Corona and the adventure “on your doorstep”

Actually the story starts much earlier. At the beginning of March, pre-Corona, in the south of France, with a newly renovated bus and really keen on a tour through Europe. Until the morning of March 17th, when the smelly innards of a garbage bag hit my otherwise cheerful mood during an early morning walk. A fox had torn up the large, blue plastic bag - apparently left by carp anglers - and scattered it on the bank. Cans, damp toilet tissues and spoiled food on the spring-like tender land. But something else really made my mood bad. It was exactly half past eleven when a police car drove up and two cops wearing face masks headed straight towards me. They were rude and succinctly explained to me that I still had half an hour to disappear and go into quarantine. What followed was a surreal game of hide-and-seek.

At the end of April I dared to go back to Germany, simply because I couldn't stand being on the run all the time anymore. Returning to society has always been a bit strange for me, but this time it was going to be top notch. General fear and uncertainty, people who wore face masks even when cycling and a people divided into Corona believers and non-believers. Normality was lost. After all, in Germany you were still allowed to go out into nature whenever you wanted. So I lived “legally” in nature again, albeit with a face mask.

But how do I satisfy my need for adventure in Germany? I wasn't keen on overcrowded quarry lakes. Because of Corona, there were no guest tickets anyway. Then Jakob got in touch with fresh enthusiasm and the idea of ​​a trip together to a large German river. Herb, wild fish and all this in the heart of Jakob's homeland, the Breisgau. It didn't take long for our fire to explore together to be ignited. The weather was wonderful and we were free as cockchafers.

The setback came early. When exploring with the rubber boat, the flat, partly rocky, partly weedy areas seemed dead. No carp, neither whitefish nor gobies, not a sign of life. In addition, a thick, greasy carpet of algae stuck to the bottom and weeds. Nothing had been active in the shallow water for weeks. Nothing jumped at all in the deeper areas. So we changed the section and explored again. We quickly saw a few relatively fresh tracks in the shallow areas and even two or three small scale carp out of nowhere. Quite small and probably not even five kilos tall: Nevertheless, we wanted to try our luck.

On the second morning Guido came to visit us for one night. Jakob's friend and German-French (or Franco-Allemand as they also say) hid his car in the forest on the opposite side at five in the morning. Escape helper Jakob then skillfully rowed him in a rubber dinghy across the German-French border that runs through the river. After the long weeks of house arrest, the passionate angler had a permanent smile on his face when he saw the water. Being there was everything to him right now.

Unfortunately, we also received a purebred Blank on the third night and so Jakob and I spontaneously decided to drive to another large German river. Simply because of a lack of alternatives and because rivers are so hip now (fun). After a good 200 kilometers, my friend Stefan met us there and showed us a few promising places. He had caught carp in one area a few days before and so we hoped that his information would help us finish our three nights blank.

The Ice Saints announced their arrival early through dark, low-hanging clouds. As soon as we had set everything up and laid down the rods, the heavens opened up over our sun-drenched minds. It got really cold! It was really uncomfortable, everything was getting wet and the cars rushing past on the main road opposite were roaring a few decibels louder on the wet asphalt. Still, the mood couldn't change. On the first morning, a fat river mirror tugged on my rod. For me the first carp from this southern German river. And just a few hours later, Jakob was allowed to pull his first carp from this river. The drastic change in weather really got the water world going. Rapidly increasing current, fish activity on the surface: After a consistently rainy night, I caught a second carp in the morning and Jakob outwitted a pike. YES! It works!

But the brown, steaming soup unfortunately ended its patronizing nature shortly afterwards and we were given a 24-hour break - until Jakob started the finale. The third day was also sweetened by Stefan's boys, who were keen to go fishing, but unfortunately dad had to go to the office. The sun came out and we really enjoyed the day after the two freezing rainy days. While Jakob, Simon and little Samuel tried tirelessly to catch bait fish, I dried and organized everything behind the lock before our planned change of location. As if out of nowhere, the rod that Jacob had placed further away ran off. We all looked at each other in disbelief - and ran! Through the blackberry hedge, up the muddy slope and down the dam: the fish calmly moved along in the area with little current while Jakob was slightly nervous. Nevertheless, he left the nets to the kids. A striking mirror with a large head and scars on its old flanks slid over the edge of the mesh. The moment was perfect!

Despite this fish, our desire to explore still drew us to the area behind the lock. With the dinghy and petrol engine I made my way back to the car that was parked at the boat slip. While I put everything away, Jakob looked after the boys until Mama Susi came to pick them up again. Unfortunately, the night at the new place was quiet and when the rain came again the next morning, we decided to pack up. Our paths were to separate again. After a short stay in Karlsruhe, Jakob moved to Holland, while I visited an old friend and was supposed to fish with him at the quarry pond for a few more days. It was less of an adventure, but there was more grilling.