few visits the i ag was limited to a dozen and there was never any difficulty in obtaining ones limit It seemed curious that the stream should he so well stocked Evidently the natives had ijnite neglected to use a source of food supfrty which lay at their doors It was quite the heaviest stocked little stream I have ever fished and although the trout at the end of April were not in good condition by the middle of May they were as fat as hiitter I caught nothing over 12 ounces in weight the grayling ran larger but with few exceptions just turned somersaults into the net I only covered about a mib of water during my visits ami somehow always worked back to the stream by the road where I had my first success and never failed to be rewarded there Perhaps if I had gone farther afield I should have met with bigger fish but I found the call of that roadside reach irre ¬ sistible and a sporting threequarterpounder can ive one thrills not to be despised despisedI I have caneht bigger fisli since on home waters but for sheer delight I have not yet found anything to equal those early mornings on a German trout stream
