Poland Trip 09

Fishing day 3. All the talk the previous night had been about how the forecast freeze could help stabilize the river without bothering the fish much at all, so when we all woke to 6-8 inches of snow and freezing temperatures we felt kind of hopeful.

It was also decided to time this day a bit differently. We visited the fly shop in Sanok in the morning, had an early-ish lunch at the lodge and timed it to hit the river just a little while before the hatch. We didn’t fully plan for these though.

Still we made it in time for the duns to start popping off. It startled me how good this day turned out to be, it’s not like we all caught 100 fish each or anything but taking into account the snow, temperature and the fact the turbines just upstream were keeping the river artificially high and coloured… we all did well.

Our soundtrack for the day was more and more falling trees in the surrounding forests, every 5-10 minutes there would be a creak then a loud snap, you look up and see all the tree tops shaking as a tree came down under the weight of the snow. Once the hatch got going the fish started rising, it was bizarre fishing dries to rising fish in such heavy snow but with concentration you could just about track the path of your fly. As you can see from the bend in Richard’s rod in the photo below some really nice fish were active too, which was a bonus.

Fishing day 4. For the third day running we headed back to same fishing area, outside the lodge the river was much lower than it had been since we arrived but it was still coloured. On arriving we found it completely different to the last couple of days, the turbines were off and the river was about a foot lower meaning we had casting access to the full section rather than just small areas, as an added bonus it was clear too. Since we’d all been huddled around the bottom of the stretch for a couple of days we took the opportunity to space ourselves out and I found myself on a nice slow glide near the upper limit. The hatch hadn’t kicked in yet so I started out with a dry and nymph and picked up a few Grayling fairly quickly with the nymph but as I moved up the stretch fishing the water all of a sudden it just all kicked in. Within a couple of minutes of the first dun passing me by the river was carpeted in them and the Grayling were looking up. On went a small Olive F Fly, very difficult for me to see but the fish liked it, a couple of hours and some nice fish later I just had to get out of the water as I was losing all feeling in my feet. I walked down to join the others for a chat and swapped spots with Paul, hung out there for a few fish then moved back up in time to see Paul bank a really nice Grayling. A few more fish were caught before the snow started again big-time, we walked the stretch looking for any final fish but the day was done. Best day of the trip so far.

Fishing day 5. The river at the foot of the garden had a thick mist burning off first thing in the morning, as it cleared you could see the river was looking in great condition, clear and still low.... we would have more choices today.

Our guide, Richard, picked out a new stretch for us to try. It looked very promising, a huge section of shelved broken water below a long glide with three large pools at the head of the glide, all excellent fish holding water. We spread ourselves out and I picked a spot towards the top end of the glide, on went the dry and nymph to search with until the hatch and rise started. Like most other days the wait was not a long one and several fish started rising in front of me. Time flew by as I moved from fish to fish, catching, missing or spooking them.... top class. After working up the Glide I tried a nice fast run at the head of the 3 pools and caught a few on a Klink before moving back to the pools.

By this time the rise was waning so I switched to a Sedge and trailing Shrimp and had a bit of a bonanza time in the pool heads and the top of the glide. All too quickly the day was over.

Fishing day 6. Last fishing day of the trip, another new stretch was picked out by our guide but unfortunately when we arrived we'd been beaten to the punch and a group of Polish anglers were already in the water. We headed to another stretch downstream but again.. too late.. luckily every bit of this river seems as good as the others and before too long Richard was dropping us off in pairs at different spots just upstream of where we spent the first day. I found myself at the prison stretch and a really nice run up the far bank, since we'd all caught a lot of fish over the last few days we were trying to target only Grayling wherever possible. So... after a couple of Trout on nymphs I switched over to a dry to help aid that. Working up the run I scanned the rises and with the clear water most times you could see if the fish was Trout or Grayling, if it was clear it was a Trout I'd pass it by and move up to the next. We caught a few fish here but it seemed to be populated by Trout only so we headed downstream to the area we fished on the first day and the hope of some nice Grayling.
Again, not disappointed. If I thought it was good on the first day here this day was just outrageous. I saw a few fish rising but by the time I'd waded out the rising fish seemed to be everywhere. I could have cast in almost any direction and covered fish. So... same tactic as yesterday, map it out and move from fish to fish. This was fishing of unbelievable quality and kept going until the group re-convened for a very late lunch and to push the people carrier out of the field (different story, another time). Lunch and a heat at the fire were most welcome.
The fishing after lunch for me didn't live up to the fishing before but it would be churlish to moan as it was so ridiculously good before and everybody managed a fish or two to end the trip with.

I'll return given the chance and I'd strongly advise anybody else who gets the chance to take it... Grab it with both hands. The San only showed us a bit of it's capabilities due to the weather and water conditions but if it can be this good in these conditions just imagine how unreal it could be if you catch it luckier than us.

This trip was booked through and led by Paul Procter and again I'd recommend anybody to join one of his trips.. to anywhere. I hope he won’t mind me saying this but he could pull fish out of a puddle in the road and there can’t be many people who wouldn't learn something from fishing with him. Click his name above to visit his website and check out his future trips, arrange some guiding/tuition or find out about his demos and presentations.

Last but by no means least there was a great bunch of guys on this trip and I'd like to thank them all for their company. Reg, Paul, Richard, Howard, Steve and Nick it was a pleasure fishing with you guys and hopefully I'll get a chance to do it again.