Nothing but gudgeons, walking in the forest
This is my third excursion to river Warta in Poraj/Częstochowa area.
It's a strange place for me. I never caught a fish in this river, but still have a hope.
Why? I love that kind of small stream fishing in solitude.
Warta was running low (55 cm , 1,5 m3/s), and water was a bit coloured. Clarity about 50-60 cm or so. Water temperature was +12 C, too warm for this time of year. I heard bad prognosis for Warta as trout stream. Too low water level and high temperatures in the summer make river unsuitable as trout habitat. So, all fish stocked in early April or March will migrate downstream, and there's really nothing to catch during the summer. But I have a hope, that all these big brown trout which were stocked for competition, still there.
I started my exploration from the river stretch near town Kamienica Polska.
Near the trail to the river, there is a private house, guarded by dogs. These puppies were so curious, even tried to lick me through the fence.
Down the footbridge, there's ruins of the watermill or similar enterprise. It's called "Fabryczka" (The factory).
I walked down the river 500 m to the bridge in Kamienica Polska, probing all places along the way. There's few "fishy" holes, but nothing happened. During competitions, there were 5 trout caught in this stretch. But today nothing. Where are these fish gone?
I returned back, and decided to try heavy nymph in the plunge pool, behind the rapids. Thus place looks like a decent holding water for biggest trout.
Perfect spot for big brown trout, but nothing there.
In the lower part of the rapids, I got few cute little fish. They are gudgeons (Gobio gobio).
Small fish of carp family , which is common in small to medium streams with sandy bottom. They also important prey for bigger predatory fish, such as trout, perch and pike.
They are gregarious fish, so where you caught one, you can catch many. All hooked on big silicone worm imitation (aka Parkinson nymph)
Finally it happened, I caught SOME fish on Warta. Not trout, not chubs, but gudgeons.
I decided to switch location. I moved to the upstream section of the river, near town Poraj.
This time I payed more attention to the places, which were successive during competitions.
Particularly, this is a deep hole more than 1,5 m in depth, where 50 cm brown trout was caught recently.
I carried two rods: one with streamer , skagit line and sinktips for deep holes, another rod with floating line and wet fly for shallow runs.
I also experimented with double setup, streamer and wet fly. Unfortunately, both flies were snagged and not survived.
After 1 km of walking distance from the parking spot, there's place called "Dęby" (The Oaks). That's my favourite place in the whole river.
Exactly in this place I hooked a trout during competitions, and lost it. River looks shallow, but in the middle there is deeper channel, where fish were hanging.
I was in hope, that this trout still there. I fished it carefully, first with less intrusive wet fly, then with streamer. No effect.
Next interesting spot, small island and deep hole, where river sharply turns to left side.
It is convenient to fish from the island, and cast across to the undercut bank.
Then, river goes to the forest. It's hard to access stretch, mostly not wadeable. There's can be a fish under the left bank, in the shadows, if you can find a place how to cast there. I had one bite on the streamer, during competition session.
There's few more interesting spots along the way. But, river is not fishable everywhere. Some places are out of reach for fly fishermen, but can be fished with spinning rod.
The last point on my hiking route was "two fallen trees" . Another sympathetic holding water, and also no fish were spotted there.
At this point I turned back. I walked 1,5 km from parking area along Warta winding course.
On the way back, I also fished again some nice spots.
At the end of my outing, I met another fisherman with spinning. He got nothing as well.
This confirmed my sad thoughts, that there is no trout in Warta. Most of stocked fish gone downstream to bigger water, and will be eventually taken for dinner by locals. Trout remained in the upper section, can barely survive during summer heat. Despite I like Warta atmosphere, it looks like closed topic for me. At least, in this year.
Good bye Warta, until next competitions in next year.
It's a strange place for me. I never caught a fish in this river, but still have a hope.
Why? I love that kind of small stream fishing in solitude.
Warta was running low (55 cm , 1,5 m3/s), and water was a bit coloured. Clarity about 50-60 cm or so. Water temperature was +12 C, too warm for this time of year. I heard bad prognosis for Warta as trout stream. Too low water level and high temperatures in the summer make river unsuitable as trout habitat. So, all fish stocked in early April or March will migrate downstream, and there's really nothing to catch during the summer. But I have a hope, that all these big brown trout which were stocked for competition, still there.
I started my exploration from the river stretch near town Kamienica Polska.
Near the trail to the river, there is a private house, guarded by dogs. These puppies were so curious, even tried to lick me through the fence.
Down the footbridge, there's ruins of the watermill or similar enterprise. It's called "Fabryczka" (The factory).
I walked down the river 500 m to the bridge in Kamienica Polska, probing all places along the way. There's few "fishy" holes, but nothing happened. During competitions, there were 5 trout caught in this stretch. But today nothing. Where are these fish gone?
I returned back, and decided to try heavy nymph in the plunge pool, behind the rapids. Thus place looks like a decent holding water for biggest trout.
Perfect spot for big brown trout, but nothing there.
In the lower part of the rapids, I got few cute little fish. They are gudgeons (Gobio gobio).
Small fish of carp family , which is common in small to medium streams with sandy bottom. They also important prey for bigger predatory fish, such as trout, perch and pike.
They are gregarious fish, so where you caught one, you can catch many. All hooked on big silicone worm imitation (aka Parkinson nymph)
Finally it happened, I caught SOME fish on Warta. Not trout, not chubs, but gudgeons.
I decided to switch location. I moved to the upstream section of the river, near town Poraj.
This time I payed more attention to the places, which were successive during competitions.
Particularly, this is a deep hole more than 1,5 m in depth, where 50 cm brown trout was caught recently.
I carried two rods: one with streamer , skagit line and sinktips for deep holes, another rod with floating line and wet fly for shallow runs.
I also experimented with double setup, streamer and wet fly. Unfortunately, both flies were snagged and not survived.
After 1 km of walking distance from the parking spot, there's place called "Dęby" (The Oaks). That's my favourite place in the whole river.
Exactly in this place I hooked a trout during competitions, and lost it. River looks shallow, but in the middle there is deeper channel, where fish were hanging.
I was in hope, that this trout still there. I fished it carefully, first with less intrusive wet fly, then with streamer. No effect.
Next interesting spot, small island and deep hole, where river sharply turns to left side.
It is convenient to fish from the island, and cast across to the undercut bank.
Then, river goes to the forest. It's hard to access stretch, mostly not wadeable. There's can be a fish under the left bank, in the shadows, if you can find a place how to cast there. I had one bite on the streamer, during competition session.
There's few more interesting spots along the way. But, river is not fishable everywhere. Some places are out of reach for fly fishermen, but can be fished with spinning rod.
The last point on my hiking route was "two fallen trees" . Another sympathetic holding water, and also no fish were spotted there.
At this point I turned back. I walked 1,5 km from parking area along Warta winding course.
On the way back, I also fished again some nice spots.
At the end of my outing, I met another fisherman with spinning. He got nothing as well.
This confirmed my sad thoughts, that there is no trout in Warta. Most of stocked fish gone downstream to bigger water, and will be eventually taken for dinner by locals. Trout remained in the upper section, can barely survive during summer heat. Despite I like Warta atmosphere, it looks like closed topic for me. At least, in this year.
Good bye Warta, until next competitions in next year.
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