I have now been to Austria several times, fly fishing in a great variety of places. And it has always live up to my expectations. Then last summer my very good friend Robert Stroh, told me of a place one of his friends owned down in Austria. It was located very close to the Slovenian border, in other words we experience some of the best fly fishing you could imagine, within 1 hour drive, in all directions!!. We would have a lot of great fly fishing in Austria (some only a few minutes from the hotel) and we would have rivers like the Soca in Slovenia - The best from two worlds - it sounded to good to be true, but with no doubt, I had to explore this place for my self.
We arranged it, and suddenly I found my self in a plain to Munich, then further on in a hired car to the small village of Primus, were the hotel were located. A typical mountain village, quit and beautiful - I don't know anything better - I want to get old in a town like that!!!. No graffiti, no gang violence, no cars, no noise - why do I live in a big city????
Everything went smooth, and I arrived early in the evening to the little cosy family Hotel Wutte. Here I was recieved with great friendliness, got myself a big sandwich and a Radler (German beer with lime - the best!!!) - then a hot shower and off to bed.
Next morning I came down to the breakfast saloon, here Robert and his fantastic wife Michaela, and their two "super kids" were already at the table, eating breakfast. I joined them and we started to plan the fishing.
Luckily for me, they were all very familiar with the place, so I just had to follow along - perfect, like having your own personally - guide family!! - at your disposal!!! :O)
They showed me some fantastic fishing, and we caught a lot of fish in all sizes that first day - rainbow, brownies and graylings - life was good!!!.
After a couple of days in the local waters, where Robert by the way broke his split cane rod on a HUGE rainbow - his #4 couldn't match a 5-6 kg. very strong rainbow (94 cm,) - but somehow he managed to land it with the top piece alone!! - that's what I call real fly fishing!! :O)

Then Milan came into the picture. He wanted to take us all to Slovenia, witch sounded perfect to me, since I'd never been there before, but heard so much about it.

Next morning it was an early bird for all of us, before the sun came up, we drove of to Slovenia.
We arrived after about an hour driving - to something that is hard to describe, simply because the colors of the river, we parked beside, were unbelievable. Words can harly describe what we were looking at - a turquoise-bluish river!!! - an unreal and fascinating sight. But as if that wasn't enough, we could spot several big fish in the very clear water, from the bridge where we stood. I just had to fish!!!. And we did!!.
Milan and I went out alone, and for me that was a gift. Not only were Milan an excellent fly fisher, but he knew every pool in this river, like the back of his hand - what a privilege it was to for me to be at the right place, with the right person. The experience I had with Milan that day, were beyond super!!. He showed me places I don't think many people have seen down there, fantastic nature and challenging fishing - the clear water in a combination with huge fish, made it difficult, but not impossible at all. I love this kind of fishing, where you have to think before you cast, everything has to come together, in a higher dimension - what a day we had, what a place we fished - I want more!!!.
Milan grew up in this area and his farther was a fly fisher as well, so there probably isn't a better guide in all of this area. Besides that he had the most amazing fishing technique, and I learned so from Milan that day - besides that Milan was great company, and we had a very good time together!! :O)
We ended our trip in Slovenia on a nice restaurant, where we all had a good dinner. Milan knew the owner so we got a special treatment - a perfect ending on a perfect day.
Next spring I have o go bak in may, where the big hatching stats and hopefully Milan, Robert and his family will have the same weather, the same atmosphere and the same sublime fishing.

Link o Milans nice little family hotel: Hotel Pension Wutte | familienerlebnis.at

Sorry chum

I beat you to that one about 5 years ago. Milan is a good guy. Does he still use Siegi and Jurgen as guides?

Actually, I've fished the Vellach off and on since about 1980. My only problem with the river there now is that they do insist on stocking it with oversized rainbows, and according to my information, the same applies in Slovenia. However, I'm glad you enjoyed the visit and my home country - I was born there - and had some good fishing.

My Austrian fishing is a bit further north of there where there is some seriously good grayling fishing. Ludicrously easy at times but this can change in minutes to incredibly difficult as the little devils switch their chosen food item.

Well that just fine - can beat them all
yes they are still there - and I agree on the stock issue, but where don't they do these thing these days
That place you mentioned sounds very interesting, but I recon you will keep that to your self :O)

Hi there Pool
i fished with Milan seven days here in my country.....exelent felow

__________________


Save the Softmouth
The ancient noble trout of Montenegro

One of the problems with Austrian fishing - certainly in the south of the country - is the scarcity of what could be termed publicly available fishing.

There is very little "hotel" water in southern Austria. Milan's, in my experience, is the exception rather than the rule. Most of the rivers are owned by the landowner through whose land they flow, and many of these landowners own very large areas of land indeed. Their main interests lie in forestry and rents from smaller farmers and they are generally not too bothered about trying to gain an income from the fishing. I know this from my cousin who is a lawyer working for the Carinthian government, and who deals with land and forestry legal matters on a daily basis. If a landowner rents out his fishing he generally does so to either a single person or at most a small group. These do not necessarily let day tickets. Consequently the rivers are generally very well stocked with wild fish as the fishing pressure is light.

