Fly Fishing at the Weikensee in Hamminkeln

Most of us avid Fly Fishermen don’t have the luxury of living right on a river or pond, where we can pull our waders on over our pyjamas and get to fishing right after our first cup of coffee. Lucky for us here in Emmerich, North Rhine-Westphalia, we live on the edge of a fantastic amateur Fly Fisherman’s haven. In addition to our practice pond, there are numerous other fishing holes in the region, which are ideal for a day or half-day trip.

This weekend I took advantage of the beautiful weather; I grabbed my belly boat, fins and tackle and off I went to the Weikensee, about a 15 minutes’ drive from home. As is typical for the lower Rhine area of Germany, the Weikensee was quarried for sand in the second half of the 20th century, and is now home to a sport fishermans’ club, the “Angelcenter am Weikensee”. They have a great little shop and stock the pond with carp, sturgeon, trout, pike, perch and quite a few other fish. Being a closed water system, the Weikensee is ideal for the practice of “give and take”; the fish are stocked expressly to be fished. Even though natural streams such as the Issel and the River Rhine flow close by, there is no chance of the fish populations intermingling. 

I hadn’t been to the Weikensee before, and I took the opportunity to check it out with a day ticket. I was looking forward to this occasion to apply my casting techniques and try some of my new hand-tied flies. That is the beauty of fly fishing: there is nothing mundane about it. There are always new places to discover. And I will never tire of practising casting and testing my aim. When I can’t be outside, I love to fill the dark days of the year with the art of tying the ideal fly.

The Weikensee is home to some huge carp and sturgeon for those of you who are not exclusively into fly fishing. But it offers a wide selection of other game fish. Since I had decided to go after pike, I started fishing with a streamer rig. I didn’t have a lot of luck, but I had the time to observe schools of about 50 European perch. They are easy to recognise with their telltale stripes and red fins. And since they like to hang out near to overhanging branches on the water’s edge, they can be seen when walking along the shore of most clear waters. Only the older and larger perch are more solitary, hunting larger prey which can include their own kind. After switching to a nymph, I caught several young perch over the course of the afternoon.

As the name suggests, the redfin or European perch is native to Europe. It can be found in rivers, lakes, sweet water and brackish waters and even in the Baltic Sea. It is a hardy predatory fish, making it a good candidate for stocking sport fishing ponds. Attempts to stock it in non-native waters have been all too successful, resulting in extensive damage to the indigenous populations, which has been well recorded in Australia.

I had a very enjoyable afternoon at the Weikensee. I can highly recommend a trip there to any fisherman, whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced angler.

Check out our courses; we’d love to give you an introduction to fly fishing in the Lower Rhine region of Germany or any other destination.

Zuletzt geändert am: Jul 23 2014 um 12:01