Nostalgia

When I was about 10 years old, my parents bought themselves a little cabin in the Belgian Ardennes, to spend their weekends. It was a beautiful and quiet location, in the woods, along a small stream, which I can enjoy a lot right now, but when you’re 10 years old and you’re in the middle of nowhere, well… that wasn’t my idea of fun at all. So I started fishing in the little stream that passed nearby, to pass my time. First with worms and stuff, but I soon learned that spinning was a lot more active way of fishing and therefore a lot more fun.

 

And I did catch my share of nice trout

(that’s me, many years ago),

 

although the whole ‘catch and release’ idea was still a bit strange to me at that time.

But in the first couple of years I was there, I only saw one fly fisherman. I was immediately fascinated by what he was doing, but he lost more flies in the trees than he actually hit the water, and he didn’t catch any fish at all. So that whole ‘fly-fishing thing’ just seemed to be a bizarre way of ‘catching nothing’.

Until we went to Bohan (yes, the same place I spent my entire summer) to visit my mothers cousin Cyriel and his wife Erna, and then everything changed. Cyriel was the first person that I saw casting a fly gracefully to a spot where he expected a trout, and actually catch it as well! At that point, my whole idea of fishing changed. Actually my entire life changed after that moment, and I let my parents go to their cabin while I took the train, bus and a part hitchhiking to arrive in Bohan (with a small tent and a lot of fishing gear) to cast flies at trout and chub.

At that time (sell phones were yet to be invented), I had to send a postcard to friends and relatives from time to time to tell them about my adventures over there. So what kind of a postcard do you send? One with a fly fisherman on it of course. And what did I find? A postcard with Cyriel on it, unbelievable! The only postcard with a fly fisherman on it, was my mother’s cousin and the very man that brought me into fly-fishing!

"Oh yeah", he said afterwards, "that’s possible, because a photographer came to me one day to suggest such a thing, but I didn’t believe him at that time".

 

I had to look for a long time in lots of boxes full of old stuff (because I definitely wanted to post it), but I finally found one.

This is Cyriel, years ago in the river Semois. And for those of you who don’t speak French, “Pêcheur de truites” means “Trout fisherman”.

This summer, I was looking for some postcards as well, and of course I looked for a fly fisherman again. And although I didn’t find one with just a fisherman on it, I did come across this one.

 

And guess who’s on it?
Yes, Cyriel!

So believe me when I say that it brings a very warm feeling to my hart, that after all those years, the man that brought fly-fishing into my life, is still on a postcard to represent fly-fishing in my most loved region of Belgium!

What a fantastic summer!

First I have to say that I had big plans for my blog this summer, but with the continuing problems with the internet connection (it still doesn’t work), that didn’t happen (as you might have noticed). Anyway, here’s a quick summary of what I’ve been doing all summer.

 

The main targeted species were chub and trout on a dry fly. My first fish ever on the fly (over twenty years ago) was a chub, and I just love to fish them ever since, regardless what other fly fishermen think of them (I really don’t care).

I can guarantee you that a chub of this size (which is no exception over there) is more of a challenge that most of the trout swimming around over there.

 

 

Most of all, it was a time of relaxing and making new friends (and go fishing with them of course). Like Leonel on this picture (probably the best dressed fisherman of the region).

 

Sébastien, who just started fly-fishing this year, but a great guy to have around. I’m sorry that I haven’t got a picture of him up-close.

 

And Kylian of course, one of the most driven fisherman I’ve ever met.

 

I just looked and saw that it was good.

 

And this was a daily sight. These two gentlemen, Leonel and Guy, probably spent more time with me than with their wives (Leonel’s wife even suggested to put his bed in my tent). Anyway, they have become very good friends and I’m already looking forward to see them again!

Leonel has been fly-fishing for many years, but he never tied his own flies before. But this summer, I convinced him to buy a vice and he is very determined to keep on learning.

 

So my tying class is growing. Here’s Kylian at one of his sessions.

 

And this is Merel, a very nice girl who doesn’t even fish, but who was so fascinated by the whole fly-tying idea, that she spent hours behind that vice to create all kinds of stuff.

