A General introduction about the river Váh and the creek Revúca.
It is about roots. It is about memories, a vision and a passion. Since ever in my memories there is this river and this creek. Fascination out of the nature of the living nature of water and its surrounding. The scenes itself may serve enough itself by viewing the beatufullness and perfection of the nature.
How did it come? I am actually not sure about where it comes from. It may be the absence of itself in western european environment where original nature is rare in presence. It may be also kind of memories of good times in the past somehow coexistent self confirming positive vibes becoming the light in the dark, something to be or become a reason for the effort at all. The confirmation of the daydreams becoming one with the clear fresh existing genuine original nature and having the please to be kind of active part of the scenary is an extraordinary pleasure for me. Satisfaction and Recharge of energy in one. Time passes by in short
Again – How did it come? There has been the connection since ever, somehow, dad who told me about his youth fishing activity which instantly jumped over to me to be continued until today. It was a summer holiday with my cousin Peter in Slovakia, we were around ten years old when it all begun: an old wise fishermen from my root village gave us hooks, line and few splitshots und showed us how to bind the required knots. So it all begun, the worms have never been so unsecure from us then these days. Otherwise and little bit later when we were in the age of 12 my uncle as a hunter&fisherman told us and lead us to become fishermen.
Due to my absence because of living in Germany I had to deal with the situation at my place. We have the river Elbe as the dominant water. Beside there are small creeks in the near of 50km. More interesting creeks and river sections at 100km. Known productive water comparable to my root rivers are at around 200km away. Nothing to deal with in the youth since I am the only fishermen in my closest family living in germany it felt like pioneering the way to get all required actions done to get a license in germany. I do not think that it was difficult, it is more about the actual decision to do it. I mean Elbe, nothing to be compared with Váh…
Fortunately I kept on going with the flyrod. Fortunately I met Lukás from Ivachnova. We have a comparable understanding of joy which leads to a good time anytime we plan a trip or expedition together. Since we both have a good understanding and experience in gastronomy and the will to have a great experience together with guests a joyful time is always on load. With the understanding of fishermens requirements and the hospitality of a slavic country we do enjoy the situation ourself and keep on improving ourself and the surrounding which always leads to a awesome guest experience. Basically this is where you experience the feeling of doing the things correct, when your guest returns the positive vibe and you can enjoy together instead of the feeling of actual service. It is more about respect and friendship then service. I think this is the key for a successful relation to a guest.
We talk about trout water. We talk about fish above 60cm (Salmo trutta fario, Oncorhynchus mykiss, Thymallus thymallus, Hucho hucho). About fish in sizes you may not have caught or even seen before. Brownies, Rainbows, and Graylings in sizes you have seen in documentary videos but never had on the line, may be not even in your dreams. We talk about the cold beer afterwards and we talk about the slovak culinarium and hospitality. From beginning at simple accomodation where all the basic fishermen requirements are met and pleasured with some hearthful extras done by real persons with real passion, ending up in high quality accomodation with wellness and extras for your personal satisfaction at non-fishing time. This is on your decision.
The fishing section of river Váh which we are talking about begins at Besenova dam and ends in Ruzomberok. Anyway the river continues its journey somehow until it ends up together with the Danube (Donau/Dunaj) which makes this especially interesting somehow. We may return to this point of interest later in the story because of its presence of the Huchen (Hucho hucho). Beside of this its water quality is wealth enough to contain Bullheads and Crayfish.
The amount of insects during an intense hatch is really impressive. Dark swarms of mass hatching insects of all kind will introduce you to what it is about to experience a real hatch. The amount of larvas and Freshwater Shrimps is just amazing, you can turnaround any stone and find early stadiums of Stoneflys and Shrimps and other larvas that you understand why this rivers fish is so difficult to fish. They have low food pressure, because there is a lot of naturals to feed. The stomaches of these fishes are known to be full of stonefly nymphs and freshwater shrimps, the mucles are colored orange from the high amount if shrimps eaten. The amount of small fish is low, since there is a lot of pressure by big fish.
Váh č. 19b 3-4701-4-4 P* CHAP*³
Váh č. 19a 3-4700-4-0 P*
Váh č. 18c 3-4691-6-4 Li*² CHAP *³
Revúca 3-3220-4-1 P*
Full list see LINK.
