Five tips for a Tribalj trip — booking, fees, wind and kit

Five practical tips for a Tribalj trip — not fishing technique but what you need to know when planning. Filmed in February 2025, so the fees reflect that time.

1. Book a swim. When the channel first visited, booking was not possible; now it is, and it is recommended — travelling from Hungary and finding every peg taken would be unpleasant. Booking goes through the lake's Facebook page on Messenger, where you can also ask which swims are free. The booking fee at the time of filming is 50 EUR, which does not count toward the ticket. Two day tickets came to 65 EUR: roughly 29–30 EUR each, plus 2.65 EUR tourist tax per person if you camp on the bank.

One organisational detail the video mentions: the booking message and the transfer go to the president of the local angling federation, while the warden only issues tickets and registers the tourist tax.

And a useful note: check the booking again before you leave. A month or two ahead only one swim was free, but on arrival 17 and 15 had opened up too.

2. Check the weather before setting off. The 50 EUR booking fee is not refunded if you cancel, but that still beats having the wind take your bivvy apart. The previous year's session had to be cut short by a day and a half because of wind, and another channel had its shelter torn apart in the same place, on the dam.

Wind needs an extra margin here, for a geographic reason: the lake sits between two large, steep mountains, and a forecast forty kilometres an hour can accelerate down the slopes and arrive at a hundred. The video recommends AccuWeather for its daily and hourly breakdown, continuous updates and wind warnings — if there is a warning, writing off the 50 EUR is the better call.

3. Tie down the rod pod and the bivvy. Bank sticks cannot be used on the dam, so there is no point bringing them — only a stable rod pod you can weigh down. Under the forest section the ground is hard, coarse stone, where a stick is misery. Small metal hooks with rings are bolted into the dam, and the rod pod can be tied to those. Under the forest the video tied the bivvy to large rocks with thick rope; on the dam side you can drive stakes. They also saw bivvies tied down with cargo lashing straps and heavy stakes.

4. It is casting only. No bait boat, no boat — so you have to be able to fish the distance by casting, and you have to feed it. How much is disputed: locals feed heavily, spombing all day, while others swear by one or two spombs and precise presentation to select the bigger fish. A spod rod is essential. A throwing stick is allowed and recommended if you fish within its range.

5. Bring a spare rod — above all a spare spod rod. It is three-rod fishing, so a broken fishing rod leaves you two; a broken spod rod leaves you unable to feed. That is exactly what happened in the video: their spod rod broke and had to be taped up. If two of you go — one swim takes two anglers and six rods — each should bring a spod rod. Bring spare leaders and spombs too: if a spomb pulls off you cannot fetch it by boat, and at best you wait for the water to bring it in.

On distance and flavour the video deliberately gives no answer: work it out for yourself. As an illustration, they arrived prepared with a spicy bait and in the end bites came only on the sweeter, carbohydrate-based C1.