Adventures of fly angler in Poland

This year I participated in Warta Cup - open fly fishing competition in friendly format (no strict FIPS rules), held on river Warta near town Kolonia Borek. There was no draw and no dividing river to sectors. The whole river was open for fishing. You can start in any place, but respect other anglers who came first. Part of the river was freshly stocked with brown trout 35-50 cm size. I was thinking that stocked trout is easy target, and everybody will have many fish on the hook. But, reality was far from this. The river was very low, level 55 cm at Poraj and flor 1,5 m3/s. It means, that many parts of the river became very shallow and not safe for fish to stay. Fish was , probably, distributed very unevenly along the river, so it was not trivial task to locate them. Another obstacle is that river is very hard for fly casting, surrounded with brushes and trees. Careless approach to water, or wading, can spook the fish as well. I started from the top of "no kill" ...

Today Skawa was low and clear 125 cm and 11,2 m3/s. Due to heavy wind, there was no or very little insect activity. Fish didn't eat mayflies, as usually.  There was a lot of fish near me, ignoring any offers. I tries first dry fly. No reaction. Then I switched to streamer. I had one good take, but fish was lost. Maybe wet fly?  These trout were feeding on something under surface, probably on emergers. I had one take on wet fly, but fish also was not hooked reliably. The last attempt - what about small nymph?  I tied in micronymph on hook 16 to regular dry fly  leader, and fished it as classic wet fly swing.  I had couple of takes, and one fish was fooled. Still better than nothing.   The wind direction only allowed to cast downstream. Terrible conditions for casting. I can't find key to these trout. What do they want?  I asked other fishermen, they also had poor results. Only one guy told that he caught 9 trout, all on nymph. ...

In the morning Skawa was a bit busy. Water low and clear, 125 cm and 11,2 m3/s. There were few fishermen, beating water with floating lines. I checked the river, and didn't see the hatch, neither fish activity on the surface. No time for dry fly yet. I decided to start from Czech nymphing. I assembled my nymphing rod, and attached red tag nympg as anchor fly, and small olive no.16 on the dropper. Soon , I got a decent fish, probably brown trout. But it came off the hook. Another fish, and another failure. First succesfully hooked was this nice brownee. On small olive nymph. I fished deep and fast water near main channel. Another fish, whaat? Grayling! I should not post these photos, because "ethical fishing police" watching. Graylings are in their spawning protection period till 31th of May. But, quick photo wouldn't hurt in my opinion. Another fish, and grayling again. After third grayling, I moved to another place. Looks like I found the fly ...

Skawa river has very good hatches now. The weather was sunny, but windy. Air + 12 C. Water was low and clear, level 125 cm, flow 11,2 m3/s, temperature +6 C. When I arrived to the Jaroszowice, the place near the bridge was busy, as usually. I walked upstream to more solitary place. There's a pool , more suitable for streamer and nymph. I fished with SA Skagit 210 intermediate line and streamer through this pool.  No result. I returned to the bridge, and watched few big trout under the bridge. One of them raised to eat insects. It was a hint, that I must use dry fly here.  I re-rigged my rod with floating line and 12' tapered leader, attached CDC dun. The rod I used was Epic 580 5wt, and line - Royal Wulff TT 4wt.  Interesting, that this rod worked pretty nice with underlined line. The fish was still there, rising from time to time. I carefully descended to the river, and on third cast I got it! Nice rainbow, on dry fly. I moved upstream, then down, a...

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 ...

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 bre...