Only streamer, only trout spey

This is my second trip on Dunajec river in this year. According to last reports, fishing gets better and better, as water warms up.

I woke up at 5:00, and started at 5:30. My first stop was gas station at Łącko. I had a rest and coffee, changed my dress to waders and boots, and proceeded to my fishing spot. Traffic was light, I didn't pay attention to speed limit when it's dropped from 70km/h to 50km/h, and was caught on police radar. Officer issued a ticket for 100 PLN.
Ok, let's see , maybe river will compensate this with good catches.

I arrived to Gołkowice, and assembled my trout spey rod - Winston Boron iiiTH-MS, rigged with SA spey lite Skagit intermediate, and 8' SA Sink7 sink tip. This combination was a winner last time.

Conditions were good. 162 cm and 39,6 m3/s at Gołkowice. Temperature 8 C (measured). At Krościenko nad Dunajcem it was 193 cm and 33,8 m3/s respectively. Temperature 5,9 C (official data).

Soon I got couple of strikes, but fish wasn't hooked properly. My favourite streamer for this river is black wooly bugger with hot orange head. But I had only 3 remained in my box, and they had slightly blunt hook points.

First fish I managed to bring to my hand was small. Soon, I got a bigger one.  That's a beauty! 43-44 cm.



There's place which I call "Eldorado" , I caught 5 or 6 fish from it.


Some fish were so active, they chased my streamer, even when I was picking line for the next cast.

Soon, my black woolybugger stopped to work, because hook point was totally damaged. There was many strikes on it, but all unsuccesful. Time to change fly.

I attached white zonker.  Very soon, as I tied in new fly, I got bigger fish. That was a champion for today, 50 cm I think.



I fished my "Eldorado" till 13:00. Then I decided to explore new territories. There's very fast rapids above the bridge, with deep pockets between them.
Wading is dangerous, there's a lot of rocky reefs under water.


Between these reefs there's  nice deep pool.


I ran my white zonker through this turbulent water. Fish!
What is this? Rainbow?  I never heard of rainbow trout on Dunajec, it is not officially stocked.
It's hard to pull fish against heavy current.


I passed 3 or 4 times through this hole, beside rainbow I got two browns, and couple of strikes.

Guess what? Time to change place!

My next spot was 26 km upstream from Gołkowice, in Tyłmanowa. It's so called "księdzowe pole", one of the most beautiful places on Dunajec.

The river is shallow on the left side, so you can wade to the middle. Far side is deep and fast, no wading is possible. I got only one fish there, not big.


There's picnic area near the river, with tables and benches.


In the end, current became slower. Fish mostly holding on the right size, in deep main channel.


Next spot I tried , near adventure park in Krościenko nad Dunajcem.
There's small, but deep hole, populated by many fish.
I got many strikes, and 5 or 6 fish landed.


The result was outstanding for this year. I had 40 or 50 fish on the end of my line.  Small ones I even didn't count. Dunajec is a top notch trout fishery, you can catch fish almost in any place of the river, if talking about "Catch and Release" sections.

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