Romania - September 2018

  I've been gone for more than 13 years, but every time I get back I realized that a piece of me is still there, in northern Romania, and it's going to be there as long as there are forests and rivers, and people and traditions. 

  Fishing there is not about catching fish or not, nor about the size of the fish. It's about breathing the air and smelling the spruce trees, it's about detachment and solitude and it's about respect for these little creatures that continue to survive against all odds.This is my last trip, September 2018:

 

 

Hope

I always used to look forward to a trip to Romania, and I kept hoping that fishing is sometime going to get back to what it was back then .... And with every trip it seemed that I was drifting further and further away from that. And finally a pleasant surprise. Despite the fact that the waters of the Mara River are probably forever gone, there are still some streams where the wild trout and grayling continue to fight and even thrive. 

Increased awareness and involvement of the general public and fishermen, decreased poaching, are all factors that could help bring some of those streams back. We are seeing some of that. The rivers are not asking for much, just to be allowed to heal. And with great happiness I saw some of the healing happening. I was great to witness numerous and even some big grayling feeding in the sunset, and catch wild brown trout in small streams where they almost disappeared in the past from excessive poaching. 

This is the photo story of my journey:

The places:

 

The fish:

 

 

And the bonus:

Romania, simply surprising

My previous post about Romania was not an optimistic one. I am still not optimistic, even if I'm not talking about fishing this time. Deforestation, chaotic construction policies, pollution are just a few factors that make Romania head in the wrong direction. Despite this, there are still plenty of beautiful things to observe. This is a selection of our favorite pictures from our trip: