I think all fly fishermen agree that nothing beats dry fly fishing. Especially when it comes to big trout. Most of us, when we see a trout larger than 50 cm, which is calmly picking up an unknown insect on the surface, stop and immediately start thinking about which dry fly to tie. We start observing what flies above the water and what floats on it. Some, on their home rivers, have a very good understanding of what flies around and when.

At the beginning of the season, most fishermen, including myself, prefer to use a streamer and a nymph rather than a dry fly. But when it comes to feeding on the surface, tactics have to be changed, so it is good to have a rod suitable for all types of flies (all-round).

Especially on a healthy river like the Vipava River, hatches begin at the beginning of the season. That April day was no exception. I started as usual in the morning with a streamer, and after three hours of casting I caught a beautiful marble trout. Then I moved to the upper part of the river, which is known for its evening jump. After an hour of searching for fish and watching to see if anything would rise to the surface, I finally spotted a trout of about half a meter, which was picking on the surface. As always, I stopped and tried to figure out which fly would be suitable. The only thing flying around me at that time were small green-yellow mayflies (PMD). I tied a parachute PMD size 20. During this time, the fish was diligently picking on the surface.
The cast had to be quite long, as the fish were quite shy in this part and we didn’t want to get too close to them.

It took me a few casts before the fish landed on a good shot of the fly, and then it went wild. At first it behaved like a real rainbow and jumped out of the water several times, but later it sought shelter in the rocks and submerged bushes. Somewhere in the middle I already thought the fish was lost, as it swam deep into the branches, despite my resistance in the other direction. Somehow I managed to pull it out from under the branches and after a few escapes it was in the net. Even before I got a good look at the fish, I knew it was a hybrid, as a Soča trout would not fight like that under any circumstances. It must be a bit of a brown trout in its blood. After a few nice pictures, the trout was already swimming back to its habitat.

That day I was using a 9ft Redington Vice rod, class 4, with an Alfa Arctic reel and Scientific Anglers floating line. I had about a 3.5m long leader .