Fly fishing, a matter of the heart

I was given my first fishing rod as a present for my 3rd birthday while on holiday in Sweden. It was an ABU solid glass rod including reel and plastic float in a blister pack. From that moment on, I spent the rest of the 3-week holiday on the jetty in front of our holiday home. This was a wonderful but also very formative time for me.

In the years that followed, there was almost nothing else for me but fishing. The first few years were dominated by fishing in the Ruhr area of ​​Essen for anything that would catch a fish. When I was about 10, I got my first fly rod. At first it was all very rudimentary. I remember that my first fly line was a cable from my stepfather's model railway, or at least it looked like a fly line. With the cable, a "GDR free-spool reel" and a Shakespeare full-glass fly rod and a Ritz-D nymph given to me by the owner of the Essen fishing shop, Franz Robel, I caught my very first fish with a fly rod, a rudd at the Spillenburger weir in Essen. From that day on, the direction was clear: I wanted to become a fly fisherman.

For the next few years, I fished for grayling and trout with my oldest friend Kai, initially on local rivers such as the Lenne and Ruhr. Later, when we were finally 18 years old and mobile, we started traveling to Austria, Denmark and Sweden more and more often. Shortly afterwards, we both ended up in the "fishing industry" and that's how things took their course. Employed by various companies in the areas of fly fishing, fishing trips, guiding including my own fly fishing school, and as the owner of a fishing travel company, I ended up traveling halfway around the world in the name of fly fishing.

I was able to travel to and fish in fantastic fly fishing destinations such as Alaska, Canada, America, Cuba, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Scotland, Austria and many other unforgettable places.

In short, fly fishing is still THE THING for me and always will be.

For this reason, I am really looking forward to continuing to fly fish here in the Sauerland in the future.

With our WALDDESIGNERIN® store in the tranquil and beautiful village of Wenholthausen, we offer you various services, such as tackle and fly deliveries directly to the river. We advise you on choosing flies depending on the season and water level and help you put together the perfect rod, reel and line.

Our wine service by the river is particularly popular! We would also be happy to bring you one or two chilled bottles of white wine including glasses for your lunch by the river.

In this sense,

see you at the water

Jan Zientarra