The last trout of 2011

The 2011 trout fishing season in the Czech Republic is now officially over. Today the trout waters closed, not to open until April next year.

The winter frosts have arrived, and cold weather is slowly making fishing unpractical. The night temperature on upper Vltava, which has brought me so much sport in September and October, has dropped to -10°C and the river is thick with ice; the ice cover makes the grayling safe from raiding North Sea cormorants though, which is not entirely bad.

For my closing day fishing trip I decided to visit the river Ohře. It is a tailwater fishery, with relatively warm water flowing from the Nechranice dam. As such it had a decent hatch of Blue Winged Olives even in late November. But the fish were already feeling sluggish and the steady flow of #18 duns was met with very few rises.

After trying the dry fly for some time with no success I determined that my last good chance to get in contact with a fish was a deeply fished nymph. I tied on a heavy pink bug, looking as a cross of a maggot and a strawberry, and was rewarded by a couple of fish. This brownie, caught at half past 3 on November 30^th was my last fish of the 2011 Trout season.

The tie:
#12 TMC 2302 hook, debarbed
3,3 mm Tungsten bead + flat lead underbody
red Benecchi thread
pink embroidery thread for the body