Slovenia

Last weekend I had the pleasure to visit Slovenia! I went there with my coworker Kyle who is a recreational fly fisher like me with a good nose for exploring.

Whenever I talked to anyone or read anything about Slovenia I envisioned a perfect little country with nice mountains and rivers full of fish. The reality was not so far off from this image. The country is about the same size as New Jersey, but has less that 2 million people. Imagine a less populated, but equally beautiful Switzerland with more natural wilderness still intact.

Lake Bled, Slovenia

Flying into Ljubljana was similar to flying into Fairbanks, Alaska in June with looming rain clouds, green trees, and mountains jetting up right behind the airport. To think this gem of a country has been so close this whole time, but it took me this long to get there is the only disappointing thing about it.

Ljubljana Airport

Now let's discuss the fishing. We had seen videos and talked to people about Slovenia and they all said it was difficult, but rewarding fishing. Our morning session on Saturday made me think that they were right as I could see tons of fish holding in the river, but hooking them was another matter. I ended up hooking about 5 fish, but nothing of any size and plenty of missed fish. However in the afternoon Kyle and I had much better luck and the ironic part was that was when we fished without a guide.

Kyle and I ready for action

At lunch Kyle and I discussed throwing a "cheeseburger," at the big fish in the river -- joking that it would be the only thing the big fish would go for. Our cheeseburger ended up being a big stonefly dry which we had for chasing fish on the Deschutes.  As soon as I put that fly on the fish started rising for it and it was on.

Below is a photo of the largest fish I hooked. Probably an average sized fish by this rivers standards, but a good fish and a good fight by any standards.

My biggest fish

I definitely would encourage people to visit Slovenia while in Europe. The infrastructure and hospitality defiantly ranked as high as anywhere else I've been. Plus it feels different as there are not as many tourists and instead of visiting museums and churches you get to play outdoors as much as you want. Next time I hope that Heather will get to be there to enjoy it with me.

Backdrop of our fishing hole

Kyle with a nice brown