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hat is a huchen?
The huchen, also
called the Danube
salmon, is a big
predatory fish, a member of the
salmonidae family whose original
distribution was limited to the
Danube river basin, although now it
has spread to other waters. They can
tolerate higher water temperatures
than trout and normally spread from
trout inhabited waters to lower reaches,
until the rise in water temperature
prevents further expansion. They
mainly inhabit the middle reaches of
rivers in areas where there are large
populations of nase, chub, barbel etc.
which present a rich source of food
for hungry predators.

How to select your tackle?

The basic principles are the same as
when fly fishing for pike. The
streamers that we use are huge and
have a lot of air resistance. To counter
that air resistance you need a lot of
energy. What stores your energy is
mass, so you need a heavy fly line. It
is good to have a fast fly line as we all
know, the higher the speed, the more
energy is stored in a given amount of
mass. Fast fly lines have short heads,
where mass is concentrated in front.
You need a fly rod that is capable of
handling the above. It is also worth
mentioning that lighter tackle does not
translate to less stress, for you when
you are casting that big stuff. If you are
using heavier lines, you can actually
cast in a more relaxed way, that is, you
do not need to keep the line speed as
high as with lighter tackle, as heavy line
compensates for the lack of speed.
When it comes to lines, you can play
with different designs of heads, make
it a bit longer or a bit shorter, but
basically what I have described here is
a good old ‘shooting head’ and that is
what in essence all those lines are that
you come across today, and are meant
for such work. They all work like
shooting heads and if they don`t, you
should stay away from them as the only
result shall be that you will have to
invest more work for the
same result. Of course,
you do not need a real
shooting head with
seperate running line,
just a line that follows
the same design
principle - short head
joined to a running line.
A few blind casts and
you shoot it away, hence

Huchen...

on the f ly rod

Regular forum contributor Jure Meden (aka

BlueOne) guides us to the wild rivers of Slovenia

and teaches us how to haul out some hefty huchen

the original name ... shooting head.

Single handed rods

Size #10 or higher. Rod weights of #10

are also great as pike rods, so you can

not go wrong with that. Pair it with a

nice line as described above, two

AFTMA classes higher than the rod and

you shall be all set. Just be careful,

check the real weight of lines and

compare it with AFTMA weight tables

as some manufacturers have started to

produce lines that are heavier than

their AFTMA designation. As far as

huchen goes, #10 is on the lower end,

not becouse hucho would be stronger

than pike but if you are fishing for them

in strong current, the

current itself acts as a

strong multiplier of

fish strength. Single

handed rods are great

for jig flies in areas

where space is

limited and of course

you can use them for

normal streamers.

Normal streamers

can be cast with fly line or

thrown out like jig flies in

case you are using your fly

rod as a spinning rod. It

takes a bit of practice, but it

is a very useful technique

that will considerably expand

your fishing possibilities.

When I say use a fly rod like

a spin rod, it means the whole

set up, so you are doing that

casting with a fly line.

Spincasting of normal

streamers with a fly rod and

a fly line is made possible by the fact

that at least some of them (like the one

in the photo) soak up a lot of water, so

they become heavy enough to be used

like that. I like to call that technique ‘a

wet slipper technique’, because that is

how it feels, like throwing a wet slipper

around. When you would like to make

a fly cast with such a streamer

(meaning normal casting with a fly

rod, where your line drags your

streamer) make a few slow casts first,

that shall push out most of the water

and after that make a normal blind

cast or two and ‘wooof ’... off it goes.

Two handed rods

As you most probably know, their origin

is in the salmon fishing world, but that

is where the similarity ends. When

flyfishing for huchen, you shall be using

them with heavy lines for single-handed

rods and overhead casting to make

longer casts and reduce strain on your

arms and wrists during casting of large

streamers and heavy fly lines. They can

be used with jig flies or wet slipper

technique as well, the only condition is

in

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A good trick worth

mentioning is to return to

a ‘known’ place a couple

of times in the same day

Strong current

plus hard fighting

huchen equals

robust tackle