My friend had been slightly pre-occupied with buying a new fly rod when he asked me for advice.
"Ripley, what do you think for the salt, a light or heavy rod?"
I replied, “Heavy is good. It’s a sign of reliability. I always go for heavy”.
My friend picks up a AFTM 9 and says to me in his *beep* accent, “Bit heavy in’ it?”
“Yes”, I said, “Besides, if you have no luck, you can always hit fish with it”.
“I’ll take it”, my friend replies.
Rain!
Yep, finally, we got some. The rivers had been almost dry and being blunt about that, it was cause for concern.
The hot and humid climate had vanished almost over night and cooler, more agreeable air had settled in. The sea temperatures had dropped to 15oC in some places causing a sudden boom in sea trout at the coast. My rod was loaded and a fly was hitting the water within minutes of knowing. RESULT! First cast at a secret place at Wedellsborg rewarded me with a plump 2,1kg sea trout in pretty good condition. No way had this fella been messing around with the chicks up river. He had better things to do and feeding in the sea seemed to be his top priority. With respect, after a good 25 minute fight, the fish deserved freedom again and was released to fight another day. In my opinion, a good game fish is to good to be caught only once. I also took a nice little 40cm’er on the 28th, near to the Jakt Slot.
Since the 29th, there has been very high water especially between Kolding Fjord and Haderslev Fjord signalling some good catches close to shore. However the water clarity has been a bit poor due to strong NE winds and a high swell. But I’m pleased to say, the wind has moved round to the NW and has dropped.
The entire coast line from Flyvesandet to Gabet on the NE shores of Fyn have been good. Deep water close to shore and good temperatures have lured the fish close to shore, but the huge turnout of anglers at certain points has put most standing shoulder to shoulder. Most of the big catches have been during the night and sunrise.
Odense Fjord also very productive. Off course, Mullet have been very plentiful this year in the fjord especially with the warm temperatures we had for a number of weeks. Sea trout have now taken a stand everywhere in the fjord which should, more or less put a few smiles on faces!
Assuming the weather remains cool, you can expect a lot of sea trout landed throughout the shores of Denmark some no doubt will exceed 3kg.
The rivers have been poor to average. The main reason has been due to the low water and clarity which has been exceptional. Some dry fly has been good on certain rivers namely the Kongeåen and Gelså. Water temperatures at the river have exceeded nearly 20oC. That’s not good.
I am pleased to say that I took a little Grayling at the Kongeåen measuring 27cm on a home-made nymph made entirely of black beads on a size 16. While guiding on the 17th, with two Dutch guys at the Kongeåen, we watched a shoal of 6 Grayling swim under the bridge at Foldingbro. Also, an estimated 20 to 30 small brown trout hugging the river bank.
Ole Jensen from Gørding took a monster 6,5kg – 85cm sea trout at the Gelså on the 15th July at midnight on fly. As always the Gels seems to be productive no matter what. The Grayling numbers have increased and hopes are high for the fall catches.
Weeks 29 and 30 at the Kongeåen have been fair. Catches around the 2kg mark have been common during the night. However, Salmon have not been reported probably due to the low water but that I feel will change after this rain has subsided.
Koldingå not to good.
The Skjernå could be better, but Salmon have been taken from 2,8 to 5kg.
Ribeå, Vardeå, Gudenå all fair but again, low water. No doubt some good reports next time…
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Tight lines all.
Ripley Davenport
