My PB trout on dry fly. Epic fight on Epic rod.
Vah river in Slovakia is quite famous for it's big rainbow trout, willing to take dry fly.
In previous year, I had couple of outstanding trips on Vah, both in terms of numbers and quality of fish. This year I had far less fishing trips, and overall not very successful.
I came to the river early in the morning. It was cold, air temperature +3 C. But water was still warm, +15 C. River level was low, 35 cm at Besenova station.
I started with euro nymphing gear in the rapids. Very fast water section , which creates pockets near the bottom, with slow current, or even backcurrent. Big trout often stay in such bottom pockets. The only way to reach them in water like this is super-heavy Czech nymph. Tuck cast with super-heavy piece of tungsten, and nymph penetrates through the broken surface to the bottom in seconds, before it washed away by current. Usually, if fish is hanging under the rapids, it reacts immediately.
Couple of casts, and I got a fish. It was not trout. Small barbel. Barbel is abundant fish in continental Europe, but it's quite hard to catch on fly. So I was pleased by this bycatch.
The . I moved to deep hole under the dam. I got another fish there , this time it was 45 cm rainbow trout.
I wanted to catch a rainbow on dry fly. I carefully watched the water for surface activity. Oh, that's a fish raised. Another one. Not very often, but it's time to try dry fly.
I attached small grey mayfly imitation. No reaction. I tried white, grey, brown, slightly different sizes. Fish were feeding on something near the surface, but there were no flying insects. My offerings were rejected. Maybe they feeding on emergers?
I tied in tiny grey emerger on hook no. 20, to 5X tippet. The fly was so small, almost impossible to see on the surface. Couple of casts, and I felt a strike. It was so hard, fish almost pulled rod out of my hand. Trout jumped like a rocket, and made few long runs, spooling out the reel. It was an epic fight on Epic rod (pun intended) . After few spectacular jumps and fast runs, I brought this beauty to the net.
The fish measured at 53,5 cm or 20". It's my biggest trout on dry fly at this moment. 20" on no. 20 hook.
The hook was so tiny and set deeply in big mouth, I used forceps to get it back. Big trout swam away happily.
Later, I got another couple of rainbows on dry fly. They were smaller, but also fought hard.
Fish activity under the surface increased, but there were no takes for a long time.
I walked downstream to check another river sections. These flats are also known "dry fly" place.
I joined the company. There was fish cruising in the flats. But i didn't have any takes.
The place near the bridge was quite crowded. I decided not join that company.
This section of the river is very popular, and often crowded. Also, in such low water level, river is easy to wade, and can be crossed side to side in many places.
Generally speaking, this trip to Vah was not very successfull in numbers. I got only 5 fish for 6 hours of fishing. But this big trout on dry fly made my day.
In previous year, I had couple of outstanding trips on Vah, both in terms of numbers and quality of fish. This year I had far less fishing trips, and overall not very successful.
I came to the river early in the morning. It was cold, air temperature +3 C. But water was still warm, +15 C. River level was low, 35 cm at Besenova station.
I started with euro nymphing gear in the rapids. Very fast water section , which creates pockets near the bottom, with slow current, or even backcurrent. Big trout often stay in such bottom pockets. The only way to reach them in water like this is super-heavy Czech nymph. Tuck cast with super-heavy piece of tungsten, and nymph penetrates through the broken surface to the bottom in seconds, before it washed away by current. Usually, if fish is hanging under the rapids, it reacts immediately.
Couple of casts, and I got a fish. It was not trout. Small barbel. Barbel is abundant fish in continental Europe, but it's quite hard to catch on fly. So I was pleased by this bycatch.
The . I moved to deep hole under the dam. I got another fish there , this time it was 45 cm rainbow trout.
I wanted to catch a rainbow on dry fly. I carefully watched the water for surface activity. Oh, that's a fish raised. Another one. Not very often, but it's time to try dry fly.
I attached small grey mayfly imitation. No reaction. I tried white, grey, brown, slightly different sizes. Fish were feeding on something near the surface, but there were no flying insects. My offerings were rejected. Maybe they feeding on emergers?
I tied in tiny grey emerger on hook no. 20, to 5X tippet. The fly was so small, almost impossible to see on the surface. Couple of casts, and I felt a strike. It was so hard, fish almost pulled rod out of my hand. Trout jumped like a rocket, and made few long runs, spooling out the reel. It was an epic fight on Epic rod (pun intended) . After few spectacular jumps and fast runs, I brought this beauty to the net.
The fish measured at 53,5 cm or 20". It's my biggest trout on dry fly at this moment. 20" on no. 20 hook.
The hook was so tiny and set deeply in big mouth, I used forceps to get it back. Big trout swam away happily.
Later, I got another couple of rainbows on dry fly. They were smaller, but also fought hard.
Fish activity under the surface increased, but there were no takes for a long time.
I walked downstream to check another river sections. These flats are also known "dry fly" place.
I joined the company. There was fish cruising in the flats. But i didn't have any takes.
The place near the bridge was quite crowded. I decided not join that company.
This section of the river is very popular, and often crowded. Also, in such low water level, river is easy to wade, and can be crossed side to side in many places.
Generally speaking, this trip to Vah was not very successfull in numbers. I got only 5 fish for 6 hours of fishing. But this big trout on dry fly made my day.
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