Mother of all Hatches:

Our recent trip to Bosnia climaxed with an incredible couple of days when hatches of Blue-Winged Olives literally went off the scale (above).  Mark Irvine, Mita Balaban and myself found a length of water where B-WOs duns stretched from bank to bank.  Rather than guide, I invited Mita to fish, as it’s not everyday you experience such a phenomenon.  With the hatch lasting some four hours we made absolute pigs of ourselves and why not…?  Of course, it wasn’t all roses round the door, with so many naturals about the trout and grayling had a PhD in detecting any impostor. Though a little patience and perseverance usually meant you got your fish and boy, we had some thumping grayling.

 

 

 

 

 

~Good friend Mark Irvine displays a lump of a grayling, which he tempted using a #18 F Fly~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It would have been unfair to ask Mita Balaban to sit this one out…he scored quickly too, again a #18 CdC pattern did the trick

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…Minutes later and I’m in…Bosnian grayling are truly stunning creatures…

From Sun to Rain:

Our first group of the Fly Odyssey Bosnian adventure (right) enjoyed a warm climate, calling for shirt sleeve order.  However, week two dawned wet and miserable.  Amazingly, tumbling temperatures didn’t prevent flies from hatching.  In fact they simply encouraged them, treating us to flurries of Blue-Winged Olives that reached blizzard status.  Thousands of duns stuck to the surface for longer periods saw the water erupt into life as trout and grayling gorged themselves. Given this, the group couldn’t have asked for a better start…

 

 

Damp conditions saw hatches last for several hours, treating us to dry fly fishing like never before!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The horrible weather might have required a couple more layers, but it also prevented B-WOs from lifting off, making them an easy target for trout and grayling

 

 

 

 

 

Patience and guile reward Hilary Langan with several plump grayling on her first morning.  Pictured with head guide Mita Balaban her smile says it all

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark Irvine was just as quick to get to grips with the Ribnik’s trout on a size 18 shuttlecock emerger