Adventures of fly angler in Poland

In this summer, Poland has critically low water levels everywhere, thanks to dam construction, and elimination of wetlands and marshes.  Ecologists ring the alarm, because high water temperatures in summer, and silt deposits released from dams, are harmful for ecosystem and particularly for many fish species. Some small streams almost disappeared. Poprad was 112 cm and 7,89 m3/s. Usually such level is in later October. I planned that trip due to barbel fever. I planned trip to Belgium to discover rivers in Ardennes, and fish for barbels. Unfortunately, my friend from Belgium rang me and told, that fishing is forbidden till September, due to extreme temperatures and low water levels. So, I cancelled my hotel reservation and the whole trip.   But, according to local reports, there was good barbel fishing on Poprad recently. I arrived early in the morning on the river. It was foggy and cloudy. I found long and deep pool, which looks like it may have a lot of barbels.  I...

 2 weeks ago I planned 3-day fishing trip to river San in Southeast Poland. But on the way, I decided to visit Poprad river and catch some barbels.  On the way I stopped at Stary Sącz in McDonalds. About 8:30 I arrived at the fishing spot. I parked my car near the railway tracks. The river looked calm and cold. The river level was 118 cm and flow 9,29 m3/s at Stary Sącz, or 97 cm and 6,27 m3/s at Muszyna. Which means, river is very low and easy to cross to the other side in many places. The place where I started fishing was knee-deep in most of the width of the river. Only along the far bank, there was a long deep hole. I crossed this hole in shallowest lower part (it's up to my waist level), and started to fish slowly upstream with nymph.  Very soon, I got a fish strike. After short fight, fish came off the hook. But that's a good sign! It means I found a place with barbels! Another take, and I scored my first barbel. Very beautiful bronze sleek fish. Isn't it a perfect ...

Skawa is one of the closest to my home rivers. Unfortunately, it's always dirty in October due to large quantity of sediments discharged from the dam. The water level was 109 cm and 6,31 m3/s, very low.  The thing I do love in October is the color of the surroundings. The forest is burning with orange flame.  I started with nymphing rod, Ego Competitor 11' 2/3 wt.  The weather was shiny.  There were no bites for a long time.  Then I caught and released only one brown trout.  I covered my favourite run "under the rock" with nymphs and dry fly. No reaction in two hours. It was really frustrating. Then I returned to the bridge, which is the most popular place. There was 3 men around, casting dry fly. I've seen that small mayflies started to hatch, and fish were picking it. Most of the hatch occurred in the shallow knee-deep water. Here's the most frustrating part. I didn't catch anything on dry fly :-(   Nothing. There were couple of attacks on my fl...

 First time I was in the North-East part of Poland, in the region called Mazury.  My primary purpose was participation in orienteering competitions.  But, I took my fly rod and associated gear with me, just in case of the opportunity.  I got a hint from a friend, that there are some streams with graylings, not so far from the camping where I stayed overnight. These streams are small and not widely known.   The stream flows in the forested canyon. I left my car in the nearest village and hiked along forest trail. The lower part of the stream looked very clear, and shallow. No signs of the fish presented.  The water didn't look like proper grayling habitat. The river banks are swampy, and the bottom covered with sand. I need to look for the gravel bottom. So I hiked further upriver. From the high point, I spotted some gravel patches in the river and faster water stretch. I descended down and started fishing.  I caught a couple of small chubs, 4-6 cm...

September is the last month, when we can fish in most of Slovak trout and grayling rivers. I decided to give a visit to Slovak river Vah , first time in this year due to COVID, which disrupted many fishing plans and trips. I arrived early at 6:00 AM to the license shop in the village Ivachnova. I had plenty of time to assemble my rods and dress up in waders and boots. The shop owner, a lovely lady, arrived at 6:40 AM. Water was low 35 cm in Besenova, and quite warm, +16 C The first hour I spend with Euro nymphing, using various nymphs. Nothing. Looks like a dead river. Quite unusual, because I usually had trout bites in this place.  I crossed the river to the other side. Fished along the edge of the fast and slow current.  No bites at all. My polarized glasses fogged. It ended up in the wading incident. I tripped over a rock under the water, which I didn't see, and I fell into the river. All my clothes became wet, water penetrated inside waders, and even to my baselay...