This was my third trip to Slovenia and you can read more about my previous trips through following link, sLOVEnia 2 0 1 1.
This year I had the honor to go Slovenia with my friend Johan Greus, from Sweden. He's the man who is responsible that my fly fishing career started :)
We also had a mission to write an article about the Marble trout of Slovenia, so our main target was the Marble.
I haven't been so early in Slovenia at the summer so we were a bit worried about the weather. We heard from Matevz that it had been raining all week, even snowing. Water conditions weren't the best and most of the rivers were murky. Fact was that the spring was late..
Our trip started on friday 27th of April from Helsinki-Vantaa airport and our plane landed in Ljubljana 11:45 am. We had really good luck that the weather was really warm, +28c and the summer had begun. Just like a last year, Matevz Jus was waiting for us at the airport. Matevz is a local guide in Slovenia, go and check his home page here.
After we had talked with Matevz, we decided to start the fishing in Lepenja.
We took the shortest route to the river and we drove through Italy. The views was magnificent and I noticed that Johan was in love at first sight.
After we had talked with Matevz, we decided to start the fishing in Lepenja.
We took the shortest route to the river and we drove through Italy. The views was magnificent and I noticed that Johan was in love at first sight.
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| The Slovenia conquerors 2012! |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 24mm, f/10, 1/100s, Iso 100 Last week it was snowing! |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 24mm, f/10, 1/50s, Iso 100 Johan admires the views |
A few hours of driving did the job and we were hungry as little Stallones. Before going fishing, we decided to go eat the best pizza on the planet, RAMBO pizza!
May I present Johan, Rambo and ice cold Lasko =)
May I present Johan, Rambo and ice cold Lasko =)
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| Johan, Rambo and Lasko |
After the lunch we drove to river. As I have said before, Lepenja is a nice small river full of pools and fishes. Johan also liked fishing in Lepenja a lot.
We spend some time walking and admiring the views around us. At the same time we spotted the first rainbow eating from the surface. Because Johan was a first time in Slovenia he had the honor to start fishing. Johan made his first cast and the fish was on, what a start!
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| Canon 5D MKII, 70mm, f/9, 1/60s, Iso 100 Johan in action! |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 70mm, f/9, 1/160s, Iso 100 |
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| Photo by J. Greus Joni & fish on! |
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| Photo by J. Greus My first rainbow of the trip |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 24mm, f/4, 1/50s, Iso 100 |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 100mm prime, f/4, 1/50s, Iso 100 Johan's marble trout in Lepenja |
After all it was a really nice first day of fishing and we had lot of fun while fishing. We hooked six rainbows and one small marble trout. I think next year we should spend more time in Lepenja, there is a lot of new places to search.
In the evening we went to buy a three day fishing permits and also enjoyed a few glasses of red wine.
Saturday 28th of April
Vila Labod in Most Na Soci is a nice holiday home including everything that a fisherman needs and much more! Breath-taking views and within walking distance there is restaurants, and shops.
The best thing is the unique location. You have less than one hour driving to the best rivers in Soca Valley. If some of the rivers are murky, you can easily chance your plans and drive to some other river.
If you are ordering the Pohjolan Perhokalastaja magazine or Chasing Silver magasine you get -10% of your prize in Vila Labod.
When you make the reservation, remember to write "Pohjolan Perhokalastaja".
www.vilalabod.com
vilalabod@gmail.com
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| Vila Labod |
We spent Saturday morning sleeping and arranging things to a better shape.
It was some kind of public day and many Italian fishermen were arriving to fish. I've never seen so many fishermen in Slovenia, the rivers were full. In one pool we saw over seven fishermen.
In this circumstances we should have realized to leave our rods to our apartment and focus on photographing. But no, we didn't have patience to do so.
This was also the hottest day of our journey, almost +30c!
We were able to get a few nice pictures and some small rainbows.
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| Canon 5D MKII, 24mm, f/8, 1/250s, Iso 200 I love Trebuscica |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 70mm, f/5.6, 1/320s, Iso 200 ..and Johan did also! |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 30mm, f/5.6, 1/400s, Iso 200 |
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| Photo by J. Greus, Edit J. Inkinen Joni taking a bath! |
Late in the evening, just before dark, Matevz hooked a really nice marble.
After the battle we got the fish into the net and it was a 52 centimeter marble trout. Every over 50 centimeter marble is pretty rare so it was a really nice ending for the day :)
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| Matevz & 52 centimeter marble |
Sunday 29th of April
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| Canon 5D MKII, 24mm, f/9, 1/100s, Iso 200 Day three was just beginning... |
Since the rivers were full of fishermen yesterday we decided to wake up early. It was a really wise choice because we were the first ones at the river :)
We were really excited because the weather was perfect and there was no other fishermen at the river.
