The same change in weather has also signaled the start of proper Grayling season, and as such was eagerly anticipated by many fly fishermen. We are strange creatures indeed...
For the weekend I headed north of Prague to my favorite rivers Kamenice and Jizera. The thin drizzle has caused a slight rise in the water, but as there has been hardly any rain in the past few weeks the countryside was very dry and soaked the thin rain very easily. The rivers were thus still rather low and only a little off color. A hatch of lightly greyish Baetis mayflies started to appear very predictably at around 1 PM and woke up the grayling to action.
I struggled in trying to catch a sizable fish, chiefly because of the sheer numbers and activity of the grayling youths. After a while I stopped my casting and settled to watch the drift of hatching duns and their slaughter by hungry fish. From my place on an old tree stump I could not see any surviving dun passing by alive. The Baetis duns came down like little sailing ships, drifting very gracefully downstream and the grayling picked them off one by one as some sort of sea monsters without showing any hint of mercy.
In a wilder stretch of the Kamenice river I happened to catch an out of season brown trout lady. I released her quickly and carefully, and she rewarded me by posing for a while in the shallow water, so I could make a picture of her in the slow drizzle.
On the Jizera river I caught a smallish Rainbow trout. It has quite surprised me by its unexpected beauty - I am not partial to stocked fish, grossly overweight with their short stubby fins and foolish need to attack anything remotely resembling a food pellet. I was however reminded how graceful they can grow, if stocked as small fry and left to grow feral. Not to mention the unmatched fighting spirit of a nature grown rainbow,
The best imitation of very lightly colored duns proved to be my Eagle Owl emergers, tied in size #18 with wing of CDC and bodies of Eagle Owl herl.
Jindra - thanks for the beautiful post. When I read the names of the streams, it became apparent that you must be fishing very close to where my father grew up in the 1920ies and 30ies (greater area of Jablonec n.N.). I have visited the area a few times and am in love with the country north of Prague, sensing a close familiarity and attachment even though I was born and grew up outside abroad. We still have some family (my cousin lives in Harachov, he is a forester) and I long to return for a visit, maybe next time with a fly or tenkara rod.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind comment! The area I wrote about is quite close to Jablonec (right next door by US standards :) and very beautiful in a rugged way. You would do well to bring a fly rod next time you come to visit, though us Czechs might stare a bit at your Tenkara outfit, provincial as we are.
ReplyDeleteCheers!
J.
I think we often forget what fierce predators fish are. Those are great looking flies, no wonder the predator instinct kicked in! Cheers!
ReplyDeleteLovely photos Jindra. Great writing and fly tying - always a pleasure to visit!
ReplyDeleteMatt
Thanks Matt and e.m.b., I appreciate your encouragement!
ReplyDeleteJ.
Great photos!
ReplyDeletegrat!
Hi Jindro, very nice photo especially first. I know this emergers...I think that we have the same teacher :-)
ReplyDeleteTom
Very evocative, and cool flies - where do you get the eagle owl herl?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind comments!
ReplyDeleteI traded a feather (enough herl for about a hundred flies) for a small donation in an shelter for wounded birds. Such establishments appreciate any support they can get and the owls shed some feathers naturally, so no harm was done
J.
That's fascinating about the animal shelter....what a great trade!
ReplyDelete