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

Yes, you can fish in Žabljak, and yes, you can fish in Durmitor National Park: Black Lake, the best known of the park’s glacial lakes, is fished from the bank from 1 May to 1 October for brown trout and lake char, on the park’s own permit. It is the highest water I guide and the one farthest from the rivers. One honest thing first: the Tara canyon below Žabljak is not a water I guide. My Tara is upstream, at Kolašin and Mojkovac. This page is the town, the long drive up, and a day on the lake.

About Žabljak

Žabljak stands at about 1,450 m, the highest town on the Balkan Peninsula by the national tourist board’s account, in the middle of the Durmitor plateau. It is a small place: 2,941 people in the whole municipality at the 2023 census, in a town built for skiers in winter and walkers in summer. The town has the everyday services a visitor needs. The park’s visitor centre is in the park administration building at the edge of town, and the lake is about 3 km from the centre by road.

Durmitor has been a national park since 1952 and on UNESCO’s World Heritage list since 1980. The Žabljak tourist organisation counts more than fifty peaks over 2,000 m, the highest Bobotov Kuk at 2,525 m, and eighteen glacial lakes, “the mountain eyes”. Black Lake is the largest: two basins, the Big and the Little lake, joined by a narrow neck under the peak of Međed, with spruce forest down to the water. Its water drains two ways, to the Tara and to the Piva. North of the town the Tara runs through its canyon, 1,333 m deep by the park’s figure, the deepest in Europe.

Getting to Žabljak

Žabljak is a long drive from everywhere, and the road is the point of the place. From Podgorica the planner’s route runs west to Nikšić and then north over the plateau through Šavnik. From Tivat it climbs the serpentine road above Kotor to Cetinje and joins the same route at Nikšić. From the Tara towns the way is the river road from Mojkovac to the Đurđevića Tara bridge.

Figures from the OSRM route planner on OpenStreetMap data, read on 13 October 2026, rounded. The Žabljak tourist office’s own page gives Podgorica at 124 km and about 2 hours 20 minutes, and Mojkovac at 70 km and about 1 hour 25 minutes; the airport operator gives 133 km and 2 hours 13 minutes from Podgorica Airport. Mountain roads, snow outside the summer and summer traffic between the coast and Podgorica change all of these. There is no railway to Žabljak; the nearest station is Mojkovac.

The road from Mojkovac along the Tara to Đurđevića Tara and Žabljak was closed for landslide works and reopened at the end of December 2025, the government said. It is the way to put the lake and my Tara into one trip, on separate days.

Fishing from Žabljak

Black Lake

Black Lake is a day of its own. It is fished from the bank, because there are no boats on the national park lakes, and it is fished from 1 May to 1 October and not after; I follow the park’s rules on the day and tell you what they are when you write. Two fish live in it, brown trout and lake char, which is also called Arctic char. Char live in no river I guide, so a lake day is how you add one to a trip; the other water with char is Biogradsko Lake near Kolašin.

The lake is very clear, which is its beauty and its difficulty: the fish see you before you see them. We move quietly round the shore. On the surface it is a floating line with a team of nymphs, or a dry fly where fish are moving; where the bottom drops away it is an intermediate line. I carry the lines. Catch and release only, barbless hooks, a landing net. The lake has its own page with the fishing in full.

I do not combine Black Lake with another water on the same day. The lake deserves the whole of it, and the Tara I guide is at Kolašin and Mojkovac, a separate day down the river road.

Not the canyon

People write to ask about fishing the Tara canyon from Žabljak. I do not guide it. The canyon is rafting water, and the Tara stretches I fish are upstream of it, at Kolašin, in the national park and at Mojkovac. If you are staying in Žabljak and want a river day as well as the lake, the Tara at Mojkovac is the nearest of mine; the drive is about 70 km by the tourist office’s figure, so it is a full day out, and I tell you honestly whether it is worth it for your dates.

Permits, price, what is in a day

Black Lake is inside Durmitor National Park, so the day needs the park’s fishing permit and park entry. The park publishes them: a daily sport fishing permit at 20 EUR a person and entry at 5 EUR a person, as read on the park’s price list in October 2026. I arrange both, and they are in the price of the day with lunch. A guided day is 190 EUR for one angler and 60 EUR more for a second, up to four anglers, with a group price for three or four when you ask. If you stay in Žabljak, I drive you to the lake and back on the fishing day and that is in the price; pickup from Podgorica, an airport or the coast is arranged with me when you write. No drones in a national park; photographs on the day, yes. I reply within one day; no deposit; cancelling costs nothing. How permits work in Montenegro has the parks in their own section.

A day off the water

Žabljak is the town on this site with the most for a non-angler, and most of it starts at the lake.

• The lake path. An easy loop of about 3.6 km round Black Lake, about an hour by the park, with the visitor centre at the shore. Someone with you can walk it while you fish and never be far away.
• The peaks. From the lake a marked path climbs to the old katun at Lokvice; the walk from the Sedlo pass to Bobotov Kuk is the park’s recommended route to the highest summit. The tourist office lists Ćurevac, a circular trail from the town to a viewpoint over the canyon.
• The canyon by raft. Rafting on the Tara is run from Žabljak, and so are canyoning, a zip-line over the canyon, horse riding and cycling, by the tourist organisation’s list.
• The stećci. The medieval tombstones near Riblje Lake and at Bare Žugića have been on UNESCO’s list since 2017.
• Winter. Žabljak is a ski town; the visitor centre rents snowshoes and bicycles. The lake is closed to fishing after 1 October, so a winter visit here is for the snow, and the river fishing is down on the Tara and the Lim.

Questions

Can you fish in Durmitor National Park?

Yes, on Black Lake, from the bank, from 1 May to 1 October, with the park’s daily fishing permit. I arrange the permit and the entry, and both are in my price.

Is Black Lake good for fishing?

It holds brown trout and lake char in very clear water. It is not easy fishing, and that is why it is good. Every fish goes back.

How far is Žabljak from Podgorica Airport?

About 130 km and 2 hours 45 minutes by the OSRM planner, read in October 2026, through Nikšić and Šavnik; the airport operator’s own figure is 133 km and about 2 hours 13 minutes. From Tivat Airport about 155 km and 3 hours 15 minutes.

Can I fish the Tara canyon from Žabljak?

Not with me. I guide the Tara at Kolašin and Mojkovac, above the canyon. From Žabljak the Tara at Mojkovac is a full day out.

Can I fish Black Lake in winter?

No. The lake is fished from 1 May to 1 October. In the other months the rivers carry the fishing, in the fly fishing zones, when the water level allows.

Plan from here

The water: Black Lake. When to come: Fish and seasons. How a day works: Plan your trip. A day on the lake is single-day guiding; the lake one day and the Tara another is a multi-day trip. Down the river road is Mojkovac, and beyond it Kolašin with Biogradsko Lake, the other char water.

Tell me your dates between 1 May and 1 October, and where you are staying. Request your dates.