As usually first weekend in May, we organised May Cup on Květoňov lake, the lake was drained during winter due to some reconstruction, so all pike and other fish were removed (I will bring some statistic in separate post) and the lake has been stocked only trout since end of February and before competition we stocked another 400 kg.

As expected, the fishing was excellent, all fly fishing methods worked in different parts of the day and it was caught almost 800 fish, biggest fish had 50 cm. I was fishing well all three bank sectors but I blanked in boat, I´m not in the high competition mode like in the past

Good test before Championships which we will organise next year.

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Our government introduced some restriction concerning Coronavirus relatively in time, so we have not so dramatic course of the epidemic, they stopped all sport and culture events, closed schools and restaurants and majority of public services, they recommended to limit going to town, shopping and meeting to each other, and we have to wear veil in town, and also people are recommended to work from home if possible.

But fishing is not banned as outdoor activities do not increase the possibility of virus transmission and improve our immune system, of course . So we regularly stock Květoňov Lake and Vltava River and I also sometimes find a space during my home office to go fishing Fishing competitions has been also banned, so we have more time for practice.

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In Vltava 24, we have recorded the best winter season in the  memory, the mild weather and lover discharge enabled to survive a lot of fish from last year, and this fish look for a native food. From the end of February, we can see a hatch of an insect every day, it started by stone-fly and just now we have hatch of large olives. And fresh stocked fish always prefer hatch of a blob The blob is phenomenon, it works both in muddy and clear water, I have already caught many species on it, rainbow trout, brook trout, barbel, nase and chub .
As we have stocked relatively big fish, I fish with my favourite Sage Z-Axis size 5 and use 0,18 mm tipped For dry fly, I use 0,14 as the overwintered fish are up to 1 kg.

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Květoňov Lake is also great, we have already stocked fish twice, I had also few nice days there, but I did not make a picture, so I borrowed two pictures from Facebook profiles of my friends.

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The fishing in the Květoňov lake was the biggest disappointment in the Championship, water had been relatively warm and a heavy rain had brought nutrients to the upper layer of the lake just before the Championship, which triggered growth of algae, so the water was like pea soup during the competition and fishing was nothing special, mainly from bank. But after the championship, the water cooled down and fish became more active, so I visited lake with David. We had about 50 fish in the boat during evening session, including 7 fish over 50 cm ….

First four pictures are from championship, last four from our visit

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Water in rivers is still high, so I concentrated to Květoňov lake in last days. One afternoon was memorable, I caught 11 fish in 2 hours, six fish were over two pounds, most of them on my favourite yellow lure which I call “narcissus” and few also on dry. With lures, I was fishing hover line and I had long leader and I was changing speed of retrieve and most of fish took after few strong pulls during the pause.

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After snow strom and rains, almost all rivers in our region were flooded, so I decided to visit my cottage and prepare some things for windsurfing and next to go to Vltava 29 Devil stones , which flows from Lipno lake and it is always fishable, and next to go to Květoňov. On the way to cottage I came around to Bruno for coffee and found him just packing things for fishing so he joined me.

It was still very could, in the mountains was still about 30 cm of snow, and water in Vltava was a little dirty, so fish did not cooperate to much, we caught about 20 fish between us including some nice browns and one rainbow in one and half hour. Not bad start of the day, I´m always satisfied if I catch at least one fish.

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Next we moved to Květoňov, Bruno is mainly zander-fishing specialist in Lipno lake and he had never been there, so I prepared rod a leader for him, demonstrated casting, how to move lures and how to hang before recasting, and I gave him rod and went to prepare my rod. After few seconds Bruno lifted rod and a fish was on …. and he caught zander Next he hooked also pike but it bit the leader. Simply predatory fish specialist.

I caught two rainbows on lures and 7 on dry fly including nice 47 long older fish which was jumping like salmon, great fun with 5 weight rod and 0,14 mm leader.

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Since 2015, our small trout reservoir Květoňov is open all year around. However, it is in fact fishable usually from March till December. We plan to try also ice-fishing during winter, but ice has not been strong enough during last two years. Ice disappeared this spring during first week of March and in the mid March we stocked first fresh fish and next we have stocked fish every three weeks. I have visited lake few times and fishing was always good, mixed stock od older fish and stockies of different size offers a chance for few takes every day and every day it is a chance for a fish of about 50 cm. Generally, I found out, that fish were relatively deep, and my yellow and black flies work well

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In the first weekend in May, I attended our traditional competition called “Spring Květoňov cup” which I also help to organise. This competition is very prestigious in our club and concurrence is always increased by attendance of people from Czech A and B teams. It was again big portion of luckiness, but I gained again victory . However, considering the third and fifth place from Hanák Open from the last two years, I became specialist on this lake

Fish were very deep considering Czech conditions, where competitions usually take part in carp put and take ponds with water of transparency up to 50 cm, I guess they were in the depth of 3-4 m, I was fishing slow and fast glass lines Airflow 40 + or Hanak Competition Camou intermediate line, and yellow, black and white lures and leader HC 0,20.

My advice is: Use proper equipment, cast as far as possible, wait before start of pulling, often change frequency and speed of pulling and always hang.

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