PA: Who is Dan Svrček and how did he succeed in getting a bronze medal at the World Championship?
DS: I started flyfishing at the age of 13 years. My first pieces of experience with flyfishing belong to the river Morava (Morava 23) below the slopes of Jeseníky mountains. In our family it is a custom to be active in sports since childhood, therefore soon it was not enough for me to fish only and I began to be interested in competitions. Around the year 1994 a company of boys from Jilemnice took me among them and we started to compete together. Immediately in the district and regional competitions I was lucky and together with Pavel Macháně we moved forward towards the broader selection of representatives. At that time Pavel moved forward up to the World Championship in Český Krumlov, that I did not succed in doing.
With boys from Jilemnice we moved forward to the 2nd league, where we stayed for about four years. Successively most people of the group were losing interest in competitions and that showed on the performances. The team fell apart and Jilemnice did not retain the position in the 2nd league. After that Honza Pecina offered me to come overto Prague RSK, where I began to fish for the 1st league. At that time I had had already the experience with the first European Championship in Slovakia, where I got to from the nomination. When there was the nomination fished for the World championship 2000 in England, I was sorry not to be successful, because I had been of the opinion, that fishing in British waters was the very thing for me. But alas, being the sixth I narrowly missed the possibility of taking part in England.
The position of an alternate member meant taking part in the European Championship 2000 in Kostelec nad Orlicí (remark of the editor: 3rd in teams). Next year I had a pause as a representative and in 2002 I qualified for the broader choice, thus ensuring the nomination for the coming World Championship in Scotland – there we were not successful. For World Championship in Slovakia I was a stand-by originally, but after Tonda Pešek had been excluded from the representation team, I was nominated for the World Championship additionally.
With my friends I have been regularly taking part in Grand Slam competitions. We even succeeded to win this competition in 2001 together with Karel Vacek and Vítek Misar.
At that time it was an excellent achievement, when we succeeded in winning the Belgian competition with absolute mastery, in France we were the sixth and in England the second. Until today this victory is the only first place of the Czech team in the history of the competition.
PA: What do you think of, when I ask you about the World Championship in Slovakia ?
DS: First of all of the fact, that according to my opinion the whole team managed maybe best in the whole history of Czech competitive flyfishing. That is confirmed by our positions – all were up to the 23rd place. Usually it means the first place in the total result. Such an excellent team work appears only very rarely. But we know what it was like. I think, that all of us enjoyed the fishing, a lot of fish was caught, although not always the big ones. Fishing in Slovakia was not at all easy and all of us we had apprehended the river Orava, where during the training only few fish were caught and the water was really difficult. In the end we were successful even there thanks to coarse fish, bringing quite a lot of points to some of us. In comparison with some of other fishing competitions, I visited with the representation team, there was a top basic arrangement. High standard accommodation, board of such a quality, that after a long time nobody felt any digestion problems (that is often quite frequent) and I think, that the efforts to make the arrangement perfect were great and there would have not been one problem, not being for the Slovak disposition. What I think most of are the fish, which fell off and I could have had – the position might have been even better. On the other hand, fish I caught could have fallen off too, and it could have been even worse. It was the question of one fish, that I missed to have silver, but also of a fish, that would have meant the fourth position.
PA: How do you value the medal, you won in Slovakia ?
DS: Everyone, who competes in fishing perhaps knows, that this was a result of my life, that might never be achieved again. Few of the Czech flyfishers – with the exception of Tomáš Starýchfojtů has more medals from individual competition at a World Championship. and few are also those, who brought two medals from one championship. Only Honza Pecina, Tomáš Starýchfojtů and Šéďa succeeded in this recently.
PA: What was the key to success ?
