Springtime on Střela

Having spent the 2010 Opening day on a put and take stream, which turned to be a disappointment of sorts, I teamed with my friend Vlado and drove to our beloved river Střela for the weekend. It is a smallish stream in what counts in relatively densely populated Central Europe as hard to access area and it supports a healthy population of both Brown trout and Grayling.

We knew from the online peg that the trip will most likely end up in a disappointment, as the heavy rain in the week immediately prior to Opening day caused the river to rise substantially, but the weather forecast promised a warm sunny weekend and we both suffered from a serious case of cabin fever.

The river turned out to be as unfishable as we had expected, and even though we assaulted it with flies of the Heavy Metal kind (Tungsten beads of 4 mm plus some lead) it refused to yield a single fish. The waters were high, muddy and cold (about 7°C). The fish were sensibly hugging the bottom in the deepest of deep pools and refused to be tempted with any of our flies.

After trying for a couple of hours we conceded defeat and turned out attention to the streamside to fully appreciate the beauty of early Springtime in the country.

And despite the fact that we got what we expected and not what we hoped for fishing wise we had a wonderful time, confirming the old saying that what matters is not the quarry, but the chase.

In any case, here is a toast to the successful 2010 season, wherever your fishing might take you - Cheers!

Opening of the 2010 Trout Season

The adverse weather and water conditions forced me to rethink my plans for the opening day of the 2010 Trout season. My initial plan to start at a wild and remote stream, casting to wild and native fish had to be scrapped due to high water. Plan B called for a civilized stream close to Prague, full of sickly stockies and spin fishermen eager to catch the full bag limit.

Since the alternative would be to sit at home on April 16^th, which seemed unthinkable, I decided to go and fish on Kocába.

The stream was as full as I expected: lots and lots of fishermen - and I did not start at 6:00 AM as the local custom dictates - and still some Rainbows from stocking earlier this week, who somehow survived the onslaught. I killed one and headed home, no sense tarrying.

The good part was that - since C&R makes little sense on this river - I was able to end the day in a festive manner, with a grilled trout and a glass of fine Veltliner.


The Recipe:
1 Rainbow Stockie of appropriate size
3 sprigs of Rosemary and a little butter inside the belly
a sprinkle of Lemon Pepper and a little salt
enough Bacon to cover the fish (about 2 to 4 slices)

Grill till fish until the bacon is done (it should take about a 1/2 an hour or so), serve with grilled vegetables (mashed potatoes are also fine) and some Grüner Veltliner :)

Whitefish in Bohdaneč

With still 3 more days to go till the trout season starts on rivers I headed off to my favorite stillwater fishery in Bohdaneč.
It is my favorite because it has on its banks a distillery of fruit brandy (also called Slivovitz) - a very potent drink nourishing both body and soul, that for some strange reason happens to be unpalatable to persons of other than East European upbringing.

For a time I tried fishing at surface - with shuttlecocks and foam buzzers - but that turned out to be just a case of wishful thinking. The air was cold - about 10°C - and the water colder still. After an hour or so of fishing a light rain started to fall. At these conditions no fish could be tempted to strike on the surface.

However, when I switched to a team of small dark buzzers I learned that the proprietors of the fishery prepared a surprise for me by stocking Whitefish (Coregonus peled). This is a pretty uncommon fish in the Czech waters and it was my first time I caught one on a fly (my initial impression was that a huge Bream had inhaled my fly).

The Whitefish seemed not to mind the weather and once I figured how to approach them I had an easy time catching several. The right way seemed to be with a smallish black buzzer fished almost static on a floating line and long leader (about 12 ft). I fished a 3 fly cast, but the fish almost always took the point fly (the only exception was one fish on mid dropper). I killed a couple and examined their gut - they were feeding heavily on small buzzer pupae, probably picking them off the bottom.


