Marble trout behavior

Marble trout is endemic  specie in Slovenia and also in the whole world. When you want to catch this predatory trout, you must be completely familiar with its behavior. Many fishermen are comming to Slovenia with one single purpose – to catch a marmorata, but sometimes they leave Slovenia without catching a marble trout. So lets make it clear…marble trout is a predator. Marble trout feed mostly on a bigger prey like fish, bullheads, frogs, snakes…Smaller marble trout feed also on insects, so you can catch it also on a dry fly or a nimph, but when marble trout reach size of 50cm or more they take dry fly or nimph very rearly. Instead of feeding on insects they rather take bigger prey. So when does the marmorata hunt?

Marble trout mostly hunt when raining, when water level is high or gettin higher because of the rain. In that time catching a big marble trout is very easy, because they go completely crazy. In the rising water level they would take anything. They also hunt for adult fish (they can easily take for example 35cm long rainbow trout or grayling…). But when a water level is low catching a big marble trout is almost immposible because they are most of the time hidden under a rock or fallen trees. When the water level is low you can still catch some smaller marble trout with a dry fly (like caddis) or a nimph, but you must be very carefull when wadding in the river. It is better if not wade in the river at all. You must always stay hidden in the shadow and if possible on your knees when casting.