Cameron Clark and Crew
Trout Bum Slovenia
Great trip overall. I loved it. I would do it again.
We began the trip flying into LJU from our respective residences, where Rok, our guide picked us up. It was about 20-25 minutes to a our accommodations which was in Crngrob. A place called the Pri Marku. This was run by a husband and wife and was a great place to stay. We had our own rooms with bathroom/showers. We had breakfast and dinner there served by Betty (Beh-Tee) the wife and most of the things we ate there were from the farm (eggs, milk, cider, schnapps, meat choices, etc). Betty and her husband were super nice and accommodating. Lunch was also included but was bought or made while we were out fishing.
Our trip was mid September and its worth mentioning that the weather very much dictates which rivers you will be fishing there depending on how much or little it has rained. We had a few days of rain that really helped fishing and we had a few days of rain that made it worse and really difficult which obviously no one can predict. Fishing mostly on 5x with small nymphs and 3-5 wt rods.
Day1
I don’t remember all the names of the rivers we fished, but the first day we fished the Krka river and this was exceptional. Before we arrived there were a few days of heavy rain and then no rain and sunshine. This river was very clear and at a very good water level.
It was a beautiful small river that passed directly through a small section of town. On either side where homes. We literally (scouts honor :)) fished pretty much in the same 2 spots the entire day and caught around 100-125 fish. All rainbows and 5-10 of those were pushing 20-25 inches. Great day. Beautiful weather. When it came time eat lunch we were catching so many fish that I was the only one that stayed and didn’t eat lunch while the group drove 15-20 to a restaurant for lunch (I caught 16 fish during lunchtime! :)). We caught all these fish on nymphs. However, up stream there was a restaurant and near the restaurant there were a bunch of sippers and I caught about 10 small ones on a some size 18-20 dries. Was a lot of fun.
Day 2
I don’t remember the name of this river but we fished a river that was dumping into a dam. This was a blast. It was ALL sight fishing with nymphs to big rainbows. Very fun takes and we lost a handful that took us down to our backing! Overall it was a blast! Not a pretty scenery and later in the afternoon the flows changed and the water muddied up and we couldn’t see any longer for sight cast so it became very difficult. We had lunch at a local restaurant this day. Fun restaurant. They had a Bear in a cage there which was odd/interesting :).
Day 3,4
We traveled to the Soca River. This is the most famous area in Slovenia in my opinion and it definitely the most beautiful river I’ve ever seen. Just type it into google images and it will blow your mind :). It’s what drew me to Slovenia and its in the Julian Alps. It’s basically sitting in a national park. People are hiking/walking around while you are fishing. The base of the river is lined with Limestone and gives the water a brilliant blue color. It’s incredible. This is where you will find the famous Marble Trout!
They are very hard to catch and are not super plentiful. I caught about 12 in the 2 days we were there with my largest being around 18”. The water was super clear and it was all sight fishing. We found out that the largest marbles are normally caught when the weather is the worst and coldest as well as the Hucho which we didn’t target or catch. However at the end of day 3 it starting to rain very heavily and this carried into day 4. Because of this the water muddied up and we were able to target the larger marbles that day. My brother who fishes just a few times a year (of course) caught his one and only marble which was close to the 25” range.
It was awesome. Rok was literally freaking out telling us that he had been targeting this exact fish the whole season and wasn’t able to ever catch it because the water was too clear. But with the colored water the bigger marbles were coming closer to shore. I caught a few 16-18” marbles that day but nothing big. I still a had a blast. We also caught a handful of nice rainbows on the Soca. We had lunch on the river both days which Rok cooked up for us with some fresh produce and food he had purchased. We stayed in a lodge type hotel in the middle of the national park. It was decent place for sure and we had our own rooms and bathrooms/showers. Fun place. We had dinner that night at the lodge as well and this was also fun with good food. This was also covered by Rok. Soca Valley and river were a lot of fun. OH! And Rok took my brother and I to a local cheese makers home and we were able to see his entire cheese cellar and Rok bought some cheese that we ate for lunch the next day at lunch. It was amazing :).
Day 5
We fished a river (don’t remember the name:)) that we had to pay a little extra for because of the license and unfortunately it rained a bunch the night before and the water levels were high. We were fishing for Grayling and browns in this river.
No big fish from this river but it was fun catching the grayling because the takes were more technical and fun. Caught them on dries too. Beautiful sunny day and beautiful scenery here.
Lunch was cooked fresh on the river.
Day 6
Also don’t know the name of the river. Sorry! Honestly this river was just okay. My least favorite day. Rainy day with okay fishing. We still caught a decent amount of fish but nothing of size. Browns and rainbows this day. Nothing to write home about on this river. But that’s fishing. Not everyday can be great.
We chose to have dinner two nights out that we had to pay for ourselves. We had Rok arrange this dinner that was really cool. The Chef/Owner opened up the restaurant just for us.
Everything at this restaurant was foraged or killed by the owner. Had a really fun dinner with lots of different meats, veggies and fruits. We also had dinner out at a “proper” pizza place according to Rok :). He picked us up and drove us to the pizza place and had dinner with us.
Overall, loved the trip. Scenery was amazing, rivers were great, and accommodations were definitely above acceptable. It was a great time and would definitely do Slovenia again! The travel was also pretty easy in comparison to some of the other fishing trips I have done. No overnight staying before flying anywhere else.
Thanks!
Cameron
