All in all, this little lake offers a nice addition to the river fishing in Taurach. Worth coming, if only to enjoy this picturesque scenery, If you manage the 5kms narrow dirt track, you sure will deserve catching here a fish or two!


- Back
Believe it or not, there guys were difficult. The mirror calm water in the windless evening didn't help. After fair amount of struggle, the trigger that we finally discovered was the sound. When my big fly hit the water, a brook of 47cm loomed up!

We then tied egg imitations and presented it so they make nice tap sounds. Several fish dashed out, and the (un)lucky 40cm rainbow was on the hook. A reaction based on their hatchery experience perhaps, but anyway, it worked.


Perhaps impolite to call it a side dish, but if you drive up the gravel road for 5kms, you'll see what I mean. Tauernkarsee, at the foot of some rugged cliffs, offers an fun change to the stream fishing in Taurach.

The only problem is this 5km gravel road. Despite what the brochure says - Leicht mit dem Auto erreichtbar (easy to get to by car) - the road is deadly narrow and snakes on the edge of uncomfortably scenic cliff tips. Had we bumped into an opposite traffic, we'd have been still there!

The 4ha of still water is not too big. But the picturesque scenery that surrounds it make it up. The water looked too pristine showing little sign of life. But then, Oops! A splash ? Well, let me see!
On the third day, we hiked to Johanesfall, which marks the upper end of the beat near the village of Obertauern.

We would love to come visit this river again, to see its different face and to face its different challenges.
Unlike the upper beat, rainbow formed a majority. Though most of them must be from hatchery, some of them ran and jumped well - offering excellent sport!

This 47cm handsome nice one slammed #8 black ant and fought with force!.
Another thing that made it interesting in this part was the fact some large specimen seemed quite educated with the art of flies. Or perhaps it was the strong sun that made them rather unwilling to leave their comfortable lies.

But unpredictable is also the nature of these creature. After refusing many small, realistic flies, they sometimes got fooled by a big foam terrestria. That's the fun of fishing in a way?

After a fair amount of fly changes I finally persuaded this 45cm to sip a #18 bivisible.

Some of the larger fish, especially brownies and brookies were feeding something off the bottom. big Weighted nymph in size #10 had quite a role to play.
The next day.

We went to the lower stretch, with a hope to hook up some trophy fish (like those decorating the walls of the guesthouse!).

The brilliant sunshine lighted up all corners of the wide flat runs. And sure enough, even if you cannot spot the fish, you won't miss their shadows on the gravel bed. Stand back, take an aim, and there you go!
The water was quite chilly at 8c in the morning, but as the sun climbs up, the water also warmed up - to 11c shortly after noon. Midges start hatching, which triggered more actions on the surface, and fishing was hot from there on.

Underneath the rocks, mayfly nymphs were found in abundance. Though small, this river has a lot to offer for the fish, and for the fisherman.
Sept '03

We decided to try out the upper beat first.

Stepping down the grassy slope to the river bank, we sat on the rocks and rigged up our #3 rods. In the pool right beneath, water was whirling and bubbling. With most of the leaves that must have covered the sky now gone, the morning sun is reaching the bottom of the valley, lighting up the river bed and silhouette of some holding fish. The intimate air filling the valley reminded us of our home river in Japan. Appreciating the nostalgic feeling, we cast a #12 Elkhair caddis - just as we would in our home river.
A fish rose. Sayuri gave a strike.

And yes, it's a nice one! The fish splashed all over the river, bending the #3 rod half moon. Now this is what I call a serious fishing!

Most of the fish here are adelt stocked fish. That said, this lower beat, with many deep pools in between the runs, houses a lot of big ones, A fair share of the thrill guaranteed!
In fact so many holding spots and most of them produced some actions. It took us 5hours to finish up not much more than a kilometer.

The average was 25cm, with the biggest at 32cm. By no means extraordinary, but with the help of its charming surrounding, it made us a very enjoyable day.

- Gasthof zur Post
　
The river at this stretch was 3 to 5 meters wide. At this time of the year the river was about 1meter at its deepest. Wading was easy.

Little waterfalls, runs, pools alternated along the stretch. You never have to cast far. We used #3 rod of 8.3ft, with a combined length of leader + tippet at ca. 8ft. That worked comfortably avoiding tree branches sticking out at places.
If I were to name a difference, fish are so much more innocent here. The brown shadow that emerged from the bottom, without a moment of hesitation, slowly took the fly.

As if mirroring the leaves in the sky, the first little brown was covered in a beautiful autumn colours.
Half an hour's drive south of Salzburg, in the valley of Tauern that separates Salzburg from the neighbouring state of Steiermark, runs this small river Taurach. Guesthouse Zur Post offers exclusive access to 18kms of its stretch. While the upper half, beginning at the Johannesfall, offers dynamic freestone character, the other half below Untertauern, where the guest house is, runs relatively calm through the pasture. To make up, this lower part holds rather bigger fish, adding some excitement to the variety of the choice.