Adventures of fly angler in Poland

Warm days offer great possibilities for fly fishing. I checked weather forecast, and took day off in the middle of the week to go to Dunajec river.  Air temperature was +15 C, sunny. Dunajec level at Krościenko 197 cm, 36,9 m3/s and temperature + 6 C. At Gołkowice 175 cm and 42,8 m3/s respectively. When I arrived to the river, I noticed that I forgot fly box with streamers at home. I had two rods with me: T&T Contact II for Euro nymphing and Winston Biii TH-MS for trout spey. But I didn't have proper flies for it. I called to Wojtek, local guide in Krościenko, who runs a fly shop near the river.  I bought assorted streamers: natural brown zonkers, black and white woolybuggers.   First spot I tried was Park Linowy. There's new footbridge erected, but still not finished.  I attached natural brown zonker and started to swing it down and across. It was attacked by fish on every cast!  Fish were small brown trout, 22-25 cm. Probabyl stocked recently in big q...

Recently, my lovely Winston Microspey rod was repaired in Twin Bridges, MT. The whole roundtrip from Poland to USA and back took 2 weeks, which is surprisingly good. Today I decided to visit river Skawa, the section below dam at Świnna Poręba.  The river recently dropped from 176cm and 44 m3/s to 135cm and 15,2m3/s.   At 44 m3/s it is probably unfishable, but now the level was quite comfortable, and water was very clear.  500-700 m below the bridge, there's awesome deep run suitable for the spey rod technique. I started with SA Ultralite Skagit intermed head and 8' tips, which is perfect for such water level. I fished this run couple of times, with black wooly bugger and white zonker. No reaction. Water is very cold, like in winter. I think it's temperature 4 C or so.  No luck in this stretch.  I took all my belongings, and moved to another location, few kilometers downstream.   There's one very deep hole, probably deepest on the whole river....

 Dolina Będkowska is family-oriented commercial fishery near Kraków.  It was recently stocked with big rainbow trout, 60-70 cm, before spinning competitions. According to recent reports, there was excellent spin fishing for trout few days ago.  But, something changed. I started with spinning gear, trying various crankbaits and silicone worms. No response from fish. I saw many trout slowly swimming along the bank. They refused most of the lures offered. I noticed that there's a lot of fish cruising along the banks, just under the surface. Maybe they are feeding on insects?  It's time to change tactics. I rigged Vision Sisu 6wt fly rod with 2 flies. Big dry fly on top, which serves as strike indicator. Under dry fly I attached 50 cm leader with small nymph on 18 size hook.  I started throwing my flies where I could see the fish moving under the surface. A few careful pulls, a pause. Fish on!   After short fight, I brought it into the net. The tactics pro...