Once upon a time, I won the Fly Fishing Nation video contest and a few weeks ago I finally received the prize: One week at the Hotel Bräurup!
What contest?
The prize for the short video contained on the one hand the Arctic Silver Innovation fly rod and a full week of fishing at the Hotel Bräurup in Austria. Whereas I received the rod after I asked for it several times, the organisation of the fly fishing week at the Hotel Bräurup was more complicated. Neither Fly Fishing Nation nor I did find a fitting date to go together to the Hotel Bräurup. After about three attempts on finding a suitable date for both parties which all failed, I decided to go fishing with some friends of mine instead. With me on tour was André and Jonas on the fly (whom Fly Fishing Nation still owes a rod from the Salmonized Contest).
The Hotel Bräurup
However, the week at the Hotel Bräurup was a blast! Usually, I do not stay at hotels during fishing travels but rather camp out on a budget and cook my own food on a gas stove. Therefore, staying at a Hotel and the daily 4 course dinner was a welcome change. We usually got up at 7, had breakfast at the buffet with bacon and eggs and plenty of other delicious stuff. Then we headed to the waters and ate lunch that we bought in the nearby supermarket. We fished daily about 6-8 hours and repeated this scheme the entire week.
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- Release of the arctic char
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- Vicious arctic char on the “secret indicator fly”
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- Banana?
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- Explorer mode is on
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- Stunning water clarity
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- Stunning fins
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- Char close-up
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- Discussing the flies
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- Immerse your soul in the landscape
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- My gang
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- Careful approach at the Krimmler Ache
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- In the loop: Jonas Onthefly
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- Jonas on the fly
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- Small meadow creek in the Austrian Alps
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- Deep blue pools at the Krimmler Ache
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- Find solitude while fishing
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- Staying warm with the new Taimen Jacket
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- Fat char from the deep blue pool
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- Lovely grayling from the Krimmler Ache
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- Love that pattern
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- Beauty has a name: Arctic Char
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- Moody mornings in Mittersill
The Waters
The Hotel Bräurup offers various possibilities to fish and we did not even cover half of their waters. The jewel of the Hotel Bräurup is withouth doubt the Krimmler Ache which is only accessible by private bus. Moreover, only 10 fishermen or women per day are allowed in order to guarantee an exquisite experience. According to the guide of another fishing crew, the Krimmler Ache contains fish of remarkable size. This means 50+ cm grayling and trout. Yet, we did not quite reach that size. Nevertheless, we caught some grayling past the 40cm mark and chased the vicious arctic chars. What I loved the most about the Krimmler Ache was its character of an alpine river meandering through the meadows – just an amazing stream. Despite the Krimmler Ache we fished several other streams, but in beauty nothing could compare.
Advice
If I were to go again to the Hotel Bräurup, I would probably spend more time at their lakes. Although at the Elisabethsee or Finkausee you will be barely on your own, they offer the opportunity for large fish. We only spent 2 evenings at each lake and missed our chances to land a remarkable fish.
Nonetheless, André, Jonas and myself enjoyed a great week in the Hotel Bräurup in Mittersill, Austria and had a lot of laughs.
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