Stillwater autum 2016
This autumn I attended few competitions. I was leading a project aimed on fish-passes in the opposite part of our country, so I organised my field trip to the week before the local bank lake competition called “Knápek Hooks Open”.
The lake “Nebesák” has no inflow and it was created in excavated surface coal mine, so all water comes either from rain or from a ground water. Lake has area of about 5 hectares and its relatively deep, the maximal depth is about 10 metres. Clarity of the water changes there according to different conditions, water is sometimes relatively clear, but last October water was dirty after heavy rain which had flushed the coil dust from banks into the water. Lake had relatively steep banks full of sharp stones and also coil, so any type of ground cloth is must have thing.
On Friday before the competition, I helped to my friends who organised the competition to prepare pegs, and in the evening I made all leaders. I never judge draw whether it is good or not, I simply accept it and thing how to utilise it. The day was very windy. I always fish with two yellow tadpoles in the point and in the upper dropper position and black one with fluo-green bead on the middle dropper. In the first round I started with Airflo 40 + slow intermediate line and lure with tg bead in the point but I found out, that I was too deep, so I changed the point fly by same pattern, but with brass bead and it worked well. In the first round, I finished with 9 fish on the third place, it was good start. The 40 + line gives me always advantage of few more meters over my rivals, which is important mainly during bank competitions with short pegs. Water surface is always literally flogged by lines and fish immediately escape far away from banks.
In the second round I was fishing the place, where is a shallow shelf which finishes about 5 metres from the bank by a steep slope, so I expected fish behind the shelf, I decided to take the Hanák Competition Hover line. This round I was not fishing well, I was a little tangling and lost few fish. After rotation I moved to deep place, so I took the Airflo 40 + fast intermediate line, I get fish from distance, but on the very last cast, I hooked good fish again in the casting distance, I lost it immediately, and on the hang of the same cast I hooked another one, but the fish was escaping to the side and jumped and I lost it again, and the bell finished the second round. I finished with 8 fish, but four people had also 8 fish and I had the smallest fish …. so I was sixth.
In the last round, the fishing became tough as usually, I got finally 2 fish on the Airflo 40 + fast glass line and washing line system, both fish took viva – booby on the point. I had again smaller fish than another competitor, but 6 place was not bad and in total I finished in the third place. Milan Šenkýř had also total score 9, he also caught overall 19 fish, but my biggest fish was by 5 mm longer than his fish 
so after bad luck in the second round I was little lucky in the end.
I was fishing Hanak Competition fluorocarbon 0,20 mm whole day, I use rods size 7-8 and very often Airflo 40 + lines, I tie flies on H 250 BL Hanak hooks and except the second round I did not lose a fish.
Competition was friendly and well organised, fishing was also good, I thing, that 19 fish a day is not bad, Jindřich Knápek donated nice prices for all attendants, I get nice real, the only problem was 4 hour journey home. Next year I´m back and hopefully I could win
