Exploring Upper Skawa
I was already on Skawa couple of times, and I like it very much, because trout in Skawa are very keen on dry fly. This time, I decided to explore unknown parts of Skawa, where it meets Skawica.
There's no access roads going to the river. I found nearest parking spot in the field. The river was close, but separated by line of forest from me. I assembled my rod, and headed to the water.
After some bushwalking, I met the Skawica river. It is large tributary to Skawa. Fishing in Skawica closed from 1st September to 31 of January, because it's a spawning stream for brown trout.
Water in Skawica is very clear. But in the main river, Skawa, it's always a bit turbid, and has green tint.
On the junction, there's fast pocketwater. I covered all pockets with small nymphs. No reaction.
I proceeded downstream, casting nymphs almost perpendicular to the current, and let it swim downstream.
There was a deeper hole between these rocks. Sure there must be a trout or grayling. But, river was silent.
I walked to the next spot. There was deeper and faster water. I attached bigger Red tag nymph. No reaction. Looks like not so many fish in this section. I've seen only fry in the shallows.
Sad to say, this nice part of the river turned out to be empty. But Skawica has some potential. I'll try it in spring, in next season.
I crawled to the forest again, to find my car. The road back was easier. I drove to lower part of Skawa, to C&R section, which is more urbanized, but has better fishing possibilities.
River was in good state, level 110 cm and flow 6,5 m3/s. The water was still colored, but much better clarity, than during my previous visits.
When I arrived, there was very heavy wind, affecting the casts. I decided to switch to Euro nymphing rod, 11' Traper Guide nymph, because it's easier to cast Euro nymphing rig with heaviest nymph in the wind.
Soon, I got a fish. Grayling! It took small olive nymph on hook 14-16. That's my the most effective grayling fly.
Soon, there was another fish, bigger and stronger. After some fight, I brought to the hand 40 cm rainbow trout. It also took olive "grayling" nymph on the dropper.
I noticed fish splashed in the middle of the river. Dry fly time!
Skawa is often good for dry fly. It has rich insect life, you can see many insect forms hatching simultaneously.
Now I rigged my Echo Glass rod with line for dry fly - Royal Wulff TT. I have multiple fly lines for every my rod, and usually take spare reels, to switch to the line best matching the conditions.
There was a fish hunting on insects on the other side. It's not easy to cast a dry fly in this pool.
Faster current in the middle grabs the line immediately, and fly has unnatural drag. So, there's only 1-2 seconds, when take is possible . I used wiggle cast, to reduce drag from the current.
Finally, here it is , the fish! Nice colorful brownee.
First I used very small imitation, on hook 18-22. It was matching the hatch, but it's not possible to see such small fly at the distance.
I switched to bigger one. There was also bigger insects flying, why to match only one thing?
Now, I see it better. Cast, 1-2-3 whooa! There's a fish!
I understand, why everybody loves dry fly. It's highly visual. You stalking for fish, you see it feeding, you see the take. But it is not very resultative method. There's a lot of empty takes, when fish hit and miss the fly.
I finished, when it was not possible to see the fly. We recently switched to winter time, one hour behind. So daytime effectively shortened to one hour.
When I walked to my car, I met another fisherman. He was fishing inspector, controlling the river rules, and he asked me to show license. Then we talked a bit about fishing, and I departed to home.
It was very nice day. So warm in last day of October, a gift from the Mother nature.
I'm considering to buy annual fishing license for this river on next year. It cost the same, as 10 one-day licenses (25 zł).
There's no access roads going to the river. I found nearest parking spot in the field. The river was close, but separated by line of forest from me. I assembled my rod, and headed to the water.
After some bushwalking, I met the Skawica river. It is large tributary to Skawa. Fishing in Skawica closed from 1st September to 31 of January, because it's a spawning stream for brown trout.
Water in Skawica is very clear. But in the main river, Skawa, it's always a bit turbid, and has green tint.
On the junction, there's fast pocketwater. I covered all pockets with small nymphs. No reaction.
