Adventures of fly angler in Poland

 I was planning 3-day trip to Slovakia for fishing tenkara on small streams. But, for financial reasons the plans changed.  The potential expenses exceeded my budget for fishing trip.  I decided to go to Polish rivers in Podhale region, because fishing in it is "for free" to me.   Well, not really for free, but I have yearly license for Nowy Sącz angling association waters, paid for the whole 2024.  First I came to Dunajec river. It's a big river with wide open space. I didn't catch anything in couple of early hours. Also the wind became stronger, and I was struggling with the casts. Tenkara and wind don't go well together.   Why continue to suffer, if I can go to another stream? They are on the same license, and in the vicinity of 30-40 km.   I jumped in the car and headed to Biały Dunajec. In 50 min I reached my destination.  The river was at low level, 100 cm and 4,1 m3/s flow. The first spot I've chosen is a deep long pool under...

13-14 July we have first tenkara festival in Poland. It was long-awaited event for enthusiasts of this very niche kind of sport.   I took short vacation, to fish 4 days continiuosly from Friday to Monday.  I woke up at 3:00 and drove my car to Dunajec river. There was heavy rain recently , and Dunajec was dirty.   I drove to another river, Białka Tatrzańska, it's about 45 km from the first river.  The river looked OK, but I decided not to fish it, but headed to Czarny Dunajec.  Maybe next time? Białka Tatrzańska in Trybsz at 222 cm and 6,8 m3/s flow.  Another 40 km or so, and I arrived to Chocholów, a town in the headwaters of the river Czarny Dunajec.  This is very upper part of the river, close to the national park. The water usually clean there, even after rain. River level was 136 cm and the flow 3,1 m3/s at Koniówka. This flow is medium-low.  This river part is characterised by cascades of rapids, small plunge pools, and shallow fla...

  Today I spent few hours on known trout river near my town. I took tenkara rods only, no fly rods with reels, to avoid temptation to use it when i can't catch anything. In my bag were Dragontail Hellbender, Daiwa Expert LT36, and my new all-red shiny Tenryu Furaibo TF39. The first thing I usually do on the water is "prospecting". Spotting where the fish are, insect activity, signs of fish feeding on the surface or subsurface. I spotted big brown trout from the bridge. About 55-60 cm. It was hanging in shallow water, about knee deep or less. I also spotted another 2 trout, slightly smaller, but they were hiding under sunken tree. This big one stayed in the open water. I watched this beauty for few minutes, before decided to descend to the water. Due to this trout size, I rigged my "big fish" rod - Dragontail Hellbender. First thing I started, I cast slowly sinking kebari fly subsurface, on level line and long tippet. I tried to do "fly first" prese...