Vah in Besenova, rainbow paradise

 Today Vah river section between Ivachnova and Besenova looked better.  The water was still colored, but clarity about 1 m. River level at Besenova 37 cm, temperature 16 C. 

I started fishing from the pool near white bridge in Ivachnova. It is one of the biggest pools in the C&R river section, and it is a home for many big fish.

In the beginning fishing was slow. No activity in 40 minutes. Then I got a strike. Fish was strong, and probably big. I think it was a rainbow trout. After short fight, the tension released. I pulled out the rig, and found that the bottom nymph was torn out. What a disaster! First fish, and it's gone.  

There were no other takes in this pool. I moved to the other side of the river. There is main current, separated from slow and shallow river part.  Current seams are one of the most trout holding water. The place was just perfect for euro nymphing. I got a strike, and it was rainbow again. Not very big, probably 40-45 cm. But it was so powerful for it's size, it made few jumps. When I pulled fish closer and prepared my landing net, it comes off the hook. Sh*t happens!  I lost two perfect rainbows today. Not a great start.

Soon, I got grayling in the same run. It took small nymph on size 16 hook, on the dropper.

This run didn't produce more fish, and I decided to move to the "Lekaren", pool near pharmacy in Liptovska Tepla village. It is tricky location for fishing euro nymphing, because there's tree branches behind, and I lost couple of nymphs when snagged that tree.

After few drifts, I got a grayling again. But this place also famous for rainbow trout.  On another drift, i got a strike. That fish was much stronger than previous. It ran downstream, like a rocket. I cannot stop it without risk of losing it, so I ran downstream after fish.  I netted it 30 meters below the place where it was hooked. Can't believe that 45 cm rainbow trout has such power, to fight like a monster.  That's why we love rainbows, they have great fighting power and stamina.

Here it is, my lovely rainbow. Perfect fish. 

Let it go! 

I moved further upstream, where the fast current from the riffle enters the pool. The current seam between fast and slow water is a bit far from my side of the river. I made as fast as possible cast, so my nymph hit the fast current on the other side of the pool. In 3 seconds, fish grabbed it. Yes, it's rainbow! Not big one, but also gave me a great fight with jumps.

It looks like they prefer fast current with broken surface today. Another long cast to the same choppy water, and I got another rainbow. 3rd for today.  This was even stronger than previous, and made me run after fish a bit, before I netted it.

In the middle of the day, I took a break for lunch (or dinner). I drove to the restaurant near the river, it's called Koliba Besenovka. Their famous dish is baked pork ribs on a big plate.

After lunch, I moved to another river part, so-called Island.  This river section is the most beautiful. It is quiet, tree branches hanging over the water.  There's a lot of grass in the river, which offers great protection for trout and graylings.

Unfortunately, there was no fish strikes anymore till the end of the day. I noticed many times that it is a strange "feature" of Vah CHAP river section. Fish feeds from the morning till the mid-day, then it stops to react to flies. Except there is a decent insect hatch in the evening, when trout starts to rise all over the whole river. 

This wasn't my best fishing result on river Vah. But, the river is alive, and fish is there. So, I believe my best catches are in the future.