Our first target was one of our favorite rivers, Trebuscica. The day was spectacular and we experienced a lot of action. Johan's first fish was a beautiful marble trout and we got some really nice pictures of it to our marble article.
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| Canon 5D MKII, 100mm, f/5.6, 1/200s, Iso 100 Testing our rods with marble |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 70mm, f/5.6, 1/80s, Iso 200 Marble with size 18 nymph |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 45mm, f/4.5, 1/125s, Iso 200 Tiger-striped marble |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 70mm, f/3.2, 1/320s, Iso 200 The Marble |
We were lucky and we also had a very good fishing for rainbow trout. When we found the right fly we landed five, over forty five centimeter rainbows. Pretty cool or what?
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| Canon 5D MKII, 100mm prime, f/5.6, 1/250s, Iso 100 Johan's 60cm rainbow |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 100mm prime, f/10, 1/100s, Iso 100 |
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| Photo by J. Greus, Edit J. Inkinen Joni in action |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 100mm prime, f/8, 1/80s, Iso 100 Even the rainbows were smiling to us! :) |
Later during the day I had a surprise when I hooked a nice marble. Soon I noticed that it was a big one and that got me pretty nervous of loosing it. But luckily we landed it and got even more photos to our article.
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| Canon 5D MKII, 100mm prime, f/8, 1/160s, Iso 100 Photo by J. Greus, Edit J. Inkinen Joni and 57cm marble |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 100mm prime, f/3.5, 1/640s, Iso 100 Photo by J. Greus, Edit J. Inkinen One of the best moments of our trip! |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 100mm prime, f/3.5, 1/800s, Iso 100 Photo by J. Greus, Edit J. Inkinen C & R |
After that experience and many more at this crystal clear waters we were very satisfied!
Our wrists were exhausted and our rods were begging for mercy, so we packed our gear into Matevz Chinese V.I.P Volvo, turned up Chris Rea and drove off to our safe location, restaurant Slap :)
After dinner we made a quick visit to Idricja and finished this perfect day with some dryfly action. The day ended with some glasses of the local red vine at the home bar.
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| Canon 5D MKII, 24mm, f/3.5, 1/125s, Iso 200 Johan in Idricja |
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| Some frogs also scored that day =D |
Monday 30th of April
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| Canon 5D MKII, 24mm, f/10, 1/100s, Iso 200 |
Plan for the day was to drive to Trebuscica, fish there for a while and then drive to a canyon, where the first marble trout has been found. After the photographing session our plan was to go eat (Rambo pizza!!) and finish the day by fishing in Soca, although the water level was high there.
Soon we noticed that fishes weren't so active, as they were yesterday. Fortunately Johan hooked a big marble, about fifty to sixty centimeter, but eventually landed a nice rainbow :D ..At some point of the fight, the marble was unhooked, but a beautiful rainbow continued the fight!
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| Canon 5D MKII, 160mm, f/4.5, 1/100s, Iso 200 One of my favorite picture. Johan & fifty-one centimeter rainbow |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 200mm, f/5, 1/160s, Iso 200 |
I found a really nice pool where was a lot of fish, although only small ones. I noticed that they were eating from the surface all the time. With a small Klinkhammer I hooked over ten rainbows, that's what I call great dry fly fishing :) ..I also hooked a pretty rare catch, a frog!
Johan had the honor to release 'the beast', as you can see from below -->
Johan had the honor to release 'the beast', as you can see from below -->
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| Johan releasing the beast |
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| Photo by J. Greus Joni with small turbo rainbow |
Our trip continued and we headed to photograph the Canyon. As I said before, there the first marble trout has been found. The canyon was really big and there was a strong current. Nowadays the place is conservation area, so you may not fish there.
After we had walked about thousand stairs to the hill in the heat, we survived to Matevz Chinese car. We were pretty exhausted and we speed to Rambo pizza restaurant. I can say that the ice cold Lasco tasted pretty goooood! =)
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| Canon 5D MKII, 24mm, f/9, 4.0s, Iso 100 |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 24mm, f/8, 1/100s, Iso 100 The canyon |
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| Photo by J. Greus Our guide was pregnant |
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| Photo by J. Greus |
After the meal we drove to Soca. During our trip, the Soca was not fishable because of the high water level. I hope that next year the situation will be different.
As a sum up I could say that, that day was nice and we experienced a lot of new things. In the evening we visited Matevz place in Lepenja, enjoyed a few classes of wine and drove back to our camp to Most na Soci.
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| Canon 5D MKII, 24mm, f/8, 1/80s, Iso 400 |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 70mm, f/8, 1/50s, Iso 400 |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 24mm, f/6.3, 1/60s, Iso 200 Sweden & Slovenia |
Tuesday 1st of May
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| Canon 5D MKII, 24mm, f/7.1, 1/60s, Iso 100 - Idricja Trophy Zone - |
This was the day that I had been waiting for. Fishing in Idricja, Trophy Zone.
