Kolašin: the town, how to get there, and the fishing

Yes, there is fly fishing in Kolašin, and it starts at the edge of the town. The Tara runs past Kolašin, and the stretch I guide here is grayling water first, with brown trout in the same runs. A short drive away, inside Biogradska Gora National Park, Biogradsko Lake holds brown trout and lake char. Kolašin is the easiest of the northern towns to reach from Podgorica. This page is the town, the drive from the airports, and the fishing from here.

About Kolašin

Kolašin is a small mountain town at 954 m on the right bank of the Tara, between the Bjelasica and Sinjajevina mountains. The national tourist board calls it quiet, and it is. The municipality counted 6,700 people in the 2023 census. The town is built for two seasons: skiing in winter, with two ski centres about 9 km out, and walking, cycling, rafting and fishing in summer.

The centre is compact. You can walk from the main square to the river in a few minutes, and a few minutes more takes you out of the houses and onto the bank. The town has the everyday services a visitor needs. The railway station is on the Belgrade–Bar line, at the highest point of the whole line, 1,032 m.

The Komovi stand to the south-east, with Kom Kučki at 2,487 m and Kom Ljevorečki at 2,469 m by the Kolašin tourist office’s trail pages. Biogradska Gora National Park is on the Mojkovac side of town. The woods there were set aside as a reserve in 1885, long before the park was founded, and the lake at the heart of them, at 1,094 m, is the one I fish.

Getting to Kolašin

Kolašin is the northern town closest to Podgorica. The motorway from Smokovac, on the edge of the capital, to Mateševo, a few kilometres from Kolašin, opened in July 2022, and it has taken most of the bends out of the drive.

Figures from the OSRM route planner on OpenStreetMap data, read on 13 October 2026, rounded. Mountain roads, roadworks and summer traffic between the coast and Podgorica change them, so treat them as a guide and not a promise. From Tivat the drive goes through Podgorica and then up the same motorway.

There is a train too. The Belgrade–Bar railway stops at Kolašin and at Mojkovac, and it runs through Podgorica; the station at Golubovci is the one for the airport. It is slower than the road and the timetable is thin, so check it before you count on it.

Fishing from Kolašin

Two waters are fished from Kolašin: the Tara and Biogradsko Lake. The Tara is the reason most anglers come. The lake is the reason to stay a day longer.

The Tara at Kolašin

The Tara here is the upstream stretch of the river I guide, and the fishing starts close to the town. Below Kolašin the river runs north through the national park and on to Mojkovac, and I guide all three stretches: the town, the park and Mojkovac. The river is described in full on the Tara page and in the Tara guide in the Journal; I will not repeat it here.

What matters for a day from Kolašin: the fish are mostly grayling, with brown trout, and huchen live in the river. We wade. The water is clear and mostly fast, which makes it euro nymphing water for most of the day, with a dry fly when the grayling come up. If you have never fished a nymph rig under a tight line, I teach it on your day.

Huchen: I fish for them mostly on the Lim at Plav, then at Berane, then here on the Tara, with big streamers on a #8 rod, in the mornings. In the fly fishing zones huchen are fished catch and release all year. If huchen is what you want from the Tara, say so when you write and I will be honest about your dates.

In the fly fishing zones you can fish the Tara all year, when the water level allows. The best months for grayling and brown trout are June to October. Spring melt puts the river up in April and May; by June it is down and clear. Month by month, every water: Fish and seasons.

Biogradsko Lake

Biogradsko Lake is inside Biogradska Gora National Park, near Kolašin, on the Mojkovac side. It is fished from the bank; there are no boats on the national park lakes. The fish are brown trout and lake char, and char live in no river I guide, so the lake is where you add a char to your trip. The lake is fished from 1 May to 1 October, every day from 8:00 to 17:00, and not after that. Everything about the lake, the park permit and the park entry is on the Biogradsko Lake page and in its Journal article.

The Tara and the lake in one day

From Kolašin this is the day I suggest. The river in the morning for grayling and brown trout, the lake in the afternoon for char and brown trout, or the other way round; the two sit close enough that the drive between them is a small part of the day. It works from 1 May to 1 October, when the lake is open. Outside those dates a day from Kolašin is the Tara, and the Tara is enough.

Permits, price, what is in a day

Every permit is mine to arrange. The Tara at Kolašin and at Mojkovac is fished on the local club’s permit; the stretch inside the national park, and the lake, on the park’s permit. I buy whatever the day needs, and the permits are in the price. Park entry at Biogradska Gora is published by the park at 4 EUR a person a day; that is in the price too. The whole picture of how permits work in Montenegro is in the Journal.

A guided day is 190 EUR for one angler and 60 EUR more for a second, with permits and lunch inside it. Up to four anglers can come; for three or four, ask me for the group price. If you stay in Kolašin, I drive you to the water and back on the fishing day, and that is in the price. Pickup from Podgorica, from an airport or from the coast is by arrangement: tell me where you are when you write and we agree it. Catch and release on every fish, barbless hooks, a landing net. I reply within one day. There is no deposit, and cancelling costs you nothing.

A day off the water

Kolašin is a good town for someone who comes with you and does not fish.

• The lake path. An easy loop of 3.3 km round Biogradsko Lake, about 40 minutes by the park’s own figure, through beech forest that has never been cut. If you fish the lake, the person with you can walk the loop and meet you on the shore.
• The high trails. Six marked trails climb from the lake toward the park’s glacial lakes and the peaks, the highest Crna Glava at 2,139 m.
• The katuns. The summer pastures of Bjelasica and Sinjajevina, with their shepherds’ huts, are a half day by foot or car. The national tourist board points visitors there, and to the local lisnati cheese, the layered one, which carries a protected mark of quality.
• The Tara by other means. Rafting and kayaking on the river are run from the town; so are cycling routes and an adventure park. The Kolašin tourist office lists them.
• Winter. Two ski centres about 9 km from the town. The rivers are fished all year in the fly fishing zones when the level allows, so a ski week with a day on the Tara is a real plan; write to me and I will tell you what the river is doing.

Questions

Is there fishing in Kolašin?

Yes. The Tara runs past the town, and I guide it here for grayling and brown trout, wading, with euro nymphs and dry flies. Biogradsko Lake, a short drive away in the national park, adds brown trout and char from 1 May to 1 October.

How far is Kolašin from Podgorica Airport?

About 70 km and about 1 hour 10 minutes by the OSRM route planner, read in October 2026, most of it on the motorway. From Tivat Airport it is about 135 km and 2 hours 35 minutes.

Do I need a permit to fish in Kolašin?

Yes, and I arrange it. The Tara at the town is on the club’s permit; the park stretch and Biogradsko Lake are on the national park’s permit. All of them are in the price of the day.

Can I take the train to Kolašin?

Yes. The Belgrade–Bar railway stops at Kolašin, and it runs through Podgorica. It is slow and infrequent; the road is the usual way.

Can I fish the Tara and Biogradsko Lake on the same day?

Yes, from 1 May to 1 October. That is the day I suggest from Kolašin.

Plan from here

The waters: the Tara and Biogradsko Lake. When to come: Fish and seasons. How a day works: Plan your trip. A day from Kolašin is single-day guiding; a week here and on the other rivers is a multi-day trip. The next town down the Tara is Mojkovac; over the hills to the east are Andrijevica and Berane on the Lim.

Tell me your dates and where you will stay, and I will put a day on the Tara together for you. Request your dates.