One of the best locations to look at is the water on a river called the Moll. There is 18kms of this river owned by the Kelag - the Carinthian electricity company. They only allow 5 tickets per day at 60 Euros each so it is not cheap fishing. It is extremely good fishing with brown and rainbow trout and huge numbers of grayling. There is a snag. The river can rise and fall up to a metre in a very short time as they let water down from dams in the high alps or from reservoirs built off the river to generate electricity. This makes fishing a bit of a lottery, and I have tried many times to find out if there is some sort of schedule by which they do this so that fishing can be timed to avoid the worst problems.

An example of this took place only two years ago. I was there with a small party and dropped two of the chaps by a bridge so they could fish their way upriver about 3 kilometres to the next bridge. The river was perfect and clear. The other chap came with me and we drove the three kilometres to the next bridge to find the river was up by two feet and raging through. On the narrow lanes we drove it took less than ten minutes. During the morning this high water ran off, the river dropped and cleared and we all had some fantastic fishing. We had to leave by 3pm or so as we had to drive back to Salzburg. When I got back to the car I spent about ten minutes or so clearing it out and tidying up before going to the river to look for my companion. In that time the river had risen by a metre and was the colour of milk chocolate!

As regards the stocking issue, it appears to be getting more common in some Austrian rivers. I fished the Traun - that Holy Grail of Ritz and others - about four years ago and caught stockie rainbows. A lot of smaller wild fish too, but the stockie rainbows definitely took the gloss off it for me.

Before anyone starts screaming at me about my views on stock fish, I have no objection to rainbows where their use is appropriate. There are many miles of river in this country where brown trout will not do well, but rainbows can, and I see no problem in stocking them there as it opens up sections of river to anglers that otherwise would not be used. I have no problems with rainbows in reservoirs as there is plenty of space for them to move around in and to grow. Small commercial fisheries depend on them and while I seldom fish those waters I have no hang-ups about those that do. But, stocking large rainbows into wild rivers in places like Austria or Slovenia I feel is inappropriate. These are fantastic places to fish, but you have to understand the rivers and learn where to find fish to be successful. Large rainbows, it seems to me, cut across that learning curve.

Hi BobP
I follow you 200% - but where I come from there is no real rivers around (I have to drive two hours to Morrum in Sweden) - so it's all sea trout fishing from the coast. Therefore it is so wonderful to just being by a river in these places (Slovenia and Austria) with the whole mountain scenery in the horizon (we don't have mountains as well!!!)- BUT when that is said I would also wish that they at leas set out small stock fish, so they could grow and somehow appear more "natural".
I have fished the Moll - scary waters, my fishing friend nearly drowned because of the "tidal wave" from the power station, but very nice graylings indeed. On my I have a blog I have a long photo session from the area around the city of Lienz - do you know this area??

PS. Thank you for your very relevant and interesting post by the way

Kind regards & Tight Lines
M.

"Fly fishing isn't just a sport
- it's a state of mind!!"
.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ )><((((º>

Pool,

Yes I know the Lienz area quite well. I've never fished there, but Lienz itself is a very attractive Italianate town built around a large plaza. Loads of cafes etc.

The rivers there are the upper Drau and the Isel. I seem to recall that there is a hotel in that area that has fishing on the Isel - somewhere near Matrei if I remember correctly.

On the Moll you need to fishing upstream of the village of Flattach which is where the furthest upstream electricity water input comes in. Above there you won't be troubled by "tidal" waves. I am told there is someone in the village of Winklern who has about 6 or 7 km of fishing which they let day tickets on, but I have never seen anyone fishing there despite spending considerable time looking, and I have never managed to locate this person. The problem is that there are not too many tackle shops around where such information might be discovered.

I'm spending a few days north of the alps this summer on the Ziller. I haven't fished that river since I was a youngster. I'm looking forward to it, though I am not sure how good it is going to be as they had an enormous amount of snow in the winter and the rivers may still be full of snow melt.

Sea trout in the sea? Sounds interesting and something that might be worth trying.

Sounds interesting, looking forward to hear about your trip back to your home area

I have fished a lot in the area around Lienz - and on my blog you can find a lot of pic' s from my trips there (can't show the link here ) but the blog is called : AUSTRIA - FLY FISHING IN A POSTCARD.
It is a beautiful area, and I like Lienz very much as a town - typical Austrian midsize mountain town, there is everything you need, but without being too big.

I shall not speak for Austria, but i am not surprised they are stocking big fish as well.

Here in Slovenia, we have a strange mix of speaking of ecology and protection of local species, yet on the other hand, huge amounts of stocked fish released into our rivers, specially in popular areas. The most pristine waters are actually the mosts stocked ones. So you get a water which looks wonderfull, yet is nothing else but a stocked Disneyland. Of course in every stocked water, there are wild fish as well, but to be honest, personaly i see no reason to fish those waters for the money they charge. Quality of fishing there does not justify the amount they charge. I could actually fish some of those for free as clubs here exchange annual licenses, but haven`t used this option on even one occasion. It is not just the fault of the clubs, but anglers as well. Despite the fact, that almost all people shall say, they are all for protection of habitats, that stockie fishing in rivers is pointless etc. those stocked places are full of local guys and turists. The fact is that stocked rainbows bring money. The fact is, that people prefer to fish for something that came out of the bucket a few days ago and fool themselfs with "wild" fish, as learning to fish for real fish instead.