The tie:
#10 Kamasan B160 Hook
UNI 6/0 Thread black (builds the thorax faster than 8/0)
UNI Stretch Black for abdomen
UNI 1/69" Mylar Pearl for rib
UNI Floss Neon Hot Red for cheeks
2 - 3 layers of clear varnish

The season has started for real

With the sudden (and very welcome) arrival of warm weather the time has come to really begin with fishing. Rivers are still very high and muddy, so I selected one of the small stillwaters around Prague to try out. The unfortunate lake seemed empty of trout, reason for which became apparent by watching the resident pike population getting warmed up in the shallows.

Never the less black midges were hatching at the margins, so I had some fun fishing for roach and dace, who attacked my fly with zeal. Not what I was expecting initially, but it was dry fly fishing and a thus welcome diversion after the long winter.

The tie:
#18 Hanák H130 BL hook
Black UNI 8/0 thread
Pheasant tail dyed black
White Tiemco Aero Dry Wing
Opossum dubbing dyed black

The small black midge is an essential early season fly, about as important to a fly fisherman as the little black dress to a true lady :) I like to use the cross tied ADW for wings better than CDC or grizzly hackle - to me it seems much more visible on the water, an important feature for a size #18 dry fly.

4. Karlovarské muškařské fórum / 4th Fly Fishing Forum in Karlovy Vary

The Fly Fishing Forum is organized by the Fly Fishing club in Karlovy Vary (city also known as Carlsbad in German). It is one of the premier fly fishing gatherings in the Czech Republic, a great place to meet friends both old and new - a fact nicely illustrated by friendly meeting of two red tag flies - a Czech Graying fly and a Danish Sea trout fly.

This year the Forum was dominated by two themes: Sea trout fishing in Denmark, which is increasingly popular between Czech fly fishermen, and Split cane rod building, about which nowadays very little is known, despite long and distinguished history of Czech rod builders.

The Sea trout section was presented by René Gerken, master caster with great didactic skills, and Peter Varring Jensen, accomplished fly tyer with creative spirit (one who never lets his creativity be tied down by dogma of established patterns ;-), both from Denmark.



The Split cane rod section was presented by Philipp Sicher and Jaroslav Vecko from Switzerland. This was a true highlight of the Forum, as few of us had any opportunity to cast a modern cane rod before. Our Swiss friends were more than happy to explain common misconceptions about the cane rods with great patience - and a touch of showmanship, such as a brilliant rendition of the Baginski test of rod strength (definitely not something you would do with your graphite rod). At the end of the field demonstration everybody had the chance to cast several of the cane rods and compare different tapers.


The field demonstration was followed the next day by presentations of history of bamboo rod building in general and the Czech tradition in specific by Jarda Vecko and detailed presentation on the process of rod making from a bamboo culm to the finished rod by Philipp Sicher.


The whole audience was truly captivated by the bamboo rods - and their very enthusiastic makers - and despite some initial doubts many were converted to the idea of bamboo, the fishing rod with a soul.

Flying Ant - Balkan Style

The tie:
#21 TMC 103BL Hook
Benecchi thread Red
a touch of Lacquer
UNI 8/0 thread Black
One CDC puff

I have long watched the epoxy style ants that are tied by Balkan fly tiers with awe. Only recently I felt strong enough to give them a shot myself, this is what came out of it.

So it is with a deep nod that I raise a glass towards the banks of the fabled river Astraeus :)

Elk & Moose Shuttlecock

The tie:
#12 Hanák 103 BL hook
8/0 UNI thread Black
1 white Elk hair
1 black Moose hair
UNI Neon thread Burned Orange
3 shortish CDC feathers
Australian Opossum dubbing Black
a light coat of varnish on the abdomen to add a little weight and durability

It seems that Mother Nature does not love me as much as would I have thought; the white stuff keeps on falling and temperature is back to freezing. Not much to do fishing vise, so back to the tying table I am.
This one is a bit premature, as all the stillwaters are thick with ice, but for some reason I can't get the look of black and white hairs out of my head. Love the contrast...