Adventures of fly angler in Poland

Today was very warm and sunny. Air temperature +16 C.  Due to lack of snow this winter, most rivers running low, which is unusual for March/April.  Skawa river was very low and clear, 105 cm and flow 5,5 m3/s.   Year ago it was 160 and 28 m3/s at the same time. Water temperature was nearly +7,5 C. Good prognosis for trout fishing.  First, I climbed to the bridge and checked, where the fish can be.  You can see fish perfectly at such a water level. I spotted a couple of decent size trout grabbing mayflies.  Dry fly is an obvious choice! I assembled my Epic 580 glass rod, long 12' leader, and tied in CDC mayfly imitation. Fish were rising here and there.  My fly slowly drifted through the pool. Fish on!  After a short fight, I brought my first brown trout in the season to the net. I first time used my new Huawei P30 Pro phone as a camera in fishing trip. It's quite decent camera on it's own with 3 lenses and 5x physical zoom, ...

Vah river in Slovakia is quite famous for it's big rainbow trout, willing to take dry fly. In previous year, I had couple of outstanding trips on Vah, both in terms of numbers and quality of fish.   This year I had far less fishing trips, and overall not very successful. I came to the river early in the morning. It was cold, air temperature +3 C. But water was still warm, +15 C. River level was low, 35 cm at Besenova station. I started with euro nymphing gear in the rapids.  Very fast water section , which creates pockets near the bottom, with slow current, or even backcurrent.  Big trout often stay in such bottom pockets. The only way to reach them in water like this is super-heavy Czech nymph. Tuck cast with super-heavy piece of tungsten, and nymph penetrates through the broken surface to the bottom in seconds, before it washed away by current.  Usually, if fish is hanging under the rapids, it reacts immediately. Couple of casts, and I got a fish. I...

Today I participated in stocking program in Raba river. We came early in the morning, to explore freshly stocked part of the river. It was done week before. River was low, 234 cm and 6,8 m3/s. Despite of some promising holes, we didn't get even a single strike. I don't know why it is so. We used only streamers. Maybe this freshly stocked fish only reacts to nymph?  Or there's no fish? When we crossed the bridge, we noticed two shadows on the bottom - two big trout behind the rock.  So there is a fish, but why we can't catch them? Still open question. After that, we met with club Rabiane 100, and headed for stocking.  Fish from hatchery arrived on special vehicle, equipped with big water tank, and oxygen supply. Then, it was placed into rubber basin, filled with water, or inflatable raft as alternative. These trout from hatchery are adult fish, nearly 25-35 cm. Then, fish was distributed along the river course from floating raft, in small port...

Today Skawa was low and clear 125 cm and 11,2 m3/s. Due to heavy wind, there was no or very little insect activity. Fish didn't eat mayflies, as usually.  There was a lot of fish near me, ignoring any offers. I tries first dry fly. No reaction. Then I switched to streamer. I had one good take, but fish was lost. Maybe wet fly?  These trout were feeding on something under surface, probably on emergers. I had one take on wet fly, but fish also was not hooked reliably. The last attempt - what about small nymph?  I tied in micronymph on hook 16 to regular dry fly  leader, and fished it as classic wet fly swing.  I had couple of takes, and one fish was fooled. Still better than nothing.   The wind direction only allowed to cast downstream. Terrible conditions for casting. I can't find key to these trout. What do they want?  I asked other fishermen, they also had poor results. Only one guy told that he caught 9 trout, all on nymph. ...

In the morning Skawa was a bit busy. Water low and clear, 125 cm and 11,2 m3/s. There were few fishermen, beating water with floating lines. I checked the river, and didn't see the hatch, neither fish activity on the surface. No time for dry fly yet. I decided to start from Czech nymphing. I assembled my nymphing rod, and attached red tag nympg as anchor fly, and small olive no.16 on the dropper. Soon , I got a decent fish, probably brown trout. But it came off the hook. Another fish, and another failure. First succesfully hooked was this nice brownee. On small olive nymph. I fished deep and fast water near main channel. Another fish, whaat? Grayling! I should not post these photos, because "ethical fishing police" watching. Graylings are in their spawning protection period till 31th of May. But, quick photo wouldn't hurt in my opinion. Another fish, and grayling again. After third grayling, I moved to another place. Looks like I found the fly ...

Skawa river has very good hatches now. The weather was sunny, but windy. Air + 12 C. Water was low and clear, level 125 cm, flow 11,2 m3/s, temperature +6 C. When I arrived to the Jaroszowice, the place near the bridge was busy, as usually. I walked upstream to more solitary place. There's a pool , more suitable for streamer and nymph. I fished with SA Skagit 210 intermediate line and streamer through this pool.  No result. I returned to the bridge, and watched few big trout under the bridge. One of them raised to eat insects. It was a hint, that I must use dry fly here.  I re-rigged my rod with floating line and 12' tapered leader, attached CDC dun. The rod I used was Epic 580 5wt, and line - Royal Wulff TT 4wt.  Interesting, that this rod worked pretty nice with underlined line. The fish was still there, rising from time to time. I carefully descended to the river, and on third cast I got it! Nice rainbow, on dry fly. I moved upstream, then down, a...

When I came to Skawa, I found that river was vry crowded. There was 8 cars on the parking spot, and 9-10 fly fishermen on the river.  They were beating the water with floating lines, which gave me a hint they using dry fly. Water significantly dropped this week. It was 160 cm during last weekend. Now it is 125 cm, and 11,2 m3/s. It means you can easily wade, and cross river above and below the bridge in Jaroszowice. At 150-160 cm it is a risky exercise. I started with dry fly near the bank. Fish were eating mayflies, but not very active.  I think, fish had hard time to choose, what to eat, when hundreds of insects available. I walked up and down, without success.  When fish doesn't take, it's time to switch gears! I assembled trout spey rod, Winston Boron iiiTH-MS 4wt. I attached SA spey lite Skagit line, and 7'5 sinking tip.  Few runs downstream, and I got a fish. Small brown trout on white zonker. When I was casting streamers, I noticed big rainbow ...