Fly Fishing in Bosnia - Trip report

Our last Orvis group trip for the season was to the Rivers Ribnik and Pliva in Bosnia. Paul Procter gives an account of the fishing and almightly hatches of flies below....

A party of five rods and myself have just returned from Bosnia where we experienced unprecedented hatches of fly on the Ribnik. With perfect river levels and gin clear conditions, targeting trout and grayling was relatively straightforward. For once the weather dealt us a kind hand, overcast and muggy for the entire trip is a dry fly fishermen’s dream. Consequently, vast numbers of Pale Wateries and Blue Winged Olives kept fish rising all day long.



Initially, the challenge was presenting you imitation without any telltale drag. Decreasing leader diameters to 7X (0.10mm) certainly helped, as did a drop in fly size. And, once we’d done this the flood gates well and truly opened. Peter Legge managed to catch his first ever grayling on the first morning. Chuffed to bits, he climbed back into the river and proceeded to winkle out another five the best of them topping some 2lb. As you can imagine, he was grinning from ear to ear!

Under the watchful eye of our guide, Paul Maxwell mastered the downstream approach with a dry fly. And, having got his eye in there was no stopping him. Interestingly, brown trout featured heavily in Paul’s returns though he did manage to charm the odd grayling or two. As for Garry Carr, he came into his own on the Pliva by pitching a nymph into lively pools and runs.



Mike Collins, Steve Grimes and myself simply just pottered about, quietly slipping into the water here and there. On one occasion, Mike was blistering form, as it seemed every time I glanced upstream, his rod was buckled over in to yet another feisty trout. Steve too did me proud though he experienced a relapse when he lost a huge brown trout. Following the usually outcry, he soon settled down and continued to tempt fish with a size 18 CdC F fly.



Being autumn, chilly mountain air would come wafting down the valley about 5pm, summoning an end to the day’s events. Time for a cool beer and to reflect on what must rank as some of the most memorable hatches I’ve witnessed to date. As usually, it’s not until boarding the plane home that we suddenly realized just how special this adventure had been. Dates are already being planned for next season, roll on September 2011.

Paul Procter Sept 2010