Adventures of fly angler in Poland

My first goal was to catch graylings in Slovakia. In Poland population of graylings declined due to environment degradation. Even on river San, which was once considered a "grayling Eldorado", now fishing reports are modest. In Slovakia, grayling fisheries are more reliable. Particularly, Bela was one of  top grayling rivers in the past. Now it's getting worse too. There's still plenty of graylings, but smaller in size. 50cm specimens are probably extinct, and 40 cm are rare. I fished it 3 years ago, when 40-45 cm graylings was quite common.  In the morning , I drove to Borova Sihot' hotel at the village Liptovski Hradok, to get a license for Bela. There was a surprise... Hotel doesn't sell fishing licenses anymore. I can only get in in some fishing shop. I drove another 15 km back to the Liptovski Mikulas. There's big square with shops, and one of them is fishing shop Esox.  But, today there was a national holiday in Slovakia - Feast of Our Lady Of Sorrow...

1st September means brown trout season closure in Poland.  In autumn months, grayling becomes a main target for fly fishermen in Eastern Europe.  We planned this trip together with Sergey, my friend from Slovakia. We met at 7:00 near the Bela mouth in Liptovski Hradok.  The river was low, 118-119 cm. I started first in the hole, where Bela joins Vah. Pretty soon, I got my first fish - nice grayling on small brown nymph on hook No.16 and 3mm beadhead. That place was really nice. I got 3 graylings in a row, all nearly 30-32 cm. 2 fish was lost. Then we moved upstream. Riverbed changed a lot after heavy flood. Bela is a freestone river. Cobblestones are moving, and after heavy flow, the riverbed changes all the time. Some holes disappear, some new created. So it feels like we are arrived to new or unfamiliar river. Former waterfall section never river mouth became flat. The hole near the bridge was very effective last year. It slightly changed, but still it i...

In September 2017 year, Slovakia hosted World fly fishing championship.  River Bela was chosen as one of WFFC locations. This is one of the finest grayling rivers, holding plenty of fish in 30-35 cm size, with occasional specimens up to 50 cm. I planned that trip together with my friend Sergey. River level promised to be good, despite of chances of rain. We met in the morning at Borová Sihoť hotel near the river, where we bought the licenses.  Also, licenses can be bought in two fishing stores in the city Liptovský Mikuláš. Here are the addresses , where to get the license: Hotel – Camping Borová Sihoť Borová Sihoť, s.r.o., 033 01 Liptovský Hrádok, Slovensko Esox (fishing store) Kamenné pole 12, 031 01 Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovensko Starfish (fishing store) Ul. 1. mája 941/118, 031 01 Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovensko We started our fishing from the mouth of Bela, where it joins Vah. Catch and release part goes from the river mouth, to the highway bridge in vil...