Fly fishing on the upper Vesdre (LRPE): 27 trout (and 23 more missed) with the Euro and dry fly rods

On the 17th of May (2025) I decided to go and fish the fly fishing only zone of the upper Vesdre (downstream of Eupen, society: la Ligue Royale des Pêcheurs de l’Est). I tried my luck here just a few days into the season back in March already, but that was too early for the fish, so following my recent success on different kinds of waters, I wanted to see if I could do better. Long story short, I had a very good day. While given the lack of stocking with large fish (only fry fish are released here), and the - based on the LRPE's website - slightly acidic and not food-rich waters the fish here were typically small, they were plentiful, and the low waters provided an interesting river-reading exercise (and easy wading). I fished a 2.5 km section of the river, and caught 27 brown trout (of which 4 on the dry fly), including a couple of 20+ cm ones, and missed another 23 (mainly small ones, but two nice ones too). I especially enjoyed spotting rising fish and catching (or missing) them on the dry fly.

Setup for the day:

Vision Nymphmaniac Twintip 11'3" #3 rod
Vision XLV Nymph & Dry reel (WF3F Nymphmaniac fly line and 20lb Bäkkäri backing)
Microleader setup (~2 rod length) with 3X Vision Nymphmaniac Hi-Viz tippet + 0.178 mm (4X) Cortland Tri-Color Indicator Mono Leader Material + 2 mm tippet ring + 7X Vision Prisma fluorocarbon tippet

Vision Rivermaniac 9' #5 Medium rod
Orvis Hydros Reel (II)
Vision XO 110 WF5F fly line
4X Vision Nano Mono 9' leader + ~2' 4X Vision Prisma fluorocarbon tippet

I used a size 16 (with a 2.8 mm tungsten bead) version of the first nymph from this video:    • Top 3 Nymphs for Grayling and Trout (Hare'...   while the dry fly was a size 14 March brown tied Catskill style. All self-made.

Timeline:

00:00 Misses 1-2 to start the day
00:32 Brown trout 1 (a larger one)
01:52 Brown trout 2
02:44 Brown trout 3
03:22 Brown trout 4
03:55 Miss 3
04:08 Switch to the dry rod - Miss 4
04:20 Brown trout 5 (on the dry)
05:24 Brown trout 6
06:28 Miss 5
06:41 Brown trout 7
07:49 Brown trout 8
08:31 Brown trout 9
09:15 Miss 6
09:26 Brown trout 10
10:05 Brown trout 11
10:49 Brown trout 12
11:39 Brown trout 13
12:23 Brown trout 14
13:56 Miss 7
14:10 Brown trout 15 (on the dry)
15:22 Miss 8-9 (dry then nymph)
15:52 Brown trout 16 (on the dry)
16:57 Brown trout 17
17:50 Brown trout 18
18:23 Miss 10
18:47 Brown trout 19
19:33 Brown trout 20
20:41 Brown trout 21
21:20 Misses 11-12
21:50 Switch to dry rod - Misses 13-17
23:24 Switch back to nymphing - Misses 18-20
24:11 Brown trout 22 (a larger one)
25:36 Brown trout 23 (largest of the day)
27:18 Brown trout 24
28:03 Miss 21
28:18 After walking back to the start and downstream the bridge - Miss 22 (a nice fish...) and 23
28:44 Brown trout 25
29:50 Brown trout 26 (bigger than average)
30:54 Brown trout 27 (on the dry)