September 18th Eindhoven celebrated the 60th Anniversary of its liberation from Nazi occupation in 1944. While the American’s liberated Eindhoven, Commonwealth forces liberated much of the Netherlands. Through the fall of 1944 and into the spring of 1945, the southern region of the Netherlands along the German border became known as the Maas salient. Today this area of the Netherlands has numerous National Cemeteries filled with soldiers and airmen that fell on both sides of the conflict we call World War II.
So what does this have to do with fly-fishing? The celebrations for Operation Market Garden made me realize just how late in the summer it was. I had wanted to fish the Belgian Ardennes all summer and now I had hurry because the Belgian trout season closed on September 30th. Yes, the mind of this fly fisher works in odd ways. I used my best source, Google, to find the Hotel du Moulin in the town of Ligneuville. Interestingly, Ligneuville is a borough in the municipal district of Malmedy. World War II buffs and some older folks may recall the significance of Malmedy in the Ardennes Offensive during the winter of 1944 – 45. There is public fresh water fishing in Europe. However for the most part, these public waters are commercially navigable waterways such as rivers and cannels. Otherwise, water, like land, is privately held. To gain access you need to be a member of a local fishing club or purchase some type day ticket. The Hotel du Moulin offers its guests day tickets with access to eight kilometers (six miles) of fly fishing, catch and release (no kill as it is known here) water on the Ambleve. In this section of the Ardennes, the Ambleve is a small river, more of a stream. However as it flows northward, it eventually becomes a part of the Maas River. My trip south to Ligneuville would take me through two countries and three provinces. They are the provinces of North Brabant and Limburg, in the Netherlands and the province of Liege, in Belgium. That seems like a lot of area to travel, but distances are shorter here. Driving direct from Eindhoven to Ligneuville via the motorway takes only an hour and half. Keep in mind that this is the same as driving from Seattle to Cle Elum (or Seattle to Ellensburg if you drive like my brother in law). However, directly in my route were two villages that I wanted to see: Margraten, in the Netherlands, and Henri-Chapelle, Belgium. They are only ten miles apart. I also decided to stop by the town of Neupre. That would take me a half hour out of my way. All three are of significance to Americans and WWII. Making arrangements at the Hotel du Moulin was easy. In English, I sent them my reservation request in via email and confirmed everything via phone the day before my departure. Besides my day tickets, I needed a Belgian fishing license. The hotel offered to take care of this for me. The linguistic ability of the European hospitality industry always amazes me. However, I wasn’t so sure about the linguistic ability of the Belgian Post Office. Since that was where I would need to buy my fishing license, I took the hotel up on their offer. All in all, my stay would include one night’s lodging with half board, two day tickets and a fishing license. This all came to €120 ($145). I departed Eindoven just after midmorning and arrived in Ligneuville in the early afternoon. The hotel is a family operation and the proprietress met me on my arrival. She checked me in, told me that dinner was at seven and gave me directions to the Ambleve. She also instructed me to shut any gates that I opened so that the cows or horses wouldn’t get out of their pastures. Near Ligneuville, the Ambleve is fifteen to twenty five feet across. Except in the deepest holes, it is no more than thigh deep and easy to wade. Most of the trees surrounding the river are deciduous hardwoods. It all reminded me very much of the Appalachian Mountains, or the other way around, depending on your perspective. That afternoon I fished the upper 4 kilometers of water. The fish seemed to like the fast water in the chutes where the river narrowed. I had little success in the riffles or deeper holes. My most successful fly was a dark gray case caddis imitation that I had tied using a large tungsten bead so that it would sink quickly. All of the trout I caught were browns except for an 18” inch brook trout. Most of the browns were in the 10” to 14” range. Around 7:00 it was getting dark and I returned to the hotel for dinner. The hotel’s web site makes much ado about its gastronomic delights. I wasn’t disappointed. My meal, included in my board, was four courses. It started with a salmon and foie gras sampler, then a fine soup, the main course was lamb and it ended with a delicious dessert. All of this was accompanied with assorted wines matching each course. The next morning the proprietress had her father-in-law tell me about access points lower on the river. Between both of our English and German, he advised me that while there were less fish in the lower section of the beat, they were larger. He told where to park my car and advised me which pasture gate to use in accessing the river. His assessment was right. In the lower section, the fishless stretches were longer. However, where I did catch fish, I caught quite a few and they had more size, in the 14” to 16” range. I fished this stretch until early afternoon. Then, wanting to try a couple of spots I had seen the evening before, I returned to the upper stretch of the river. Here, while the fish were smaller, every third of forth cast produced a strike or a fish. Around mid-afternoon, I stopped for the day and returned to Eindhoven. Counting both days, all of the fish I caught were on nymphs except for a single brown which I took on dry elk hair caddis. An 8 foot 3 or 4-weight rod is all that anyone needs. The Ambleve has heavy tree growth along its banks. The canopy completely covers the river in many places. A longer rod is difficult to cast in these conditions. For photos go to the Belgium - Ardennes gallery at: http://expat.my-expressions.com/ For information on Margraten, Henri-Chapelle and Neupre go to: http://www.abmc.gov/abmc2.htm For more information on events around Malmedy and Ligneuville during WWII go to: http://www.historynet.com/wwii/blmassacreatmalmedy/ http://home.earthlink.net/~crcorbin/Lofton.html http://www.casanovarestaurant.com/denise4.html
