Adventures of fly angler in Poland

I was in fly fishing competition on river Warta (Poland). It's annual event near city Częstochowa, sponsored by local fly shops and businesses. Warta is one of the longest Polish rivers but in the upper section it's typical overgrown small stream. It's tough for fly fishing, very few places with good access to water and space for overhead cast. Organizers made it even more difficult, and banned wading, so you can fish only from the bank. Exceptions are for crossing river to the other side or dealing with snags. Weather was cloudy with chance of rain. River was at low level, 71 cm and flow 2,2 m3/s. I arrived to my beat early and waited for the start time. Registration of catches electronic - you need to send photo of the fish to the organizers by phone. Photo shows the fish against the measurement tape. Only fish caught in the timeframe 9.15-13.15 is counted, if the length is more than 30 cm. I got nothing except small perch (doesn't qualify). The winner got 48 cm brown...

 First time in this year I came to Dunajec river.  The river was low and clear, 191 cm and 31,1 m3/s in Krościenko nad Dunajcem. I arrived to the river at 5:00 in the morning.  The first location I tried was the end of Dunajec special C&R section in Ochotnica.  It was good in previous year during higher water level. We caught few big trout just under the bank.  But , during low water this place changed. I think fish located to the middle of the river. I had couple of small trout on streamer. Nothing special. Moved to Krościenko nad Dunajcem, to the stretch between new foot bridge and first wall. New footbridge created great opportunity to fish both sides of the river. Actually, you can cross the river in wading boots too, but it can be dangerous, because of swift current and very slippery rocks in this area. I fished the hole below the bridge with my trout spey rod multiple times. I rigged it with brown zonker on the end, and wet fly (Irish wingless style) o...

Third day of my Huchen trip was substantially warmer. The air temperature raised to +4 C, and part of the snow melted. I had a hope that it will trigger fish feeding instincts.  In the morning I met couple of fishermen on the river, first time I saw somebody else fishing. We had a short talk, they were chasing graylings and not competing with me :-)    I fished pool under the rocks with sinking line from 9am to 13:00 with no success. After short break, I moved to the "hucho hole".  This pool is very interesting one. It starts with ridge of rocks at the end of the riffle. Below the dirge, main current goes on the left bank. Right side is very slow water.  I think that fish likely to be hold near the edge of the slow and fast current. I fished it from top of the run, covering both fast and slow water. In this pool , few year ago one of the biggest huchen on the fly was caught, 120 cm or so.  Then I crossed the river below the rocks. It has very dangerous bott...

Today it was slightly warmer. Air temperature from -1 to 0. It's better prognosis for fishing.  But during the night, ice buildup grown more.  Hopefully, it didn't spoil fishing, because I can wade beyond the ice field near the edge of the hole. After couple of hours, I got a strike! On the steamer.   Just at the right end of this hole.  It gave me a hope, that there's fish and it can be caught. Later, i moved to so-called "Prison" site. It's named because the run is across from the state prison in Wielka Wieś village. This part of the river has main current near the right side. It is shallow, fast run with pocket water, boulders, and many hidden holes. It's better to fish with floating line and long leader, casting from the middle of the river to the right bank.  I fished it all the way downstream to Bachława ford across the river.  There were no other takes today.  

After night spent at "U Mirka i Dorotki", I headed to the Huchen pool with renewed vigor. It was cold and wet, +4 C and rain.  I arrived to the pool before sunrise, and started fishing. This time, I rigged my rod with Rio Outbound Short Sink3. If fish is not willing to rise after the fly, let's try to deliver fly closer to the bottom.  I saw fish splashed in the middle of the pool. I thoroughly fished it from top to the bottom and back. At one point, I snagged my streamer on the bottom in the middle of the pool.  I decided to tear it off and lose. Pulled my fly line with two hands, using a lot of force. Surprisingly, the leader didnt break off, but there's something dragged with my streamer. Looks like big piece of grass. I pulled my fly line with two hands. There was 30cm piece of grass attached to the hook. Suddenly, big fish chased the whole thing (streamer with patch of grass), tried to bite it, but missed and returned to the hole. It was a Hucho hucho. The River ...

 River San was once a top Polish fly fishing destination. River is rich on grayling particularly, also it has decent population of brown trout and huchen. The main goal of my trip was huchen , or Danubian salmon (Hucho hucho). The huchen is large freshwater salmonid, related to taimen. The native habitat range of this fish is Danube river basin in Europe. But, it successfully planted in few rivers which do not belong to Danube drainage, including Polish rivers San and Dunajec.  What is known about river San' huchen. Unlike rivers in Austria or Slovenia, where these fish live in deepest pools, which require heaviest lures and flies to reach them, San is a shallow river. It's depth is average 30 cm - 1 m, with rare holes more than 1,5 m deep.  Which means, in San, huchen can be effectively fished with intermediate , or even floating line. Especially now, when river level is 165 cm and 9,43 m3/s at Lesko. Early in the morning, I started to fish famous Huchen hole #1.  T...

Today we have a holiday in Poland - Independence Day. I planned a trip to Dunajec river, in attempt to catch Danubian salmon on streamers. When I arrived to known spot early in the morning, I found there's already someone fishing the run. River was very low. Dunajec Gołkowice 137 cm and 14,1 m3/s. I fished this run with streamers when it was 50 m3/s and it was awesome. Many big trout on streamers. But now, it looked too skinny and not attractive.  I drove to the Mostki, to the deepest hole in this part of Dunajec. I spent couple of cours, casting heavy streamer on intermediate line with 9wt rod. No luck.  Since it's a holiday, I wanted to celebrate it with some real fish, not just grass and sticks caught in the water.  Luckily, I had my car packed with various fly rods for different conditions and methods. I headed to the Poprad river , which is close to Gołkowice.  Poprad also was low. Measurement  20 cm, 9,85 m3/s at Stary Sącz, and 98 cm, 6,58 m3/s at Muszyna...