DS: When I am judging it backwards, then I have to say, that it was a long-time, nearly half a year lasting training. A good result is sure a sequel of an enormous effort to achieve success and of thorough training. The coach had helped, his effort to achieve success was evident and he had helped each of us a lot. A mistake of the steering team was, that until the very last moment we were training fishing jigs and then it was found out, that these were prohibited. It was sheer luck, that we are Czech people and knew, how to deal with this situation. Although that kind of fly was not a key affair for us, the loss of confidence was unpleasant at the beginning, because we were successful with it in the course of training…
The clue to success was the preparation, effort of the whole team aimed at success. The effort was general, I cannot name one of the boys, who would not have given all what he could to training and also regarding the competition itself it can be said, that every result was a 100% one, that could have been achieved at the given place. Be it the sixteenth or first position in the sector, it was always the best one, that was possible to achieve at the fishing place at the given time. I am sure, that our competitors always did what they were able to. It does not always work in this way, there are often underhand fights, squabbles and politics and afterwards the result is bad. This time the team was functioning like a machine and it was good.
PA: When did you began to have an inkling, that you might step on the box ?
DS: I have never dreamt of it. In competitive fishing it is very complicated. You may achieve three „ones“ like the Pole Szymala and then during the last competition
you may muck everything up and that was what Szymala did. I was feeling, that I was in a good position and that kept me in good mood for the competition The last two rounds I was fishing absolutely without stress. I use to be a bit nervous and quite often I harm myself by it. But on this occasion I was fishing in good mood and it helped me, that the draw was rather good (no real disster was imminent). I did not think about a medal. The feeling, that the team is doing well gave me peace of mind. It was of no use to follow up the results in the course of the competition, besides, it is more binding and bringing nervousness, and on top of it, the noughts were projected into the results (remark od the editor: each round one group did not fish and all received the points from the last round automatically) and thus the individual results were not clearly mapped out.
Till at the press conference, when I was asked, how did I feel, when in the last round I was still within reach of gold, I realized it backwards. All the last round I was fishing with the idea, if everything went smoothly, I could have bronze and did not think of gold at all. And perhaps, if I had the first place, I could have had gold. But that is angling. I am glad, that it went well off for me and the whole team. And especially for the team.
PA: Are you not feeling vexed, that in the end you did not bring gold from Slovakia ?
DS: I would have resented, if I were the fourth, because that is always the worst thing. There were evident efforts, that we would not achieve gold, both individually and in teams. And the last fishing place was not of the kind to win, although a few more fish could have been caught there. Maybe I made one mistake. I underestimated the streamer, that could have brought one or two fish more. A mistake was also my confidence in the judge, who told me, that in that place no rainbow had been caught. That brought me to the conclusion, not to prepare a rod for a streamer. But the main reason was, that immediately before the competition the judge told me, he would not carry my rods. I was afraid, because at the water about ten Bohemian children were running to and fro and I had to have the rod in the distance of 50 meters. But I am not feeling, that I had missed the gold, that would be pure theory. I am very happy to have a bronze medal and after a long time we succeeded to achieve a result, we can show to everybody. And we know, that we were the best.
PA: How would you characterize the rivers in Slovakia, you were fishing on ?
DS: I would say, that with the exception of Orava the rivers were rather similar, although Bělá is a specific, mountain torrential river. Everywhere more or less the same flies were effective and the style of fishing. The size of fish was also quite similar, because mostly it were fish obviously stocked from one fishery. Fish were of similar size and very similar was also the mode of taking. As it turned out, the fish were not in any way influenced, if it was the first, second or fifth round. The numbers of caught fish did not change basically, fishing was more or less the same and in some of the rounds the numbers were even increasing.
Concerning the difference of fishing there and here at home, in Slovakia the behaviour of fish was a bit different. There was no problem to go through the sector several times and every time fish was caught. On the contrary, the more one walked the water through, the more active the fish were. They were simply provoked and irritated by the food, loosened from the bottom and the fish were more in the taking mood. It paid me in the last round in Hrádek, when I was dragging my feet, clouding the water and made the fish more hungry. That was the reason, why I caught quite a number towards the end.
Orava is a really specific and difficult river, in its character, composition of the bottom and also in the mode of taking the food by fish. Huchen influence the situation a lot, that is something, we Czech anglers do not know. Fish have slightly different mode of living and immediately when feeling presence of a huchen, they stop taking food a that is the reason, why on Orava there is a different taking of fish from one minute to the other. A fish may be hungry and in taking mood, but when it feels there is a huchen nearby, it stops accepting any food. Orava was a key river for making a good result and it was dependent only on the sector, one had drawn and also on that, what he believed was valid for the water. I did not favour to aim the efforts at salmonids on Orava, that I did not believe, because the river looked a bit too vast and it would not have been easy to find a trout. Orava was well legible for me as far as coarse fish were concerned and I aimed my efforts at these – and was successful. If my competition on Orava was a bit longer, I believe, I would have caught more than thirty fish, because after eleven the fish had risen and during the last hour i caught about ten fish.
