Adventures of fly angler in Poland

 This trip was rather unproductive. I started from Białka Tatrzanska. I came to the river early in the morning. Something changed on the river, after big water the lovely pools I used to fish just disappeared. New pools formed on new places. Białka is freestone stream, and it changes it's shape quite often. But it needs time to fish to accomodate to changed environment. I didn't catch anything on Białka, and decided to move closely located river in the Podhale region, Biały Dunajec. i arrived to the popular spot. Snagged couple of times, and decided to move upstream. When I returned, I found that another man is fishing the spot which I left 5 minutes ago. And he fighting a big fish. It was a 45 cm brown trout.  I was jealous, I can catch this trout myself if I spent more time on this spot. Frustrated, I drove to another river. In fishing, I don't like rivalry. It's a big frustration when someone else is catching, but you are not. So, I arrived to Dunajec in Krościenko,

 This trip to Dunajec was rather short and unusual. When I arrived, the rain started. It was very poor visibility.  The prognosis for the day was poor, but I decided to give it a try. In the same place, as in my previous trip, I caught a nase. It was a biggest nase fish I ever caught, 50 cm. My personal record.  I called the fish Queen Of Rain, after Roxette song. After tough fight, it landed in my net, and returned to the home pool.  There were no other takes and no other fish caught. The rain became stronger and my fishing ended prematurely. In this trip I discovered a power of this nymph. It's especially good for nase. Also, for trout in turbid water.

 Dunajec is great fly fishing destination, where you can always catch something in any time of the year. I loaded my car with all my gear - rods for streamer, nymphing and dry fly. But I never had a luck with dry fly in the summer time. It's more a big thing in spring. In the mid-summer my main methods are streamer and nymph. In streamer fishing I like the dynamics and pace. Euro nymphing looks like more passive, but with it you can catch more than a trout.  I started to fish with nymphs in a hole below adventure park in Krościenko nad Dunajcem. This place is particularly famous for many swinka ("pigfish"), or nase.   When I arrived to the spot, it was occupied by family of mallard ducks. But they didn't mind my presence. After few small brown trouts, I had a snag on the bottom. I was ready to break off my fly, but "snag" started to move. It's a big fish!  I played it carefully, even ran a little bit downstream to avoid breaking off the fish. And it safe

 After my unsuccessful trip to Sweden, I returned to Poland, my second motherland. Białka Tatrzanska became my favorite destination in this year, and I decided to visit it again. I woke up at 3:00 , and at 4:40 was already fishing.  My primary gear was Winston Boron iii TH-MS 4wt, Airflo Scandi compact floating shooting head and long 11' leader.  No polyleaders, no sinktip, just straight tapered mono.  The water in Białka is very clear this time of year, and is fish able to see woolybugger swinging in the upper water column from 1,5 m deep hole.  Here it comes, wild Białka brown trout. I caught a few on black woolybugger. Not a big fish, but nice entertainment. Then I crossed the river and started to fish the run, where I caught big brown month ago.  Olive zonker, same rod, same fly line. Cast diagonally downstream, swing the fly to the bank, strip.. Baaang!  There's something bigger on the other end. I had a deja vu. I think I lived this moment before, exactly in the same plac

In the morning, I arrived to the Droppaforsen parking, and started to fish the pool. There were no results. I noticed trail along the bank to the next river rapids downstream. I walked that trail, and found some very beautiful, quiet, unnamed run.  The main current is on the opposite side. On the far side, i noticed fish splashes. This is going to be interesting. Now, I faced big challenge, how to reach the fish.  Salmon were rising on the far side. There's no way I could cast on such distance with double handed rod. And even if I could, the line loop would catch trees on the bank. I needed some space behind, but there's forest everywhere.  The river is very deep, it's nearly waist-deep few meters from the bank. And I found the solution. There is underwater boulder. Barely visible on the photo, I marked it on the photo. If I will climb on that boulder, I can make cast to the opposite side, where the fish are.  I climbed on the boulder. It was a bit risky, because it's w

On the second day of my trip, I met with the guide. He said he had doctor's appointment, so he cannot provide full day guiding. Instead, he agreed to give me half-day river observation tour for free. First site we visited, was Droppaforsen, which is located 3-4 kilometers downstream from Fallfors camping. There is a parking spot with wooden table and toilet near the road, The trail from parking spot goes to cabin (small rain shelter) . There is place for campfire nearby. Near cabin is big slow moving pool. Fishing is convenient from rocks on the north side of the pool. Wading not required or very little required , as you can stay on the rocks. Lots of fish was there jumping at the time, and often, very close to the shore. So, approach carefully and start with short line.  Also, good place for fishing is below the rapids, you can reach quite a long fishable stretch by trail, which goes parallel to the river. Scheme of the site: https://www.google.com/maps/d/ viewer?mid=1oEArVlyAcPEE

In June 2016 I planned a trip to the north of Sweden, to river Byske. It's popular river holding decent Atlantic salmon population.  Also, the river area is quite wild and remote, for most of it's course the river run through forested area with scarce population. Due to recent discussion on Byskeälven fishing community, I decided to make a sort of contribution to virtual Byske river guide. Byske lacks information in English on the Internet, regarding fishing sites description, accomodaton, location of facilities, etc. I would not share where to catch salmon 100%, as there is no such place  :-)  and i'm not an expert in this. If you need more specific fishing tips, it's better to hire a guide. But i'll share some travel tips, which can be helpful for newcomers during planning the trip. It it possible to get to Byske by car (if you are lucky to live in Sweden or Finland), or by plane. Closest airports to Byske are Skellefteå (80 km) and Luleå (90 km). Both airports ha

 Another visit to Białka was rather short, but unusual.  I came early in the morning. The river was covered with fog. I came to the nice pool, where the river gets wider, and there's some calm water near the bank.  It looks like nice place for my trout spey gear.  After few casts , when my streamer swung to the rightmost position, I got a strike. That was a decent brown trout. After few spectacular jumps, fish landed in my net. Woow, what a fish! For Białka it's a trophy!  There were some people on the opposite bank.  They shout something to me, but I didn't hear. Later, they approached my and told that today is a fishing competition, and I should not fish there until 13:00 or so. They were marking beats for competitors.  I went to other place, upstream, it it also was marked. Unfortunately, the whole river was reserved for competitions. And Biały Dunajec too.  There were no other options in nearby rivers, so my fishing ended up prematurely. But I was very happy, because I