When you look at the details and may have a look at the spots on google maps you may actually explore that places are difficult. There is quite a lot of water but the fish have their territories. Please do your self a favor and be careful. The water level may change during the day. Since it is regulated by energy production request they may open that thing. The water level can raise in quite short time to a level where cute spots at 50cm will bring you in trouble at 80cm or more which actually means that a route you have wated with water up to the vest might not be passable later at all. I can tell you stories about that…
In most cases it is about the way back to savetime when the water level raises or you need to take a break. Be careful, take your time, plan the wading route carefully. Take your wading stock with you. Don’t blindly follow or wade through the water. Keep always at least one stable foot in position. Move only if you are sure and have tested that the next stand is a stable one. So many times there are stories about fishermen who got a swim because the lost stability, stepped in a hole or stepped on loose material which started rolling under weight.
Do not underestimate the power of this river. It will exhaust you faster then you consider. I recommend you to get in touch with a local for a talk about the current situation and recommendations or hire a guide at least for one day, or even more if you like so. You find good people in the local environment.
I do strongly recommend a visit of local store Thymallus in Ruzomberok and get some Nymphs and information about the current hatch. Same recommendation for Esox store in Liptovský Mikulás, get in touch with the owner and ask for some of his genuine dryflies, wets and nymphs. His own inventions returned me a couple of outstanding bites and fights which I will never forget. We might get back to this later again.
When you talk to Jan at Thymallus you might recieve the recommendation to start at river Revúca. He is right at this point. Váh can be dangerous and not fishy at all at some times. By absence of small fish the big fish of river Váh act different from their smaller collegues of the Revúca creek. You can translate the name of the river as the howling, which somehow reflects it actually quite good in my opinion.
Revúca is 33km long and starts its fishy waters at Liptovská Osada until Ruzomberok at the Zusammenfluss with the river Váh. Revúca has in the upper section the character of a mountain creek flowing through the valleys, small villages. You will find small till medium sized creek with a lot of white water and pocket water. You can find deep holes and long gutters, always surrounded or covered in the middle european green jungle of nearly untouched nature.
Keep your 10ft rods at home, go for the shorter ones, 8ft might do the thing. Be careful, do not undererstimate the current. Even it may not be deep, the current may be strong and the stones at the ground loose and glitchy surrounded by holes. You do not want to go for a swim. Again, a wading stock will support you.
Dominant fish of the upper sections is the brown trout. You may find some pretty sized grayling and few rainbows as well. But the rainbows are really rare in the upper section. The upper sections end at the place where a huge amount of water is taken away by local fishery industry. There are several barriers which need high water to allow the fish to move up the the smalles creeks in the autumn. When the fish come to breed you will find one of the most spectaculous plays of nature which you have ever seen in live. Even it is not the right time to fish, it is the right time to see the nature of Velká Fatra and Nizke Tatry in green, yellow, red, brown and see the spectaculum of natural trout breed.
In the lower section Révuce flows through grasslands through villages towards the big mama Váh. The spots will be in more open evironment. Still a shorter stick and cast in the front of you without backcasting will help you not to loose to much time on reestablishing your fishing equipment. Learn smooth pickups and nice tight switchcasts for your success on the river Revúca. This experience will help you on many spots when dealing with the big one.
The lower river section is partially regulated / canalized at some sections. You find deep spots for big trouts and a huge amount Grayling, some Bullheads and Crayfish are also present. At all Revúca is a good place to be. A good place to learn your flyfishing skills and get them slowly towards perfection. Revúca is a good preparation for the big story at Váh. And often very kind to its fishermen. The fish are more willed to take the fly due to the fact that food is rare at Revúca. For that fact the fish grow slower and do not reach the sizes as on Váh. But do not get it wrong, there are still species above 50cm in there and caught regulary. The local record is somewhere close to 70cm on Brown trout. Take this as warning when thinking about a small sized tippets. The current is difficult and there are a lot of stones, trees, roots where you want to keep your fish away from during the fight.
Summary:
Revúca: For Beginner, Advanced and Expert Fishermen
Váh: Advanced and Expert Fishermen
Accomodation: Contact us. Several Option for every Budget
Licenses: Local bar, Thymallus Ruzomberok, Esox L. Mikulás we can help you
Guiding: talk to a local or contact us, we can help you
0 Kommentare