2013. december 21., szombat

River Zagyva, Hungary, 29. Otober 2013

I heard some good news about Zagyva, so I visited this river. This is not a salmonid river, slow, and runs on the Hungarian Great Plain. My good friend, Levi guided me, who lives there, in that region.
You can flyfish here for Chub (Squalius cephalus ), asp (Aspius aspius), pike (esox lucius), but ide/orfe (Leuciscus idus) has the most significant population, and it is good fun to cath them with wet or dry fly. They can grow up to 2 kilos/over 50 cm, but my biggest one one this afternoon was only cca 33 cm.
It was a nice fishing, during my 4  hours there I cought several ides, 2 asps and even a chub.
this one turned out to be my last fishing in 2013, as I had to miss the PIKE season because of several reasons.
But you need to know, Hungary has several lakes with huges pikes (like lake Szücsi, or Mátra tó http://www.matrato.hu/fooldal.html). Hope i will have the ocassion to flyfish for them in the coming spring.
...and the photos...




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2013. október 25., péntek

San cup, San river, Poland, 17-19. October 2013

San is a famous and very interesting river for flyfishers in Southern-Poland. It has a special character, very wide riverbed, and shallow, cristal clear water. The river is full of fish, big graylings and brown trouts, but sometimes incredibly difficult to catch them and requires special techniques.



 San Cup (or officially San II. Lech Straszkiewicz Emlékverseny,október 18-19-20 ) is a round of the Hungarian Flyfishing Chanpionship (organised by the Association of the Hungarian Flyfishers, MŰHOSZ, www.muhosz.hu ), and takes place every year in October since 2006. I am not a competitor type and don't really like fishing - especially flyfishing -  competitions, but I love the atmosphere, its challenge, the river itself, so I only missed one event, and took part now on the 7. time.
In the first years I could hardly catch a single fish as had no much experience in grayling fishing, but after several years of practice and experience the results came.
Probably because of this grayling is still my favourite fish, as it was a dream to finally catch one.
The suggested accommodation is Pension Gawra (http://gawra.bieszczady.pl/?lang=en), cheap but nice place with good meals, and friendly hosts. Especially Edyta:)! IT is olny cca 200 m from the river, and you can buy the fishing licence there (they sell the normal licence, but can arrange also to licence for the Catch&Release part, someone from the fishing club takes the licences to the hotel). Price is cca 20 eur / 70-75 zloty.
In my opinion the best parts are on Catch & release section at the island and at the water power plant, on the normal "kill" part from the bridge south from Garwra till section border upstream are all good, espcecially nearby Salamadra hotel or the coinfluence with Hoczevka stream and at the "prison". There are several good places, just look for the spots which are flowing a little bit and has some depth.
If you like lake fishing, the Solina lake is also an option mainly with rainbow trouts.

About this year fishing:


We arrived on 17. oct in the afternoon after cca 6.5 hours drive (from Sóskút/Budapest) in a DACIA DUSTER (great car, really!, unfortunatelly not mine:)  with my French fishing mate. (we planned to leave  at 4 am, but Christian arrived to my place at 5:30, argh..:)
I also prepare with own flies, but I trust in the local flies better, and try those ones first, so on route we bought the nymps and dry flies in the fishing shop in Sanok (http://topfly.com.pl/lang-en/content/4-o-nas) what the owner, Adam suggested us. Quick check in at the hotel and we went to the C&R part.
I was fishing, Christian was sleeping in the car (woke up too early and was very tired..:)
 I was pleased to immediatelly recognise the intensive hatch and activity on the river surface, but I trust in long nymphing with monofil better, so I started with this one. I already cought a nice, cca 35 cm grayling for the second cast.

It was followed by several nice graylings from 30 to 40 cm, plus a big one, 43-44 cm.



I changed nymp to dryfly, and that worked well too. Fish were active till 5pm.
In the evening, as usual, get together, meet with long not seen fishing mates, chat&flytying. You can collect all important news about Hungarian flyfishing society during these times!
Second day was the day of the Competition, AM, kill section. I was very-very tired, couldn't concentrate, and my tactic was a disaster, long nymp with monofil, is shallow slow water, strong wind and rain, so I could catch only one normal size grayling, one small and several trouts, which do not count in the competition (brown trouts are prohibited to catch in October).

