I'm still a barbel virgin in 2024

 Due to prolonged heat season, we have very low water in all rivers in Poland. The flow in Poprad near the mouth is about 6m3/s. Normally the river flow in September is about 11-16 m3/s. 

I came to the river near 7:00. The first stop was in Głebokie. There's fast run under the bridge, where I saw fish 2 years ago. I checked this hole, and barbels are there!

There's 3 or 4 fish in very shallow, knee-deep water. I came down and tried to catch it. Unfortunately, probably fish are gone because were spooked by casts. I think I hooked one, but fish briefly flashed and immediately came off the hook.

I drove about half kilometer upstream. Parked my car on the dirt road and descended to the river. The area is very shallow, only about 30 cm of water. I concentrated on deeper part of the run, near the opposite bank.

I worked through the run, it looks attractive, but not very long.  Then I skipped some very shallow water, and fished the next deep run. Ok, it's not very deep, slightly less than waist deep in the current conditions.

I reached the fast water section, with powerful current. Sometimes barbels can be found in such water too. I hooked two barbels 2 years ago in such water. They hold between fast and slow water, on the current seam.

Unfortunately for me , this place produced no fish.  I turned back to the road and returned to my car.

Few kilometers upstream , and I reached Wierchomla. The next popular barbel spot.  There were two men already fishing.  I started above them, with intention to share the run and move upstream, as recommended when using short nymphing method. But the man didnt want to share water, and shouted to me that I came too close to him. I asked, why he don't move . I always move through the water in one direction, upstream when using euro nymphing method or dry fly, and downstream when using streamer. This is unwritten fly fishing rule pretty much anywhere in the world. But he said he wanted to stay in one place for 4 hours.

I decided to leave them alone, and moved to other place. The river is big. No need to concentrate in small area. 

I drove to Zubrzyk. There's also good barbel spots. I fished through very good hole where was a lot of barbels in previous years.  But there was no bites.  

Next stop was the area called Żegiestów, near the footbridge. The bridge joins Poland and Slovakia, and other side of the river is Slovak territory. 

I fished near the bridge, and then decided to go downstream and explore new area.

There's a small island in the middle of the river. 

I caught a small chub on nymph there. The first my fish today.  In such unfavoured conditions, every fish counts.

Down below, large part of the river course looks like a desert. Bare rocks instead of water.

I reached very good run with fast water. No fish contact. I decided to return back to the bridge.

When I returned to my car, I decided to try different method. I assembled my new rod, Traper Quadro Nymph 3wt 4:1. This rod is a dry fly rod in it's shortest form (9' or 9'6) but can be converted to euro nymphing rod 10' or 10'6.  I used it for dry (terrestrial) fly, and chubs cannot resist.

Not the largest fish, but fun to catch too.

On the way back, I fished Wierchomla again, more thorously. I had one barbel on the end of my line, for very short time. About 5 seconds, fish came to the surface, I saw it, and I lost it. Not big, about 40 cm.

i was a bit frustrated, no barbels.  But the whole day spent on the water is good for health.