Adventures of fly angler in Poland

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 boul...

 This time our guides decided to show us different river, Sana. Ribnik is tributary to Sana, both rivers join near the village Velje. After the confluence, Sana carries twice much water than Ribnik. It's pretty wide mountain river in some places. There are some very deep holes, which potentially can hold the queen of Balkans mountain streams - the huchen.  But it wasn't our goal, we were targeting mainly graylings with rather light gear. Fly rods in classes 2-3-4 and 7X or 0,10 mm tippet. In such very clear and low water, like it is now, thinnest tippets and smallest flies on hooks 18-24 were preferred.  The river section featured few deep depressions and pools, so it was natural choice for contact nymphing, or euro nymphing.   I didn't have a proper fly rod for that, so I used my tenkara rod, Daiwa Expert LT36 for such method.  Colored level mono line slightly less than rod length, tippet ring on the end, and tippet. The whole rig is about 1,5x of the rod ...

Strong arguments for Vah river - top notch trout fishery. Main point of interest is rainbow trout, but also there's abundant brown trout and grayling. All species of fish can grow big for local conditions, so I call it "river of big fish". There's a chance to catch trout of a lifetime. Most of fish are in range 40-60 cm, but there are 70+ specimens for sure Saturday, 8 September. Conditions were perfect. Warm day, but not too hot, +16 +20 C. Water level 48 cm, temperature + 16 C. River was low and clear. I arrived to Krcma Rybarska in Ivachnova at 7.00 and bought a license for Vah C&R section in Besenova. There was nobody at the river this time. I started with two nymphs on Czech nymph rig. Anchor fly was heavy scud imitation, and top fly was small olive fly on hook nr 16 and 2,5 mm head. I don't have name for it, that's my own recipe. Soon after 3rd or 4th cast, I got a fish! Strong rainbow trout. I netted it carefully and released. S...

This weekend I spent two days in Slovak river Vah, near city Ruzomberok. Vah is the longest river in Slovakia. Catch-and-Release fishery in town Besenova is famous fly fishing destination. It's a 3 km long part of the river from Besenova lake dam to the bridge in village Ivachnova.  There are few accomodations near the river, including hotels and private apartments. I booked a small hotel in Ruzomberok, 8 km from fishing site. Early in the morning, I arrived to the license shop in Ivachnova. It opens at 7.00 in summer time. I met there Czech and Polish anglers, also waiting for license.  Vah is quite popular destination for foreigners from nearest countries. I bought licenses for 2 days (20 euro per day), and started in the middle of the C&R part, where the road follows right bank. There is wide and shallow riffle, and it has quiet deeper spot in the center. It looks like a good holding water for trout. To get there, you need to cross river above the riffle. Current ...