 

Actually, a lot of kids found their way to my tent, practically every day. I took this picture after another flock of them just landed.

 

Guy and I also spent a lot of time fixing bikes (it’s unbelievable how they manage to break something every couple of days).

 

Anyway, I fell in love with this river a long time ago, and I’m sure that this love will last for the rest of my life!

100% RELAX

There’s nothing that makes you feel better than living outdoors for a while. I got home a couple of days ago and I’ve been very busy since, so I already want to go back, but that won’t be before another (demanding) week and a half. But here’s already something about my last trip.

 

This is what it’s all about of course, catching trout.

I won’t post a lot of pictures of them, because they were all between 25 and 30 cm, and they all look the same.

 

Except for the different way they are speckled.

 

I also have to say that I didn’t fish as much as I intended to. Sure, I’ve fished every day, but only in the evening. The rest of the day was purely relaxing, reading, enjoying nature and silence, and most of all tying flies (I’ll do an other post later on my most popular ties of the moment), and watching this family of swans (with 7 chicks!) who visited me a couple of times daily.

 

We are still only aloud to fish from the river bank in Belgium (until June 4), so I intended to fish in France, but this has been the warmest springtime since 1893 (and an extremely low water level), so all of the hot spots that I knew were totally covered with flowers.

 

And I am proud to present my pupil, Kylian Colmant, seriously infected by the fly-tying virus, and a natural talent to cast a fly rod. He visited me a couple of times a week to tie flies and learn how and where to cast them.

Even his twin sister Marion came along now and then, to give it a try (of course, all of her flies had to be pink).

 

And afterwards we had to test the flies of course.

I can guarantee a lot more pictures like this in the future, because he is a real natural when it comes to casting a fly, and we have big plans together for all kinds of species… 

“Les 2 Eaux”, Bohan part 2

 

All those years that I went to Bohan, I always focused on the Semois river (in Belgium and in France).

But there are a lot of these little waters that flow out into the Semois, with a lot of trout in them.

 

But this is the kind of sign you often encounter: “Peche Interdite”, which is French, and literally translated, it means: “Fishing Prohibited”.

But there are other signs as well…

Like this one: “Fishing reserved”

This means that the rights to fish here are owned by sometimes a hotel, or in this case by a fishing club. You just need an extra permit and you’re on your way.

But of course, there are other rules and laws to follow again (typically Belgian).

In this water (until the grand opening in June), you’re already aloud to fish in every way you want to, and enter the water (unlike the Semois), but you’re only aloud to fish in the weekend and on holydays.

 

Also, I quickly discovered that I’ll be totally on my own to learn how to fish there. It seems that I’m the only person on this water who’s fly-fishing.

I’ve met six other fisherman so far, and they all said the same thing: “ you’re crazy!” (or at least something in that area).

 

I have to admit that the first weekend, I almost thought they were right. But of course, I came totally unprepared.

There are a few open spaces like you see on these pictures…

 

But most of the time, it looks like this.

The lightest rod I had with me was a 9’ 4# (way to long). So I didn’t catch a single fish the first weekend, and I lost a lot of flies.

 

Due to the hard winter (they hadn’t seen this amount of snow in a very long time), lots of trees just collapsed under the weight, and the forest is a real devastation in the whole region.

Here the electricity cables were still on the ground. The sign on the right says 15000 volt. So this was not my favourite place to fish.

 

So I ordered a new rod at the local shop (they didn’t have a rod in stock that I liked for these conditions).

And on Friday (just in time for the weekend), this brand new JMC Image 7’ 3-4# arrived.

I’m already convinced that I’m going to have a great time with this little rod this year. I was able to cast almost anywhere I wanted to (and I lost only a few flies).

But I only fished dry flies and terrestrials, which was a bit to soon, so again, no fish.

 

But then, I had a Shakespearian moment!

“to fish a streamer, or not to fish a streamer?”

So I fished a streamer and missed two trout in half an hour!

The next day, I went back for a couple of hours, and this ‘classic’ Mini Zonker did the trick. I landed three small trout (about 17, 20 and 24 cm). Unfortunately my camera was in my car again, about a kilometre away, which is a shame because these trout were very different from those in the Semois. Different colours and very beautifully spotted. So those will be for next time (in a couple of weeks).

