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Lake Skadar feeds the villages around it, and two of its fish define the lake's kitchen. Ukljeva, a small silver bleak found only in the Skadar and Ohrid lake basins, was once caught by the hundred tonnes and is now protected by a long closed season. Carp is salted and smoked over pomegranate or willow wood until its flesh turns red, and served with Crmnica vranac. Here is what they are, when to eat them and where.
A lake full of fish
Lake Skadar, shared with Albania and a Montenegrin national park since 1983, is the largest lake in Southern Europe, and it is rich in fish. It has 34 native species, seven of them endemic, and the ones that matter most in the kitchen are carp, eel and a small fish called ukljeva. About 300 registered commercial fishermen still work it.
Around its shores, in Virpazar, Rijeka Crnojevića and the Crmnica villages, lake cooking has its own repertoire: carp baked with prunes, apples and quinces, carp baked on a bed of onions, eel with rice or grilled, fish soup, and smoked carp.
Ukljeva, the Skadar bleak
Ukljeva is a silvery bleak up to about 20 cm long, found only in the basins of Lake Skadar and Lake Ohrid. It spends summer in deep water and in winter gathers at the underwater springs, and it comes into the shallows after the first autumn rains. It is eaten fried or smoked, traditionally as a starter with wine or rakija, and there was once a cannery for it.
In the 1970s fishermen landed up to 600 tonnes a year. The catch has fallen so far that Slow Food lists the bleak in its Ark of Taste as a product at risk. Under Montenegro's fishing rules it may not be caught between 15 March and 31 October, so fresh ukljeva is a winter food. The 2026 Wine and Bleak Festival in Virpazar went further and served none at all, to protect the species.
Carp smoked over pomegranate wood
Smoked carp is the lake's answer to pršut. The fish is salted with sea salt for about 24 hours and then smoked for another 24 over pomegranate or willow wood, which turns the flesh red. Some cooks shorten the smoking and finish it in sun and wind.
It is served cold as a starter, simmered in water with bay leaf and pepper, marinated in olive oil with garlic, parsley and lemon, or as a main course with boiled potatoes. The classic companions are Crmnica onion, a mild sweet onion on the Slow Food Ark of Taste that is eaten raw with fish, and a glass of vranac from the vineyards above the lake.
Where to eat it
Rijeka Crnojevića, where the river enters the lake, has a row of riverside restaurants; Stari most, recommended by the Cetinje tourist board for lake cooking, is known for its smoked carp and fish soup. Virpazar is the base for boat trips and for the Wine and Bleak Festival in late winter. In June, Plavnica on the Zeta shore holds Carp Day, with free tastings of carp cooked in every way.
