Austria Day 1
The day dawned bright and stayed bright. Great for fishing, not so great for catching. However, a few fish cooperated and everyone that fished today caught some fish. I fished the Ager River with an egg fly and other nymphs and hooked six, and landed three. In a stretch that look like the Madison, I hooked and landed a 50 cm (19 ¾ inches) rainbow on a Knotted Egg pattern (which see). It ran out and down and hung the line on an underwater branch. I was able to eventually work it free, and the fish was still there, ready to fight more. Later I took one that was 13 inches. A very large fish took the fly jumped and ran. OK so far, then it ran in front of and around a very large rock and jumped again. Not OK. Still, it was fun to see it jump and tear line off the reel with wild-eyed abandon. Later in the day, I was passing the “aquarium” and noted a particularly nice rainbow holding in the tiny current that flows in from the Ager. I backed away, added 3 feet of 5.5 X (more to come on this in the next day or two), clinched knotted on a size 18 bead head p.t., made a couple of “measuring” casts way ahead of the fish, and then delicately dropped the tiny imitation ahead of the trout. Nothing. Suddenly it tipped up and I saw its mouth open and close. It was a 49 cm (19.25 inches), deep bodied rainbow that fought long and hard. I went to the dry fly only section for the last couple of hours, but saw no fish rising, though I looked long and hard. Tomorrow I’m back on the Ager again.
The Ager is low and very clear, as you can see in this photo of a school of suckers. There were a few trout mixed in with them.
This piece of water remains me of the Madison–deep, swift, and very fishy.
The “aquarium.” This is very delicate and precise fishing.
One of the day’s cooperative rainbows.