Survival Trip

17 January, 12:30. Phone is ringing :"Listen buddy, our sea trout Salmo workshop is just turning into ice fishing. I'm just in Kołobrzeg and I'm standing on the frozen Parsęta River...". Damn, nothing is as annoying as cancelled fishing trip. I call Ewaryst from Salmo suggesting to change the river. Unfortunately soon I learn that the workshop has been cancelled.

I was about to spend a weekend fishing for perch however in a tackle shop "Bass" I have received confidential information that some anglers had a good luck yesterday on Łeba River while fishing for sea trout and trout. I'm calling my friend in Lębork to check whether the river is freezing - it is not, moreover anglers are catching sea trout everyday. I know when I will spend my weekend, now it is time to find a fishing buddy. Only Łukasz can afford 3 days of absence without risking divorce. So I call him and he says something about minus twenty degrees Celsius during the weekend. I tell him that we will go ice fishing if the river turns out to be frozen and that seems to convince him. On Friday afternoon we hit the road, driving Fiat Seicento.

The road to Lębork turns out to be a real pain. Soon after we pass Bydgoszcz we enter the snowstorm that reduces visibility to dozen of metres. Every dozen of kilometres we are passing by either a car or a truck lying in the ditch. When we pass Kościerzyna the road turns into ice rink and our speed falls below 20 kilometres per hour. Well, let's hope fish will appreciate our efforts ....

We reach Lębork late evening after over 5 hours of driving and we just want to go to sleep. But before we do that we call Witek, an owner of the tackle store in Wejherowo to arrange fishing licenses. Witek suggests to fish with him Reda River tomorrow, leaving Łeba River for Sunday. We take that opportunity - there are only a few anglers who know Rega River better than Witek. He was one of the few guarding sea trout spawning grounds in Rega River day and night. All anglers should appreciate that since that increases our chances to meet sea trout.

Saturday morning.

After quick breakfast we are ready to go. We check weather forecast. Well, it says we can expect minus eighteen degrees Celsius during the day. Well, it is not going to stop us, we have a meeting in Wejherowo.

Witek is already waiting for us with fishing licenses. Unfortunately he decides that the weather is too cold and we are going to fish alone. Well, maybe another time ...

The road to the river is covered with half a meter of snow. Somehow we reach the river and the bridge where another car with rod holders inside is parked - so we are not the only crazy anglers out there ...

Reda is beautiful. We see from the bridge how the river makes turns through meadows covered with snow. It looks pretty small as for the sea trout river. Fishing conditions are extremely difficult. Ice hangs one meter from each bank and the current carries large pieces of ice float. Apart from that it is snowing and there is a really strong wind. It is going to be tough. Łukasz is freezing just after 2 minutes of standing on the bridge. We get a cup of tea and we start fishing moving downstream along the right bank of the river. We decide to fish on Salmo and other wobblers.

I use Salmo Hornet 5 cm in the LPD colour. Fishing is tricky - you need to cast in free space between ice float and to manage to sink the line before ice float takes it with the current. Then you need to lead the lure between ice float. After second cast wobbler is covered with ice and the line is also icy on the last metre ahead of the lure. Łukasz is joking that this is our protection in case of pike strike. The main rule of choosing a lure today is its size - it needs to fit into our mouth easily - in order to defrost faster.

Another bend. Deep hole under a little slope. It looks like it has over 3 metres of depth. In order to reach that spot I need to make two steps on frozen ditch. Ice breaks and I end up in a water reaching middle of my calves. Fortunately water did not enter my boots. Soon after I hear Łukasz calling me. When I reach him he lands small trout that instantly freezes. The fish has taken floating Salmon in the S colour. So it is possible to catch something even in such circumstances. Interesting that his lure is almost not freezing ... I change my lure to GMO colour and now I can make even 5 casts before the lure freezes. It seems lures in the metallic colours freeze slower. After another hour we stop to eat something. We go back to the car. My buddy is freezing but my Geoff Anderson Raptor suit seems to win with these cold winds.

 

Second round.

We go upstream. Reda is much wider and deeper here. I use Executor 7SDR and Łukasz continues with Salmon. He has just changed the colour to MG. We are fishing close to a group of fallen trees lying in the current. Suddenly Łukasz says that he has a fish. This time it is surely sea trout. After a nice fight he lands the fish - it is 53 cm long. I congratulate him - no matter that this is a small one - in such circumstances it counts double. And this is surely one of the only few sea trout caught on that day in the entire Poland. Salmo lure has turned out to be effective again even in such hard conditions.

Nothing else happens during the rest of the day. We have been fishing for 8 hours in the temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius! When we return to the car we meet a fly fisherman - he wades in the river ! We both agree that he can be called a master of fishing for that day. We return to our motel. I call Ewaryst from Salmo - firstly he says something about madmen, but finally congratulates us. We plan for the next Salmo workshop, hopefully with better weather.On Sunday we fish in Łeba River near Chocielewko. The weather is slightly better. No wind, some sunshine and a bit "warmer" - around minus thirteen. Despite of that we haven't had a single strike for seven hours. And that is how our survival trip has ended.

Best regards,

Łukasz Marczyński.