Fly Fishing on Soča: When Nature Leaves You Speechless

Situations that really fascinate me and truly leave me speechless are very rare. Those situations are the ones that make me think of them long after they happened.

Those can be activities, even food, and in most cases, experiences in extraordinary nature.

After a long time, I have experienced this again, upon returning home from Bovec, where I spent my birthday weekend. I kept thinking about casting my rod, about flies I have used, and about crystal clear waters I waded through.

I thought about breathtaking mountains that surrounded us for the weekend, and about the beauty of this world when you are in the right place. And of course, I thought about the fish I caught.

All of this leads me to saying that, after a long time, I was again fascinated! With Bovec and fly fishing on river Soča.

What I have to add is that all of this wouldn’t be possible without my partner Urša, Matej, and flyfishingodec.com.

Why Bovec? Why Soča? And Why Fly Fishing?

In recent years, my partner and I started spending a lot of our vacation days in Slovenian nature, mostly hills and mountains. Anyone who knows Slovenia is aware that those places are so abundant here that you will never run out of new ones to see.

Bled, Bohinj, Kranjska Gora, and of course, Bovec, are the paces that make excellent starting points for hiking adventures and visiting various beautiful natural wonders that our country has to offer.

When wandering around these places, you always encounter amazing lakes and rivers with crystal clear waters, and you see a lot of fish in them! From trout and grayling to other species.

Every time I have seen this I thought: “If only I had my fishing rod here with me!”.

Luckily, my amazing partner Urša listens to me, and she gave me an unforgettable experience for my 40th birthday! I will remember this the rest of my life. You know how they say: “You never forget the first”.

And I’m not saying this because it was the first, I am saying this because it was really fascinating!

Flyfishingodec.com and Matija Godec – TOP Choice!

If you have been following me on my fishing journey for a long time, you have realized that majority of my fishing, since I was a child, was carp fishing on lakes and ponds from the comfort of my fishing chair!

About 10 years ago, I decided to get up from my ass and got some new spinning gear and sea fishing gear too! You can find some of my adventures documented here on this website!

In addition to that, it has always been my wish to try fly fishing in Slovenia in the best places.

If you are new to all this, and would like to know what is fly fishing, you are in the right place. But let’s get back to my adventure fly fishing Soča.

I am a huge supporter of the principle that if you are not a master of something, leave it to others and learn from the best. This is exactly what we did here! We looked for the man who knows everything about fly fishing in Bovec. His name is Matej Godec, from flyfishingodec.com.

Well, actually my partner found him, and after all the words exchanged over the phone and email, he convinced her after she asked him: “Are you sure that the fish will bite?”

And Matej replied: “Well, I will make them bite!”. And it really was like that…

So, who is this Matej I keep mentioning?

He is the owner of the travel agency Flyifishingodec Slovenia, that specializes in organizing and guiding fly fishing courses and tours on many Slovenian rivers.

On his website, he wrote: “I will share my rich fly fishing experience and knowledge with you. I will teach you how to correctly implement and conduct the most effective fly fishing techniques to catch trout and grayling.”

And he really did all that!

If you were wondering is fly fishing hard I must tell you that with a guide like this, nothing is hard!

Fyl fishing on Soča: an experience you will never forget!

All of it started when Matej and me met at the Klin camp, by the Lepena river, in the vicinity of Soča river.

After a short introduction, I quickly concluded that Matej is a really nice person, but as you all know, that does not necessarily mean that he is a fishing expert. But then, we began.

He took fly fishing waders out of his car and have them to me. I put them on, together with the boots he also provided.

Finally, he gave me a fly fishing rod. While still standing on dry land, he briefly explained some basics about equipment he was using, but because fishing takes place in water, we immediately jumped into action!

We headed towards Soča river where our adventure really began – watching, searching, hiding, approaching, tying our artificial flies and fly fishing! He even had his own fly fishing lure.

I had my first cast, then the second, and after a few times I got the first fish! Immediately I thought, “this is going to be a crazy day…”!

But then, it all got quiet. We changed flies, changed our casting technique, walked around Soča river and searched for new locations. I had two trout that got away and did not end up in my net!

This made us take a short lunch break around noon. Matej brought home made bread, cheese, meat, beer, and much more!

It was an incredible refreshment for a tired body and a hungry stomach! After that, we went straight back into the water.

Just as I started thinking that I must have done something terribly wrong, action begun again! And it was a real one.

There was a stream pool, behind a tree that grows from water and rock – a famous tree in Soča, where many tourists take pictures and take the opportunity to jump into the cold water while consequently scaring off the fish. But that didn’t matter, as we were persistent, and that persistence rewarded us!

Here in this little stream pool, we caught three beautiful rainbow trout! Immediately after the third one, Matej said: “That’s enough, let’s move on!”

I quickly remembered how he explained to me an hour ago that he never stays too long in the same place so that he doesn’t fish out too many fish from there. Sort of like he wanted to say that he wants to leave some fishing pleasure for those who arrived at this place after us. Interesting and respectable attitude I must say!

Right after this stream pool we fished, we continued our journey, but again, without success for a while. We got in the car and drove a bit higher upstream on Soča river.

We stopped by one huge rock and saw quite a few extraordinary and big trout swimming under it. We decided to try our luck and it worked! Again!

We caught two beautiful fish here, and of course, just like all before, we let them back into the water gently and unharmed.

When the second one swam away, I said to Matej: “That’s enough. Let’s end it on this beautiful location!”.

We packed all our stuff and headed back towards Klin camp, that was also our meeting point. There, Matej arranged a dinner reservation for us and then we said goodbye with a pleasant handshake!

I Recommend Fly Fishing on River Soča – an Unforgettable Experience!

If you haven’t yet realized from my previous words, I will say it one more time: I highly recommend fly fishing on river Soča to anyone who wants to experience something truly special!

This kind of nature you can rarely experience anywhere in the world!

It is one of those experiences that will stay in your memory forever, but BEWARE – it may lead to you start searching for fly fishing equipment online, which is not cheap. Fly fishing vs regular fishing is something that can’t be compared!

But still, you only live once and as Matej said at the beginning of our day: “Its all about fishing, NOT CATCHING!” and that is the truth!