European Championship – Bosnia and Herzegovina – 22.Jun-28.Jun 2026

I would like to start with a short description of the rivers. The 4 river sectors were divided into two by the Buna River in the town of Blagaj and two sectors by the Sturba River, in western Bosnia to the town of Livno. A karst river in the border area with Croatia. An incredibly beautiful area, and the very relief of the river made it very different from the rivers known to us. The Buna, on the other hand, is a short, but on the other hand, a much fuller river, a tributary of the Neretva, where the notorious softmouth trout (Salmo obtusirostris) lives - a trout species of exceptional value for every angler. The Sturba, on the other hand, is famous for its difficult and huge grayling, which really turned out to be extremely damned fish 😊 The fifth sector was the Mostar Lake on the Neretva River. The backwater part of the Neretva, a narrow and long section of about 12 km. Here the hosts had chosen a spot of about 5-600 meters, where they had made as much space as possible for 20 people fishing at the same time. The information about the lake was that it holds trout species, as well as carp and mullet. Unfortunately, due to its huge area and the very limited casting sector from place to place, the chance of meeting any of its larger inhabitants was minimal.

The summer heat in Mostar had already begun and the 9 days we spent there were accompanied by heat of the order of 36-38 degrees in the shade! From 9 am to 7 pm, the temperatures did not drop below 33 degrees, which tormented the participants and especially affected the activity of the fish in the lake!

The team did a little training on site – 2-3 days before the competition, as Mitko and Andy had gone a month earlier for a few days as well. We certainly had a pretty good idea of ​​what to expect during the competition and the reality wasn’t too far off.

The draw assigned me to start on the lake and from the very beginning it became clear that the fish in the area were some patrolling mullets in groups of 1 to 3-4. The chance for them to pass through your box and at that very moment to hand them the bait was not to be missed. Because after that you never know if something else will turn up in front of you. There were box rotations every 45 minutes and so there had to be some balance in the draw for a place to fish! Of course, I quickly checked the possibility that the hosts had released some stocked trout, but there were no such extras.. The Czech and the Spaniard were playing around me and so we moved in a pack. In the first 10 minutes I had a chase from some big fish that didn't hook well and that was all for the first two hours. Next to me, the Czech pulled out some mullet, as did the Spaniard, and I also changed tactics, because it became clear what kind of fish would prevail. In the end, I managed to catch a 25cm mullet, which I took as a success, because quite a few people finished with capos and those who also had one. Unfortunately for me, a little bigger than mine…

Marius, Mitko, Alex and Andy started very well on their rivers and the championship got underway.

For this competition, one thing was very important – the draw! This was the thing that determined every day how which country would perform as a whole. There were river boxes that were many times less productive than the others in the sector, due to the specifics of the relief. As soon as the draw was made, it became clear who would rank more or less where for the day! Some had smiles on their faces, others were discouraged.. I, to my disappointment, was one of the latter. 3 times I had to save the hood in sectors with almost no fish and/or current at least. Looking at the statistics on the championship website, even before the start of each round it became clear to me that no more than a few fish were caught in the box and I just had to catch one or two fish to not get hooded. In this respect, I managed, there was simply no chance of anything better than this!

The other colleagues also had a mixed lot, sometimes good, sometimes bad, and they also managed to do not do badly, with the exception of Mitko, who played really brilliantly!!!

After the end of the 4th day, which was the strongest for the team, Mitko shared first place with the local legend Alex Djukic! We had the chance for a Bulgarian to become European champion!!! He needed a good boxing match and he would take advantage of the chance 100%.

Alas, on the fifth day, Mitko was sent to fish in a box, in which 0-0-4-2 fish were caught over the 4 days...

There was no chance of him becoming European champion from this boxing! Alex Djukic had another huge chance with the draw and won a sector victory with 17 fish and the title of European champion! So, Mitko finished in 4th place, which is an incredible success for our country, and for him as well, as a reward for his efforts and dedication to the sport!

I want to express my great gratitude to my colleagues from the team – Mitko, Marius, Alex and Andy for the friendly atmosphere and for giving their all, everyone did what they had to do according to their lot to represent our country with dignity!

I am absolutely convinced that Bulgaria can produce leading athletes in the coming years, and we will try to work in this direction! With joint efforts, I believe we will succeed!

Greetings and good luck to everyone!