Trout fishing in Bosnia
I told one of my friends that I was going to go on a fishing trip to Bosnia - his reply was “I’ve heard there are some good deals on Afghanistan at the moment!” which for a non fisher I’m sure would be a fairly regular response!
When I was asked to go on an exploratory trip to see what Bosnia had to offer the budding fly fisherman, as ever I jumped at the chance to expand my fly fishing experience. A short 4 night and 3 day trip was just the ticket (and easy on the wallet). A 2 hour flight to Zagreb and we met with two of the guides form the lodge and set off on the 3 hour drive to what would be home for the next few days. The sun had set as we wound our way through the countryside full of anticipation of what the Ribnik and Pliva rivers had in store for us. If you conjure up a picture in your mind of Bosnia, for many it’s an image of the war torn country during the nineties that so regularly frequented our television sets, but the reality is somewhat different. We would just have to wait until the light of the morning before its true beauty was revealed by the rising sun.
We arrived a little after midnight having had a stop in a petrol station for a beer and a quick bite to eat. We threw our bags in the modern and highly impressive accommodation and got our heads down for the night; alarms set for an early start for a breakfast of free range eggs and locally cured bacon washed down with some excellent coffee, the ideal pick me up for the day ahead us. We inevitably woke at the crack of dawn as you always seem to do on the first morning, to walk out onto the balcony to one of the most stunning scenes imaginable. Heavily wooded mountains rose up from the river valley and stretched out in front of us, clouds licking the tops. A warm start to the day that surely would signal some impressive hatches from the River burbling below us. Expectations were high and rightfully so as we perused the on site tackle shop and marvelled at the huge trout and grayling that adorned the walls. A very wet couple of weeks had left the river running around 20-25 cm high but the fast flowing river (70cm+ per second) was still as clear as gin; the fronds of weed could be clearly seen swaying in the current from our elevated vantage point above. The Ribnik springs from under the Srnetica Mountain near the village of Gornji Ribnik and runs for around 6km before it empties in to the mighty Sana. It’s heavy flow and high oxygen levels make it a perfect habitat for insects and in turn - trout!
The targets for us would be the huge grayling and brown trout, as well as a few of the escapee rainbows from one of the fish farms along the banks which makes the most of the superb quality of water travelling through the countryside. Dry fly was going to be the main plan of attack during the copious hatches that occurred, when the rises dried up then small tungsten beaded nymphs would be called upon. The local anglers favored size 16, 18 and even 20 nymphs tied with tungsten beads to get down in the heavy flow together with long fluorocarbon leaders up to 5m in length. The technique was to fish square and down stream and across searching the pockets of marginally slower water towards the banks and under over hanging trees. With single fly being the rule on the river, many of the typical multi pattern techniques that we would adopt in the UK such as Czech nymphing and the Duo/Trio became redundant, so a steep learning curve was put in place as it had been several years since I hadn’t used more than 1 fly at a time for fishing sub-surface on flowing water.
We hoped for large hatches and during the frequent showers we had we weren’t disappointed, BWO’s, rusty spinners, huge Caddis, Stoneflies, flying Ants and the occasional Mayfly kept the free rising inhabitants and happy anglers more than occupied. Long leader of anything up to 15’ down to fine tippets of 6X and 7X gave us excellent presentation both upstream and fished down stream. Presentation was paramount in the clear cold water (around 6 degrees, thermals are a must!) to these wily fish, even the slightest bit of micro drag on your fly would result in a last minute refusal or no joy at all. Preparation of the fly and regular degreasing of leaders had to be second nature or the results would have been minimal. The river’s flow and currents picked holes in even the most experienced of casters abilities and highlighted how ‘on your game’ you had to be.
The Ribnik is a fairly wide river stretching as much as 25m+ in places but averaged around thigh height but its powerful flow meant that you had to take your time and be fairly confident in your wading abilities to reach the deeper runs that were holding some eager rising fish. A relatively even bottom; a mix of gravel and the odd larger stone made wading less challenging. The heavy pour of water causes a lack of sediment to build up so the bottom is solid, for those less able a wading stick would be of benefit as would a life jacket.
Those with an acute skill for spotting fish, the gravel bars highlighted the schools of grayling interspersed with chunky trout, hugging the bottom moving around to take nymphs that flowed down to them on an endless conveyor belt of food. Regularly spotting the emerging adults hatching out on the glistening surface above them the quarry ascended up and sipped them in with consummate ease giving their location away to us eagerly waiting in ambush. A well presented cast, a classic rise followed by a spirited tussle and the result; a stunningly marked brown trout heavily colored with black and red spots melting into a toffee caramel body, colour’s that looked like they could have only come straight from an artists pallet, at 8 inches it was perfection in miniature.
A characteristic of the Ribnik inhabitants is that they are very thick set unlike many of the fish that you would expect to find in fast flows, rather than lean long bodies these chunky fish have grown fat on the plethora of fly life found throughout the river system. Many of the fish that had Sercombe to our flies weighed far more than their otherwise short bodies would have suggested. These squat bully boys were deceptively heavy and when it came to their fighting capabilities definitely punched above their weight!
Tackle selections were fairly standard 9’ #4 or #5 weigh rods together with floating lines was ample for covering the water and turning over the long leaders that we were using and were ideal for pretty much all situation that you would encounter.
Towards the head of the river as it rises up from the base of the mountains lies a stretch that is affectionately known as the ‘Trophy Part’. Some 500 meters in length this area has virtually become a slow moving lake between its start and the man made weir at the bottom of the run. The azure blue waters look almost glacial in their appearance and are home to some enormous fish sitting ready in ambush for any unsuspecting fly that dare stay on the water for too long. In this deep section larger dry flies such as Grey Wulff, Stimulators, Caddis and large spinner patterns often do the damage but a well presented heavy nymph cast to one of these leviathans can be just as effective. After a couple of hours and several fish up to 3 or 4lbs, we could clearly see how it had earned its name and reputation. As we were walking back to the car to try another area of fast water with large dry flies, one of my fishing partners, Ian, was filling us in on the ‘submarine’ that had been sitting happily in front of him refusing everything he had; but then again I’m sure you don’t get to 5kg by being stupid!
All in all we were pleasantly surprised by the fishing and awestruck by the scenery, accommodation and the hospitality of the Bosnian people. By the end of the 3 day trip I had landed around 90 fish, which included some fat grayling up to 2lb but unfortunately the 4lb plus fish managed to evade me this time. Along with the grayling that we landed we also took Brown and Rainbow trout approaching the 2 and a half pound mark. Other members of the group managed Browns approaching 4lb in weight. The good news was that Goran the lodge manager told me that the River was fishing less well than it had all year so needless to say I can’t wait to get back and see just how good it can be when it’s firing on all cylinders.
We had a superb time and the ease of getting there and the lack of time needed away from work makes this a perfect trip for someone who is time poor or has a family that they can’t leave for a week or more at a time. Highly recommended not just for the fishing but the whole package so if you have thought about it in the past but never taken the plunge then I urge you to jump on a plane and give it a go!
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