Adventures of fly angler in Poland

This season has not pleased me with big fish yet. In my previous trip, I lost 3 big fish due to negligent handling.  Weather report promised mix of sun and clouds in the morning, and rain in the second half of day. I woke up at 3:15,  loaded my stuff into the car, and headed to Tylmanowa village on the Dunajec river.  At 5:20 I dressed up in waders and started to fish. The river was a bit high , 216 cm and 63m3/s. The small trail between concrete wall and the river was under the water. Water was turbid, but not opaque, with 70-80 cm clarity.  High water means that fish can move from main current to the areas close to the bank, which often has quieter water.  I started with euro nymphing rig, pink silicone worm nymph on the bottom, and small brown one with orange head on the dropper.  Fish were very active. Immediately I caught 3 or 4 small brown trout.  It is good start, but I had a hope for something bigger.  And it's happened.   Immedi...

 On the next day, we booked guiding session with Wojtek Kudłacz, an owner of "Fly Fishing in Poland" hotel and guiding service. Despite of promised rain, the weather was nice, a mix of clouds and sun. The river level raised a bit compared to yesterday, it was 214cm and 60m3/s. Temperature around +10 C, which is very good for fish activity. After breakfast, we boarded to Wojtek's van, and headed downstream to the very end of Dunaec C&R section, near Ochotnica Dolna. The place is known as "Aquarium".   I was fishing in the middle of the river, and got only two small trout. In the meantime, Wojtek and Jaroslav moved close to the concrete wall , and I saw that Jaro is fighting big fish.   I rushed to see it, and here it is - proper Dunajec brown trout.  It took the fly just near the bank.  Then we moved more upstream, and found very nice deep and fast run, "with big fish", as Wojtek promised. But, only couple of small fish were caught there.  I go...

On 12-14 of May, I planned a holiday trip to Dunajec river. I booked a room at "Fly Fishing in Poland" hotel, and invited a friend from Warszaw, Jaroslav.   We arrived to the river at 8:00. Water was 207 cm and 50m3/s at Krościenko nad Dunajcem.  First we started to fish at Gołkowice. I and Yaroslav both caught one small trout.  But the fishing was complicated by conditions. The river carried a lot of algae pieces, and that green nasty stuff attached to the hooks on each retrieve.   We walked down the river to the next site "Bania w Mostkach", without success. No fish takes. Then we moved to the next point downstream - a rapids at Stary Sącz. Here I got another fish, also small one. We decided to change locaton and headed to the upper part of the river, another 30 km. Here I got bored quickly, because fish didn't take. Jaroslav got two fish above me.  It was very hot weather, and not easy for fishing. We both got our faces burned to red color.  We...

Last reports from Skawa river were good. Recently there were major mayfly hatches, and many trout were caught on dry fly.  I headed to Skawa on Sunday, expecting mayfly madness.   But something was wrong.  Fish didn't bite since early morning on anything. I I started with streamer. Fished deep and fast channel couple of times. No luck. Then I noticed insects started to hatch. I switched to wet fly imitating emerger.  Also, no bites. I didn't see any fish rolling under the surface and eating these insects.  Something broken int he nature. So many food, but fish don't want to eat it.   I checked river monitoring station.  It happened that river level raised from 112cm to 132 cm in a day, and flow increased more than twice ( 6,60m3/s vs 14,4 m3/s). Water was very clear. But, the dam discharged some water day before. Maybe that water from reservoir is colder, and temperature in the river dropped, what else? Somehow it spoiled fish feeding mood....