Cold and sunny Poprad

After previous rendezvous with barbels on Poprad river, i wanted to build on that success .

Weather was sunny, up to +7 during mid of the day, but early in the morning was -1 C. I dressed up in triple fleece layer under my waders. The river was low and clear, 126 cm and 12,8 m3/s at Stary Sacz, 102 cm and 8m3/s at Muszyna. 

I arrived to Barcice at 9:00 and stared to the river from the bridge, trying to spot the fish. I've seen nothing, but place looks "fishy". There's deep hole below the bridge, and nice slow pockets around. 

I fished the main current, and pockets around concrete bridge peers. Only one small brown trout lured by my hare's ear nymph.  

I alked downstream. 200-300 m below the bridge, river became shallow, and it's easy to cross to the other side at such level.  There's nice, wide run with 1-1,5 m depth and slow pace. i think it's exactly what barbels would like to live in.  But , no contact with fish detected.

I returned to my car and decided to try next location, bridge in Rytro few kilometers upstream.

 I looked down there, and now I found fish. A school of barbels was in the hole near the bridge peer. It looks like bridges are prime barbel locations - they love to dig around peers and concrete walls, and I've seen that few times.  The hole is small, and there were few fish. Not big ones, 30-40 cm maybe, but better than nothing.

Excited, I walked down to the river. Unfortunately, the hole was very snaggy, with many garbage on the bottom. I lost few flies, but didn't catch anything. 

I drove to the next spot, another 10-15 km upstream. Unfortunately, I turned in wrong road, and found myself in Slovakia. The other side of the Poprad is territory of the neighbour country.  There wasnt any border guards or gates, only road sign. But' on the way back I was stopped by Polish border guards. They asked for documents. I had only ID card and fishing documents, but no passport. They told me that only passport is valid travel document for crossing the border. I said I live in Poland permanently, im not illegal alien, just let me in to Poland, you see I have a permanent residency. They allowed me to pass, but carry the passport next time.  

I drove along Polish side of Poprad, and parked near railway tracks. Crossed the railway, walked a small trail through the forest , probably made by fishermen, and found a new spot on the river.

Wow, that place looked fantastic.  

The river makes a natural border between countries there. The main current goes along far side (Slovak side).   From my side, there was nice slow waist-deep pool, with mix of sand and rocks on the bottom.

There should be a barbels, im pretty sure. I fished the run from bottom to top. The bottom is uniform, and less snags, compared to previous location.

In the head of the run, there's riffle, where it's possible to cross the river to the other side, in low water conditions.

The spot looked perspective, but didn't produce any fish. Maybe it's just not right time. By the way, I found a sign, how to guess does place have a barbels in it. There's improvised rod pods, made from sticks by ground bait fishermen. They were in this place, too.

I drove another few kilometres upstream. There I met another fly fisherman. He caught only one barbel. He said, this river stretch is over-popular among fly fishermen, and all fish probably hooked many times, and scared off, so he recommended to find less popular places. 

I took a break, drove to local restaurant near the river, and ordered a dinner. They served it very slow, so it's about 1,5 hours passed when I finished.

After dinner, I returned to my fishing. I found a run, where are many barbels. I waded to the middle of the river, into waist-deep water, and spotted them. They were a bit scared, but continued cruising around. I rigged my rod with single nymph, and started to chase barbels in sight. 

I got 3 small barbels in that place.  Also, couple of chubs. Not a big fish, but better than nothing.

Is it hard to catch barbel? Yes and no. I found that sight fishing is the best, and the most reliable. Barbels live in schools. They do not stay at the same place for a long time, school is constantly cruising around the hole they living in.  When I saw moving fish in front of me, i made a cast upstream in advance, so nymph will be in sight of the fish. One of them will eventually take it. It's more effective than casting blindly to the water, without prior knowledge. 

 The last one I got on Parkinson nymph, when it was getting dark and it was not possible to use sight fishing method. I didn't see my strike indicator at all, just concentrated on the feeling through the rod blank and my finger tip.  

This trip was not as successful as previous one. I got only 4 barbels, couple of chubs and one brown trout. All fish were rather small.  But, I tried sight fishing method and it worked for me. It's very exciting! 

Finally, my favorite nymph recipe for barbel, nase and other "coarse" fish. 

Hook : Dohiku Jig HDJ No. 10

Bead: 4,5 mm black nickel or anthracite.

Body: brown Hareline spike squirrel dubbing

Butt: green antron yarn

Head wrap: pale grey CDC feather