Stan Mankov is back this month telling us about a recent trip to Bosnia where the anglers had to deal with just about everything Mother Nature had to throw at them!
Probably there isn`t a fly fisherman in Europe who hasn`t heard about fly fishing in Bosnia. It became one of the top destinations and I still think the prices are reasonable to many but don`t tell them this please! Here is what happened there for me last week.
I had a group of Danish guys to guide on Ribnik and Pliva river in Bosnia from 12th to 19th of May. My friend Daniel who is also a guide told me that he has some free time and will come and help me on the river. It was all about to happen... and it all did.
First three days we fished Ribnik. It started to rain from the very beginning and turns into snow. Yes snow in the middle of May! Local people said this had never happen before. But this didn't stop us or scare us at all as you can see from some of the pictures. We fished on nymphs - size 16-18 with black and copper heads. The usual patterns like black head PT and some tiny shrimp patterns worked great. On the next day we fished dry fly as it stopped snowing and some insect activity appeared on the surface. Ecdyonurus and BWOs were the main flies on the surface of Ribnik. The fish were really selective on them but we succeeded to catch some nice ones. We also had some decent brown trout on the dry. I think we all enjoyed Ribnik but because of all the rain that wasn`t stopping, the river level rose quite rapidly and on the next morning when I woke up I saw the river flowing in another colour. It was near to impossible to fish it so we went to see Pliva which was the best we could do.
It was all good there. The level was high but hatching the same insects plus a few species of caddis flies like silverhorns, grannoms, black and cinnamon sedges was going on all the time. We spend three unforgettable days on this river as well. The guys all fished well and we managed to catch all species of fish - brown and rainbow trout and enough grayling to keep the smiles on our faces.
Me and Niels (one of the guys) spent 3 hours trying to catch a 4 kilo trout that was probably the most selective fish I`ve seen for a while. The fish was staying in the middle of a strong current at about metre and a half of depth. For 3 hours it moved five times all the way to the surface to feed on an insect that we couldn`t find a good enough imitation for that day. It rose once just next to my caddis but noticed there is something wrong with "that fly" and went back. On the next day a french guy hooked the fish and he said it snapped his 0.15 mm mono with ease.... It was a fish that we all dream about - so perfect. I really enjoyed trying to catch it - and just imagined for a second how happy I would have been if I had caught it. However it is part of the game and it only made me want to tie more flies.
On the last day of our trip we really knew what we were doing and caught many fish on nymphs. Different variations of PT and HE nymphs worked well for the brown trout. Daniel caught plenty of grayling on small CDC dry flies with olive body.
There was a fish just under the bridge named Jasmine. A nice brown trout over 45 cm. It was very active most of the time. The problem was it was in the middle of the river. I decided to leave it for desert and caught Jasmine on a dry fly just before we got on our way back to the house.
That was a nice finish to the trip that none of us wanted to finish. But you all know it actually never finishes.....
We met plenty of great fly fishermen and guides on the river from all around. I think it is an absolute fly fishing paradise and fly fishing is in the air on Ribnik and Pliva rivers! I truly enjoy breathing this air!
Info:
- Licenses are available from LTG Company which offer fishing on four rivers: Ribnik, Pliva, Sana and Janj. Fishing season lasts all year. Limit fishing on river is 30 anglers per day. Price per day permit is 40€. Daily license is valid for all four rivers provided they do not exceed the limit. Price year license is 300€ (valid for four rivers).
- The best season starts from May and ends up sometime in September when there is still plenty of fish to be caught but the water level might be quite low.
- Average catch per day for our group was from 10 to 20 fish per person.
- Average size for grayling is about 32-35 cm and for Brown trout 38-40. There are record grayling in the river up to 60 cm. Fish above 50 cm are caught recently.
Please visit Stan Mankovs website for more details