Adventures of fly angler in Poland

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...

I rarely fish during the summer heat. First, I usually spend more with family and kids. Second, I don't like to be in waders under the hot sun. But, since trout season in Poland soon to be ended, need to use limited opportunities. Generally, there's hot weather now in Poland. But, early in the morning, there was fog in the river. The level is medium, 169 cm and flow 40,4 m3/s at Gołkowice. I started with Euro nymphing setup: big pink "parkinson" nymph, and smaller brown with chartreuse head. Soon, maybe on second cast, I got a nice brown trout. Then I got second fish, smaller one, in first 5 minutes. It took chartreuse brown nymph. So good start of the day. There were no other takes in this place. I moved down to the Mostki, the deepest pool in the river. I caught 3 trout in this pool, all on nymph. Unfortunately, there were too many pieces of grass swimming down the river. They are very annoying, you need to clean up hooks before every second cast...

Dunajec river Catch-and-Release section getting more and more popular, so it's hard to get a license on the weekend. This time, only licenses for the lower C&R section were available. They are slightly cheaper (75 PLN), vs 90 PLN for the whole C&R (upper and lower).  I arrived to the river at 6 AM and parked my car in the forest near the bank. There's a section of water with rapids, boulders and deep pockets between them. It may potentially hold many fish, but it can be fished effectively with only one method - euro nymphing (or Czech/Polish nymphing).  So I started with nymphs, although my favorite method of fly fishing is streamer. These pockets are just too short, steamer calls out for wider runs or pools. Soon, as I started, I got a fish.  But the pleasure wasn't too long, it came off the hook.  No problem, the river is big, and I can catch another one. Then I moved down below, to another rapids. In most of this river part, water is too fast,...

It was a long hiatus in fishing due to COVID-19 crap. Recreational activities were banned in Poland. The position of authorities is that there are very few excuses for going outside: going to work, shopping groceries, or walking the dog. Fishing wasn't one of the necessary activities for everyday life. But I bored so much staying at home for 3 weeks. The weather was very nice for fishing. So I decided to go to Dunajec river, a 100 km trip from Kraków. I got up at 5 AM and drove 1,5 hours on empty roads.  At 7 AM I dressed-up, assembled my fly fishing gear and arrived at the river bank. My first favorite spot is a long pool below the rapids and boulders. I know for sure it holds many trout. Dunajec was low and clear. Level at Gołkowice 158 cm, flow 28,3 m3/s. Temperature at Krościenko 6,5 C, but my termometer measured 10 C. Everything above 6 C is good.  I started, as usual, with my trout spey gear. Trusty Winston TH-MS 11' 4wt "Microspey", rigged with SA Ultra...

On the return way from Slovakia trip, I decided to stop near the stream, which I passed by many times. There's a cascade of rapids above the highway bridge. I walked there, and made few shots, using tripod and ND-filter on my Nikon DSLR camera. I drove few kilometers downstream of the river. There's very inviting place near the road.  An artifical waterfall created big and deep plunge pool. If there is a fish in this stream , it should be there. I decided to give it a try with my nymphing rod.  The water was super-cold in this stream. Much colder than in Raba, Dunajec, or other rivers I usually fish.  I caught one small brown trout.  I believe there's more, but it was too cold, and I decided to leave. The stream looks fantastic. I don't think there's trophy fish in it. But the scenery is very wild and beautiful. 

I planned short vacation in Slovakia. Two days I spent hiking in the mountains. One day I devoted to fishing on river Vah. Conditions were perfect - 46 cm at Besenova and 16,6 C temperature. First, I started at Besenova stretch. This river is famous for big rainbows. So I expected to catch few of them, especially on dry fly.  There was almost no takes on nymph. Only two small fish. I moved to Hotel Summit bridge.  There I spotted one decent rainbow trout, just under the bank. It was eating small insects from surface.  I tried to approach it with dry fly. Fish was very close to the bank, and in shallow water. I positioned myself, so fish don't see me. I made few casts, without reaction. Fish was still there, but I wasn't sure where exactly. I returned to the bridge and spotted this fish again. It moved a bit farther upstream. Probably disturbed by my casts.  I changed my position to upstream from fish.  I cast my fly few times downstream. Once fish struck i...

Recent rain in Dunajec river basin spoiled water clarity. I came early in the morning, to start fishing at 4:00. Water level was medium-low. 158 cm and flow 34,4 m3/s at Gołkowice. But I could barely see the bottom in 1 meter deep runs. I started with quite big (10 cm) streamers, having in mind to catch Huchen (hucho hucho) - king of Polish rivers. Streamers didn't give me any bites. It's really strange, because I'm sure there's a lot of fish in this river. Where they are? Probably, not feeding today? I switched to my Euro nymphing setup.  Soon, I got couple of brown trout. Less than average, 30 cm with something.   But, it was better than zero. Both fish were taken on "Parkinson" - silicone worm nymph. I continued to explore run with nymphs.  Once I got strike from bigger fish. I think 40-45 cm. It fought hard, jumped, and unfortunately came off the hook.  It was a nice fish. The biggest fish of the day is usually the one, which you didn't catch....