Snowmelt to summer low: the Tara and the Lim through the year

The figures in this article are monthly means from river gauges, published by the World Bank in 2016. They describe water. They do not describe fishing. For the fish and the best months, see Fish and seasons.

Where the figures come from

The source is a World Bank study of the Drina basin, to which both rivers belong. Its Table 4-7 gives the mean flow for each month in cubic metres a second (m³/s). The report describes its flow records as running from 1946 to 2012, with gaps filled by a model. So these are long-term averages. They are not a forecast for any one year.

Three gauges matter here.

The Tara at Đurđevića Tara. This gauge is in the canyon, downstream of Mojkovac. The sections of the Tara that Montenegro Fishing guides are upstream of it, at Kolašin and Mojkovac. So the gauge shows the pattern, not the level in the fly zone. For scale: a 2024 state monitoring report (Mrdak and others), citing Radojičić (2005), gives a mean flow of 25.0 m³/s at Trebaljevo, between Kolašin and Mojkovac. The yearly mean at the canyon gauge is 55.8 m³/s.

The Lim at Plav. This gauge is where the river leaves Plav Lake.

The Lim at Bijelo Polje. This gauge is downstream of Berane. The guided sections of the Lim, at Plav, Andrijevica and Berane, lie between the two gauges.

The figures, month by month

Mean flow in m³/s (World Bank, 2016, Table 4-7).

Spring: snowmelt and rain

The report describes these rivers as having a “snow-rain regime with abundant water in spring, due to snow melt and spring rainfall, with pronounced minimum discharges during August and September”.

The Tara rises on the Komovi at about 1,530 m (World Bank, 2016). At its canyon gauge the highest month is April, at 100.0 m³/s, with May close behind at 96.3. The Lim peaks a month later. May is its highest month at both gauges: 34.4 m³/s at Plav and 117.7 at Bijelo Polje. April is only a little lower.

Late summer: the low

August is the lowest month at all three gauges: 18.1 m³/s on the Tara, 6.7 on the Lim at Plav and 17.7 at Bijelo Polje. September is nearly as low.

Set beside the spring figures, the Tara’s April mean is about five and a half times its August mean. On the Lim at Plav, May is about five times August. At Bijelo Polje it is more than six times.

Autumn: the second rise

The report names a second wet period: “The most abundant intra-annual period is April and May and, then, November and December.” The table shows it. The Tara climbs from 37.0 m³/s in October to 67.7 in November and 79.4 in December. The Lim at Bijelo Polje goes from 34.9 to 63.2 to 79.5.

In January and February the figures settle back near the yearly mean.

Where the best months sit in the river’s year

The best months on the rivers Montenegro Fishing guides are June to October, for grayling and brown trout. That line is the guide’s. It does not come from the gauges, and the figures do not say why those months are best.

What the figures do show is where those months sit in the river’s year. By June all three gauges are back near their yearly mean: 55.4 against 55.8 on the Tara, 20.7 against 18.4 at Plav, 63.3 against 61.2 at Bijelo Polje. July, August and September are the low-water months. In October the autumn rise has begun, but all three gauges are still below their yearly mean.

What the figures do not show

• The level where you will stand. The Tara’s gauge is in the canyon, below the guided sections.
• A single day. A monthly mean over many years hides the days above it and the days below it.
• Clarity. No source read for this article measures when the water is clear.
• Water temperature. It is not in these tables.
• The other two rivers. No monthly table was found for the Ljuča or the Ćehotina. The yearly mean the report gives for the Ćehotina is 22 m³/s. The Ljuča feeds Plav Lake, so the Lim’s gauge at Plav is the nearest record of its water.

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