Stan Mankov travelled to Slovenia in June to watch the World Fly Fishing Championships and of course to do some fishing.
Six years have passed since the European FF championship took place in Slovenia - Bohinjska Bistrica in 2006. The world championship was held in the same place this year between 3rd and 10th of June. A friend and I decided to visit the event to both fish and watch some of the best fly fishermen in the world. It was really hard to remain on the river bank, just watching and not fishing... but it always helps to watch the others for a while I guess. I am not complaining at all as we did some great fishing on truly magnificent rivers such as Sava, Sava Bohinka, Baca and Idrijca. The one that still flows in front of me when I close my eyes is Soca. But let me first say a few words about the competition.
The championship.
Thirty countries took part in the championship, which makes it the biggest in its history. Four rivers were used - the Sava, Kokra and two sessions on Sava Bohinka and one lake session on Most na Soci. It seemed really hard to catch a fish on the lake. Usually three or four fish will make you a leader for the day. A few marble trout were caught there. On the rivers it was a lot easier and the first positions were catching more than 20 fish. A French guy performed miracles and caught 76 fish in three hours on Sava Bohinka's lower sector. Incredible isn`t it?
I followed the Czech team because I expected them to win as usual, and so it happened. They did a lot of dry fly fishing and less nymphing which surprised me but it works for them. They use CDC red tag caddis imitations on hooks #12-14 and fished upstream. When they cover the whole sector they just start again, change to a nymph and start catching bigger fish. They fish nymphs on a jig hooks about size 12 to catch the rainbows which were their main aim. In a competition you always look to catch the easier fish.
What I did not like about this competition is that kicking the bottom was allowed. Many guys did this and sometimes ended up being placed 1st as a result. For those of you who don`t know this “technique” it is when you wade the river kicking the stones and boulders on the bottom so the insects are taken by the current. This seems to attract many fish and they start to come literally under your feet in search of the disrupted food. Then you just put your nymph and catch them easy. I think this destroys the insect life of a river and should be banned.
The other leaders in the competition at times were France, Italy and Spain. They fished really well but they obviously lacked something. Howard Croston from the English team was about to finish first after the fourth session but after the fifth he'd dropped to the painful fourth position. Someone has to take it, I guess. Many great anglers compete and it was not easy.
The competition came to its end. It was quiet in the hotel. Everyone was enjoying dinner and eager to see the results… finally they came, a big crowd formed in front of the results list… the Italian guys start to celebrate thinking they were first, so did I for a moment. But wait, they were second, the Czechs had won again with Italy second and Spain taking third. Team results.
But what was going on? Everyone were giving hugs and trying to shake a young guy's hand. I saw his eyes for a moment before the tears came out… Only 21 years old – David Arcay from Spain became World Champion in the individual results winning the biggest championship in the history of fly fishing. He showed everyone that he could do it. Congratulations David!
In the meantime…
Me and my friend did some fishing before and after the championship. I think we also had some great fun and caught some nice fish, without so much pressure on our heads. The river that impressed me the most was Soca. I managed to catch a few nice grayling out of its magic waters.
Slovenia is a stunningly beautiful country, it left me speechless, I only think that they should put less rainbow trout in their awesome rivers and try to protect and save the wild fish.
I hope I've given you a sense of the atmosphere of the championship if only but for a while. For those who don't so much care about competition fly fishing I hope I`ll have a story to tell next month about fishing the second biggest canyon on earth after the Grand... fishing for wild fish!
Please visit Stan Mankovs website or his shop for more details
