Adventures of fly angler in Poland

Water dropped to 243 cm. Flow 8,9 m3/sec. It means that should be good time for graylings in riffles. My first fish on Raba is always grayling. Almost. Now it took on red tag No.16. I moved from the riffle to tailout. Next fish was brown trout on small "Mr Brown" fly. Here's Mr Brown legend: hook: Hends BL120 No.18 head: 2,5 mm tungsten, hot pink body: turkey biot over brown dubbing throat: rusty dubbing When I moved to deeper water, I attached parkinson with 4,5 mm head. Got two browns on it. They love it! But, my goal was big rainbow. I moved down the riffle, and probed one spot with current seam between fast and slow water. While I worked my fly through the run, big fish jumped, I saw it's bright pink side. Rainbow! Here it is, just in front on me.   I thorously covered all water around the spot where I saw that fish. Even tried from another side of the river. Nothing. Maybe I scared this fish off.  OK, see you next time, Mr ...

Nice weather in the middle of the week. Why not go fishing? That's was a spontaneous decision. I tied couple of my new super-secret nymphs: size 18 hook, brown dubbing and turkey biot wraps on the body, and hot pink 2,5 mm head. That fly was successful for graylings, and I took nice rainbow trout on it last time. So, I hoped that fish will like it again. Water level was 257 cm, flow 13,7 m3/sec. Quite comfortable for wading. I started with 3 mm red tag on the botton, and "Mr Brown" on the dropper. Soon, I got first fish - a grayling on the red tag.  Small grayling, but I love them all. I know that , where is one grayling, can be many of them. I was in knee-deep water with fine gravel bottom and medium current.  Then I slowly moved couple of steps upstream. Next time, I got bigger fish. Whoooa, rainbow!  Nice catch!  Calm down, calm down, don't force it, said I to myself. I tried to bring fish closer and net him, but he wasn't ready. I released ree...

Due to 6 days of intense rain, all rivers in Southern Poland were blown out. I wanted to go to Slovakia on last day of trout season on September 30. But, Vah river level was too high for 4 days, so it was not an option. I checked Polish river level monitoring stations on http://monitor.pogodynka.pl/ Raba near Kraków was on acceptable level 260 cm and flow 14 m3/sec. I was pretty sure river was dirty, but I decided to give it a try. Teaser! River level was 30-40 cm higher than usual summer flow. So, when I crossed the river, water was up to my crotch in the deepest part, although it's usually near knee level. The conditions complicated by dense fog. Everything was cloudy - water and air. So I crossed the river, and started to run my Polish nymph setup.  Deep hole where I usually fish in, was unreacheable, and there was too high velocity. I decided to concentrate on shallow water near the bank. When I retied my fly, I've seen big fish splash just 2 mete...

In September 2017 year, Slovakia hosted World fly fishing championship.  River Bela was chosen as one of WFFC locations. This is one of the finest grayling rivers, holding plenty of fish in 30-35 cm size, with occasional specimens up to 50 cm. I planned that trip together with my friend Sergey. River level promised to be good, despite of chances of rain. We met in the morning at Borová Sihoť hotel near the river, where we bought the licenses.  Also, licenses can be bought in two fishing stores in the city Liptovský Mikuláš. Here are the addresses , where to get the license: Hotel – Camping Borová Sihoť Borová Sihoť, s.r.o., 033 01 Liptovský Hrádok, Slovensko Esox (fishing store) Kamenné pole 12, 031 01 Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovensko Starfish (fishing store) Ul. 1. mája 941/118, 031 01 Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovensko We started our fishing from the mouth of Bela, where it joins Vah. Catch and release part goes from the river mouth, to the highway bridge in vil...

That was my fourth visit to river Vah in this year. Trout season in Poland closed, and in Slovakia soon to be closed. So, it's time to focus on graylings. Especially for this trip I tied some nymphs in smaller sizes, 14-18.  River level was 54 cm, quite comfortable. I started from parking near the bridge in Ivachnova. Nothing happened for an hour. Then I moved upstream to the "Pharmacy". After hour of silence, I got first fish. It was grayling. Not a big one, but quite good. They liked small green nymph on hook size 16. So I hooked few more. Later, some bigger fish joined.  Brown trout took San Juan on 4mm tungsten head. Nice, thick healthy fish, and strong fighter. I wanted to catch something on streamer in the deepest hole, where fast current slows down. But there were no takes. I switched to nymphing again. More graylings, as usually. I think they are the most beautiful fish in our rivers, with colorful big dorsal fin. a...