Adventures of fly angler in Poland

Fresh reports from Dunajec river were promising. Many brown trout recently caught on nymph and streamer.  I decided to go to lower Dunajec special C&R section , which is less popular than famous upper section. The river is much bigger there, very fast and powerful. Level at Gołkowice was 165 cm, flow 43,5 m3/s. That's a lot.  Most rivers I fish, have less than 30 m3/s.  My thermometer measured water at 5,5-6 C. Dunajec at Gołkowice looks like a Scandinavian salmon river. With abundant rock ridges, boulders, rapids, and very deep holes. The river of that kind is a good choice for trout spey gear. With double handed rod it's easier to cover wide runs and pools. I parket my car near the bridge in Gołkowice, and descended to the river. There's powerful rapids. There are a lot of deep pockets and holes between rocks, but no sense to fish it in such high flow. It's very hard to approach, and dangerous.  But, during low water, there's probably trout sitting i

When I came to Skawa, I found that river was vry crowded. There was 8 cars on the parking spot, and 9-10 fly fishermen on the river.  They were beating the water with floating lines, which gave me a hint they using dry fly. Water significantly dropped this week. It was 160 cm during last weekend. Now it is 125 cm, and 11,2 m3/s. It means you can easily wade, and cross river above and below the bridge in Jaroszowice. At 150-160 cm it is a risky exercise. I started with dry fly near the bank. Fish were eating mayflies, but not very active.  I think, fish had hard time to choose, what to eat, when hundreds of insects available. I walked up and down, without success.  When fish doesn't take, it's time to switch gears! I assembled trout spey rod, Winston Boron iiiTH-MS 4wt. I attached SA spey lite Skagit line, and 7'5 sinking tip.  Few runs downstream, and I got a fish. Small brown trout on white zonker. When I was casting streamers, I noticed big rainbow trout,

Today I concentrated solely on double handed rod. It was rigged with Scientific Anglers spey lite Skagit intermediate head (270 grain) + 7'5 sinking tip (type S6) + 5' mono leader. I started with double fly setup. Purple wooly bugger on the end, and Mallard & clared wet fly on the dropper. River was high, 160 cm, and 28 m3/s. Temperature +5 C. There was very little possibility to wade, because water was meter above "normal" level.  Spinningists had the advantage, because they can cast from high bank , without wading.  For fly fishermen, it's not always possible to cast from the brushy bank. I found quieter water, downstream from railway bridge.   There quieter water near the bank, after the rapids.  I swung my streamers through this quieter water.  Soon, I got a fish. Not big one, typical stocked rainbow. It took trailing fly, which was Mallard & claret wet. I covered more water, but there was no other takes. Later, I made a break, and

After couple of fruitless trips to Kielce an Częstochowa areas, I missed something on the end of my line. Not grass, not tree twigs, but something with fins, eyes and assorted black and red dots. So, this time I headed to my favourite river (starts with S..) , to make a revanche. Conditions were not promising. With level 160 cm and 28 m3/s, it looks like river is not wadeable, and heavy flow isn't comfortable for fish too. I started with Czech nymphing in deep hole with slow current. Fish spends most time in winter in such places, and don't move so much. It was easiest way to catch something. Soon , I got first fish. Rainbow on small grey nymph with green head. Good start! I changed flies couple of times. The river was too deep for wading. Some places, which were knee deep, now became waist deep. So it was a challenge to cross the river. But in the middle there's shallow flat area. I walked along flats and fished the other side of the hole. In the end of the

My previous visit to Warta was exactly year ago. I was there two times, and returned empty. I still have a belief that there is some fish, even if it looks like empty water. This time I decided to check the river and get more familiar with it, to prepare to upcoming fishing competitions - Warta Cup. This annual event usually held in March, but in this year it was moved to April, because there's usually frigid water in March. Conditions were good. Level 75 cm at Poraj, steady flow 2,4 m3/s during last month. Water temperature was +6 C, which was promising. I parked near the bridge on street Nadręczna in the town Poraj. River looked good, with reasonable clarity. On the left bank, there's hotel-like object or lodging facility. They built fence around the river bank, so it's not possible to access from left side of the bridge.  Fortunately, the river is shallow and wadeable under the bridge. Below the bridge, there's couple of small rapids. It's always go

Kielce district is a white spot on my fishing map of Poland. There's few small rivers and streams, originating in the area near cities Małogoszcz and Jędrzejów.  Common traits of these streams - sandy bottom with patches of cobblestones and grass, very clear water, moderate current, and a lot of logjams. All these streams belong to Nida river basin (left tributary of Wisła) Mierzawa is a right tributary to Nida. Very small stream, with average width 3 to 6 m. The river is gin-clear, and you can see every detail on the bottom from the bridges. You can see fish too, when they moving. Water level was 91 cm, flow 1,8 m3/s at Michałów station (very low). I started my exploration from the village Mierzawa.  You can observe river from the first bridge. When I walked near the bank, I spotted 30 cm trout, which escaped from it's holding area. There was few smaller fish too. Water temperature was +8 C, which is good. Trout should start feeding actively at such temp. I didn&