Past and Present: Rambles with a Fly Rod in Upper Bavaria

In my spare time, I enjoy reading about the fly fishing adventures of our elders, and I find myself frequently inspired by their accounts. One of the people who had this effect on me was Ernest Hemingway. After reading his essays on fly fishing in Germany’s Black Forest region during the 1920s, I felt inspired to travel there myself and fish some of the same streams. A more obscure writer who had a similar effect on me was the British writer Edward Stanley Roscoe (1849-1932). Although best known for his writings on maritime law, Roscoe was also an avid fly fisherman who published an account of his fishing exploits in the book Rambles with a Fishing-Rod (1883). The book’s chapters on fly fishing in Germany’s Bavarian highlands intrigued me the most and eventually inspired me to do some of my own rambles with a fly rod in Upper Bavaria.

Roscoe first travelled to the Bavarian highlands in 1873. He stayed in Oberstdorf which is located some 105 miles southwest of Munich. There, he fished the Iller River and its tributary streams, the Trettach, the Stillach, and the Breitach, and the small mountain lakes of Freiberg and Christales See. About a decade later, in 1882, Roscoe was back in Upper Bavaria. This time he was based in the town of Wangen (about 85 miles southwest of Munich) where he fished the Lower Argen River.

Inn Hörterer

Because of family obligations, my own journey took me to a more eastern portion of Upper Bavaria. To be exact, I established my base of operation 60 miles to the east of Munich in the Inn (Gasthof) Hörterer. The Inn is located directly on the Red (Rote) Traun River, which unites with the White (Weisse) Traun River in the nearby town of Siegsdorf to form the German Traun River. Siegsdorf is also home to the Rudi Heger Fly Shop which manages and provides access to several sections of the White Traun and Traun Rivers. I fished a three-mile stretch of the White Traun that the fly shop describes as “a typical mountain stream with crystal clear water and a paradise for fly fishing.” I could not agree more, especially since I fished the river under near perfect conditions: the days were warm with sunny blue skies and the stream’s cool water included faster runs, calmer water passages, and several deeper holes that contained plenty of hungry rainbows and browns.

Siegsdorf in southeastern Bavaria

When Roscoe travelled to Bavaria in the 1870s and 1880s, he experienced difficulties with obtaining the required fishing permits. When his party first arrived in Oberstdorf, for instance, they asked a restaurant waitress if “strangers could fish in the adjoining streams;” they “left her with the impression that the fishing was free” only to be nearly arrested for illegal fishing shortly afterwards. Luckily (or unluckily), they resolved this predicament by making “a pecuniary gift” in the amount of “a ten-mark piece” (approximately $66 in today’s money) to the owner of the stream. They were more prudent when they fished the Iller River; there Roscoe spoke directly with “the person who rented the fishing” and, after paying five marks for two days’ fishing with two rods, he and his brother were good to go. Ten years later, when Roscoe fished a stretch of the Argen River, the process remained rather murky, however. As he explained, “The right of fishing is mostly in the hands, not of the riparian owners, but of several proprietors, some of whom retain it in their control, whilst others let it out to one or more persons.”

As I mentioned in a previous account on fly fishing in Germany’s Black Forest region, the situation is much clearer today. Foreign nationals who want to fish in Germany must first obtain a German fishing license (Fischereischein). In Bavaria, this license can be obtained for a three-month period by going to a local town hall (Rathaus). There, all I had to do was to show my current U.S. fishing license and passport, provide a passport photo, and pay the required fee of twenty-three euros. Once in possession of this temporary German fishing license, I went to the Rudi Heger Fly Shop to obtain the day permit to fish the White Traun. At the cost of 70 euros per day, this permit included a detailed map of the river section I was allowed to fish in and a pamphlet with all the rules (written in German and English) that had to be followed. The rules stated that fishing was only permitted with fly fishing gear, dry flies, and barbless or debarbed hooks. The permit also entitled me to keep one fish per day but also added that “as soon as you have kept one fish, you must stop fishing immediately.” Because the fly shop sells a limited number of day permits, the number of competing fly fishermen on the river was always very low during my two-day stay. In fact, I never saw another fly fisherman on my stretch of the river over the course of my fishing on the White Traun.

Crystal clear water of the White Traun River

Roscoe describes his fishing experience in Bavaria as a mixture of difficulties and rewards. Obtaining the required license and permits was one such difficulty. The other difficulty consisted of getting comfortable with the local streams. “The best part of the first day,” he explained, “was spent on gaining a knowledge of the water; and even the second was to some extent experimental.” Scouting out the streams was necessary because some of them were rather challenging. Roscoe had this to say about the Iller: “There is a great deal of very rough walking and scrambling in many places, not only up and down the banks, but among slippery stones of all shapes and sizes; and often there must be no hesitation in wading above the knees.” About the Arger he added: “The only fault to be found with this stream was, that in many places it was guarded on both sides by the thick alderbushes, backed by young firs, so that from time to time it was absolutely impossible to cast with safety without wading to the depth of a foot or two.” And the fish were not necessarily easy to catch either: “The day was hot and bright, and the morning’s fishing up stream only produced half-a-dozen small trout,” Roscoe lamented about fishing on the Arger.

