Serbian rivers

[oholi]

Here in Serbia there are a lot of small rivers, few bigger like Lim and Drina. On most rivers population of trout is not very good. This is because people here like to take every fish. But some rivers are controled so there are less stealing. One of them is Gradac. River aproximately 12km long. Upper part is full of fish, average is about 25-30cm, but there are lot bigger fish, up to 60-70cm, but they are rarely caught, maybe once a year.
Here season starts on march and ends in september. At the beggining of the season water levels are often high,due to snow melting. We can fish in march, but mostly on nymphs and streamers. If the water is low and clear than even in march there is surface action. Best time is of coarse end of april, may, june and july...waterlevel is perfect, fish are hungry and nature is beautifull. Late season, august and september are characteristic by low water, fish are very carefull, they keep in shade and riffles, on such conditions we have often selective fish. than as now we have time to write on forums and talk fishing stories

Gradac:

this flat behind me is full of fish, there fish is difficult to catch, most takes are on the opposite bank under trees.

some fish can be caught on a very odd flies such as coffeebean fly(its made of real bean)

some fish like this one prefer presentation (for me presentation is crucial)

this is the fly it took

 

[oholi]

this is very source of the river..

my friend Tihomir

this is flat part from the first photo but in spring...notice water level

my favourite pool

trout from the pool... [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q3nHUKNG1Q]47 cm - YouTube[/ame] video has poor quality

 

[oholi]

this is the way to start fishing... some plum brandy, domestic one, very strong

one of many trouts caught in my favourite pool

fish on rod is sportfish 3/4 8ft, very good one for me

fish landed

some other inhabitants

snowshoe in action

very begining of the season, water is a bit coloured and high..

 

[leeren666]

looks fun to me, fancy a lodger !

 

[luke troutstalker]

Excellent pictures and location.

Lucky man ! :thumbs:

 

[oholi]

tnx i have almost 20gb of flyfishing photos

 

[flytyingcompany]

absolutely stunning location! Very jealous!

 

[oholi]

there are few places to stay there, price is from 7 to 20euros(with two meals), depending on what you need.

i am about 80km from this river so i rarely stay overnight...

 

[mat elot]

Excellent writeup and photos :thumbs:
Sure looks like a wonderful place to be fishing for brownies
Paul.

 

[thetrouttickler]

Very nice looking streams.

One day, when I have enough time on my hands, I plan to travel and fly fish my way from Northern Italy, through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria and end up in Northern Greece.

So it is encouraging to see your photos and to know what lies in store in Serbia. Thanks.

 

[oholi]

everyone is velcome, but first contact someone from Serbia to inform on conditions, accomodation etc...

---------- Post added at 10:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:59 PM ----------

these ones are from Mrtvica, Montenegro

the depth on this photo is around 4m, thats why i use additional weight

 

[bro66]

Great report and pictures looks like another great destination :thumbs:

 

[oholi]

well, one needs to know which river to choose for destination, most of the rivers here in Serbia and in Montenegro are pretty empty, few rivers are taken care of and there you can expect really good fishing.

---------- Post added at 11:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:30 PM ----------

what dou think about casting a fly into this pool?

it is Komarnica river in Montenegro

---------- Post added at 11:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:32 PM ----------

i did some diving in gradac with my camera...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMjpHg9H_eA]gradac ronjenje 0001 - YouTube[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17eRCSMNDyk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17eRCSMNDyk[/ame]

---------- Post added at 11:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:35 PM ----------

hatch of small ants #20.AVI - YouTube

this shot was taken on a day with massive ant hatch, ants were very small so i used #24 imitation and on that day i managed to land around 100fish

 

[Vermontdrifter]

Absolutly gorgeous rivers and pictures! You may be getting a p.m. from me next year as some buddies and I are trying to make up our minds as to our annual fishing trip!

Take care

Terry

 

[nymphist]

cool stuff:thumbs:

 

[oholi]

lets continue presenting Gradac.

trout here are oportunistic feeders, they most of the time grab anything that passes by. But there is a problem, lot of people neglect approach to the water. But above all, presentation is what matters. There are situations when fly has so little drag that we cant notice it but fish can. Too thick tippet might be a reason for fish to turn away. But not because fish see it better than thin one but becuse fly acts unnatural when using thick one. Every tippet material leaves sth like footprint on the surface and that is what bothers trout. Many times when trout had raise to my fly and went back, thinner tippet was solution... I had observed from close range how they act and noticed small drags which would have been unnoticed if i were further away, stiff thick tippet can be a problem... but rarely i go under 0,12mm

if you satisfy these few conditions then fishin Gradac can be very productive.

maybe the mst beautifull trout i have ever seen (with Clement from Belgium)

 

[oholi]

i belive that otter had attacked this fish... it took dry fly and it was healthy...

 

[oholi]

Gradac has very good population of trout, but few people tryed to catch grayling at Drina and bring it to Gradac, i had few...

that day was massive ant hatch...so when i ran out of my ants i used #22 griffins gnat and it worked.

 

[leeren666]

fantastic photographs, stunning scenery, good fishing, getting more tempted to flee Britain every time you add to this thread, keep up the good work vladimir, you surely do enjoy your fishing and photography, well done and many thanks for sharing.

 

[oholi]

tnx, i like fishing a lot, i often give almost all my money just to go fishing somewhere. good part of my flytying is that i swap my flies for other stuff, so i gave 150flies for a brand new pentax w80, 70flies for a sportfish rod... now i am equipped with two rods #5 and #3/4, enough for me

i'll try to post some other photos of different rivers recently