Among coarse fish points were obtained for chub and dace and the catches were quite large. I was catching chub between twenty five and thirty eight centimeters. Dace were in two sizes – either 19,5 cm and 20,2 cm, or 24 up to 27 cm. They were beautiful fish and one enjoyed the fishing.
Concerning the individual competition sectors, obviously there were completely diverse places. Poor was the marking of the sector in Liptovský Mikuláš, that was divided into two parts. The lower one was in the town, where there was quite a lot of fish, while in the upper part above the town it was canalized, fast and there were only few fish. The competitors, who went up, had a pronounced disadvantage and with the exception of the Slovak Antal no one caught more than 20 fish.
PA: As regards the style of fishing, did it differ in Slovakia from that one, you have been using on Czech rivers ?
DS: Fishing on Slovak rivers was markedly different , but not because there would be another style of fishing, but because the anglers directed their attention at very fine fishing. The fish in Slovakia refused to take food, that the fish take in our country. When nymph fishing in our country a freshwater shrimp is preferred and a heavy nymph, that is the basis for effective flyfishing and it is not at all important, if it has a gold head. In Slovakia, the shrimps were completely ignored by the fish. I think, that there was no one during the competition, who had caught a fish with a shrimp and there were no big nymphs fished. A large fly was only used as a weighted fly and only very fine and small flies were used. There were also fine lines, in some sectors the competitors went down to eight and used fine rods. Fishing light nymphs was different when compared with fishing in our ountry, where one is wading through fish and casting leader fourteen and shrimps size six, eight, or ten. But I think, that the style used in Slovakia can be well applied here. After the first trainings we went through in Slovakia, I trained this style at home and have forbidden to myself to fish flies, effective at home, I would have perhaps caught more fish with. Training was the key to success for me. Thanks to the acquired confidence in this style of fishing I was fishing in good mood at the World Championship.
PA: Which were the techniques, you caught the largest amount of fish wíth?
DS: There were five sectors and each was different in its way. If I would answer like the Pole Szymala at the press conference, I would say, that I fished dry fly, wet fly, nymph and streamer and the answer would be very quick. I will try to express it more precisely. Fishing on Belá is quite similar to that, we with Martin Drož are used to on the rivers in Podkrkonoší, i.e. fast mountain rivers. One has to fish very carefully upstream, not to disturb the fish, and to place the nymph precisely. On Belá it was a bet on lighter nymphs, although some of the places required a more weighted nymph, but my technique was unequivocally successful. With no doubt Belá requires nymphs. The gold beads played an important role, these did not serve only as a weight on the flies, but mainly as an attractor. Considering the fact, that the catch was mainly brown trout (numbers of graylings in the river were approximateĺy the same, but trout were more voracious and faster), quite a lot of fish were lost.
On Orava I set my mind to nymph only for a very short time, because the place I drew did not look like a place for nymphs and this style of fishing brought me only three fish that counted. The rest of the time I fished coarse fish in the classic way, i.e. wt fly, long, fine and very sensitive fshing. There were fish of large sizes and it was necessary to fish very carefully, fish were very shy, because they were feeling, there was another intruder beside huchen. When an angler was not careful, then he did not catch anything.
Sectors on Váh were very similar in that, how we fished them. Again the nymph was the definite choice, although my sector on Váh below Bešeňová was – with the exception of about eight fish – the matter of fishing dry fly. (Remark of the editor: in this round Dan was the obvious winner with more than forty fish that counted.) It was a broad flat part, where the fish showed themselves. It was only necessary to be careful and not to step into the fish, to choose tactics in such a way, that losses were minimal, it meant changing places and catching the fish successively. It happened, that some of the fish were caught twice, and had no problem to come again. When one was careful and did not harm the fish while measuring it, it came again and in a short time it was active again.
