The Search for Celtic Char brings ICCG to Austria
Fran Igoe

On May 4 2000 I had the good fortune of travelling to Austria and meeting up with veteran char researchers Dr. Helmut Kummer and Mathias Jungwirth. After a very thought provoking meeting in the Department of Hydrobiology we retired to a late night sampling the night life in Vienna. Fran and Helmut headed up to the village of Lunz (home of th famous research station).They stopped off to check out a small fish farm which held some Danube salmon (Hucho hucho). Another late night followed. On the saturday morning we met Marthias and he described some of the ongoing char research being carried out at the station. Yes we in Ireland have alot to catch up on. So off we went down to the Lake Undersee (Lower lake) by electric boat - no not a milk float- and tried our luck at fishing for the char. Helmut tells me that there are loads in the lake - so there was no fear of driving them to extinction. Our tackle consisted of two flies and a spinner - the treble hook of which kept falling off. Although the tackle wasn't ideal, after a chat with local anglers to get an idea of what depth should be fished, borrowing a treble to replace the one we just lost, and combining Helmut's local knowledge of char in the lake, Helmet managed to hook one and take in it. It was a nice fish worthy of any Irish char lake.

A few more casts and the treble fell off again. So we had to resort to trolling a fly. Mean time the lake got busier with day trippers, paddle boats, small pleasure craft and the occasional deliberate ramming incident. Who said the Austrians were reserved? So it was time to get off the lake and move onto Lunzer Mitersee or middle lake. This lake is a beautiful shallow limestone lake set in a typical Alpine valley. There is also another lake further up the system Upersee or upper lake, but this lake was covered in 2 feet of snow. Incidentally it holds some very large "ferox" char.

So Fran tried his luck on Lunzer Mitersee with a combination of methods. We tried many traditional methods that Fran had read about in "Going Fishing with Uncle Bill", such as float fishing with a stick and a worm, fishing with various grubs. We could see some of the char but they just weren't interested. Finally Fran resorted to spinning the fly and after a lot of perseverance managed a take. But sure enough just as he was about to land her (I'm assuming she was female) she disengaged from the hook. So now we knew it could be done - a few more casts-actually a good few, bang and this time it was not getting away. A beautiful char just under the 30 cms, to rival any Irish char that I have seen. Sadly efforts are being made to close the research station at Lunz (established 1906) by the Austrian authorities. After seeing the work being carried out there and the value of the station first hand, on behalf of the ICCG I implore the Austrian government to have a rethink. After all Lunz is now part of not only Austrian heritage but also of Limnology as discipline!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Helmut and Mathias for showing me such a good time and for never tiring talking char!

Thanks guys! Fran.