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.
Immediately after strike, I figured out it was a big trout. When it jumped, I saw - that's the one I was longing for. Remembering my failures in the past, I let fish go and ran downstream along the bank, keeping tension. Then I netted it in the quiet water. Yes, it's mine!
The fish measured 54 cm. That's my biggest in this season!
The nymph it took, wasn't successful in the past, and I rarely used it. But today, it made my day.
It was my best catch in this year!
Most of the trout I caught on this small orange head nymph. I had the last one in my fly box.
There was another big trout, but it jumped high, and torn off my leader in the air. What a disaster!
Later I switched to my trout spey rod, and streamers. There were many takes on streamer, but unfortunately 4 from 5 fish came off the hook shortly. It often happens with streamers, I don't know why.
White zonker, and black woolybugger with orange head, were the most successful.
In the middle of the day, fishing became slow. There were rare takes, and only small fish. I tried different locations, without success.
When fishing is slow, it's a good time to have a break for lunch. I drove to "Karchma Dunajec" restaurant in Krościenko nad Dunajcem. After lenghty covid-related restrictions, it's such a pleasure to eat food not from plastic container.
After lunch, I recharged my "batteries" and returned to the water with new hope.
I started with my favorite deep hole near the bank, where's must be some trophy fish. In the meantime, promised rain started to pour.
Rain made fishing less comfortable, but I caught 2 or 3 small trout. The "prey drive" kept me in the water for longer time.
There's rocks on the bottom, and my rig often snagged. Another snag, it looks like the rig stuck between rocks. I started slowly to pull and break off the line. But the "rock" started to move. It's a fish, big fish! I didn't see it , but it was a hard fighter. I let fish swim downstream a bit, and ran along the bank. Then it came to surface. It's a nase, Chondrostoma nasus, or a "pigfish", how it's called in Poland.
In my previous trip I lost similar fish due to break off. Now I carefully steered it to the bank and landed to my net. Here it is, nase fish 48 or 50 cm. Another "trophy" for today.
Sweet, cute nase fish. Look at this crescent-shaped mouth, it's like a little shark.
Of course, it swam away after quick photo session. I carefully release all my fish.
Dunajec pleased me with nice catches today. Unfortunately, the rain were getting worse and worse.
I stayed under the cover on the parking spot, expecting that rain will end soon. But it didn't stop in 30 minutes. It was a possibility to test my new fly fishing jacket - Traper Montana. Unlike my old jacket, Simms Freestone, it was dry from inside.
The rain didn't stop, and I decided to drive home.
But, anyway, it was a great day,
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