The water warmed up to 8degrees at noon.
A significant change to the fish for sure.

Small midge and stone flies started hatching. Awaiting for lunch, numerous trout positioned themselves in nice lanes. Now, ready for action!!

The 1st visit - Sept. '03

The village of Kals nestles on the western slope of Grossglockner. Approach is fairly easy thanks to the Felbertauern tunnel, which welcomes travellers effortlessly to the state of East Tirol.

According to the hotel Taurerwirt, which takes care of fishing rights in the area, the upper reach of Kalsbach and its small tributary, Dorferbach, are off limits to fishing during the spawning months in the autumn. Good to know care is being taken.

We were advised to try the lower stretch, near the settlement of Arnig. The river there is already big, say, 15meters wide. Except occasional pools, the river at this time was mostly shallow. But the current was straight and strong, making wading above knees difficult. We were impressed by the masculine face of Kalsbach, the son of Grossglockner!

Late afternoon, the river became gradually silty. The generous sunshine we had this day must have melt the snow in the upper reach, which then traveled down toward the evening. The activity declined. It was still possible to lure odd fish with weighted nymph, but they were not looking up for flying meals anymore.

Time to call it a day. A very good day it was. Though only a short stretch that we fished, we felt we were embraced by Kalsbach, and by the great landscape that surrounds it.

- Next

As we passed by the settlement of Unterbach, we found an island splitting the river in half. Though normally fish together, we decided to 'divide & conquer' - as both sides looked equally tempting.

Plump Rainbows were eager to rise to our dry flies, many of them holding in surprisingly shallow pockets, to slow down our advance!

As I was about to give up, the goal, the bridge in Paradell, was reached. Sayuri, who fished up the right bank, landed 22. I on the left landed 30.
It was a dry fly game at its best.

Earlier part of the morning produced only several brown trout, still looking half asleep.

As the sun climbed high up, at around 11a.m., we started to observe consistent rises and actions. Rainbow trout around 12inches formed the majorit., As long as the fly floated naturally, fish rose from anywhere, in fact, from everywhere.

The morning in late September can be icy.
The wild roses by the river were covered in a frost with the temperature dropping sub 0c.

Surely, the water was nicely chilled as well. Thermometer hovering just below 5c, we swore we shall never fall over. No, not today!

On the other hand, the chilly water apparently keeps the river bed free from vegetation. Wading feet felt steady with good traction to our relief.

Kalsbach is one of the rivers that originates in Grossglockner, the highest peak of Austria. It always has been on the top of our list, but due to the fact the river carries glacier melt, we had not managed a timely visit yet. Now that it's September, the condition is ideal. Time to visit Kalsbach, the river of the heighest peak.