Gammarids
The Bohinjka comes out of Lake Bohinj already moving with purpose, and it doesn't really slow down for the rest of its length — genuine speed, genuine clarity, the kind of water that makes you fish the seams rather than the whole run. Brown trout and marble trout hold the lower sections, grayling like the faster water, and rainbow trout turn up from historical stocking whether the river asked for them or not. The gorge section is the sort of spectacular that makes you stop wading for a minute just to look at it, which is time well spent even if it isn't technically fishing. Euro nymphing and dry-dropper both work in the broken water; neither is required reading, just useful.
The Bohinjka is a short, 41 km alpine river that begins where the Jezernica outflow from Lake Bohinj meets the Mostnica, and runs to the Sava Dolinka confluence at Radovljica around 411 m. The lake acts as a giant sediment trap and hydrograph smoother — the Bohinjka inherits far steadier flows than a rain-fed Julian Alps river of comparable size, and its clarity recovers within hours of a spate. Above Bohinjska Bistrica the channel runs as partly-confined pool-riffle and glide on limestone and dolomite cobble. Downstream it tightens into the Soteska gorge between Jelovica and Pokljuka — a confined bedrock and boulder step-pool cut where the river penetrates a limestone ridge. The bed is stable and well-armoured; the main wading hazard is polished, algae-slick bedrock in the gorge section.
Wading: Polished algae slick bedrock in the Soteska gorge
- River
- Limestone
- Mixed
- Pool riffle
- Glide