Fishing in Austria, St. Michel im Lungau style, the Reckoning.

This year Mark and I decided to try our luck on the Mur again, despite being rained out last year. We saw so much promise, and liked the area so much, that not giving it another shot was unthinkable. Needless to say, we got lucky. The weather was perfect, the bite was on, the food was plentiful and good, and we just generally had a damn good time. For me, this trip was even better than the last few, as Mark moved to Asia earlier in the year and a good fishing buddy isn't an easy thing to replace. We were off in style early Wednesday in a Merc station wagon that we put to good use on the stretch of Autobahn between Switzerland and Austria. After quick stop for lunch in gorgeous Innsbruck, we made it to St. Michel in record time and were able to fish the evening rise close to our B&B before stuffing ourselves with a massive Austrian dinner.

The next day we got up, had breakfast, and spent the entire day fishing the varied stretches of the Mur. From headwaters full of pocket water to deep pools in oxbows, there was a huge amount of variety in this beat and we took advantage. We caught mostly browns in two different color schemes, along with the occasional rainbow and grayling, with the largest trout caught at 15 inches or so.

Mark with a gorgeous Brown that fell for a streamer. Look at those spots!



And a fat rainbow that I pulled from the same deep channel.



Fish on!



Typical Austrian meadows...



and healthy, lively fish





in varied terrain..



make for hungry fishermen.




The next day we decided to go up and visit the same alpine lake we went to last year, but this time we got a key for the gate and were able to drive up the steep, rocky road, but not after being warned about falling rocks, warnings which we pretty much ignored because, hey, rental car.

I brought my float tube in case the lake was as high as it was last year, but it ended up being about 70 feet lower, so ended up walking way down into the lake bed to cast to the cruising grayling. Mark caught a few, I caught a few, and then we got bored and decided to head back down to the river, where we fished for a few more hours despite the heavier afternoon flows from the snowmelt. After another big dinner and many Austrian beers, we retired, and drove back early the next morning. All in all, a great trip, and amazingly, the first trip in 4 years where we didn't have to deal with midsummer snow. We're already hard at work on 2014 planning.