December is usually the month when everyone reviews his assets. I speak about cleaning the flyfishing wire, the winches, checking the guides of the rods in order to see if they are in good shape, the boxes with flies are set in the drawer for the next season. Moreover, those who feel nostalgis about the times that have passed take a look of some pictures remembering about „that” whirlpool with the „huge” trout that would have pulled the fly at the end of the wire, had it jumped at it, obviously. Some could even tie a fly, to make improvements, to add something more to the „bug” to be more catchable. Still, there are a few lunatics who wander along the rivers, running from home with or without the accept of their beloved...one day per week is not too much for those who find fishing as the only means of relaxation, away from the noise of the city. I’m still a batchelor, I don’t have to ask for permission so I weekly get in the car(either Saturday or Sunday), call Paul or Misu(who must receive the „green code” from home) and head to the rivers which don’t have the banks frosen yet. We drive for 100-150 km to and fro equivalent to 4 hours driving.The day is short and cold so everytime we start at around 8. At that morning hour there is nobody else on the rosds exect the trucks and us so we won’t have the „pleasure” to catch any radars.

The heat is turned on at maximum limit in my car as I’m usually chilly so the guys have already gotten used to the sauna inside: “I’m like a battery; I have to be charged otherwise I will die friezing at the bank of the river!” The music, the high spirit and the chatter are also a must in our way to the rivers with fish. ABBA is heard at the radio and the boys burst into laughter when I’m telling them that this music would be appropriate for a Volvo, Scierra or Vision Equipment, Ericsson telephones and on top of all a salmon fishing match at the flow of a big river into a fjord similar is size. Putting an end to the day-dreaming I step on the gas to avoid the dirty snow thrown by a lorry as I run out of cleaning liquid. In the mean time I could already see the sun at the horizon while its reddish rays were caressing the car.

When we reach the river we have to do the most annoying thing(after the morning wakeup, of course), and this is getting dressed with the equipment in the blisterring cold of minus „X” degrees. We laugh, joke and also swear once in a while when one of us is on the point of stepping on the rods, time passes and we are completely equipped. Once in a while a peasant passes by and shivers and watching us entering the cold water but we are amused by them as they call us „lunatics”. The nymph fishing started. I have one nymph on the tip and 2 droppers. Paul has 2 while Misu keeps changing from 2 to three and vice versa. The fish are already in deep whirlpools; at 2-3 m they are very reluctant to the wet as well as to the dry flies. The temperature outside is below 0, the banks have ice and snow and the cold water which is around 4 degrees wipes out anyone who dares to swim.

The graylings and the trout are now on the „economy mode”, they have a whole winter ahead of them and they have to keep their energy in order to last. Some people think that the fish hibernate. What can I say? There are probably some species which do but those which are in the mountain streams eat in winter too. But they eat only what reaches their eye level, they don’t rise at the surface in search for food. The reason is that at a big depth the water has around 4 degrees which provides them the necessary comfort. We are all aware of this so we are looking for the areas with deep water, medium flow, with rocks on the bottom and moreover we will fish with heavy nymphs which are going to make a slight noise while they hit the rocks. I and Misu use the fluorocarbon of 0.10, rarely 0.12- when the water is a little shallow. In winter the water is usually clear so we need to use thin leaders or thicker fluorocarbon of 0.12-0.13 in the areas with branches under in the water. Did you try putting your hand into the water and look under the rocks to see what kind of insects are there in this period of the year? If the answer is negative you needn’t anymore as my hands have already been frozen while I searched for these answers. There are nymphs of ephemera, leeches, and rarely plecopthera nymphs or caddis. On several occasions there can be found mosquitoes’ larvae. As a result, our flies are mostly copies of mayflies. If last November the most catchable flies were little ones, during this period, at the end of the year, I fish with medium nymphs (the fish need to have a quite consistent food in order to determine them to strike. This is the reason why I tie pheasant tail nymphs on hooks size 14. Shoco began to use a nymph which I have known for a long time but never did it catch my attention: a PT with a bead on the tip tied on a caddis hook and with one turn of brown Indian hackle. During this period of the year the graylings are very keen about these nymphs and on top of all the weight of the bead which has an unusual position causes the nymph to stay with the tip of hook in an upward position, avoiding the obstacles.

 

 

 

 

 

Each of us chooses a whirlpool which he searches thoroughly with patience and stubbornness. Without these two needful qualities one might have no bites at all. Moreover, the fact that there are graylings of over one kilo which could hit on your fly is a serious motivation for any fly fisher. But these fish have become accustomed to the worms and angleworms used by the peasants so the sight of the flies doesn’t catch their attention. One must try to make them dynamic, in order for the insect to look like a nymph which has been taken by the water and starts swimming to look for shelter. The method lies in moving vertically and horizontally the fly while it is floating in the current. It is extremely important to have a natural aspect, to slide down gently at the bottom of the rocks and “dance” alluringly in the current.
In the end you make it look like a dead-drift in order for the fish to take it. Once it does, you will feel a strong force pulling, and there will be difficulty in taking back the control as if the hooks got stuck behind a rock. This is the moment when your knees start to shake while you don’t know how to loosen the reel break and afterward when you finally did you look in vain as the wire of 30 m is taken. The nightmare doesn’t stop here as you start praying, although you’re not a believer, to avoid the current and the tree which is down in the water on the other bank of the river. Why should he attempt to squeeze there? But it would be more weird if the would start to move in circle in a current made only for rafting. Once, a grayling made fun of me entering the vortex of the current, on its foamy waves. I called Paul to come and see in order to assure myself that I was not dreaming. I managed to pull it out, with my fishing rod of 7’, class 3(I forgot my fishing rods at home that day being in a hurry to go fishing, but I always have in my trunk a fishing rod and a reel just in case). I took a picture of it, so I have the proof! In the same way, Misu was hastening to catch a big fish in his nest. When I reached him, Yoda kept saying that he forgot about Sweden and because he’s fond about the graylings of Romania. Misu was so happy of his catch especially during the photo shoot, when he had a big smile on his face. He had caught the biggest grayling in his life, measuring 46 cm. He took it with brown-pink scud on #14.
There are cases when a trout of 30-40 cm hits on the bigger nymphs, but we are immediately releasing them.

IIn the evening we stopped at some friends for a meal and a good bear at Negreni, in our way back home. There is a saying that in autumn, the goslings are being counted but we release them.

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