In this article, Alvaro G. Santillán (@focusontheflymedia) talks about the fly fishing opportunities and information in the beautiful little country of Slovenia. From the stunning chalk streams to aggressive marble trout on streamers, Slovenia is an area that should on everyone’s radar.
We were fishing in Tolmin area, near the Julian Alps, where the famous Soça river meets the Idrijca river. The nature and wilderness of the area is amazing. The forest and rivers are in perfect condition.
The region is full of options for having fun in the outdoors: trekking, canoeing, hiking and, of course, fly fishing. Not only in the Soça and the Idrijca Rivers, but both have a lot of little wild tributaries, where you can enjoy a great fishing day off of the beaten track.
Slovenia is famous for the marble trout. The marble trout is a trout species, that can grow up to a meter of length and they are famous for being very aggressive, feeding on little fish most of the time.
That is why most of the people try to fish them with big and heavy streamers.
You can also fly fish for rainbow trout, grayling, and hybrids between browns and marbles. There are also some other species like barbels and chubs.
The season is open between March and October. The daily price for fishing in the area (you have more than a hundred km of rivers for fishing) is around 60€.
You can fly to Ljubliana or some cities in the north of Italy, rent a car and in two hours you are in the water. 
My most recent trip this summer:
We were there in the last week of July, so the water level was very very low and the fishing conditions were quite tough. 
But nevertheless, we landed a lot of trout and we enjoyed a lot of action on the dry fly. We only fished with dry flies during the whole trip.
We were interested in discovering some little streams, unknown but full of little completely wild and pure marble trouts, so Leti (@letioutdoorgirl) and I decided to fish with a Tenkara rod and using big attractor flies. 
And that worked great. For discovering those unknown rivers, we had the great help of the guys of Soça fly (@therealsocafly), a tackle shop that counts with a great team of guides. 
I don’t know how many fish we caught on those little rivers, because I lost the count. But, sooo many and sooo beautiful. You can see in the pictures, how beautiful the rivers are. 
The access to some of the rivers was quite tricky. Some days we would walk for an hour to reach the best spots. It was well worth it, nobody had fished these streams in a very long time. 
We really enjoyed fishing during the day on those smaller streams. They are higher in the mountains and covered by the trees. Then, in the evenings where the temperature was lower, we returned to the Soca or the Idrijca.
It was just in time for the evening hatch and then, the rainbows started rising and we could enjoy some nice sunsets while we tried to hook some of those amazing powerful fish.
The conditions for trying to fish for the biggest marbles were very bad. Because these fish are so big and smart they feel more comfortable in the high water periods.
Our guide Gasper was checking the weather forecast during the whole week and… suddenly, one day, we were enjoying a cold beer on the river bank and he said: “Hey boys! Let’s go to the Trebusica river,”… and boom!
A big storm in the higher part of the river blew out the pristine Trebusica and water levels rose and clarity became muddy. 
In half and hour, we landed two awesome marbles with the streamer. The fish had been activated by the bump in the water and they were hunting some little fish. And we were there. That is all it took. 
The annoying and deranged rainbows and graylings of the Soca. Trying to hook one of those fish during the summer, with low water conditions, in slow water, in this river, where the water is so clear that the fish seem to be floating is a challenge for every angler: 18 feet leader, tippet 7X, 20-26# flies… But the reward worth it.
For more of Alvaro’s killer photo content and stories of fly fishing around Europe you can give him a follow at @focusontheflymedia. or check out his website at http://www.focusonthefly.com/.
