Łupawa part 1. Brookies day
During my August vacation, I've spent 3 days on the river Łupawa in Northern Poland.
This river was the primary location of European fly fishing championship in September 2016.
It has special "no kill" (C&R) part near city Damnica, which was my primary goal.
Before visiting the river, I arranged housing and licenses from Jan Mędrkiewich. He sells the licenses for the "no kill" part, and also he offers excellent accomodation in his own home in Damnica.
I booked a room for 3 days. There was no other people, so I was alone in 2-room apartment with 5 beds. There is also kitchen, gas stove, refrigerator, so guests can do self-cooking.
Grocery store is very close to the house.
I arrived late, so immediately fell asleep. On the next day, Jan offered me short observation tour of the river. We drove through the forest road to the old bridge across Łupawa, which is the end of fly-only C&R part. Below the bridge, spinning also allowed.
There is a cabin near the river, also owned by Jan. I has 4 sleeping beds, shower, kitchen with gas and toilet. I can imagine, how romantic this place would be - live in small cabin near the river bank, and start as early as possible.
After showing me the guest cabin, Jan left me alone with the river. The location looked very promising, with two deep holes near the bank, and fast riffle in between.
Just across the cabin, there is a sculpture depicting grayling fish, made from wild stone, and called "Czarny lipień" (Black grayling). It was made by Piotr Zeleniak, famous Polish fly fisherman and champion of Europe in FF discipline.
I started to fish with streamers and nymphs, just across Black grayling. There is nice deep hole just under the bank. But , there was a lot of snags, and I lost 4 flies almost immediately.
I moved down to the riffle. There is very deep hole behind it. It must hold large trout, in my opinion.
Here I scored my first fish - small brown trout. Not what I expected, but that was a fish.
I moved slightly upstream, to the head of the pool. There is a strong current on the far side, and back current in the middle, so my rig moved in circular trajectory. Somewhere in the middle of the circle, I got a strike. That was a stronger and bigger fish. To my surprise, it was a brook trout.
Salvelinus fontinalis, aka brook trout, or pstrąg źródlany in Polish , or американская палия in Russian. That fish is native to North-East part of the North America. In Europe it is farmed in private lakes and ponds. I believe it's illegal to release non-native fish to Polish public rivers, but there were no instructions to kill invasive species, so I released it. There is a fish farm nearby, and it is located on the side channel, which joins Łupawa main flow. That' probably where they came from.
After few casts to the same spot, I got one more brookie. They are very string for it's size and good fighters. That one jumped straight to my landing net :-), when I played fish on the short distance.
I got 5 brookies on the same spot. Quite good result, considering that this fish is rare in Polish rivers.
I moved upstream to the riffle, expecting to catch graylings, but there were no bites. Łupawa mostly famous for it's huge grayling popupation, but I still didn't get one.
After lunch time, I moved downstream from the bridge. River is more wide there, with many overhanging tree branches. Sometimes, they form a canopy over the water. It is quite shallow and comfortable for wading during summer flows. Most of this part is knee-deep, so you can slowly wade in the middle, and alternate casts to the left and right bank.
Fish was no cooperating, but the place itself so beautiful, so I enjoyed every moment of it.
This river was the primary location of European fly fishing championship in September 2016.
It has special "no kill" (C&R) part near city Damnica, which was my primary goal.
Before visiting the river, I arranged housing and licenses from Jan Mędrkiewich. He sells the licenses for the "no kill" part, and also he offers excellent accomodation in his own home in Damnica.
I booked a room for 3 days. There was no other people, so I was alone in 2-room apartment with 5 beds. There is also kitchen, gas stove, refrigerator, so guests can do self-cooking.
Grocery store is very close to the house.
I arrived late, so immediately fell asleep. On the next day, Jan offered me short observation tour of the river. We drove through the forest road to the old bridge across Łupawa, which is the end of fly-only C&R part. Below the bridge, spinning also allowed.
There is a cabin near the river, also owned by Jan. I has 4 sleeping beds, shower, kitchen with gas and toilet. I can imagine, how romantic this place would be - live in small cabin near the river bank, and start as early as possible.
After showing me the guest cabin, Jan left me alone with the river. The location looked very promising, with two deep holes near the bank, and fast riffle in between.
Just across the cabin, there is a sculpture depicting grayling fish, made from wild stone, and called "Czarny lipień" (Black grayling). It was made by Piotr Zeleniak, famous Polish fly fisherman and champion of Europe in FF discipline.
I started to fish with streamers and nymphs, just across Black grayling. There is nice deep hole just under the bank. But , there was a lot of snags, and I lost 4 flies almost immediately.
I moved down to the riffle. There is very deep hole behind it. It must hold large trout, in my opinion.
Here I scored my first fish - small brown trout. Not what I expected, but that was a fish.
I moved slightly upstream, to the head of the pool. There is a strong current on the far side, and back current in the middle, so my rig moved in circular trajectory. Somewhere in the middle of the circle, I got a strike. That was a stronger and bigger fish. To my surprise, it was a brook trout.
Salvelinus fontinalis, aka brook trout, or pstrąg źródlany in Polish , or американская палия in Russian. That fish is native to North-East part of the North America. In Europe it is farmed in private lakes and ponds. I believe it's illegal to release non-native fish to Polish public rivers, but there were no instructions to kill invasive species, so I released it. There is a fish farm nearby, and it is located on the side channel, which joins Łupawa main flow. That' probably where they came from.
After few casts to the same spot, I got one more brookie. They are very string for it's size and good fighters. That one jumped straight to my landing net :-), when I played fish on the short distance.
I got 5 brookies on the same spot. Quite good result, considering that this fish is rare in Polish rivers.
I moved upstream to the riffle, expecting to catch graylings, but there were no bites. Łupawa mostly famous for it's huge grayling popupation, but I still didn't get one.
After lunch time, I moved downstream from the bridge. River is more wide there, with many overhanging tree branches. Sometimes, they form a canopy over the water. It is quite shallow and comfortable for wading during summer flows. Most of this part is knee-deep, so you can slowly wade in the middle, and alternate casts to the left and right bank.
Fish was no cooperating, but the place itself so beautiful, so I enjoyed every moment of it.
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