Adventures of fly angler in Poland

My next day I dedicated to the river Rega. My Facebook friend Łukasz contacted me, and suggested that he can show me the river near town Łobez. Rega in Łobez is quite a small river. Water was low and clear. Level at Resko station was 288 cm, flow 4,8 m3/s. I met with Łukasz in the morning, and we had breakfast in his apartment. I also was greeted by his friendly dog. I do love dogs. I hope when I'll get old, I'll have my four-legged fishing buddy, who will accompany me on trips. Rega goes through the city, and surroundings look like city park, with many people walking around. Some trees pose danger for fly fishermen. I lost couple of flies on the trees. Łukasz already got few fish. Trout, graylings, and chub.  I had nothing yet. I used small brown and green nymphs. Finally, I got a fish, a small brown trout.  We walked upstream, fishing all the way. Then we found an excellent grayling spot. I caught a couple of graylings and another small brown tr...

The next day I dedicated to Parsęta river exploration. Parsęta is a famous sea trout river in Pomerania. It has a windy course and takes many smaller tributaries along the way. Fishing for Baltic sea trout is the main attraction there, but upper parts of the river also hold a population of native brown trout and grayling. The first location I chose was the Rościno hydropower plant. The dam blocks passage for anadromous trout further upstream. So, theoretically, there's a concentration of fresh sea-run fish in this area. After 40 minutes of driving, I arrived to the power plant area. The river was very shallow at this time. The level 202 cm (Bardy), flow 17,4 m3/s, temperature 18,8 C. At Rościno 84 cm and 6,9 m3/s. It was a surprise that I can wade and cross river from side to side in this place. I assembled Vision Sisu 6wt 9' fly rod with OPST Smooth integrated skagit line.  Water was turbid, so I attached hot pink streamer, for better visibility. Then I stepped in th...

I have a 2-week long vacation and decided to make a trip to yet unexplored part of Poland - Western Pomerania.  I booked on Airbnb an apartment in the suburbs of Kołobrzeg on the Baltic sea.  The road trip is about 760 km and 7 hours, by Google maps estimation.  But, it took much longer for me, because I planned a few stops to explore small rivers in the Szczecin area. I drove through Katowice, Opole, Wrocław, and Legnica by A4 motorway. This road is very familiar to me, as I was already a few times in the Wrocław area.  But after Legnica, I stepped into unknown territory.  S3 motorway, or European road E65, is quite new, and there are few parts still in construction near towns Lubin and Polkowice. But from Polkowice to Szczecin it's excellent, and traffic is moderate. The road was long. Near 17:00 I arrived to the first small stream in the Szczecin area.  The river looked dark, with brownish turbid water. For such conditions, I always use s...

During my next visit to Moszczanica, weather was better for fishing. No sun, cloudy sky and light wind. Bright sun is good for beaching, but always an enemy for fisherman. I started with spinning rod, and wobbler (jerkbait), the Salmo Minnow 'Hot Perch'. The first fish I caught, was ironically an yellow perch.  Perch on perch imitation! I love that cute fish, I wish they grow bigger. But, fishing with spinning gear didn't give me more results. I switched to my Vision Sisu fly rod. I love this rod more and more. The fish were rising here and there.  I attached big mayfly imitation and soon was rewarded. The problem with that kind of fishing it, that fish can be anywhere. You can throw your fly to the particular place, and wait. Nobody knows how long.  This is a passive approach. But I prefer to search for fish. Instead of passive waiting, I walked around, watched for circles on the water, and vortices from swimming fish fins. Trout feeding on insects...

11th of June was a holiday in Poland - Corpus Christi.  I organized a trip to the fishing lake Moszczanica, with two friends Mark and Oleg. They are skilled spinningists. We decided to make it a friendly competition, what method will take more fish - spinning or fly. Despite the weather forecast, which promised a cloudy day, it was bright sun and quite hot. My interest to spinning recently renewed. Thanks to freshly acquired set: Team Dragon HM-X rod (2,45m length, 2-14 g lure weight) , and Shimano Stradic Ci4 2000S reel. I also fascinated with wobblers (crankbaits, jerkbaits), and started to collect them. In the morning fishing was very slow. We started at 7 AM. Trout were jumping here and there, teasing us. But our lures didn't give much attention.  I had no bites during the first 2 hours. My friends too. I noticed, that there's quite a lot of fish hiding just near the grassy bank of the lake.  I started to pull small Rapala jerkbait along the shoreline, as cl...

Another visit to Brzegi early in the morning.  I took with me my new spinning rod (Team Dragon HM-X Trout 2,45m 2-14 g). My main target was rainbow trout, so I used small crankbaits and silicone "twisters" on the light jig head. There was a lot of trout jumping.  I approached it with the fly rod and dry fly. No reaction from fish. Then I switched to spinning. I attached a hot pink twister, which barely resembles an earthworm. Another cast, and twister landed somewhere in the deep water.  The line landed on the water in the arc shape. I didn't feel the fish, because of this line arc. But I noticed that line started to move to the side, without my intervention.  I started to crank the reel. Fish!   It wasn't heavy in the beginning. But soon, I figured out that fish is big and too heavy for my tackle. It made few powerful runs to the nearest water lily thickets. I was afraid that fish will snag on the grass.  Then I saw big, fat body. This is pike, ...

Brzegi is a complex of closely located quarry lakes on the territory of the sand mining company. This place is 25 min of driving from my home, so I decided to give it a try early in the morning, before work. These lakes were created in place of abandoned quarries. They are stocked with various fish - rainbow trout, pike, perch, carp. Quarry enterprise still functioning, and there's constant noise from dump trucks in working days.  It was a dead calm, not even a sign of ripples.  I assembled my new "virgin" spinning rod, in hope that it will lose virginity on some hot fish. When I walked near the bank, I scared away quite big fish. There were fish jumping in the middle of the lake.  Mostly rainbow trout, quite big ones.  I have thrown all my arsenal - big and small wobblers, jig heads with soft baitfish imitation, and twisters.  No reaction, not even a single strike. I think fly rod would be more appropriate in such conditions.  Trout i...