Marble and Rainbow Trout | Soča River, Slovenia | Spring 2022

In early May of 2022, I was finally able to tackle one of my biggest fly-fishing dreams ever: chasing Marble Trout in Slovenia. On this day, I was beyond blessed to have my daughter and #1 fishing buddy Katherine join me for this very memorable trip on the upper Soča River, northwest of the village of Tolmin.
Our guide on the Soča was Lesly Janssen of Slo-Fly.com. Simply put, he's amazing. He spotted countless trout - both Marbles and Rainbows - that we would've likely passed by without ever seeing. Lesly's knowledge of the river, the fish, and of course, the tactics turned what would've otherwise been a "skunked" day into a truly epic one, chock full of tight lines and big trout.
www.slo-fly.com/
The evening prior, we stayed at the farm-lodge of Pri Kafolu, just outside the village of Tolmin. Fantastic accommodations and food, with a very friendly and warm atmosphere provided by owner Tomaz Kafol.
www.prikafolu.com/
In my humble opinion, every serious trout-chasing fly angler should make Slovenia a top bucket-list item/priority. ;-)

[@royalhumpy3513]

Thanks for the wonderful video. It looks like you guys had a fantastic time. The weather gods apparently also showed you some mercy.
Great to see you two had the good fortune to hook up with Lesly (0:44). He doesn't just guide those rivers, he lives them.
Above all, he is really capable of getting you on the Soča away from the crowds, but also off the Soča and onto the many of the smaller tributaries that are so often overlooked and an absolute kick in the pants to fish and just plain enjoy for the wonderful nature of them.
I have rarely seen that much passion in a guide, nor have I had that much fun fishing on a river with someone who was not a life-long fishing buddy.
Hope to make it down to the Soča Valley again soon.

[@catlauncher]

Thanks so much! And yeah, I told Lesly I'd like to connect with him again to fish some of the other tributaries. I've got family in Europe, so it makes that prospect somewhat realistic.

[@isaiahbower6196]

Awesome video! I'm with Brian... I could just watch the water... and the fishing for hours! That must have been a blast!

[@catlauncher]

Thanks, Isaiah. It was a blast... you should go! ;-)

[@bkburket]

Amazing scenery! What an experience. That's way cool Erik and Kathrine!

[@catlauncher]

Thank you, Bill! We had a blast.

[@SpeckledState]

Beautiful waters, Beautiful fish. Great video!

[@catlauncher]

Thank you!

[@brianschaudt9086]

Amazing video; I could’ve watched an hour of that. Congrats to both for the marbles!

[@catlauncher]

Thanks, Brian!

[@mircorivolta6939]

Video stupendooooooo 😍😍😍😍😍sono 30 anni che pesco in soca 👏👏👏👏👏🇮🇹👋😍

[@catlauncher]

Grazie!

[@jimmyjamesl6605]

Very fun video and man that water! Thanks for including links and general location + places to stay.

[@catlauncher]

Thanks! I'd love to go again one of these days. Slovenia was awesome.

[@uwelaqua4458]

Tolles Gewässer super Film. Aber warum muss man fast bis in die Mitte der Forelle mit dem Kescher hinterher laufen. 🧐😖

[@oldsmugglerflyfishing]

Great video. Amazing footage. I subbed to your channel.

[@catlauncher]

Thank you so much!

[@berendkoopmans5168]

How does it work in Slovenia with fishing licenses? And to fish in the soca river is it necessarily to fly fish or will fishing with a spinning rod work too?

[@catlauncher]

The fishing license process is very different from where I'm at in the U.S. Basically, different "clubs" manage different streams & rivers, so I had to get a license for the specific sections we fished. Our guide, Lesly Janssen at www.slo-fly.com/ got us all set up with that. I'm not sure about the spinning rod question. Everywhere we fished was fly-fishing only. Hope that help!

[@berendkoopmans5168]

@@catlauncher super thanks a lot!💪

[@Irideus]

what a beautiful run.Check out our flies . cheers

[@gerardosantucci7865]

Is that the Upper Soca close to Kamp Klin ?

[@catlauncher]

I'm not familiar with Kamp Klin, but I can tell you that we were far upstream from Tolmin. Hope that helps.

[@jaspervos4345]

Beautiful!!! What kind of fly do you use for these stalking tactics, then? Perdigons?

[@catlauncher]

Thanks! We used a variety of very small nymphs that our guide tied, and we swapped them out often. If one or two patterns wouldn't work, a third in a different color and profile would sometimes finally get the fish to strike. Always learning. ;-)

[@cchampion]

Great video! I"m heading to soca valley in a week, would it be possible to send you message via email or social media to ask you a couple of questions about the area? Thanks!