But one thing is certain. No matter how crazy they think I am, fly-fishing does work, and I’ll be doing it a lot more in that water this season. The fun (and the skills) can only get better!

Man, that felt good! (Bohan part 1)

I’m back, and I can’t even describe how good it felt to be out there fishing for 12 days in one of the most beautiful regions we still have left here in Belgium!

I’ve fished (and tied) a lot (and I did a lot of thinking as well), so more posts will follow.

So for now, let’s just start with the beginning.

 

This was my home for the last 12 days. I know, not so many people can say that their car is bigger than their home, but that will change, because I’m already looking out for a bigger tent, especially since I’ve booked a place on this camping site for the whole season (which also means that I’ll be going there a lot more this year!).

 

And as you can see, I practically had the whole place to myself (which is the best way to go camping, if you ask me).

The first weekend, I had these neighbours though. This was a course for living and cooking outdoors, and to teach the basics of canoeing. I spent some time with them before and after the course, and they were really great people. You can find more about their survival and outdoor courses (mostly in Norway, Lapland and Canada) on www.canad.be .

You can also find a youtube film on their site of a canoe trip they did on the river Semois (which is the river I’m fishing in) from a couple of years ago.

But, of course, I took some pictures myself.

But fishing is the main reason I’m going over there, and it was very difficult, which often makes fishing even more fun (if you have the time to experiment).

I only took a few pictures of the trout I caught. One, because most of the fish I catch never even leave the water to unhook them. Two, because all of the trout were between 24 and 30 cm (with one exception of 32 cm), which are not exactly specimens worth taking pictures of. And three, I always arrived by the water with all the fishing equipment I needed, but mostly left my camera either in my car or in my tent.

 

I took a picture of this one though, to show all of the leeches it had on the tail and fins (click on the picture to enlarge). This indicates that the fish were still very near the bottom (some even had a lot more leeches, and sometimes even inside their mouth).

So it all came down to nymphs and wet flies. And I must say that at the moment (you are only aloud to fish from the bank of the river), that’s not my favourite way of fishing.

 

The last five days I was there, there were these huge hatches in the evening of the Grannom
(a small sedge), but you just didn’t see any fish rise (no trout, no chub, nothing), so fishing a dry fly was out of the question too.

 

Luckily, I came prepared. I had enough material with me to experiment. And since I’m mainly a predatory angler,

I focused on streamers (which is a lot more active way of fishing from the bank of the river).

 

So at night, my tent became my small tying room.

The only restriction was the fact that the hook had to be less than 2 cm long (another one of those strange fishing laws at the beginning of the season).

 

So after a lot of tying and fishing, these two became my favourites. In fact, the last couple of days, I only fished with these two, and both of them at the same time (the white one on the tip, and the orange one on a dropper).

I’ve used rabbit zonker (orange/tan) and muskrat (white). And both have a 3,8 mm tungsten in the head.

 

But the real adventurous fishing was in this little water. But that will be for a next post…

10000

When I started this blog last November, I had no idea what to expect of it.
But tonight the counter showed the magical number of 10000 visitors, which means that people are really interested in what I do (and that feels really good)!

So I would like to thank all of you, followers and visitors 

for your interest and kind words, the last couple of months!!!

And for the rest...
I’m still tying like a madmen to fill my boxes for my upcoming fishing trip.

This is one of the nymph patterns that I’ve tied today (so far, because the night is still young).

It’s a kind of ‘Pheasant Tail’,

Hook: Kamasan B110, size 12 (although, I’ve tied some on a size 10, 14 and 16 as well)

Tail: pheasant tail fibres

Body: pheasant tail fibres

Rib: Hends colour wire

Thorax: dubbed olive hare’s ear fur blended with Hends Spectra dubbing (colour 45, which is a kind of peacock colour)

Head: 3,8 mm gold, black and copper bead

 
Wednesday, I’m going to this charming little town (for at least a week), and I don’t think I will find an internet connection over there. So this will probably be my last post for a while (which only means that I will have a lot more to post when I’m back)…

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.