Special chapter is also, how is it possible that some guides put a warranty on catching a big fish. Anyone who has ever fished for wild fish knows, this is totally impossible. Big wild trout shall come out of its hole when it shall feel like it and not when you shall come around, it shall feed when it shall feel like it, and even if you are lucky enough to be there at the right time, you must not scare it, you must present it with what it feeds, it must take it, you must strike it on time, get it out etc. Yet some people claim they can put a warranty on wild fish. It is not hard to imagine what sort of wild fish that is.

Or some photos, where you see people in sections of rivers, catching huge fish in ankle high water, with habitat that is not capable of supporting fish of this size. Is it really hard to guess from where this wild fish came from?

A few days ago, one section of Soca was on TV. They have stocked it with 3 tons of rainbows. They call it protection of local species. Anyone who has ever took a time to learn simple basis of stream ecology shall know, that there is no positive effect of such policy on local species, yet this is called protection of local species all over Slovenia. Even stranger fact is, that everybody knows, those fish are doomed. Even representatives of that stretch. And that`s why tons and tons and tons of rainbows (and farmed raised local fish) are dropped in rivers, becouse they are not capable of surviving there, but are needed to provide a nice concentration of domesticated, undemanding fish.

a year or two ago we had an example from a beautifull river which they have stocked with bigger farm raised brownies. Funny enough, they were stocking them in full fishing equipment in C&R poses....

On the other hand, there are waters ower here, that still offer great fishing for wild fish. Those waters shall normaly be described as empty, poached etc. etc. Of course by those who need the waters of the above stated type. In fact, they have nice population of fish and surprisingly big populations of big fish. But as said before, big fish is being on the right place on the right time and that does not happen very often. I lost a huge brownie on dryfly a week ago on one of those waters. Perheaps i shall never see a brownie of that size picking flies in my lifetime. I hooked it in "empty" water. Not so empty if you know how to approach it and have realistic expectations. Those waters are not stocked Disneylands where one can catch 150fish per day, you have to work hard for your fish, and in most occasions, if you look at the water it might seem empty.

Stocking is done becouse anglers want it. Some time ago, when i was thinking of starting a guiding business i asked about it here. Unfortunately the answers showed what i was affraid off. People are actually rather happy with Disneylands. And to be honest, guiding in those would be super easy money. But i am not going to do that. I can put someone on waters 10min from airport. I can show him holes, explain behaviur of wild fish, even take him/her to places where there are huge wild fish. But that does not mean he or she shall even see a huge fish, let alone catching it. Unfortunately there is only a small number of aglers who actually respect wild fish and that simply means we shall continue to loose waters to stocking of huge fish. Even in unstocked parts you can catch a stockie, becouse they migrate downstream. Luckily, they are doomed anyway, but as BobP said, catching a stockie takes the charm away. But the fact is, that most people like it.


But there is still some serious fishing in slovenia. You might come across a poacher, you might came across a plastic bag, as those parts are neglected by clubs. And that`s why they have real fishing. This year i have started to do movies for my collection and here is a short section of wild rainbow fishing with comparisment of wild rainbow and stockies that are thrown into our waters. I would prefer to see brownies instead or rainbows but in some waters rainbows have prevailed.

" title="test :: rainbows1.flv video by JureM - Photobucket" target="_blank">test :: rainbows1.flv video by JureM - Photobucket

Blue One,

You paint a grim picture, but I fear it is an accurate one. This is a classic example of what happens when a particular location becomes well known for the quality of fishing. More people want to go there to sample the excellent fishing, but the fishing was only excellent because the angling pressure was light. As the pressure increases and more and more people go there, so the need to ensure that they have a good time and return year on year grows. So, we have stocking, and anglers being anglers, they want bigger and better fish.

The ecological impacts have yet to come home fully I am sure, but sooner or later they will.

Similar things have happened in parts of Austria though not to the same extremes. I know the Traun is stocked with rainbows which is a real shame as it is a superb river and deserving of better. Fortunately I fish in an area of Austria where there is little or no stocking. There are rainbows present, but these are the results of introductions many years ago and are now naturalised and self-sustaining. They are very hard fighting fish. Last year I had one of just over 1 kilo from a little pocket of calm water under a bush. Right alongside this spot the river was a raging torrent of white water into which the fish bolted as soon as it was hooked. I could not move because of the bush so had to cling onto the rock I was perched on and fight it out. It took me ten minutes to get that fish back. I've boated 70 kilo sturgeon in Canada in less time than that rainbow!

I hope that the authorities in Slovenia come to recognise their mistakes before any real damage is done. Good anglers want to catch quality wild fish, irrespective of size, as that is the challenge of angling. Any fool can catch 100 stockies in a day.

By the way, my compliments on your English. Europeans always put us Brits to shame with their language skills.

Petri Heil.

BobP