Stalking Trout on the Sava Bohinjka, Slovenia

[@clevo12]

I hope you enjoyed the trip to Slovenia. I was there at the beginning of summer, also fishing, but on Ucja River.

[@flyfishingslovakia7872]

Thanks, nice comment, I go a couple of times per year, and I used to have a season permit which covered the Unica River, Wow, that is so good for big Grayling, you were lucky to fish it this year, Cheers, Robert

[@DVDP-yj3ts]

hoi Robert. sorry but he means Ucja river, not Unica. Ucja is a tributary of the Soca.@@flyfishingslovakia7872

[@flyfishingslovakia7872]

@@DVDP-yj3ts good to know, thanks

[@DVDP-yj3ts]

nice river and video.. I fished the Sava B. many times in the past. What is your opinion about this river comparing with Vah and Revuca?

[@flyfishingslovakia7872]

SAVA B. Vs Vah, both are fantastic rivers, I of course love the Vah and I spend more time on it and I think it has better trout fishing and bigger fish, but for a lot of the year the fish are so well fed that they are difficult to catch, very challenging. On the Sava B., being a true Alpine river, they fish are more inclined to take your fly as they have less to eat. Also, the Sava B. Has a lot more types and depths of pools to fish, and water clarity is fantastic. To finish, the Vah is an unreliable river due to the water height controlled by the Dam at Besenova. Revuca is still my favourite river and I would fish it first out of all the rivers I fish, cheers, Robert

[@DVDP-yj3ts]

@@flyfishingslovakia7872 thanks for your reply!

[@peterhorvath6126]

Which part of the river is this? I hope you don't mind the question...

[@flyfishingslovakia7872]

Hi Peter, it's the Institute stretch, which is the middle part of the Sava Bohinjka. Its not a club water, but is controlled and managed by the Government and permits are available. Its about 8 km, a lot of river to fish and is easily accessible with nice pools. Cheers, Robert

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

Why stock rainbow trout in that stream?

[@flyfishingslovakia7872]

Hi, Sorry,just noticed the comment and never got back to you. In Slovenia, some rivers do stock Rainbows, and have done so for the last 100 years. You also catch lots of small fingerling Rainbows, perfectly finned, so they breed in a lot of the rivers. In Slovdnia its not common to stock Brown trout, as they breed with the Native Marble trout and pollute the Marble trout stock, so the clubs can't or wont stock brown trout, they stock with Rainbows to prevent creating Hybrid trout. So I think it became common practise to only stock with Rainbows, even in those rivers that don't have Marble trout, cheers, Robert

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@@flyfishingslovakia7872 Won't rainbows put a strain on the native species?

[@flyfishingslovakia7872]

In some cases yes, but they have been stocking for a long time and you still get rivers full of Rainbows and Brown's, so it seems to be balanced. There are rivers with no stocking at all, there are a lot of Brown trout only waters, and also some where there is mixed stock but above a certain height you only get Brown's. Those rivers have permit splits, and those that want only Brown's can buy a permit to fish there. They limit the amount of permits per day,maybe only 4, and this maintains the stock. Also, in a lot of the rivers there is a major predator, Huchen (Taimen), and they do eat a lot of Rainbows, I have watched them chasing and catching the Rainbows. The Government authorities monitor and approve stocking and any impact to local native species, and they would definitely intervene if they thought it had an impact to the native species. Cheers, Robert

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@@flyfishingslovakia7872 In Canada we have stocking of browns and rainbows in waters that have native brook trout. Makes me sad to see European and western species forcing out the truly native fish. I do not release browns or rainbows.