Fly fishing in Bosnia

Wonderful Bosnian rivers, some of which resemble clean limestone streams, will bring you hours of enjoyment and positive challenges in your search for wild brook trout and grayling.  Chances are high that with a bit of luck and a minimal knowledge of dry fly fishing, you will be successful in fishing even capital examples of brown trout and wild grayling.  If you are a fan of nymph fishing, Bosnian rivers offer you the opportunity to catch large capital fish using the technique of sight nymphing.

Big Grayling and Small Dry Flies

Bosnian rivers that offer you fishing with a lot of action during the day are Ribnik, Pliva, Una, Unac, Sana, Sanica, Drina, Neretva, Klokot, Krušnica, Lašva, etc. These rivers are teeming with grayling, brown and rainbow trout, as well as soft-mouthed trout, which is an endemic species and can only be found in a few European rivers. 

All these fish feed freely on the surface during the summer months, and on some rivers such as the Ribnik throughout the year, on numerous types of dry flies and nymphs that hatch in the rivers.  For enthusiasts who are interested in the ultimate challenge, they can get the chance to hunt the kingfisher of the Danube basin (Hucho hucho), part of the salmon family that is distantly related to the taimen in Mongolia.

A pond is an atypical stream or spring stream;  slow flowing, constant water temperatures, lush weed growth and increasing fish.  There is a large population of brown trout that can grow to phenomenal sizes, but grayling 50+ are what fly anglers from all over the world come for.  Although it is only a little more than 5 km long and no more than 100 cm deep, it is easy to wade through and cross from one side of the river to the other and is full of wild fish.  The river in Ribnik takes on the characteristics of karst water, the banks become softer and earthier, and aquatic plants and algae occupy more than 50% of the river bottom.

 These grasses are the habitats of a large number of crayfish, which are primary in the diet of grayling and trout.  This part of the river provides easy and good access to all parts of its course.

It swims again like chalk thanks to its limestone origin, but on its 5 km fishing channel it becomes much larger than Ribnik. The highest sections plunge down the rocky hillside before opening up into wide trails and deep pools.  Then it opens up into a calmer giant chalky stream with fine gravel and large beds of weeds. Perhaps it is this diversity of water that encourages grayling to grow to monstrous sizes, as well as the less populated brook trout.  The fish here are incredibly smart and you can easily spend hours trying to trick the fish that live here.

Rivers such as Una and Unac, which are located on the border with Croatia, these mighty rivers begin their course on the slopes of Stražbenica.  The most effective fishing is fishing with nymphs and streamers and when the hatch starts, dry fly fishing can be one of the best experiences in Europe.

You can sometimes find more fly anglers on Bosnian rivers, but there is a huge amount of fish in the rivers, so you never have to wade far to target fresh fish on nymphs and dry flies. It’s not wilderness fishing like you’ll find elsewhere, the scenery and fishing can be truly world class. Dry fly fishing depends on the hatch, but we have found that June and late September/October are the most consistent times for dry fly action. The destination focuses on large grayling, but there are also large brown graylings.  Bosnia is where anglers using light rods, fine tips and small flies will find success.

The local population is dedicated to meeting the needs of guests who come from all over the world, so they offer accommodation on the very bank of the river, which is adapted to the needs of anglers, and some excellent local anglers who know Bosnian rivers like the back of their hand offer excellent Guiding services.