Upper sectors on Váh I fished with light nymph again, except a few fish I caught with dry fly. It was a fine, well placed nymph, that took care of most of the fish I caught. On the contrary, my friends used heavier nymphs. I took off some of the weight of the weighted flies and used a medium weight on them. The fish were taking in the middle of the water.
PA: What tackle did you catch most of the fish with?
DS: For nymph fishing I used Sage XP class three, length 275 cm with line three. For dry fly it was class three Thomas, length 255 cm with line class two. Lines Stroft 12, 10 and 8. There was no need to use fluorocarbon at that time, I did not feel it was necessary.
PA: Did all of our men use light rods class three ?
DS: Sure. I think that the heaviest rod was used by Jája (remark of the editor: Jaromír Šram), class 4, while all the others used class three.
PA: That means, there is a trend to light rods?
DS: I think, it is forced out by fishing with barbless hooks, because a stiff rod does not allow the fish to adjust the rhytm and be played without much effort. With a stiff rod one wrenches it to the water level and it falls from the hook. I am sure, that most of he competitors used fine rods (maybe with the exception of the man from Slovenija in my group, I made friends with and whose lightest rod was class six).
PA: What did you like and did not like in Slovakia ?
DS: What I did like was the landscape (with the ecception of industry, that I feel is too abundant for such a small country). I liked the lots of fish we caught and especially the style of fishing. Of course also the accommodation, board, possibility of relaxation in the natural surroundings, nice girls.
What i liked less was the way the Slovaks won, but that is, what we can only discuss. No other idea comes to me and I think it was quite a successful championship.
PA: Did the nymph fishing technique change somehow recently? What is the trend in nymph fishing ?
DS: It has changed considerably. A moment ago you asked, what rods were used, and there these changes begin. When I was beginning fishing and still at the World Championship in Slovakia in 1999 I had fished with rods class five, shrimps eight and leaders sixteen. Today we fish with leaders eight and ten, rod three and flies, the sizes of which do not exceed fourteen. Of course it is not a rule, but now I am speaking about the Slovak World Championship. This is where I see the enormous difference and the trend is to make fishing markedly finer, making the artifice invisible for the fish and persuade it by means of some plausible imitation. If I say plausible, I don´t mean what the fly looks like, but a plausible imitation in size and inconspicuousness (plus some attractor, that turns the attention of fish to the fly).
When a friend of mine asked me to lend him a rod for Sweden, he wanted a rod three meters long, class six and told me he was going to fish for big graylings. Of course I let him have the rod but was horrified, what he was going to fish with. Not only because the rod is quite heavy and after one day of fishing the angler must be very tired, but also because he loses a lot of fish, snaps them off, when fishing with such an equipment.
When I buy a new rod at present, step by step I am making my equipment finer, inclusive of the rods for lake fishing. On lakes I am fishing with rods class five now and on rivers class three. Not long ago these were rods class seven for lakes and five for rivers. As it was already mentioned, it is the result of fishing with barbless hooks. In addition, taking into account the numbers of anglers visiting our waters, fish deserve harmless style of fishing. Thus we won´t hear, that a water was robbed by cormorants even there, were no cormorants have ever been.
PA: The last question. What would you like to achieve in match fishing in future?
DS: My success at the World Championship has put me in a rather unpleasant situation, because my intention was, to set a limit to my competitive fishing. Because of my profession and workload I cannot give to it what I should. I wanted to turn my attention to competitions I liked, especially abroad and also to do more lake fishing. As I achieved this result, thus maybe having a chance to be in representation team next year, maybe I would like to confirm ( in some international competition like European or World championship ), that my result was not a mere fluke. I think, that at a lot of competitions in the past I had proved, that I was a good angler and knew how to catch fish. But alas, I have a hard luck – a lot of fish fall off. I often lose a good result, because I am lacking one or two fish. These were not the fish I did not catch, but those falling off. And I would also like to take part in such a nice team result. It is not the question of a medal hanging on my neck for me, but of the kind of event like in Slovakia. A convincing achievement of five people, who wanted something, were well communicating mutually and spent a nice fortnight in Slovakia together, although worn out like horses.
PA: Dan, I thank you for the interview and wish you good luck and a lot of success.
