Fly fishing the Ćehotina River

Fly fishing the Ćehotina: what to expect

The Ćehotina is the wild one. It rises under Stožer at 1,380 m and runs north-west through a narrow valley, out across the Pljevlja plain and on into a canyon before it reaches the Drina at Foča, by the World Bank’s 2016 study of the Drina basin. About three quarters of it is in Montenegro. Its basin has the lowest rainfall in the country, the same study says, which makes it a different river from the Tara or the Lim.

It is a euro nymphing river. The water is quick and broken, the fish hold tight to the bottom, and a nymph fished close, with the line off the water and the rod high, is the way to reach them. Grayling come first, with brown trout. If you want to learn euro nymphing properly, from the leader to the drift, this is the river I would teach it on, and I do teach it on your day. If you already fish that way, the Ćehotina will test how well. How it compares with the other rivers for grayling, nymph or dry fly: grayling fishing in Montenegro.

It is a day of its own: we drive to the river, we fish, and we drive back. It is not a river that combines with another on the same day.

Catch and release only, barbless hooks, a landing net. Every fish goes back.

Where the Ćehotina is fished

The Ćehotina runs past Pljevlja, the northernmost town in Montenegro. Where on the river we fish on your day depends on the water and on what you want from the day; I decide that with you when you write, and I do not fish the stretches on the border. The river has easy access from the road along it.

When to come

In the fly fishing zones you can fish the Ćehotina all year, when the water level allows. The best months are June to October. The river has its own rhythm, and I watch it; if you want it early or late, write to me and I will tell you what it is doing. Which fish, which month, on every water I guide: Fish and seasons.

Visiting Pljevlja

Pljevlja is a town of about 16,000 people on the Ćehotina, at about 770 m, and the northernmost town in the country. A trip here is a day of its own, so it is worth knowing what else the town offers.

For a half day off the water:

• Husein Pasha’s Mosque. A sixteenth-century mosque, the town’s landmark, with a minaret the national tourist board counts among the tallest in the Balkans and a collection of old manuscripts.
• The Holy Trinity Monastery. An Orthodox monastery founded in the fifteenth century, a short walk from the mosque, with a treasury of church silver.
• Municipium S. The remains of a Roman town of the second century at Komini, on the edge of Pljevlja; the finds, among them a Roman cage cup of glass, are in the town’s Heritage Museum.
• The meanders of the Ćehotina. A lookout above the loops of the river, which the tourist board recommends. Beyond the town there is canyoning, horse riding and mountain biking, and the local cheese to take home.

Getting there

Stay in Pljevlja and make a quiet day of it: I collect you there and drive you to the river and back, and that is in the price. If you are staying where the other waters are, or further away, on the coast, in Podgorica or arriving at an airport, tell me when you write and we arrange the pickup.

Permits

The Ćehotina is fished on a fishing permit, and it is in my price. I have it before we meet. Flies: I sell the patterns for this river; ask when you write. How a day works: Plan your trip.

Questions anglers ask about the Ćehotina

Is the Ćehotina for beginners? It is the best river I have for learning euro nymphing, because the method is the river’s own. You will not fish it well on the first morning, but you will understand it by the afternoon.

Can I fish dry flies here? When fish are rising, yes, and I carry dries. But come for the nymphing: that is what the Ćehotina does better than any other water I guide.

How long is the day? A full day, with the drive there and back in it, and lunch on the river. If you are staying near Pljevlja the day is longer on the water.

Is it worth the trip? If you want a wild river to yourself, with grayling first and brown trout after, yes. For a first visit of one day I would send you to the Lim and the Ljuča; for the second or third day, this. A multi-day trip is the easy way to fit it in.

Sources

• World Bank / COWI (2016). Support to Water Resources Management in the Drina River Basin: Montenegro, IWRM Study and Plan, Background Paper, Volume 1. The river’s source, course, length, basin and rainfall; its road.
• National Tourist Organisation of Montenegro, Charming mountain towns. Pljevlja: the mosque, the monastery, Municipium S, the lookout over the meanders, the activities, the cheese.
• Wikipedia, Pljevlja, as a pointer only: the town’s height, its population in the 2023 census, the centuries of the mosque and the monastery, the cage cup in the museum.