Tenkara, dry fly, and pork ribs

 I was planning 3-day trip to Slovakia for fishing tenkara on small streams. But, for financial reasons the plans changed.  The potential expenses exceeded my budget for fishing trip.  I decided to go to Polish rivers in Podhale region, because fishing in it is "for free" to me.   Well, not really for free, but I have yearly license for Nowy Sącz angling association waters, paid for the whole 2024. 

First I came to Dunajec river. It's a big river with wide open space. I didn't catch anything in couple of early hours. Also the wind became stronger, and I was struggling with the casts. Tenkara and wind don't go well together.   Why continue to suffer, if I can go to another stream? They are on the same license, and in the vicinity of 30-40 km.  

I jumped in the car and headed to Biały Dunajec. In 50 min I reached my destination.  The river was at low level, 100 cm and 4,1 m3/s flow. The first spot I've chosen is a deep long pool under the road bridge, and cascades of rapids above it.  The morning produced no fish. I met one fly fisherman there. He said ha caught 5 trout early in the morning . He fished from 5:00. Now it was 8:00 and the activity stopped.  

Next location I never fished before. But in my previous trip I noticed it, and pinned on my fishing map for the future. It's not easy to reach because of limited bank access from the road side. I descended from steep rocky bank to the water, and crossed the river to the other side.  The good thing of tenkara is that your rods can be stored in the backpack, and your hands are free. So you can climb steep terrain or push through dense vegetation, without risk of breaking your precious equipment. 

The first thing caught my attention was long and deep pool, where the main current goes to the undercut bank.  I fished it from the opposite side of the steep bank with trees. No luck. 

Above this run, there's small islands and pocket water. The place was very attractive, and I believe there should be a fish.  I spent almost 45 min there, trying to hit different spots. But there was no hits either.

I returned back to the big deep pool. At this time, the rain started to pour. The water became more dirty, than in the early morning. Almost opaque in this pool.  I tied in heavy nymph, a pink silicone worm imitation. 

On the second drift the fish nailed that nymph. Wow, that's a big fish. My Nissin Oni Honryu rod bent deeply, and the fight started.  Fish didn't want to get up and trying to run downstream. But I directed it to upstream to faster water, so it's exhausted more. Now fish was fighting two things - me and the current. I pulled it to shallows and netted. This rod has some power, despite being very light, and you can apply some force to it, to control fish direction. 

That's a beautiful brown trout. Looks like wild one.  15" or 38 cm. 

Nowy Sącz regional angling association has special rule applied to C&R fisheries . It's forbidden to put fish on the bank, grass, or bare ground or carry away from stream for making photos. Photos can be made only with fish briefly hold over the water or in the water. 

I'm advocate of that rule.  Keep them wet! 

And she goes back to her favorite hole with dark turbid water.

There's lot of flowers near this stream. It's called Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera). They often grow on small islands, surrounded by water.

Very beautiful place. I spent hour and half there and caught only one fish.  But there's many attractive pockets to hit with your fly. I think I will return there in other circumstances.

I returned back to my car, crossed river again and climbed on the steep bank. The next location is few kilometres upstream. There's cascade of rapids and this section is also looks very "fishy".

I fished first two rapids and pools behind it with nymph. I tried various nymphs, big and small. Fish was not cooperative.  But I enjoyed the place itself. Noisy rapids and steep cliffs.

I spent almost an hour in perspective place. I caught only one small trout on nymph. 

Above the rapids, there's very fast run with choppy wavy surface.  I hooked one decent fish in it. Bigger than previous. But it jumped high and unhooked itself. 

Moving further upstream, I found attractive long run , about waist deep, with quieter current on the far bank side. There was small mayflies flying. In this run, fish were boiling from time to time, picking insects. A good sign to try dry fly.  I never tried dry fly with tenkara rod before. I assembled my other rod - Tenryu Furaibo TF39, with light tapered line.  I tied in CDC emerger on hook #18. Quite tiny fly, barely seen on the water, but matching the hatching insects in size.

After many unsuccessful attacks and "water releases", I got fish.  It's a small trout, but it's on dry fly. For me it means something.  

Then the surface activity stopped. I switched to nymph again, and moved to next rapids.  It never ends. 

My last point was another big rapids, or small waterfall. There's another deep and attractive pool under it. I fished it with big and bright coloured nymphs, with respect to water clarity (or lack of). The river was almost opaque at the time.

It was 3PM, I was exhausted and hungry. I didn't have anything to eat during the day, except 2 small sandwiches, coffee in the flask, and water. 

I packed my precious Japanese rods, and returned to my car.

While walking back to the parking spot, I was thinking, what type of food would I prefer. Long day of fishing and hiking can boost one's appetite. Pork ribs came to my mind.  I started to look for a restaurant which has pork ribs in the menu, and I found it.  This is my deserved prize :-).