Living in Hungary, a country as flat as a draftsman’s table, I usually do my trout fly fishing in neighboring Slovakia, Slovenia or Romania. Romania has some of the wildest mountains in the Carpathians, with streams bearing both wild and stocked trout and grayling. It also has a desperately poor rural economy.A few summers ago my wife and I were in western Transylvania fly fishing the Bistra river, a freestone stream that follows a valley into some of the highest peaks of the South Carpathians. This region is reached only by shepherds and mountaineers. We skunked out on our first day. Hiking back to the village we saw why. The local shepherds spent their days fishing for trout with long bamboo poles baited with caddis larva on stubby carp hooks. The idea of “catch and release” makes about as much sense to the local people as bulimia. Trout are free meat.We decided to hike further into the mountains on our next attempt. About every hour or so we stashed a few cans of beer in the streambed so that we would be able to enjoy a cold brew on our hike down. Our second day of fly fishing was as unproductive as our first. A few grayling nipped at my klinkhammers, but no trout. Around mid afternoon, standing in the middle of the stream, we suddenly were surrounded by dozens of goats, followed by an aged, toothless Gypsy goatherd. “Catch anything today?”“Nothing. Are there any trout left in this river?”“When I was young the river used to have trout the size of my arm, but now its all fished out.” The goatherd reached into his tattered rucksack and pulled out a pickle jar filled with three-inch long sculpins.“Plenty of these fish, though. Dinner!” Most shepherds lived their entire lives on a monotonous diet of mamaliga, Romanian cornmeal porridge served with sheep cheese, and the prospect of some juicy minnows made the old man’s eyes light up. I didn’t see any rod, net or other equipment, so I had to ask how he had caught them. The goatherd reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a rusty old fork. He then proceeded to wade into the stream, bent over, and slowly shuffled upstream, systematically stabbing at the gravel bed until, with a shout of victory, he held up a fat minnow impaled on his fork.“Aha! More fish soup! Come up to the camp and try some!”It was late in the afternoon, the fly fishing had been a total loss and the prospect of hiking higher into the mountains to dine on muddlers and mush wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for the evening. I said goodbye to the old goatherd and started down towards the village. About a hundred meters down the path I heard a shrill whistle. I turned and saw the old goatherd waving at us. His old voice boomed down the mountainside.“And thank you for the beer!”
Very interesting and well-written story, Z. I enjoyed reading it.
marshallD
great fish tale Z – LOOK closely at the picture – see the old man?
–> Your fish tale captures an important element of fly fishing. For me – the fly rod – is sometimes just an excuse to travel the world and say that there is a purpose to for my travels – in the end – my fly fishing memories will be culmination of the people i have met – the town, cities, states, countriels i have been to – the eperiences i have had – and the fish i have caught. i guess all of that, combined, are the things that fuel my passion for fly fishing. fly fishing is the perfect outlet to excercise my life long quest and never ending longing to see new places and learn new things. i do not find comfort in the things i know – rather in the things i have yet to learn. it is the learning that i crave.
maybe we will bump into each other in romania someday…till then….welcome to fliesandfins.com —–Jeremy
Great story ! Welcome to the best fishing site you will find! Thanks z
I’m happy to have found this site, as well. Past articles I have read in the archive are some great writing and universally helpful info from all over the world..
I’ll post more soon – my season opens next week in the Tatra mountains in Slovakia on the Vah, Revuca, and Bela rivers. Three hours north of Budapest, inexpensive day tickets for the waters, and rustic inns that serve beer, sausages with potato dumplings, and have diatonic button accordions hanging on the walls for the use of patrons. My kind of place.
Hey Z, I can’t wait to hear about some of your journeys in Eastern Europe. If you are ever in South Florida, let me know. I have a really good friend from Hungary, Csaba, who keeps trying to talk me into coming to Hungary with him this summer…he hasn’t quite takled me into it, but I think YOU might just have!
I have heard good things about Slovenia, seems to be not quite cheap though. The Czech republic also seems to be a place where good fishing can be had. I have a bunch of collegues working near BRNO, maybe I should ask them about fishing next time they are here.
Your catch-and-release line reminds me of the time I asked somebody in Greece about fishing. First reply was you need to dive for good fishing (spear), the second option I was told was to get a boat, set out a longline and return the next day to see if it was worthwhile 🙂
Hi Marcel
Slovenia isn’t too bad – the rising price of day tickets on the better streams is evened out by the savings in lodging and dining. And the fishing is amazing, a triumpoh of good fisheries management. The Sava Bohinjka is a good bet, cheaper than the Soca/Baca/Trebusija valley. Other, less well known strems are far more affordable. I’ll post a story later about Slovenia.
The Czech Republic is also good, but everybody says the fishing is hard for somebody not accustomed to their streams. If you want to take a journey from Holland, travel a few hours east of Brno to Slovakia. I’m going there next week, and will post a full story. Healthy, big trout, grayling, low fishing pressure, affordable day tickets.
Enjoyed your Oostvermeer story. I tried it last year – I had one day free, took a train and a bus and arrived in a raging thunder storm. Skunked again!
It is tradition to get skunked in Lake Oostvoorne. It happens a lot to me. The strange thing is that we always go in late fall and winter when you encounter the worst weather of the year down there. Still hooking only one of those strong big rainbows makes all the misery worthwile.
Would love to see a story about Slovakia, still rather unknown to us in the Netherlands.
Thanks Z. I will be in that part of Romania in mid-June. Could you recommend a local contact to give fishing advice?
check your messages.
Hi Z,
Very enjoyable story – thanks.
It’s a shame that there seems to be no way to contact posters on the site though as I’m a regular visitor to Slovakia and have just re-started fly fishing after a long absence.
I would have liked to get in touch to share tips (meaning milk you for advice!).
Still, if you see this post and fancy getting in touch, I’m at kituza yahoo com
Cheers, Charles.