The PM part on C&R section of the competition was much better. I cought 3 nice fish including the biggest grayling of my life, 49 cm!



 I lost cca 5-6 ones between 30 and 40 cm, and cought cca the same amount of small graylings, and a nice brownie. The big grayling turned out to be the biggest one in the competition!
Dry fly worked much better than the nymph.
Next day: AM lake fishing part of the competition.

 Nice, sunny weather, totally 0=Zero activity. Most of us didn't catch a single fish, including me. End of competition.
 PM: The Local Polish expert, captain of the Polish Flyfishing Team (anyone could help with a name? probably Piotr Koniesny but i can not spell or find on the net) showed us some great techniques how to be more succesful on river San (and probably on other rivers)  - extremely useful!
Then we left with Christian for cca 1, 1.5 h hours fishing late afternoon on the kill part (Christian was very efficient, 4-5 nice graylings, cca 30-35 cm, i only cought smaller ones).


at 5 pm we had to end fishing. For me it was probably the end of the fishing season. Start in next April/May.
SAN HAS NEVER BEEN SOO GOOD, lot of fish, good sized fish! THANK YOU!
In the evening the winners got their medals and trophies, I received my well deserved trophy for the biggest fish!:) and we had to depart, back home...
I wish I has some more time, but I will be back!



2013. október 24., csütörtök

Hron (Garam) - grayling section, Slovakia, Fall 2013 (28. Sept + 09. Oct)

Some friends told me that after several years Hron is good again. It was one of my favourite rivers, but in the past 3-4 years I had only bad experiences or news, so I decided not to visit that river. Untill now.
The road conditions to Brezno were not good, 4 h drive from Budapest, but both times we made a one day trip there. The water was crystal clear, its level was very low, and there was hatch everywhere.
We cought lots of graylings from 25 to 35 cm, plus a few rainbow trouts on dryfly, plus i had a surise catch, a small hutcho, the first one of my life. It took a small nymph.
The best beats are from Brezno to the north till the revir border (start of trout revir). nearby bridges in Bujakovo, Filipovo, Gasparovo. 
Licence: you can buy the daily licence (if you have the Slovakian general licence) in Anton's fishing tackle shop, Anton's cell phone number is this one: 00 421 905 464 594. He speaks German.
 The shop is cca 100 m from main square, even less (no entrance from main street, so difficult to find), but i am not sure about the address. I think it is this one: Rázusova 928/4, 97701 Brezno

Accommodation:
There are some hotels like Dumbier in Brezno, but i never stayed there.
I booked once a very nice traditional wooed weekend house through limba.com, a slovak online travel agency.
This house: http://www.limba.com/en/accommodation_slovakia/cottage/zavadka-nad-hronom/14635.htm?pp-data=874|2013-11-23|vyhladavace|vyhladavace|google&uid=1414423840526943af14d196.21443598
(owner speaks Hungarian)



Some photos









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Savinja again (19-20. September 2013)

We visited Dreta and Savinja, my favourite rivers again, for the second ocassion this year. This time we were not as lucky as last time. On Dreta near the source there were some bridge consructions, which made the river dirty and unfishable for us, and we recognised this after cca 30 minutes fishing (at start it was clear), and the bought fishing licences were in our packets already...so we moved to the lower section of Savinja, where this licences were also valid. The river was not clear, apart from a small part at the upper revir border. It was still a nice fishing there, without big fish, brown trouts and graylings, cca 20-30 cm in length. On the second day we visited the northern section of Savinja near its sourse. One of the most beautiful revir i have ever fished, narrow valley, big pools, beautiful brown trouts, but not big ones, up to cca 35 cm.

Again the accommodation and licence details (copy-paste:) :
You can buy the licence here: RD Mozirje (fishing club) Cesta v gaj 2, 3330 MOZIRJE
http://www.rd-mozirje.si
for Dreta and Savinja-Mozirje Club's water
In Ljubno and upstream the fishing licence is 50 eur / day, and the river is wilder, very spectacular in a narrow valleys, and there are more fish. Dry fly and nymph works well.
06. June was a very good day for me, I cought several graylings over 40 cm (total lenth), the biggest one was 46 cm.

