Can you imagine wading a quarter mile out from shore, sand to muddy ground with a lot of water plants. You wade through 2-3 deep water till it you reach a drop off, the place to fish for northern pike. Nothing for the faint hearted.
Seriously the fishing there is not as complicate as it might look. Your best friend unless you already know all the spots is Google Earth. You can spot out your fishing spots already at home on the computer. Just look for sharp transitions from light to dark colored water. The more light, shallow sandy ground and the much more darker colored deeper water. But Google Earth is not always as accurate as it should be. High waters, floods or many other natural events can change the shore and the adjacent shallow areas.
What else can be success factors on Rügen?. Season, day time, wind, water levels. All this can influence your fishing.
What about the season and day time?. The best season for the fly fishing for northern pike is the winter. The water plants are dying and open areas that can be targeted with the fly. The shallow areas are usually very much overgrown with plants. Before they are not fallen down you can forget fishing almost everywhere. In addition when the water temperature drops the fish concentrate in the deeper holes. Right now the time is right for this and it is getting better from day to day till the sea is frozen.
The wind is influencing 90% of your fishing. First of all there is always wind, it’s just the matter if it is a low breeze, briskly or stormy wind which is much more likely. The wind from the wrong direction and you might not have just a harder casting but also rising water levels on some flats and where you might not reach to the drop off. The wind is pushing the water from the open sea into the archipelago. On the other side higher water might lead the fish to come out from the deeper holes to hunt on the, now, much less shallower areas. This constellation we had this time since there was much more activity on the shallower areas than in the deeper holes.
The fishing itself is a piece of cake. You cast as far as you can and start striping in the line. Firstly slower and closer to the tip you increase the speed not letting the fly sink too deep, otherwise you will stuck in the water plants. What we have discovered as a success factor to strip as a continuous move, progressively increasing the speed. The take will come suddenly with all power.
This all sounds good and easy but there are also a few things you have to take care. Please pay attention to the following lines: They might save your life. Fog,… so quaint it might is fishing in the fog, so dangerous is he when wade fishing. Imagine you stand 4 inch deep in the water, hundreds of meters off the shore not knowing in which direction you have to move to reach shore. In this situation just stay where you are and wait till the fog disappears. Do not move around unless you know where to move by e.g. a GPS device. But even this might provide false security. The best in all situation is if you know your path back to the safe shore. And always have a phone with you for calling emergency in cases where you can help yourself.
Have fun catching northern pikes
greets
Ph.