I have a really great memories of this place when we were in Slovenia for the first time. This place saved our trip because the other rivers was so murky and high.
Nowadays my opinion about this place has been changed a bit..
Even when the fishing licenses are really expensive (90e/day), they don't take good care of the rivers! While you are fishing you can spot dead animals, car tires etc..not so nice! So if some of the river keepers are reading this, please, keep the river clean and nice to fish!
Our fishing day was really difficult. I break the leader with a really big grayling when I was fishing with a dry fly. Fortunately Johan managed to land a forty centimeter rainbow and a small brown trout.
The weather was really hot and we was waiting for the evening when the fishes could be more active. Our expectation didn't come true. When the evening began it start to rain and a small storm came upon us.
Here is a few picture of our day..
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| Canon 5D MKII, 120mm, f/4, 1/320s, Iso 100 Johan freeze up when he noticed the rainbow behind him! |
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| Photo by J. Greus |
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| High Dynamic Range picture |
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| Johans brownie |
Wednesday 2nd of May
A new day and a new tricks! We were a bit lazy in the morning so we slept pretty late.. Our plan was to start in our 'hot spot', but it was grounded all day.
We started to walk up to the river and tried to find a new places. Soon I spotted a small rainbow trout eating and I offer him a Klinkhammer. A few cast later the rainbow approved my fly.
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| Photo by J. Greus |
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| Photo by J. Greus, Edit J. Inkinen Rainbow with a dry fly |
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| Photo by J. Greus, Edit J. Inkinen |
Overall it was a really good dry fly fishing in the morning.
We walked along the river for some time. I found a really beautiful place, it was like a great painting and in this pool I spotted a big fish in the bottom. We try to catch this fish for a few hours, but we couldn't land it. I hope that the fish is at the same point in next year 8)
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| Photo by J. Greus Matevz spotting the fish (left up) and I'm trying to cast it right |
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| Photo by J. Greus Can you spot the fish? |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 45mm, f/3.5, 1/40s, Iso 200 Matevz with a beautiful rainbow |
Also Matevz landed a nice rainbow during the day. After our lunch we visit in Baca river and Idricja but we didn't got anything special. The evening ended when Johan fell down and started to swim in the river :) That was the time that we decided to drive back to our camp and to start packing for tomorrow.
So we were about to leave behind the Soca area. But where do we go next..? ;)
Thursday 3th of May
The day that I wouldn't have wanted to face was here.
Our last day in Slovenia had come.
I experienced a lot of great moments with Johan and Matevz and these moments I'll never forget. Slovenia had conquered a new heart and Johan was enamored of the fly fishing in crystal clear waters.
In the morning we woke up and started to pack our gears and headed to river Savinja. This was the place where we spend our last fishing day during this year.
Matevz recommended to stay in hostel Pevc, which was really close to the river.
Hostel Pevc is in upper Savinja valley and I really recommend this place if you are planning to fish in Savinja river. This was the place where we got some of the best food and service during our trip.
Thank you for everything Peter and I hope we will see next year again :)
Hostel Ljubno, Savinji
www.freewebs.com/hostelljubno
ljubno@youth-hostel.si
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| Johan and Johan front of Pevc hostel |
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| The Savinja river |
We carried our gears in and started to drive to the river. The place where we bought our licenses was pretty nice. They had a lot of stuffed fish on the walls, that had been caught from the Savinja river.
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| I have caught the biggest one. ..hopefully sometime |
We started to walk along the river and we spotted a lot of fish. We realized that there was a lot fish, rainbows and brown trouts and some of them were pretty big ones. Soon we found out, that they were not the easiest to be caught.. During the day we managed to land few nice rainbows with dry flies.
Here is some pictures of our day in Savinja:
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| Behind my camera, Matevz Jus. Edit J. Inkinen |
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| Behind my camera, Matevz Jus. Edit J. Inkinen |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 30mm, f/4, 1/200s, Iso 200 |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 60mm, f/3.2, 1/200s, Iso 400 Johan and a really fat 46 centimeter rainbow |
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| Canon 5D MKII, 65mm, f/5, 1/100s, Iso 200 |
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| Matevz was really happy when he noticed that we were leaving in following day ;) |
When the evening began it started to rain and a small storm came upon us. We fished with a streamers in the rain, but without success, perhaps they were already sleeping..
This was good time to stop the fishing and leave for the last supper, which contained good meat and wine, aaah!
We improved the world with a few glass of red wine and some local 'krappa'. It was really a nice evening, just to enjoy the views and talk about everything..
In the morning we had a good breakfast and started to drive to airport. Our trip was ending and normal everyday life was in front of us..
Thank you Johan and Matevz for the unforgettable trip!
THE END
Sincerely
- J. Inkinen -