Suggested accommodation: Guesthouse Plaznik, address: Podter 6, 3333 Ljubno ob Savinji
http://www.plaznik.si/prenocisca.php?jezik=en
The owner is Anica, a very nice lady.  Accommodation cca 20-25 eur / pers / nighr with breakfast, cca 30-35 eur with also dinner included. Place is cca 3-4 minutes walk from Savinja.
You can buy the licence for Ljubno club's revir here

and the photos:

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2013. szeptember 15., vasárnap

Summary of spring and summer trips, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary, 2013

After the long winter (snow even at the end of March) my first real flyfishing trip this year was in

01+02. May 2013, Slovenia, river Radescica+Krka,
Water very cold, no hatch at all, unlike we expected, only nymp fishing. Not many fish, only trouts, but
I cought my biggest rainbow trout in natural water in Radescica on 01. May. (total length 61 cm).



and the Radescica at the sourse, it has currents and good flow here, but downstream from this point very slow and deep water only

and the Krka river:


Suggested accommodation:
Gostilna Stravs is my place. I would gladly suggest this guesthouse to anyone. The owner is Rado, his son is Kris!
Both are experienced flyfishers and will be glad to help.
Radescica source is cca 100 m from this place. Krka is a few kilometers.
Price: cca 20-23 eur per person per night with breakfast, you can have dinner in their restaurant for cca 10-12 eur
Address: Gostilna Štravs, Podturn 28, 8350 Dolenjske Toplice
http://gostilnastravs-flyfishing.com/Flyfishing.html

How to get the fishing licence for Radescica & Krka? You can buy those in the guesthouse, don't worry.
Daily price (cath&release) cca 35 eur for Radescica, and cca the same for Krka

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8. May 2013, somewhere in Hungary

at a stream in Transdanubia (private revir), where nice brownies live


Here it is not possible to buy fishing licence...

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05+06. June 2013, Slovenia, river Dreta+Savinja,
Dreta is a beautiful and small river, one of my favourite ones, I always had nice time and good fishing there. The Mozirje Club issues the same licence to this this river and to their section on the Savinja.
The 35 eur daily licence is really reasonable. In my opinion you can find the fish easier in Dreta, but you can expect bigger ones in Savinja Mozirje club's section.
You can buy the licence here: RD Mozirje (fishing club) Cesta v gaj 2, 3330 MOZIRJE
http://www.rd-mozirje.si
for Dreta and Savinja-Mozirje Club's water
In Ljubno and upstream the fishing licence is 50 eur / day, and the river is wilder, very spectacular in a narrow valleys, and there are more fish. Dry fly and nymph works well.
06. June was a very good day for me, I cought several graylings over 40 cm (total lenth), the biggest one was 46 cm.

Suggested accommodation: Guesthouse Plaznik, address: Podter 6, 3333 Ljubno ob Savinji
http://www.plaznik.si/prenocisca.php?jezik=en
The owner is Anica, a very nice lady.  Accommodation cca 20-25 eur / pers / nighr with breakfast, cca 30-35 eur with also dinner included. Place is cca 3-4 minutes walk from Savinja.
You can buy the licence for Ljubno club's revir here








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26+07. June 2013, Slovenia, river Kupa (Kolpa),
The Kupa is a wonderful river running on the border between Slovenia and Croatia.
The landscape, the water is one of the most spectacular ones in the region.
You can cath mainly graylings, some brown trouts. In Cabranka (one of the tributaries of Kupa) mainly brown trouts (licence is valid for this river too)
Daily licence for Kupa without Kupa source, but with Cabranka: 20 eur
Kupa source and Kupica: 35 eur

Accommodation: Hotel Kocac
Hotel in športni center Kovač
Kolpa d.o.o., Sela 5, 1337 Osilnica
www.hotelkovac.comYou can buy the fishing licence here.
It is a little expensive, but good food. you can surely find cheaper accommodation in private houses.







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