The best time to fly fish in Montenegro is June to October, for grayling and brown trout on the rivers. That is my answer as the guide who fishes them: I guide the Tara, the Lim, the Ljuča and the Ćehotina, and three mountain lakes. The longer answer is that the rivers can be fished for much more of the year than that, the lakes for much less, and that the water level decides more than the calendar. This article goes through the year by season. The short table of fish by water is on Fish and seasons.

The short answer

Rivers, June to October: the best months for grayling and brown trout. If you can pick your dates freely, pick these.
Rivers, the rest of the year: in the fly fishing zones you can fish all year, when the water level allows. If the river is okay, I guide.
Lakes, 1 May to 1 October: Biogradsko Lake, Plav Lake and Black Lake. No lake is fished after 1 October.

Everything below explains those three lines.

Rivers: spring high water

The Tara and the Lim are rivers of snow and rain. The World Bank’s study of the Drina basin (2016) describes them as having abundant water in spring from snowmelt and rain, and their lowest flows in August and September.

The gauge figures bear that out. At the Tara’s canyon gauge, the highest monthly mean is April, at about five and a half times the August figure, with May close behind. The Lim peaks a month later, in May. The Tara gauge is in the canyon, below the stretches I guide, so it shows the pattern, not the level where you stand. The month-by-month table is in Snowmelt to summer low: the Tara and the Lim through the year.

What that means on the bank: in April and May the rivers run high, and a day depends on the week’s weather. Some spring days fish, and some do not. This is why I say the water level decides. I would not sell you a spring date as the best time, and I will tell you honestly whether a given week looks right.

Rivers: June to October, the best months

By June the gauges are back near their yearly mean. July, August and September are the low-water months. In October the autumn rise has begun, but the rivers are still below their yearly mean.

These are the months I name as the best for grayling and brown trout. The water is low enough to wade and read. Grayling come first on all the rivers; the Ljuča holds the biggest, the Ćehotina is the wild river for euro nymphing, and the Tara pairs with Biogradsko Lake in a day.

The weather station at Kolašin, at 944 m, is on the upper Tara. Its climate normals (NOAA, 1991 to 2020) give mean daily highs of about 23 to 26 °C from June to August and about 16 °C in October, with no frost from June to August. Bring a sun hat in July and a warm layer in October.

Rivers: autumn and winter

The best months end with October, but the rivers do not shut. In the fly fishing zones you can fish all year, when the water level allows. That is how I guide: if the river is okay, I go.

The gauges show the second wet period of the year in November and December, when the Tara and the Lim rise again, then settle back near their yearly mean in January and February. So a late-year day is a question of the week’s water, as a spring day is. Grayling and brown trout live in the rivers in every month. Ask me about your dates and I will tell you what the river is doing.

Huchen live in the Tara and the Lim, and I guide for them, catch and release, when the water is right. Ask me about your dates.

In Kolašin the normals put frost on about 25 days in January and mean daily highs near 4 °C in December and January. Dress for it.

The lakes: 1 May to 1 October

The lakes are summer water. All of them are fished from 1 May to 1 October.

Biogradsko Lake, in Biogradska Gora National Park near Kolašin: every day, 8:00 to 17:00. From the bank. Brown trout and lake char.
Plav Lake, at Plav: every day. From a boat. Blatnjača, the lake’s own trout, brown trout, and huchen.
Black Lake, at Žabljak in Durmitor National Park: from the bank, under the park’s rules. Brown trout and lake char.

No lake is fished after 1 October. If you want a lake in your trip, 1 May to 1 October is the frame. Outside it, the rivers carry the fishing.

What decides a day: the water level

Two things set a fishing day here: the calendar, which I have given you above, and the water, which I cannot give you in advance.

The calendar says June to October on the rivers, and 1 May to 1 October on the lakes. The water says whether a given day is fishable. A river that is high after rain is not, whatever the month. A river that is low in a month outside the best five can fish well.

So this is how I work. You tell me your dates. I tell you what I expect of the water in those weeks, and which water I would choose. If the river is okay on the day, I guide. If one river is high, I look at another: the Tara and the Lim are different rivers in different valleys, and the Ljuča and the Ćehotina are different again.

Pick your month

You want the best odds for grayling and trout: June to October. Within that, I would ask what you want from the day and choose the river for it.
You want a lake day with char: 1 May to 1 October, on Biogradsko Lake or Black Lake.
You want Plav Lake from the boat, with the Ljuča and the Lim on the same days: 1 May to 1 October.
You want a river day outside June to October: possible in the fly fishing zones, all year, when the water level allows. Tell me the dates and I will tell you what the river is likely to be doing.
You want a huchen: the Tara or the Lim, when the water is right. Ask me about your dates.
You want to learn euro nymphing: any day on the rivers. I teach it on a guided day if you want it, and the Ćehotina is the river made for it.

What a day costs

A guided day starts at 190 EUR with permits and lunch inside: see Trips. Everything else about fishing here is in fly fishing in Montenegro: the complete guide.

Questions

When is the fishing season in Montenegro?

On the rivers I guide there is no single season to wait for: in the fly fishing zones you can fish all year, when the water level allows, and the best months for grayling and brown trout are June to October. The lakes are the ones with dates: 1 May to 1 October, all of them.

Can I fly fish in Montenegro in winter?

On the rivers, in the fly fishing zones, yes, all year, when the water level allows. Grayling and brown trout live in the rivers in every month. I guide whenever the river is okay. No lake is fished after 1 October.

Is September a good month?

Yes. September is inside the best months, June to October, and the gauges show it as one of the lowest-water months on the Tara and the Lim.

When do the lakes open?

All of them on 1 May, and all of them are fished to 1 October.

Tell me your dates, and I will tell you which water I would choose for them. Request your dates.

The best time to fly fish in Montenegro, season by season