Having grown up less than 50 metres away from the upper reaches of the river Danube in South-West Germany it was only natural that I became a flyfisherman and quite early in my life at that.
This was because there were quite a few very good flyfishermen coming to our little city to enjoy some of the best grayling fishing in the area.
Now, more than 20 years later the grayling are almost gone and, not surprisingly, the fishermen too. Thanks cormorants! Thanks pot anglers!
Luckily I spent the years of the decline of my beloved Danube on some better waters, so I survived all this in relative happiness.
These better waters were in the blackforest where I studied hyrdology and later worked for 10 years all in all. The city I lived in is called Freiburg (voted nicest city in Germany once) which lies right next to France and Switzerland: In the vicinity one can find some of the most pristine waters in Germany.
Now that I have returned to the banks of the Danube again with my wife and two children my biggest problem is finding a good flyfishing water again! Sooner or later I am sure I will find my way into one of the exclusive syndicates of the excellent chalkstreams we have 25 minutes from here.
Till then I will be able to ty more flies, improve my modest tying skills and follow my big passion of split cane fly rods.
My favourite rods, if anybody is interested in that at all, are Bjarne Fries (Denmark), Brunner (Austria), Tom Moran, the brilliant rods from my friend Hans Schlecht (Germany) and of course nice American made rods from Leonard or Bob Summers for example. Too many good rods out there to resist!
If Hans is crazy enough to really take up some of my flies into this elitist circle, let me just say that, as an apology maybe, that I am just a hobbyist trying to improve.
My biggest influences in flytying are definitely Gerhard Laible from the blackforest (who has probably done more for developing CDC-flies than anybody else here in Europe), AK Best (for his simplicity), Gerhard Loidl and many other inventive fly tiers too numerous to mention here.
As you might be able to see from my selection I am not exactly a big fan of naturalistic patterns. Au contraire. I like flies that imitate everything and anything if you know what I mean. I like them to look “buggy”, fuzzy and wild, lacking, as Dave Whitlock puts it (quote from Trout Bum from John Gierach) “eyeballs, elbows and arseholes”!!!
I also like flies that are tied simple. And with simple I don’t mean that you find them easy after you have tied 15 dozens!!
This is why I sometimes think I could do with a beadhead hares ear, a CDC-buck caddis, a Wooly Bugger, some Compara Duns and a hares ear parachute for the rest of my life. Call me pragmatic if you wish!.
I hope I don’t offend Hans or this webpage with any of my flies. Have fun tying and fish those old cane rods!!