This rather odd title might suggest another catch and release post but the contrary is the case. I have been fishing with a vegetarian who wanted to witness how one catches the own food.

How did that happen?

During last semester, I joked with two vegetarian girls about going fishing with them. Obviously, this was not meant seriously by me at all. However, they agreed. Furthermore, I invited Steven, a friend who I know since my very first year at the university. Given that Steven and I had never really spent time together that was unrelated to our studies it was a great opportunity to do so.

Vegetarian Fly Fishing

The day came quickly, and Steven and one of the vegetarian girls called Nadine showed up. Unfortunately, the other girl was sick and could not join us. I still did not really believe that a vegetarian participated in a fishing trip with me. But after some talks with Nadine, I realised that she did not eat meat or fish for several years because she does not want to support the industrial killing of animals. Fair enough. Thus, catching her own food would be a great chance to eat fish without a bad conscience.

Nadine while waiting for her turn to fish the small head dam

The River

Before we went to the river, it was time to do some exercise on how to cast a fly rod. This pretty short crash course helped them to understand the three parts of a cast: the acceleration, the stop and the break. Needless to say that their casting was far from perfect, but I had a little hope for them to catch something because they did quite well for beginners. As soon as both were able to through a fly a few meters, we headed down to the river. The temperature was pretty hot even though we fished in the morning. Therefore, the refreshing feeling of standing in a riverbed was highly appreciated by my two friends.

Nadine and Steven enjoying the feeling of standing in a river bed

So we went down to the river, which run clear and rather low. Originally, I planned to fish some Jura mountain streams, but due to the confined spaces, we went to larger river. Even though this river disappoints in its corrected appearance as a canal, my 2 companies were overwhelmed by the experience of wading in a river. Yet, the river is good for a surprise as this recent post shows.

Huge trout caught on another fishing trip

The Fishing

At the first pool, I showed them how to approach water and explained them where to expect trout. While casting close to the drop off, I hooked already a first fish who waved goodbye with a spectacular jump. Yet, my two companions missed this jump because they were too busy taking pictures.

Happy fly fishing guide changing the fly

Given that at least Nadine had never fished before, I took a spinning rod with me as well. This proved to be a good idea to show them what the difference feels like and they used the rod alternatingly. Both agreed that fly fishing was way more difficult but they seemed to like it though.

It was at the second low head dam that I hooked a decent trout which had the legal size. Therefore, we killed it while it was unconscious as the animal welfare act requires.

The fish we took for lunch with visibly happy faces

We continued fishing and I kept myself more in the background so that Nadine and Steven had more chances.

Although I tried to help them both with all my expertise, it was exactly when I did not do anything at all that Steven finally hooked into a trout. He even managed to land it. More than happy Steven and I decided that this fish should go back for the sake of a healthy population. Without further a do we put the fish back while Nadine took a picture in the process.