Jerry Arnold and I arrived in the Czech Republic with ease yesterday afternoon. All the threats about boarding planes without Covid this and that had us scared we’d be denied somewhere along the way but all was good.
We arrived in Prague to a beautiful fall day with sunshine and temps in the mid 70°s. Map quest said we had about a 3.5 hour drive east to Hanušovice but with traffic, a few wrong turns and lunch along the way it took more like six hours.
We arrived at sunset to our Penzion Andělka. It’s a cool little place but no one was around to check us in. We have a guide for this week, David Chlumsky, and we called him. Turns out they hid us a key in and outside box. Once we got in we were set.
What we weren’t set for though was food. We were hungry for dinner but this little town shuts down at night. We found a small grocery and bought some nuts, meat and bread and limped through dinner. At least we picked up a couple nice room temperature pilsners to go with.
Today we met our guide David and got fishing licenses sorted and ran into a couple other teams doing practice just like us. It was the Spanish and French Teams. I know most of them however the language barrier makes it tough to share recent adventures. Nonetheless its great to see them all again. It’s been since 2019 at the South Africa World Masters Fly Fishing Championships.
After licensing David brought us to a local restaurant for an early lunch then we went fishing. We fished the Morava River which will be the river for three of the four venues in next weeks competition. While we aren’t allowed to fish the actual competition water, there are organized designated practice waters which are nearby. We fished the section between sector 2 and 3 on the lower Morava.
The river is beautiful. Though this is the larger section of the river it’s still small due to the fact its late in the year. Its wadable and surrounded by thick forest. I love this kind of fishing but it takes some practice not to get stuck in the trees.
David is a great guide and Jerry and I listened to what he had to say carefully. Yeah, we are pretty good trout anglers but its well worth picking up a few tips from a local pro and also to hear some tactics for the European grayling which will be a huge part of this competition.
The fishing itself was fantastic. I’m a little surprised at how good it was. After we watched David fish and catch a few fish, we jumped in and went to work. As if the fish gods planned it, there was a pod of grayling rising right where we parked. I couldn’t help myself and quickly asked Jerry and David if they minded me giving them a try. A minute later I was holding my first of the trip!
Jet lag, overall exhaustion from the last ten days of packing up my house, packing for this trip and life overall, its time for bed. I have more than a week to fish before the competition and then three days of competition. There will be plenty of good reports to come. Time for sleep!
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