The River Lippe

The beautiful, winding river is very varied in this area - fast flowing, shallower passages alternate with quiet sections and pools up to three metres deep. Whether trout, prey fish or predatory fish, they can all be found in the clean water of the Lippe. The variety of fish is distributed over 20 different species. The spring floods have partly pushed the river bed deep into the soft soil of the Börde, so that one also finds sections with steep river banks. However, the banks of the Lippe are mostly easily accessible and under the overhanging bushes, the predatory fish in particular find a place to wait in ambush. To reach the good fishing spots, a somewhat longer walk is necessary, as parking is not available everywhere.

In the quiet, deep sections, for example between Hovestadt and Eickelborn near Schoneberg or in the lower part near Kesseler, you can expect carp and beautiful tenches. Good spots are where water lily fields form in calm water. You can also catch roaches, bream, chub and barbel all over the route. Except for the few shallow and fast areas like Uelentrup. The feeder rod is the right catching instrument at these corners. Always important: feed enough to lure the fish to the fishing spot and keep them there. You should mix part of the hook bait with the food. The most common bait is the maggot, but also muckworms and maize always bring good fish. When fishing for barbels, you should also add some grated cheese or use ready-made food containing cheese. In the quiet, deep areas, the Bolognese rod is an alternative. Especially bream and barbels like to take a bait that grinds at the bottom.

Big roaches enjoy such offers as well. Feeding is also the most important thing with this variant, as well as with the third method of whitefish fishing: spot fishing with the pole. Poles in lengths between seven and ten metres are sufficient on the 15 to 25 metre wide Lippe to lure roach & Co to the hook. Depending on the current, you need floats with a carrying capacity of between four and eight grams. An elastic at the tip is important, because barbs or carp also bite with this method of fishing and offer an extremely exciting fight. In the evening, chubs ascend for insects and can be easily caught with the fly rod. Bushy Palmer baits in dark colours are recommended. Common dace bite regularly when spot- and fly fishing. These are protected in the Lippe all year round and must be released after the catch. No fish may be stored, the use of a landing net is forbidden. After the regular catching of asp further downstream in recent years, the predatory prey fish have now also reached the Soest stretch. When fishing with spinning baits, especially with slim spoons and wobblers, beautiful specimens are caught. More prey fish in this area: Common nase, white bream, rudd and bleak.

Finally on to the predatory fish - in summer and autumn the eel is at the top of the list. The snakes can be lured to the hooks with earthworms, thick maggot bundles or fish shreds. Night fishing is allowed. It is ideal when a good summer thunderstorm with pouring rain causes the water of the Lippe to rise slightly and turn brown. Under such conditions, the eels become active even during the day. Perch bite worm or spinning bait and grow to heavy weights here. Wobblers, big spinners, slender spoons and of course dead bait fish are baits for the fat Lippe pikes. These have their hunting grounds in the quiet areas under trees, especially where the branches reach into the water. But pike also lurk in the many weed fields.

At the beginning of the season in May and then again in autumn and early winter is the main fishing season. It is important to note that with the start of the trout season on 20 October, spin- and fly fishing are no longer permitted. It is only permitted again from May 1st, the start of the pike season. For the cold months, this means that the dead bait fish is the number one pike fishing trump card in the Lippe. The hungry predators can bring weights of more than eight kilos on the scales, therefore solid equipment should always be present. Recommended are basic rods with a casting weight of up to 80 grams or five to six metre long rods with rod holders. Occasionally also Zander occur. However, the stock density is not very high and so targeted fishing is hardly worth it. With some concern most anglers of the region look at another predator: the catfish. The catfish is now said to be on the hunt in the deep areas of the Lippe. It will find ideal feeding conditions here in any case, but an increased population of catfish will decimate the population of prey fish. So, lots of variety on this beautiful Lippe section in the Soest Börde. It should also be mentioned that after the snow melt in March and April, the river can carry high, murky water. If this is the case, you can switch to the nearby Möhnetalsperre dam if necessary.

Source: Rute & Rolle