Bosnia - grayling eldorado. Day 4

On the next day we fished river Sana again, but different section, one or 2 kilometres downstream from previous place.  I was a bit sceptical. The river section looked boring. Perfectly straight, surrounded by fields and village houses, without spectacular landmarks or outstanding features.  

I started with classic fly rod, and long nymphing method. It was barely usable, because of the current speed. I needed 3-4 overhead casts to lay the line and leader on the water, and only 2-3 seconds of drift. Too much wasted energy for very little fishing.

Then I switched equipment to tenkara rod and short nymphing rig. In the fast current, it allows only short casts, but more time for fly spent in the water. Which in theory translated to more hooked fish.

I concentrated my effort on shallow and fast water. The run was knee-deep or less, with current seams and hidden depressions. Unlike brown trout, grayling is fish of open water. It doesn't need cover or structure nearby, like boulders or sunken trees. They often stay in the shallow runs, and don't care much about wading, unless angler come very close. 

Small olive nymph rolling along the gravel bottom. Oops, snag! The rig stopped. I tried to pull it, and figured out it's a fish!  After short fight I brought quite big grayling to the net. I'm surprised that Daiwa LT36 tenkara rod has plenty of power to fight fish in the fast current.

I brought the fish close to the bank for better photo session, and released it. What a nice grayling! 

I was excited, and returned to the run to continue my fishing. Soon I got another grayling, smaller one. But I also had adrenaline moment to hold it in the fast current. 

After that, there was no bites. I spent one hour more, and returned to the gathering spot. 

We met together near the car. Some guys caught 12-15 fish during the morning session.  Then we drove to Aqua restaurant for lunch. Pizza with prosciutto was very tasty.

After the lunch, I continued fishing in the stretch above the restaurant. I wanted to catch some fish on the dry fly. I switched gear again, now to my dry fly rod, Traper Quadro 3wt.

Fish activity on the surface was very minimal. There were mayflies hatching , but fish didn't pick them actively.  I walked slowly upstream, and cast under every overhanging tree branches. No luck.

The river was a bit crowded today, by local means. And, while this usually not a problem, some fishermen were not very happy about rivalry.  One man drawn quite big "restricted" area around him and showed me with gestures that I should not cross it, and pass behind him, if I want to go farther upstream. I never met such attitude before. So I turned back, to the section where I spotted few graylings from the high bank before.

Fish were not cooperative on dry fly. I switched to the long nymph rig. I caught only one fish on micronymph, small brown trout. Very colourful one. 

I stopped fishing when it became dark. We returned to the guest house. I was so tired, that fell asleep very early.