Adventures of fly angler in Poland

 This trip was rather unproductive. I started from Białka Tatrzanska. I came to the river early in the morning. Something changed on the river, after big water the lovely pools I used to fish just disappeared. New pools formed on new places. Białka is freestone stream, and it changes it's shape quite often. But it needs time to fish to accomodate to changed environment. I didn't catch anything on Białka, and decided to move closely located river in the Podhale region, Biały Dunajec. i arrived to the popular spot. Snagged couple of times, and decided to move upstream. When I returned, I found that another man is fishing the spot which I left 5 minutes ago. And he fighting a big fish. It was a 45 cm brown trout.  I was jealous, I can catch this trout myself if I spent more time on this spot. Frustrated, I drove to another river. In fishing, I don't like rivalry. It's a big frustration when someone else is catching, but you are not. So, I arrived to Dunajec in Krościenko,

 After my unsuccessful trip to Sweden, I returned to Poland, my second motherland. Białka Tatrzanska became my favorite destination in this year, and I decided to visit it again. I woke up at 3:00 , and at 4:40 was already fishing.  My primary gear was Winston Boron iii TH-MS 4wt, Airflo Scandi compact floating shooting head and long 11' leader.  No polyleaders, no sinktip, just straight tapered mono.  The water in Białka is very clear this time of year, and is fish able to see woolybugger swinging in the upper water column from 1,5 m deep hole.  Here it comes, wild Białka brown trout. I caught a few on black woolybugger. Not a big fish, but nice entertainment. Then I crossed the river and started to fish the run, where I caught big brown month ago.  Olive zonker, same rod, same fly line. Cast diagonally downstream, swing the fly to the bank, strip.. Baaang!  There's something bigger on the other end. I had a deja vu. I think I lived this moment before, exactly in the same plac

 Another visit to Białka was rather short, but unusual.  I came early in the morning. The river was covered with fog. I came to the nice pool, where the river gets wider, and there's some calm water near the bank.  It looks like nice place for my trout spey gear.  After few casts , when my streamer swung to the rightmost position, I got a strike. That was a decent brown trout. After few spectacular jumps, fish landed in my net. Woow, what a fish! For Białka it's a trophy!  There were some people on the opposite bank.  They shout something to me, but I didn't hear. Later, they approached my and told that today is a fishing competition, and I should not fish there until 13:00 or so. They were marking beats for competitors.  I went to other place, upstream, it it also was marked. Unfortunately, the whole river was reserved for competitions. And Biały Dunajec too.  There were no other options in nearby rivers, so my fishing ended up prematurely. But I was very happy, because I

Białka Tatrzanska became my favorite fishing destination in 2016. This time I headed to the same place in Nowa Biała, where I already was two times.  There's spectacular views along the river. At some places, you can see Tatra mountains, still covered with snow in May. The river flow is very fast, you should use wading stick to cross the river safely.  I caught few small trout on nymph in the tailout.   Later I switched to streamer and now my favorite Winston Biii TH-MS trout spey rod.   Caught a few fish on it. There were a lot of takes on black woolybugger, but many fish came off. Only 3 or 4 landed.  I spend only 3 hours in the morning and drove to home. 

 I like to indulge myself with gifts related to fly fishing. I think my wife hates me for that, because shopping for rods and reels became my bad habit. But, my birthday is coming in 2 days, and I ordered some serious gift - a Winston Boron iii TH-MS, trout spey rod. 11'  (3,35m) length, 4wt class.  The rod looks gorgeous, with dark green blank, and matched Nautilus FWX reel. It was my first proper fishing with new Winston. I tried already to cast it on Raba river near Kraków, but didn't catch anything. Now I prepared more seriously. I rigged it with Airflo Scandi Compact shooting head (300 grain), and bright green OPST Lazar mono shooting line. There was few strong takes. Unfortunately, 5 or 6 fish came off the hook.  The fish in Białka are very strong, despite of the size, because they accustomed to live in very heavy current.  Unfortunately, size of the fish didnt impress me. But, the rod is joy to cast and fish. I mostly used black woolybugger and caught few fish.  The rive

 I booked a guiding tour with Wojtek Kudłacz, known as "Fly Fishing in Poland".  We planned to fish two mountain rivers in Podhale region of Poland: Białka Tatrzanska and Biały Dunajec.  First, we arrived to Białka. It's famous for it's crystal clear water, wild character and natural flow. Unlike most rivers in Poland, there's no hydroelectric dams on Białka.  I started to fish in very beautiful pool with turquise colored water. There were few takes, but only one fish landed successfully.  Wojtek taught me, how to hide myself and fish from low to the ground positions. Fish is very spooky in Białka due to very clear water and high visibility, especially on sunny days. We moved downstream to the very interesting pool. Here , I fished from kneeling position, to stay low to the ground. I had only couple of small trout there. River in this place has an outlet, which goes to hydroelectric power station. Remember, I said there's no dams on Białka?  Actually, there is

Unusually hot summer in 2015 caused many rivers to run low. Białka almost had no water. I wanted to repeat my previous success, which was in June. Unfortunately , river looked so different. The holes I used to catch fish in, were too small to hold something. I caught few small trouts. But I walked quite a long foot distance to find them. I walked to natural reserve area. There's a deep pool with awesome turquise colored water. Unfortunately, cannot fish there. I think , all trout now in this pool. The river was twice wider, when I met it first time in June. I tried other spots. Fishing wasn't good. When I returned to my car, I also tried spots near the road bridge. I decided to leave. But before that, I said to myself - let's try last time, only two casts into that hole. White rapid water between the boulders. I throw heavy nymph, and immediately fish grabs it. Yeees, what a trout! Big one. 40 cm or so. Never seen such big fish in Białka. I

Białka Tatrzanska is a mountain river , originated in High Tatras, near Polish-Slovakian border. It's characterized by strong flow, generally high gradient, and very clear water. Brown trout dominates in Białka as the only species, able to thrive in cold and fast water. I also heard about some graylings, but never caught one in Białka. The river is typical freestone stream, which changes course often, after major flood. It has wide riverbed, surrounded by gravel bars. I left my car on the parking spot near the bridge in Trybsz. Then I walked downstream, probing every hole with Czech nymphing. When I reached natural reservation area (prohibited for fishing),  I found very nice deep pool, where many streams join together. It was kind of Eldorado. I got a first trout there. Then more and more. I caught 5 or 7 fish in that pool. I spotted there's fish feeding on hatching mayflies. Unfortunately, I didnt have dry fly rig with me. So I continued with E