THE BEST OPEN WATER IN BOSNIA
River Vrbas
My river, actually I was born and raised in a house that is only 20 meters away from this river.
Lenght: around 250 km
Regime : open water
Permits: 10€/day
Target Fish : Hucho Hucho , Brown Trout , Grayling , Barbel (all wild ,and in trophy sizes)
In my opinion, the most underestimated river in Bosnia, especially among foreign tourists, the truth is that there is only one special catch and release section, which is located in the town of Donji Vakuf. The rest of the river is unfortunately open wild water, which is very well protected ( especially around city of Banja Luka) thanks to the Guards, sports fishermen and unfortunately hydropower plants (I’ll come back to them later).
From its source to the city of Banja Luka, the Vrbas is a pure-bred wild mountain river that passes through fairy-tale scenarios, from wide valleys to narrow canyons, passes through several small towns, of which Jajce should definitely be singled out, and when we are already at Jajce, in my opinion, Vrbas becomes the real one, in the city of Jajce, one of Europe’s most famous Fly Fishing rivers, the Pliva, flows into the Vrbas, which gives it the strength to carve in my opinion the most beautiful canyon in the world to Banja Luka.
The part of the river that is most interesting for fly fishing is the part upstream from the city of Banja Luka, about 30 km of river , also in the city itself. As well as between two dams in the village of Bocac, but only on rare occasions when the water level is low.
The main reason why that part does not have a single commercial fly fishing trail is the dam. Oscillations of the water level in Vrbas go up to two meters per Year, and apart from the application that shows the real state of the water level under dam, and you have up to 5 hours until the wave reaches the city, so you can plan up to 5 hours of fishing moving downstream afront of rising, there are no rules regarding the height of the water level, and fisherman can’t make plans for a day , of course there are places where you can cast Fly even at high water level, but the most beautiful and productive fishing is at low water level.
The dam, in addition to annoying us fishermen in certain parts of the year, actually has one wonderful thing, during the spawning season of all species interesting for Fly Fishing, we generally have a high water level, so the fish nests are protected by high water. No boots in water at all. The results of that can be seen during fishing.
Ther is disent number and size of fish.
What I like most about Vrbas is that every fishing trip it is possible for you to have a capital trout of 5 + kg on your rod, or for your grayling to be swallowed by Hucho Hucho of over 10 kilos, these things happen and are not a rare occurrence.
Another good thing is that even next to the dam, every year (depending on the rainfall) we have a period of several months with a low water level when the water level almost does not change. usually it’s the period from June to October, but now it’s the middle of November and that water level still lasts, which is great. in that period, most of the other rivers for fly fishing (except Pliva) have a very low water level and fishing is demanding and less productive. my suggestion is that the next time you visit Bosnia in that period, consider spending a day in Vrbas I’m sure you won’t regret it.
