Grayling season opening on Bela river
1st September means brown trout season closure in Poland. In autumn months, grayling becomes a main target for fly fishermen in Eastern Europe. We planned this trip together with Sergey, my friend from Slovakia.
We met at 7:00 near the Bela mouth in Liptovski Hradok. The river was low, 118-119 cm. I started first in the hole, where Bela joins Vah. Pretty soon, I got my first fish - nice grayling on small brown nymph on hook No.16 and 3mm beadhead.
That place was really nice. I got 3 graylings in a row, all nearly 30-32 cm. 2 fish was lost.
Then we moved upstream. Riverbed changed a lot after heavy flood. Bela is a freestone river. Cobblestones are moving, and after heavy flow, the riverbed changes all the time. Some holes disappear, some new created. So it feels like we are arrived to new or unfamiliar river.
Former waterfall section never river mouth became flat.
The hole near the bridge was very effective last year. It slightly changed, but still it is a deep and productive place. I got 4 fish there.
Unfortunately, water turned to dirty-brown color. It's revealed that above the bridge, there's excavator working, and it ruined the fishing in the lower section.
Unusual, that it happened on Saturday and Slovak national holiday, so nobody should work. We asked worker, why they doing it. This is kind of riverbed reconstruction, and they removing excessive gravel. I don't know what genius came to conclusion that would be good for the river.
With heavy machinery running across the riverbed back and forth, they basically ruining fish habitat.
I hope, local fishing organizations will report to authorities that this never will happen again.
We passed upstream, to avoid this screwed up section of the river.
Further upstream, ther's nice pocketwater with small deep pools.
It's tricky to cast, because of tree branches. But once I found they way how to cast to this spot, I got a grayling immediately. Later, I got a brown trout int he same place.
Here I got 3 or 4 fish in the same pool. Another very productive place.
We continued to move upstream. There's a lot of fast, turbulent water.
Unfortunately, there was no fish. We finished near Chateau GrandCastle hotel.
There was no fish in this part. River changed a lot, new nice pools created, but we had no takes.
On the road back, I tried once again in the pocket water section, and I got 5 or 6 graylings in the same spot! Fish distribution is very uneven. You can get many fish in one small hole, and then you can walk another 500 meters, and there is nothing.
We fished the Bela till 14:00, and the lower part still was dirty. We decided to go to another river.
Sergey proposed to try Vah river section in the town Liptovski Mikulas. It is also Catch and Release fishery, both of us never been there. The part of the river market as "Revir 3-4710-4-1 Vah nr 20 Chyt a Pust" (C&R). River looks uniform on this stretch, with nice gravel bottom, easy to wade. I started near the railway bridge, and soon got a rainbow trout. Not big, like 30 cm
It's revealed that river was recently stocked. There's many rainbow trouts, all of nearly the same size. They were very aggressive and willing to take almost any fly.
I caught 10 or 11 of them, all on nymphs. Bright pink Parkinson nr. 10, and small brown nr. 18.
These rainbows fought very hard, and it was a challenge to tame them in the fast current.
When fish activity stopped, I decided to go home. It was nearly 19:00. But it was a good day, and many fish caught and released. I think I scored 12-15 graylings, and 10-11 rainbows, didn't count numerous fish lost.
We met at 7:00 near the Bela mouth in Liptovski Hradok. The river was low, 118-119 cm. I started first in the hole, where Bela joins Vah. Pretty soon, I got my first fish - nice grayling on small brown nymph on hook No.16 and 3mm beadhead.
That place was really nice. I got 3 graylings in a row, all nearly 30-32 cm. 2 fish was lost.
Then we moved upstream. Riverbed changed a lot after heavy flood. Bela is a freestone river. Cobblestones are moving, and after heavy flow, the riverbed changes all the time. Some holes disappear, some new created. So it feels like we are arrived to new or unfamiliar river.
Former waterfall section never river mouth became flat.
The hole near the bridge was very effective last year. It slightly changed, but still it is a deep and productive place. I got 4 fish there.
Unfortunately, water turned to dirty-brown color. It's revealed that above the bridge, there's excavator working, and it ruined the fishing in the lower section.
Unusual, that it happened on Saturday and Slovak national holiday, so nobody should work. We asked worker, why they doing it. This is kind of riverbed reconstruction, and they removing excessive gravel. I don't know what genius came to conclusion that would be good for the river.
With heavy machinery running across the riverbed back and forth, they basically ruining fish habitat.
I hope, local fishing organizations will report to authorities that this never will happen again.
We passed upstream, to avoid this screwed up section of the river.
Further upstream, ther's nice pocketwater with small deep pools.
It's tricky to cast, because of tree branches. But once I found they way how to cast to this spot, I got a grayling immediately. Later, I got a brown trout int he same place.
Here I got 3 or 4 fish in the same pool. Another very productive place.
We continued to move upstream. There's a lot of fast, turbulent water.
Unfortunately, there was no fish. We finished near Chateau GrandCastle hotel.
There was no fish in this part. River changed a lot, new nice pools created, but we had no takes.
On the road back, I tried once again in the pocket water section, and I got 5 or 6 graylings in the same spot! Fish distribution is very uneven. You can get many fish in one small hole, and then you can walk another 500 meters, and there is nothing.
We fished the Bela till 14:00, and the lower part still was dirty. We decided to go to another river.
Sergey proposed to try Vah river section in the town Liptovski Mikulas. It is also Catch and Release fishery, both of us never been there. The part of the river market as "Revir 3-4710-4-1 Vah nr 20 Chyt a Pust" (C&R). River looks uniform on this stretch, with nice gravel bottom, easy to wade. I started near the railway bridge, and soon got a rainbow trout. Not big, like 30 cm
It's revealed that river was recently stocked. There's many rainbow trouts, all of nearly the same size. They were very aggressive and willing to take almost any fly.
I caught 10 or 11 of them, all on nymphs. Bright pink Parkinson nr. 10, and small brown nr. 18.
These rainbows fought very hard, and it was a challenge to tame them in the fast current.
When fish activity stopped, I decided to go home. It was nearly 19:00. But it was a good day, and many fish caught and released. I think I scored 12-15 graylings, and 10-11 rainbows, didn't count numerous fish lost.
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