”... those fish better give their soul to good, because their ass is mine!“
Mel Krieger
(quoting a famous saying) - Mel Krieger´s Patagonia (DVD)
Although when it comes to my privacy I am highly acting with discretion, but giving you not any information about the person who is behind white thymallus is regarded by me rather disrespectful and before people start asking... In the meantime word has spread that the person behind white thymallus is me – Axel Wessolowski (also my first name sounds like ”axle“, my parents didn´t christend me after car parts. The name has its origins in Scandinavia and it means ”father of peace“ (hebrew; absalom). The last name has with peace to do, too. Having its origins in East Prussia and Polen, respectively, it has to do with "wedding“, "happiness“ and "peaceful“.). In my passport is written that I´m from Germany and I guess that might be true. I live in Berlin and felt home on the South Island of New Zealand (Aotearoa).
Growing up in a small village I had the luck of being close to many forests. Spending many childhood hours strolling through the woods marveling at the flora and fauna I became more and more interested in nature´s wonders. In these days my favourite pastime was to observe three-spine sticklebacks in a tiny brook.
It was also in these days that I got my first camera. Since then, a camera was always with me and sure enough I soon bought my first single lens reflex to have more options arranging a photograph. Later on while working in a biological station I also learned the basics of nature photography.
Back then when I saw a fly fisherman for the first time and being impressed by this elegant way of fishing for salmonids I myself got ”hooked“ immediately.
After I had joined a casting course it was if a long dreamed dream had become true and finding something that was long missed. It is all water under the bridge and I become a devoted fly fisherman, not only because I want to catch fish, but because it is one of the best reasons to spend time in nature.
You might have guessed already, my first fish ever caught on a fly was Thymallus thymallus. To tell the truth, I did not really catch that grayling in terms of landing it, but provoked him to a rise.
Seeing rings above a small pool I watched it for a while to figure out where to present the fly. The cast was almost perfect and the fly drifted in the fast flowing water without dragging. The river itself was extremly clear, thus I was able to see the grayling rising long before it got to the surface.
Then my memory is kind of blurred: the fish´s take, my strike, the enormous pull on the line and a splash of water.
Seeing the grayling rising to the artificial and taking it pushed my adrenalin levels to the limit and I just could not stay calm (who could?).
Being a novice I made all the mistakes possible. I even tried to play the grayling with my left hand and simultaneously with the same hand wanted to reel in the excess of fly line, creating a nice birds nest around my reel. After the strike I put far too much pressure on and afterwards lost contact to the fish. So, after all I practiced the most common form of ”long release“.
Nevertheless, this will be one of my greatest moments in fly fishing, because it was my first fish, a beauty of a grayling and I had made it rise to my fly. It just felt so perfect and I sat in the grass happily afterwards.
While finishing my Ph.D. thesis, fly fishing was in fact -besides my family- the only distraction and recreation I could get. Finally, it seemed only logical to combine my ambitious photography and my love for fly fishing. Additionally, I have written fly fishing articles which were published in magazines in different countries (e.g. FliegenFischen (GER), Fly Fishing & Fly Tying (UK), Fly Life (AUS/NZ)). Usually, my articles deal with biological subjects regarding fly fishing (salmonid vision, trout species relationships, optimum temperatures, cdc feathers, catch & release, biomechanics of fly casting, etc.). I have also written about tackle and clothing (”breathable" waders, insect repellents, tenkara (fly fishing style in Japan), mayfly patterns, etc.).
As a photographer, biologist, nature lover and fly fisherman at the same time, I hope this site will grow in photographs and that the quality of them may further increase, thus stimulating the emotions all fly fisherman know so well and appreciate so much.
Enjoy nature and may the grayling be gracious with your artificial fly
[...], but I have fished through fishless days that I remember happily and without regret. I want fish from fishing, but I want a great big deal more than that, and getting it is not always dependent upon catching fish.
Roderick Haig-Brown
A river never sleeps