I proceeded downstream, casting nymphs almost perpendicular to the current, and let it swim downstream.
There was a deeper hole between these rocks. Sure there must be a trout or grayling. But, river was silent.
I walked to the next spot. There was deeper and faster water. I attached bigger Red tag nymph. No reaction. Looks like not so many fish in this section. I've seen only fry in the shallows.
Sad to say, this nice part of the river turned out to be empty. But Skawica has some potential. I'll try it in spring, in next season.
I crawled to the forest again, to find my car. The road back was easier. I drove to lower part of Skawa, to C&R section, which is more urbanized, but has better fishing possibilities.
River was in good state, level 110 cm and flow 6,5 m3/s. The water was still colored, but much better clarity, than during my previous visits.
When I arrived, there was very heavy wind, affecting the casts. I decided to switch to Euro nymphing rod, 11' Traper Guide nymph, because it's easier to cast Euro nymphing rig with heaviest nymph in the wind.
Soon, I got a fish. Grayling! It took small olive nymph on hook 14-16. That's my the most effective grayling fly.
Soon, there was another fish, bigger and stronger. After some fight, I brought to the hand 40 cm rainbow trout. It also took olive "grayling" nymph on the dropper.
I noticed fish splashed in the middle of the river. Dry fly time!
Skawa is often good for dry fly. It has rich insect life, you can see many insect forms hatching simultaneously.
Now I rigged my Echo Glass rod with line for dry fly - Royal Wulff TT. I have multiple fly lines for every my rod, and usually take spare reels, to switch to the line best matching the conditions.
There was a fish hunting on insects on the other side. It's not easy to cast a dry fly in this pool.
Faster current in the middle grabs the line immediately, and fly has unnatural drag. So, there's only 1-2 seconds, when take is possible . I used wiggle cast, to reduce drag from the current.
Finally, here it is , the fish! Nice colorful brownee.
First I used very small imitation, on hook 18-22. It was matching the hatch, but it's not possible to see such small fly at the distance.
I switched to bigger one. There was also bigger insects flying, why to match only one thing?
Now, I see it better. Cast, 1-2-3 whooa! There's a fish!
I understand, why everybody loves dry fly. It's highly visual. You stalking for fish, you see it feeding, you see the take. But it is not very resultative method. There's a lot of empty takes, when fish hit and miss the fly.
I finished, when it was not possible to see the fly. We recently switched to winter time, one hour behind. So daytime effectively shortened to one hour.
When I walked to my car, I met another fisherman. He was fishing inspector, controlling the river rules, and he asked me to show license. Then we talked a bit about fishing, and I departed to home.
It was very nice day. So warm in last day of October, a gift from the Mother nature.
I'm considering to buy annual fishing license for this river on next year. It cost the same, as 10 one-day licenses (25 zł).
Hi we are 4 fly casters whom like to try a luck on one of your beauty rivers .
ReplyDeleteAs we never been there could youd please help us to have more infos about that trip, questions like the licenses, where and the prices for 10 days , what s best accomodation knowing that camping in tents is also good for us as we come with our car ( band b or private entire house etc )which river will you recomend , for both trouts and graylings.in one word what will be the aprox. budget per person for 10 days fishing including the permits, accomodation in a bed & breakfast, cabins, fishing lodge, and probably guiding 2 days than we like to go on our own.just an idea of prices. thanks a lot and looking forward to come for a visit
Hi , I would recommend Dunajec river "catch and release" section in Kroscienko nad Dunajcem from April to the end of August . There's a lot of accomodation available in Kroscienko, Tylmanowa and other villages nearby, you can find easily on google maps. But most homeowners probably dont speak English. If you want English-speaking guide, I recommend Wojtek Kudlacz and his hotel built purposely for fishermen: Kąty 1, 34-450 Krościenko nad Dunajcem . He is the guide, home owner, and also he has small fly shop in the house where you can buy assortment of flies for local rivers.
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