Autumn in Austria
Antti Guttorm / Vision
I had the opportunity to make two trips to Austria this autumn. First trip was in October and the second two weeks later in November. At the first trip I visited the home show of Hurch Fly Fishing, which
is our distributor in Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenija and Switzerland.
After the show I went fishing on Hurch’s waters. We had couple of nice days on the Goiserer
Traun with big graylings, but the newest addition
for Hurch really impressed me which was the
Rettenbach. This small river flows in a really nice
valley where you can make a good day trip with a
backpack and you might just think that you are in
New Zealand. The size of the fish isn’t quite the
same as in down under but the quality is superb
Above: Peter serious at the Hurch Hausmesse in Salzburg
Below: Which fly to choose? Small nymphs #16-20 work
like a charm in Goiserer and actually just about everywhere
else as well.
Above: New Zealand or Austria?
and there are some nice sized as well. And there
is fish in every pool and there is pool after pool.
Most of the time we fished with nymphs NZ style
but on some of the pools it seemed that dry flies
worked even better in spite of the rain. We were
just wading upstream the river the whole day.
One thing I enjoy about fishing in Austria is that
you can truly enjoy relaxed fishing there. After the
fishing in the morning you can go have a lunch
in a nice restaurant near the river and continue
fishing until dusk. Afterwards have a good dinner
at the gasthaus with weissbier and Austrian wine
before a good night sleep. That’s a little bit different compared to the fishing up north during
the summer and midnight sun. Then there is no
lunch, no dinner and oh yes no sleep, just fishing.
Left: Graylings grow big in the Goiserer
Above: A beautiful brownie from the Rettenbach with the MAG #3-4
On the second trip I was visiting dealers across
central Europe but I also managed to squeeze
in some fishing again. I had not visited Torrener
Ache for almost two years so it was great to visit
one of my favorite rivers in Austria. Torrener Ache
is a beautiful small river near Salzburg. It’s easy
to make a half day trip if you are visiting nearby.
The nice surprise was that there were bigger
graylings there than I’ve seen in the past. Sight
fishing for those was super. And of course I had
to make the mandatory trip to Goiserer Traun as
well which was as good as usual.
On the last day of the trip we went to Goiserer
Traun with Vision World team member Harry
Winter and our friends Jurgen Fink and Mike
Hassis. It was great to finally do some fishing
with Harry. I’d heard so much about his fishing
especially with nymphs that it was nice to see
him in action. And he didn’t disappoint. It wasn’t
an easy day and everybody who has fished the
Goiserer more than once knows that it can be like
that. It can be on or it can be off. So on this day
we got some action in the morning but in the afternoon it switched off totally. And I happened to
spend the morning with the camera instead of a
rod. But that’s a part of the game and it was still
a great day. For me it’s more important to learn
new things than just catch a lot of fish and that
is what it was all about on this day. Thanks to the
guys for fishing with me and Peter and Angie for
everything. See http://www.hurch.com
Above: Torrener Ache
Above: A nice rainbow from Torrener
Above: Jurgen ”Jörgensson” Fink loving it
Above: Cult 8’ #4 armed with Vibe 65 is a lethal combination for small rivers like this. Right Finky?
Left: Harry shows his nymph tactics with success
Below: Back on the Goiserer with guide Urs Zulian