High water surprise

Due to 6 days of intense rain, all rivers in Southern Poland were blown out. I wanted to go to Slovakia on last day of trout season on September 30. But, Vah river level was too high for 4 days, so it was not an option.

I checked Polish river level monitoring stations on http://monitor.pogodynka.pl/
Raba near Kraków was on acceptable level 260 cm and flow 14 m3/sec.
I was pretty sure river was dirty, but I decided to give it a try.

Teaser!


River level was 30-40 cm higher than usual summer flow. So, when I crossed the river, water was up to my crotch in the deepest part, although it's usually near knee level.


The conditions complicated by dense fog. Everything was cloudy - water and air.
So I crossed the river, and started to run my Polish nymph setup.  Deep hole where I usually fish in, was unreacheable, and there was too high velocity. I decided to concentrate on shallow water near the bank.



When I retied my fly, I've seen big fish splash just 2 meters from the bank, in very shallow water. Oh, shit! That was a big fish. Normally, fish don't visit such places very often, but in milky water it seems to fins a better conditions very close to the water edge, because current is slower.

So I started to fish the very edge of the water. My theory confirmed, when I heard second splash - same big fish, probably. Here it is! I must catch you. 

Soon, I got a fish, it was a small brown trout. Obviously not the one, which jumped.
I changed location, moved to the gravel bar near tailout. Knee-deep water, moderate current.
It looks like good place for graylings. So I tied small parkinson as bottom fly, and no. 18 grayling micronymph to the dropper.


Maybe after second or third cast, I got a fish. Oh, grayling!  Now I'll bring you to my net. Oh,noooo!!! What? Not grayling?  Initial impression was wrong. Fish was stronger than I supposed. I released brakes on my reel to let it go and protect 0.12mm tippet.  Fish fought fiercely, my rod was bent almost to circle. I netted it from first attempt.

Woooaaah! What a fish! Nice, thick 42 cm rainbow trout! For Raba, this is a success.
Interesting, that fish took brown micronymph on the dropper, not parkinson, which usually favored by trout.


I was satisfied so much, so I decided to stop fishing and go home. For me, one good fish is enough to make me happy for the rest of the day.

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