Preparing for the Belgian Ardennes

You won’t see much posts regarding pike in the next couple of weeks. The few waters where I’m aloud to fish for pike at the moment are really not worth talking about. So I’m planning a fishing trip to the Belgian Ardennes to fish for trout. So I’ll be posting mostly about that (sorry to all you pike addicts, but I don’t have much of a choice, unless someone feels really sorry for me, and offers me a fishing trip to a more exotic location???).

And trout fishing is the only thing that you’re aloud to do over there at the moment (there is a lot pike as well, but those will have to wait until summer).

I’ll try to explain it in short.

Belgium (that small dot on the world map, which you can see best if you use a magnifying glass), is divided into three pieces, a Dutch, French and German speaking part (which is quite something if you know that our entire population is a lot less than most of the major cities in other countries).

And every region has its own fishing laws and regulations.

In the Ardennes (which is in the French speaking part, called

‘La Wallonie’), there are two different openings of the fishing season. The first one (the small opening), started last Saturday, and the only thing that you’re aloud to do, is fly-fishing from the border of the river, and only for trout (there’s even a regulation on the weight of the fly). The second, (grand) opening is in June.

These pictures above, are from last summer (with very low water), so the river will be a lot more turbulent at the moment.

 

Anyway, the last couple of months,

I primarily had pike on my mind,

so I neglected the fact that I needed to fill my fly boxes for other species. So that’s what I’m working on at the moment.

And this one fly in particular is a must have! I’ve fished the river ‘Semois’ for over twenty years now, and at the beginning of the season, this is a real classic and a genuine killer. It’s called a ‘Craddock’, which is a French name, and I honestly don’t know if there even is an English name for it. Nor do I know why it’s so successful, but the fact that it has a big resemblance to a March Brown, will certainly have something to do with it.

So, I’ve tied me a few to be prepared. There are a lot of versions of this fly (like all fly patterns), but this is my personal favourite, tied on a hook size 8, 10, and 12.