It was shaping up to be a perfect evening: Spring-like temperatures, an excellent water level, a mass hatch, and beautiful lighting on our little creek.
My suggestion to reach for the mayfly as a suitable, almost obligatory pattern, Alba defiantly acknowledged and referred to one of the precarious, small dry flies in the last, unnoticed corner of my box.
It was going to be this one! “Can’t you see Daddy, these little flies are swarming all over the place?” How can you resist the zeal of an eight-year-old?
And Alba’s choice was to remain the only correct one: After a few drifts, Alba’s bell-like voice rang out, that a big fish had taken the fly.
Together we rushed after the impressive brown trout, which fled downstream in the strong current. Alba fought it valiantly and finally an exceptionally large brown trout for this small stream, a magnificent specimen from natural reproduction, lay in our landing net.
Alba refrained from any side-blow regarding the choice of flies and their class membership…. Together we lingered on the waterfront for the duration of the sunset.
Article and photo from Frank Steinmann, a freshwater ecologist, and photographer based in Germany, follow along with him at @franksteinmann.
