As we organised the European Fly Fishing Championship in Rožmberk in June, we decided to make Masterclass in September. I have to say, that it was a good idea, fishing was a little different but great. Group again consisted of a “Benelux” team and a “German” one completed by Kai, Jänö and a few guys from UK, Canada and the USA. We also invited new members of our organisational team, Martin Musil, Jiří Pejchar and Luboš Roza and it was very appreciated by all participants, as they all belong to the top fly-fishermen in the Czech Republic. We were fishing again mainly the Vltava 27 and 28, but we also visited the Malše and the Černá rivers, the Vltava 29P and the Vltava 33P. Nymphing in the Vltava 28 was not easy, we had to fish with tipped of diameter 0,12 mm. At Vltava 33P, fish were rising in waves through whole day and we enjoyed both fishing with very small nymphs and fine equipment and also with dries. The rod size 2 was the best choice for this day. Beautiful fishing was also in the Vltava 29P, as brown trout and also brook trout had nice colours as they were already preparing for spawning. We also made one trip to a trophy fishery the Vltava 24 with the ”German” group. Morning was hard as water was low and clear and sky was bright, but finally all fishermen caught a big rainbow and some of them caught more than ten big fish. One guy was snapped at least five times . I developed nymphing method “Cast and step” as all beginners made the same mistake, they spent a lot of time on the same place. During nymphing, mainly in the big river, it is necessary to explore as much water as possible to find active fish, so it is good to make one step after every second cast. At one pool I was sitting at the bank as a conductor and organised fishing of my small group and finally everybody found a fish there.

Six participants attended a fly-fishing competition called Rožmberský Cup and compared skills with the top Czech anglers. Advantage of this competition is, that every competitor fishes three times one hour and after every session made judge in the same beat, where he had been already fishing, so everybody can see, how and where the other competitors fish and how they make mistakes.

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We had again “Benelux” group which was enlarged by Gerald Purinton from USA, Jänö Kiss from Hungary and returning Finish guy Kai and we started cooperation with Rudi Kopf, who brought “German” group. Problem was relatively high flow in all rivers after heavy rain, but fishing was good.

I remember one day in the Vltava 33. I was fishing with Paul Canning from England, fishing was not bad, but also nothing special. Very nice experience was a hutch of big stoneflies, which always flew up all together in approximately one hour intervals; it was amazing to see so many big flies looking like helicopters in the air. But fish were absolutely apathetic. We were resting on the bank and suddenly I heard rising fish somewhere underfoot. I raised my head out from grass and I saw a small ring close to the bank behind a big stone. Since I knew this place, I expected good grayling. I took out nymphs from my French leader and put sedge to the point. Casting was not easy with this system, but it worked,  Paul called it “French dapping”. Problem was that the fish was not interested in my flies and took continuously something different. I tried about 10 flies without any success and next I saw a small black stonefly sitting on the surface in front of fish and fish took it. I found one small black sedge with peacock body in my box and casted it one and half meter above the fish. We both were watching, what would happen. When the fly reached to the fish territory, nice grayling did not wait and took it seriously … and snapped my leader, which was probably damaged during nymphing. I found another same fly in my box and gave it to Paul as a memory for this nice day. Later I fortunately caught another good grayling and Paul could make a few pictures.

One early foggy morning we were fishing in the river under the hotel with Kai, Paul and Rudi, Rudi got big rainbow from bank on streamer and had to run after the fish downstream. Me and Kai were nymphing under the weir and we got a lot of fish, as this place was not fished during past days because of high flow.

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