In Muhlheim am Achen
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Together with my friends Eric Glanzer, Thijs Coppens, Jos Peeters, Michael Deelstra and Robert van Assendelft i have been fishing there from May 1997 till May 2002 every spring.
Last spring i drove there alone because the rest of the group was already there, and i just came back from Denmark. You might understand that this was pretty much of a drive!
After i arrived at the pension, the grumpy old bitch that owns it immediately came to tell me that we had to pay in advance (like she does every year!).
It was around seven in the morning, and although i was dead tired after a 2000 kilometers drive, i couldn't resist the magic of the Muhlheimer Achen next to the pension..
It is incredible how filled with fish this river is! Not only with (domestical) rainbow trouts, but also the largest graylings i've ever caught and some massive brown trouts. The fun was completed with a couple of surprise catches in the shape of large predator roaches!
Eric and I started at one stretch (by the village bridge, 6 kilometers upstream), while Thijs and Robert took the stretch directly adjacent to the pension. Almost immediately, Eric hooked an extremely big rainbow on a elkhair caddis (hook 10). Fortunately my rod got tested two minutes after by an equal big one..
The rocks at the river bank (at the deep side of the river) proved to be a great realm for +50 centimeter rainbow trouts! It was incredible how many of those powerhouses managed to hide inbetween the small gaps, and how alert they still could be considering bypassing insects in the heavy currency.
The shallow parts of the stream were the domain of vast amounts of grayling. These masters of camouflage are totally invisible, even in ankle-deep water!
Many graylings and trouts were equipped with an unvoluntairy and temporarely body piercing that day, and -of course!- returned to the water where they belong.
In the meanwhile, the overwhelming nature was a pleasure to our senses! Big buzzards, circling above our heads in couples, cried out their distinctive mating yell. A ringsnake swang it's way through a river puddle, looking for frogs.. Not a bad place to be isn't it?
In spite of the nasty-ass hostess bitch, this place will lure me back time after time...