Last updated on January 10th, 2024.
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Corona forced us to explore waters close to home. We took the chance to get to know the Deutsche Traun at Rudi Heger.
Although Rudi Heger’s waters are a well known destination for fly fishermen from the Alps region, we had never fished there ourselves. When they reached out to us in spring we decided to get to know the region on a summer day when the conditions in alpine rivers promise to be great.
Rudi Heger’s base, Siegsdorf, is about 60 miles south east of Munich on the way to Salzburg which translates to a 1.5 hour drive. Many fly fishermen who travel to the region decide to stay a few days since Rudi Heger offers a number of beats at beautiful rivers in the area.
Depending on the stretch you want to fish, the license for a day of fly fishing does not come cheap at 50€ – 100€. In return you get the chance to catch brown trout, rainbow trout, grayling and the occasional char. The number of licenses given out depends on the stretch of the respective river. Most likely you won’t have the beat to your own but won’t encounter more than a couple of other fly fishermen or women either.
Morning Session at Rudi Heger’s Deutsche Traun
We started at the upper stretch of the Deutsche Traun which flows from Siegsdorf towards Traunstein. The sun in combination with the crystal clear water made it difficult not to spook fish close to the bank.
We waded carefully and focused on faster flowing runs where fish have less time to check your fly and take it.
Large stretches of the Deutsche Traun flow quite evenly which makes it tough to understand where the lies of the fish are at times. We managed to hook into a couple of nice smaller brown trout during our morning session.
With the sun brightly shining towards noon we focused on the bank where big trees provide some shade to the fish. On one of the last casts before lunch I managed to connect to a big rainbow that was holding behind a rock. The take was deep down and at first I felt like I had hooked into the big rock. The fish gave me an excellent fight and was hard to get to the net since the current can be quite strong at the Deutsche Traun.
Hoping for the Evening Hours
Since it was a very hot day we opted for an extended lunch at the brewery Wochinger in Traunstein. Ralf had recommended that place and it was a good choice since the beer garden made lunch a lot more enjoyable in the times of Corona. We had no rush to get back to the water quickly since the sun was beating down and we were hoping for the evening hours to give us a good chance to catch fish.
Large parts of the Deutsche Traun run close to the street connecting Siegsdorf and Traunstein. That makes the river easily accessible but can dampen the experience of nature a bit.
For the evening we opted to fish the lower part of the Deutsche Traun Hochberg. Because of the high temperatures and low precipitation of the last days the water level was quite low on the stretch that looked very promising otherwise.
Since the water was so clear and so slow flowing because of the low water levels the fish had the upper hand. We tried to trick them with the thinnest tippets and smallest flies. Yet our success was very limited. Nevertheless we spent a very nice at Rudi Heger’s Deutsche Traun. It’s definitely a water worth trying. Given the right conditions there is always a chance to land a big fish.
Check Rudi Heger’s website for information on all the waters they offer.