But the rewards were substantial. The Bavarian landscape was one of them. As Roscoe wrote about the region near Oberstdorf: “But the beautiful scenery, the grey crags of the mountains rising from somber pines, whose graceful forms are also scattered over the bright green of the hill pastures, and the brisk mountain air, would outweigh even smaller baskets… .” And the baskets were not always small. Roscoe and his brother rarely returned from a day on the river having caught fewer than ten fish, usually an assortment of brown trout and grayling. Roscoe’s fishing was particularly productive on the Arger River in 1882. Perhaps because he came equipped with the right flies. “No one who has fished in Germany,” he now wrote, “would think of fishing without a green-bodied fly, and to this was added, to make up the cast a red-bodied one, with some gold twist, and blackcock wings.” The trout seemingly responded well to these flies: “In a couple of hours ten nice trout were in my basket, which turned the scale at 2 ½ lb.” The green-bodied fly seemed to work particularly well. After stalking a large grayling, Roscoe threw the fly in the direction of the unsuspecting fish and “after a brisk struggle, a handsome grayling between three-quarters of a pound and a pound was credited to the little green.”

Author with one of his catch

Perhaps the most successful fly I used on the White Traun was the Royal Wulff, which I had already used in Germany’s Black Forest region with some success. However, I am not sure if the fly selection mattered, for the Bavarian trout were simply on fire during the two days I fished there. They pursued even flies whose drift was comically imperfect. At one point after an unsuccessful cast, I reeled in a Royal Wulff through the water only to find it aggressively pursued by a sixteen-inch rainbow trout for a distance of a dozen yards. When it finally grabbed the fly, I caught one of my largest fish for the day! In fact, on the first day, while fishing from 11 am to 5 pm, I caught a total of eleven rainbow and brown trout, all measuring some sixteen inches. On the second day, I fished from 2 to 5 pm and caught the same number of fish of similar size. I should add that I spotted several considerably larger bows and browns through the crystal clear water. However, these giants were more prudent, and I never managed to entice them to grab my Royal Wulff.

Although Roscoe does not write much about it, he also fished some of the mountain lakes of Bavaria. I followed his example and spent a couple of hours fly fishing on the Waginger Lake which is located a twenty-minute drive by car from Siegsdorf. It is difficult to fly fish the lake from land because of the dense vegetation that grows along its shoreline. I therefore rented a rowing boat at the same place where I also purchased a fishing permit for the lake. With my father selflessly rowing the boat, I stood upright casting in all directions until I got tired. It was tough going because I was poorly equipped for summer lake fishing: I only had a 9’ 5-weight rod and my reel was loaded with a floating rather than a sinking line. As I grew more tired, I started to focus on the shallower water near the lake’s shoreline where I spotted schools of European chubs (Döbel). With the help of a black wooly bugger, I finally got some traction and caught several of them, including a larger one, measuring some eighteen inches.

Author catching a European chub on the Waginger Lake

Upper Bavaria appealed to Roscoe not only because the region’s streams and lakes offered exceptional fly fishing opportunities but also because he enjoyed going on long hikes in the beautiful Bavarian Alps. Regarding the Oberstdorf location, Roscoe explained that “It would not be easy to find a place more suited for a stay of a few days or weeks than this picturesque Bavarian village. Among the numerous and very beautifyl valleys which branch up into the surrounding Alps, are many walks suited to all capacities; and the peaks which rise above them will afford a field for the exertions of the active climber.” Roscoe also commented postively about the low cost of living in the region: “The living, too, is both cheap and good: for five shillings a-day a comfortable room and good food can be had. A dinner of fair soup, good beef-steak, and excellent native cheese, with a beer or wine, will not cost more than eighteen pence.”

Kaiserschmarrn

Based on my own experience, I agree with Roscoe. When I was not fly fishing, I also enjoyed going on longer hikes in the Bavarian Alps. My usual destination was a distant mountain hut whose owners sold lunch, usually cold dishes but some times also warm food, to the hikers passing by. Some of them even had one of my favorite dishes on the menu: Kaiserschmarrn which consists of fluffy, caramelized, torn-up pancakes that are served warm, coated in sugar, and accompanied by applesauce. After this type of meal, I felt strong enough not only to hike back down the mountain but also ready to go fishing again the next day. I am sure Roscoe felt the same way.

Hiking in the Bavarian Alps