It was a long dreary bus ride to Sector 1 of the Upper Morava River for me to start competition today for the World Masters Fly Fishing Championships here in the Czech Republic.  For nearly two weeks the weather has been spectacular, but of course, the first competition day it had to rain.  While the morning session was light rain the afternoon was a deluge.

 

At least there was daylight by the time I arrived at my beat.  I got there at about 7:20 AM and had a good 40 minutes to prepare my rods.  I rigged both my 4-weight Winston’s.  One for Czech Nymphing and the other for dry fly.  There were no fish rising this early in the morning so when the bell went off at 8 AM I used my nymph rod.  I caught my first fish on the second cast.  A 25 cm grayling.

 

My beat was number 4 and it was far from attractive.  There are some very nice places in Sector 1 but I didn’t get so lucky to get one in the random draw.  Usually in these comps, out of your four sessions, you get a bad one, a couple average ones and a good one.  Despite the apartment buildings on both sides, a pipe discharging dirty water and lots of people walking the banks, I wasn’t going to judge my spot until the end.  And a smart move, because I continued to stick a few fish after the first one.  At 8:45 I had 9 fish on my score.

 

I was feeling good at 9 AM.  During the first hour I landed 11 fish.  But then I hit a drought.  My beat had a nice looking pool but it was surprisingly slow.  I worked it hard for 30 minutes and only landed this one pretty little brown trout.

 

By 10 AM I’d only added a few more fish.  I was at about 15.  I started working the shallows above the nice pool and my luck changed, the grayling were stacked!  In the next 45 minutes I landed 15 more.  I was at 30 fish when I finished covering all the water in my beat.  There was 10 minutes left so I ran down to where I started at 8 to try the water again.

 

When I got there I had about 8 minutes left.  Just as I started nymphing my way up for a second pass I saw a fish rise.  I grabbed my already set up dry rod.  I had a CDC Mayfly on and caught the rising grayling first cast.  Sweet!  I searched blind after I released him but no luck until I spotted another rise.  The next one took a couple of presentations but I got him also with only seconds left on the clock.  When my three hour session came to an end I had 32 fish.  I felt like it was a solid score.

 

Well, let’s just say, 32 fish in 3 hours wasn’t nearly good enough for the contestants I’m up against on my bus.  I ended up scoring a mediocre 7^th place.  The Czech and the Spanish caught almost 50 and there were five others with more than 32.  Bummed!  A mental slam!  Hands down, the Europeans are Czech Nymphing machines!

 

My teammate Mike and I crossed paths at lunch before going into our second sessions.  While I was on Sector 1 Mike was downstream on Sector 2, the midsection of the Morava.  This section sounds more challenging because Mike caught only 12, yet despite less fish, he also ended up scoring a 7^th place.  The most fish caught on his sector was 19.  This told me one thing – my afternoon session was going to be more challenging to catch fish.

 

After lunch it was back on the bus and off to Sector 2.  This part of the Morava is much more remote and nestled in trees.  We practiced this type of water all week and I’ve done good here.

 

My beat was number 10.  I had 30 minutes to set up and inspect it.  My judge, a very nice guy who didn’t speak a word of English, held up his fingers showing that the morning angler landed a mere 3.  Yikes I thought, did I have another tough beat?

 

 

Honestly I thought my beat looked good.  And best of all I spotted two grayling rising in my main pool.  Knowing the morning results, I decided it would be wise to try and catch them both right out of the gates.  And that’s exactly what I did.  My second grayling measured 32 cm – a really nice one.  My judge was stoked for me!

 

Though I popped out of the gates strong, this beat would not be easy for me.  The rain picked up and I mean it became a torrent!  Within 30 minutes the river colored and rose a few inches.  The amount of fall leaves and branches that drifted through made dry fly impossible and nymphing a bit frustrating.  I’d go on to catch 10 fish in my session which seemed good, but unfortunately it scored me my second 7^th place of the day.  A disappointing day compared to my usual Team USA performance.

 

Good news however came when I returned to the hotel at 7 PM.  It turns out that Mike got 44 grayling in Sector 1 and scored a 3.  Pete had Sector 4, the lake, in the morning and scored a 3 and in the afternoon on Sector 3 he scored a 6.  Brett scored a 4 in the morning on Sector 3 and a 7 in the afternoon on the lake.  Believe it or not, despite some struggles we are sitting in 4^th place half way through the comp.

 

That’s all for today.  We could easily jump up a few places before its over.  Tomorrow is a non-fishing rest day and then we compete again on Friday.  Despite the challenging Day 1, I have a good feeling for a strong Team USA finish to come!

 

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing