Click the dates below to read about our past trips.
2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009

Rolava River
15th June 2008

Sidney "Skip" Herman, Chicago, USA
Back to the usual more elegant Game fishing and today's visitor to bathe in the relaxing charm of the Czech rivers is Sidney "Skip" Herman taking a day out from a family European vacation; not sure why but National Lampoons and Chevy Chase just sprung to mind when writing the last few words... Having departed from home at an unearthly 2 o'clock in the morning, I picked up Skip from his hotel and drove back in the direction I had just came towards the Rolava River near Karlovy Vary. Having arrived at the river at shortly after 6am we quickly got changed, kitted up and descended down the gully into the river bed. The first section of the river downstream from where we parked the car had a gradual downhill slope so the pools were not the deepest and as such the fish here were smaller than usual. Skip was fishing a medium size beaded nymph tied on a size 12 hook which due to the flow and depth of the river could have been a bit lighter but alas we didn't have any medium sized nymphs and the smaller size 16 patterns were just too light. A few hundred yards (and hours) later and we were further upstream where the river climbed up through a steeper gradient and the pools got bigger and deeper. It was in these pools that the fishing started to take off with the bigger fish being found. The killer fly of the day was a Copper John type beaded nymph with legs which the fish just couldn't let swim by. Next thing we know it was 12 o'clock and time to get Skip back to Prague his Wife and Daughter to enjoy the rest of their European Vacation....

Ohre River
9th & 10th May 2008

Pierre Flament, Lille, France
A change from the usual Game fishing, and this weekends trip was with Pierre Flament, a French national living in Prague who is a very experience match fisherman. Pierre had fished a few rivers and ponds around the capital but hungered for some decient match fishing. Virtually all of the waters in the country are stocked with Carp such is the Czech obsession with the swimming vacuum cleaner. All you have to do is venture in to one of the plentyful fishing shops around the country and you will see for yourself. Ask for some small hooks and out come a batch of size 8 and 10 Carp hooks; ask for size 18 and the shopkeeper just looks at you as if you have just escaped from the local nut-house, muttering "that you can't catch big Carp on a minute hook"... Pierre got over to us on the Thursday and got some rest before the big day. After breakfast on the Friday we drove into town for our bait and then hit the river. We were fishing the Ohre river under Cheb Castle a very sporting match river. After kitting up with the locals watching intently wonder why and what for the equipment we chucked in the groundbait and started fishing. Not 30 seconds in the water and Pierre was bringing in a fish on his 11m match pole. Back in the water and again another fish. And again, and again, and again. Pierre spent the entire day, a solid 6 hours of fishing pushing his pole out over the water to watch the float dip or rise and then skillfully bring the whole lot back in to land and unhook his catch. Back and forth Pierre went all day long muttering that he had not had a days fishing like this in a very long time. At the end of the days fishing Pierre had landed a total of 40Lb of quality match fish, an assortment of Roach, Carp, Bream, Silver Salmon, Perch, Bleak and Chub. The second day we went to the Skalka reservoir but called a halt after an hours fishing and nothing to show so we made our way back to the same spot as yesterday to repeat the experience all over again... The Ohre river in Cheb really is match fishing heaven.

Tepla River
28th April 2008

Robert Donaldson, Munich, Germany
On the final day of Rob's fishing trip we fished the Tepla River, a much harder river to fish than the previous two rivers. The water was higher than usual but not so the river couldn't be fished. In the wider parts of the river the wading was fairly easy but in the more channeled, narrower part the river was much harder to wade and fish. Rob caught one nice Grayling from a wide, slower flowing stretch of the river with many fish rising around him but unfortunately none in the faster water or lower down stream under the reservoir where it was decided to call it a day early and head for home.

Svatava River
27th April 2008

Robert Donaldson, Munich, Germany
Day two of Rob's fishing break saw us fishing the Svatava river just north of the town of Svatava. The river here is a fairly gentle glide of around 600 yards much resembling an English chalk stream. The river was flowing deeper and faster than normal but not that fast that it made fishing difficult. As the sun was out in force today the fish were rising to flies on the surface and it wasn't long before Rob landed his first fish, a grayling which was taken on a green Klinkhammer emerger with a parachte on top to make it easier to spot on the water. Once we had worked our way up the glide and fished the very deep pool at the start we moved down stream where we found a stretch of water where there were quite literaly hundreds of Grayling resting in the water. The manor in which they were grouped may or may not have something to do with the fact it is their mating season and they may have been getting ready to spawn or have finished spawning in the shallow sandy waters this part of the river has.

Rolava River
26th April 2008

Robert Donaldson, Munich, Germany
Today was the first day of Roberts fishing adventure to the Czech Republic. A British national living in Germany he had decided to try the fishing in the Czech Republic after experiencing problems obtaining a German fishing licence as he now permanently resides in Germany and therefore has to sit the German fishing exam; in German. Seeing as Robert is a fairly novice fisherman I decided to take him up to the top of the Rolava River where he could practice Czech Nymphing on a little, slower river before taking on larger, faster waters. It wasn't long before Rob finally sussed out what was going on and where to place his nymphs in to the water and started catching fish. As we were at the top of the river we were catching Brook Trout and having lots of fun. In the 3 hours we spent perfecting Rob's nymphing technique Rob managed to land around 10 small to medium Brookies; he also missed a fair few due to his inexperience and the fishes delicate takes on the fly. After stopping for lunch in a local restaurant we ventured further down the river in search of Brown Trout. The river lower down is a much different river with larger and deeper sections where the fish lie in wait for their food as it gets washed down stream. It wasn't long before Rob was into his first Brownie of the day and went on to land a few more. In total Rob landed around 12 Brown Trout of which 3 were around 13 to 15 inches in length. All the fish were taken on Black, Brown or Green hares ear beaded nymphs tied on a size 8 hook.

Rolava River
16th April 2008

First Day of the 2008 Game Fishing Season
What a day...all four season of the year rolled into one. I decided to start the day fairly late for 3 reasons; 1, the weather has been quite cold through the night so I wanted to give the water and fish a chance to awaken to the suns rays and warmth. 2, I figured that this being the first day of the fishing season there may be a chance of meeting more fishermen on the water than normal and 3, if it was to rain over night I wanted to give the river as much time as possible to receed to its normal state. When I got to the water the area was overcast with the sun starting to burn through the cloud, as predicted there were five other cars parked where would normally be none and the water was as expected fairly high and fast but Gin clear... The other fishermen on the river, of which I saw only 1 fishing and a further 2 returning to there vehicles were spinning for Trout; this being the standard method of Trout fishing in the Czech Repulbic as the equipment can be quite expensive for most Czechs and spinning is so much easier. Also from what I could see they were not catching anything as there were no bags dangling from shoulder with containing dead fish. As for the river the flow as VERY strong and I nearly lost my footing and was taken for a swim on about half a dozen occasions. I started with my usual parachute dry with a nymph dropper but the current was too strong and kept sucking everything under, so I chopped my rig down to just 6ft long and was up stream nymphing the classic way of fishing. It wasn't until I got up stream in to an area of the river which openned up to around 10m wide and was fairly safe to wade that the fishing started. The fish as expected, were lying in the deeper, slower waters feeding on nymphs. It was along this run where I landed 4 small but nice Brown Trout. After about 4 hours fishing I decided to move up river to about 5 miles down stream from the source of the river. Here I was looking for the Brook Trout and once I had moved up to a part of the river which as flowing slower and deep I found them. The Brookies here are very shy and wary about what they eat. Most Trout hit their prey with a definate bite, here the Brookies sort of nibble the bait so you have to be very quick on the strike as they let go very quickly. Saying that I landed a further 4 Brookies before the weather and waining energy levels forced me to retire for the day...

Smykov Pond, Benesov
13th April 2008

Pierre Flament, Lille, France
Yesterday, Pierre went fishing yesterday to Smykov Pond, a very nice fishing spot near Benesov to the southeast of Prague. Pierre is a French national living in Prague and has volunteered to keep us posted about the fishing in and around Prague.
I started out at 5:30 with my friend Linh from Prague. It’s very cold and cloudy and windy..
We arrived at the pond at 6:30 and our first feeling was it was not going to be a good day; the water was very rough and choppy. Anyway, here we were and fish we will…
By 7am all our equipment is set and ready to fish. I was fishing with an 8m pole equipped with a 1mm elastic on the 2 first elements, a 0,6g float and a size 18 hook…
We prepared our bait, a mix of maggots and corn and toss some in 9m off the bank to our desired fishing spot.
After 20 minutes I get my first bit and the float disappears under the water. This was not a small fish; it darts off away from me and snaps my line…  A very good start, 1 fish, 1 lost rig…probably a Carp… The good news is the fish are now in the swim…
I reset my rig and throw out more ground bait getting a little more optimistic… After 5 minutes another bite, but not a Carp but a nice Bream; and then another with Roach also being caught. Now the water is bubbling and I can see that the fish are feeding. The fish are Bream weighing between 500g to 900g on a single or double maggot. Every now and again the bites stop and I realise it because the Carp are back in the area and its near impossible to land them with such a light rig so I decide to change to a stronger rig and it isn’t long before I land a nice 3lb Carp after a 5 minute fight on a single piece of corn. After this I change to an even heavier rig and hit another fish which turns out to be a 4lb Carp…
At 1:30pm we decide enough is enough and head for home. My total catch for the day was around 30 fish with a total weight of 30lb, not a bad catch for April… All the fish are returned to the water and we go looking forward to the next trip…
Pierre.

Ohre River
24th February 2008

The 1st Fishing Trip of 2008; Let the fun begin
The first fishing trip of 2008 and what a start... The weather gorgeous, an unseasonably high 17 degrees C and bright blue skys... All the same my Son, Sam and I wrapped up in our warm gear as when the wind blows it soon send a chill to your bones. The original plan was to fish the Skalka Reservoir starting in the afternoon, hoping that the warm sun would have warmed up the water and brought the fish up from their winter hideaways in the deep water. Unfortunately the water was still too cold for the fish to come out to play so after an hour of no bites, a chillig wind and a 4 year old getting bored because he cant return the fish to the water we moved to the section of the river below the reservoir under Cheb castle. By this time Sam had fallen asleep in the car so I was left to set up my swim and get my line in the water with the minimal of fuss and not 30 seconds later a bite. Wow, this was very different to the revervoir further up the river. The fish which I at first thought to be a small Perch turned out to be a Ruffe, a pest fish from Eurasia, a member of the Perch family which can live in almost all kinds of water except the sea. The days catch ended after 4 hour fishing under Cheb castle with 2 Roach, 3 small Bream and about a dozen Ruffe... Not what I had hoped for but one shouldn't complain considering how early in the year we were fishing...