Season opening - Wild Bows from the Canal
After a long winter chasing Zanders, 1st of March finally knock at our door. Opening week was as usual fun. Lot of people I didint see during the winter, lot of eating and a lot of drinking, there was a little bit fishing envolved i promise.
I decide to visit the famous canal with wild rainbows in Međimurje county near city Varaždin, in a place called Prelog. Only one hour drive from Zagreb you can find the strongest beautiful wild rainbows in Croatia and maybe in the whole region. The canal is a product of a huge accumulation lake, underground water pressure is so strong that the lake management had to dig up a canal so the water has a place to break out and flow into the Drava river. When it comes to season-opening, the canal was full of people and fishing was hard as expected. There are no trees or high grass to hide, so this spooky bows can see you from 15 meters, and soon as they start to swim up and down, left to right it is much harder to get a bite. I saw some big fish, and when I say big, I mean 70cm/27inch + big. Some of them spooked as soon the fly hit the surface of the water, but some of them stayed. As you presumed by now, you can sight fish on the canal, and it’s super fun. I started with the euro nymph setup with Hardy Zephrus and Hardy MTX reel, but soon I realize that I can’t have enough distance and I can’t go deep, so I change my kit to a Greys GR80 rod with gx1000 reel and classic fly line. All I can say that that was a good choice. I manage to get some fish out with heavy Gammarus (shrimp) fly and classic Pheasant tail with a tungsten bead. The average depth of the canal is about 2 meters and the flow is even almost on every spot. There is a lot of hot spots on the canal, but since you can sight fish there I will leave you to find them yourself in a beautiful walk by the wild rainbows.
I must admit that I don't have a lot of experience with the canal, but I believe I am doing alright there. Since I practise sight fishing a lot on Slunjcica, Gacka ect, I just had to adopt a little bit. The main difference between the Canal and some wild river is that there is no obstacle in the water, just a few rocks and vegetation and the water current is the same all the time. A pure look into the water tells you that life in there is crazy healthy. I think the main trout food there are shrimps, but I also get some bites on pheasant tails and stoneflies.
The first thing you must have in mind is that the fish can see you long before you can see the fish. So you must keep your distance and when you notice the fish just stop and let her get used to you a little bit, don't get closer more than 10 meters at first, later you can approach slowly. If you want to sight fish like me, a simple cast upstream will do the trick. Have at least 3m tippets and watch that your fly line doesn't hit the surface close to the fish. It's not rocket science but its a pretty delicate thing to do when you are watching big trout feeding in front of you. This year one of my goals is to master the canal much as possible.
Pictures and text: Luka Šimunjak