New Member Falko

[Falko]

Hello guys,

I am a new member on your forum, I come from Slovenia, yep, small country in Europe. Mostly I fish for Pike, but I also like some other predator species and different techniques, sometimes I even fish for Carp. I live in a small town called Kočevje, sout-east region in Slovenia. There we have a lake wich was formed from an old mine and it's stocked with Pike, so fishing it's quite good.

Cheers!

[Ben]

Welcome to the forum Falko

[John Milford]

Good to hear from you Falko! Welcome to the Pit.

[Happy Hayes]

Welcome to the pit
Regards
Tom

[Mike J]

Welcome aboard

Your written English is very good, give us an idea of your background, I would love to learn about your country.

Most forum members live on this little island and Slovinia is just a name to most of us.

[Nobby C]

Hi Falko, I've read fishing articles about the mountain Trout streams in you country, it looks to be a beautiful place.
WELCOME.

[Falko]

Tnx Guys. Ok like Mike J said, a little island, well, Slovenia is one of the smallest countries in EU, population is about 2 million people, and its size is just over 20.000 square km, but for the size I can say we have it all. If you land in capital of the state (Ljubljana), you can be in aprox 2 hours in the Alps in the north parth of the state, or in the flat landscapes with vineyards in the east, or at the see in the south-west and in the forests in south-east (thats where I live).
Slovenia was in past as one of the countris forming much bigger state, Yugoslavia. But the war tore it down, and now we are between greater Europe on one side and The Balkans on the other. Our neighbour countries are Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia.

My part of the land is better known of its resident, the brown bear. If you are a nature freak, it is a place to be.

About fishing, our fishing club has 5 fishable watters, two lakes and three rivers. Lakes are Kočevje lake, which is better known by its Carp population (this year its visited by a lot of English, Czeck and Austrian tourists). Other than carp we have a good stock of Pike (since 2016 we establieshed C&R policy) an average pike caught is about 5-7 kg or 90+ cm in lenght. Other lake is Reško lakes where you can only fish for Pike and Zandre, but from this lake fish can be taken home, so the population is harsh :( (sadly in our country Pike is still marked as in eatable fish, but I hope this will change in the future). The river Rinža flows through the city of Kočevje. There you can find all species of fish like in Lake Kočevje. Other than Carp an Pike there is a lot of Tench, Wels Catfish, Bream, Rudd, Asp, Zandre, Perch, Roach and so on. The other two rivers (Čabranka and Kolpa - the border river between Slovenia and Croatia) is in general the salmonid water, where can you find Brown Trout, Grayling and most popular Hucho Hucho or Danube Salmon.

Thats my country in general. If you have any other questions do not hesitate.

Best regards!

[Happy Hayes]

Sounds a lovely place Falco
I’d love to see the bears
Regards
Tom

[Mike J]

Tnx Guys. Ok like Mike J said, a little island, well, Slovenia is one of the smallest countries in EU, population is about 2 million people, and its size is just over 20.000 square km, but for the size I can say we have it all. If you land in capital of the state (Ljubljana), you can be in aprox 2 hours in the Alps in the north parth of the state, or in the flat landscapes with vineyards in the east, or at the see in the south-west and in the forests in south-east (thats where I live).
Slovenia was in past as one of the countris forming much bigger state, Yugoslavia. But the war tore it down, and now we are between greater Europe on one side and The Balkans on the other. Our neighbour countries are Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia.

My part of the land is better known of its resident, the brown bear. If you are a nature freak, it is a place to be.

About fishing, our fishing club has 5 fishable watters, two lakes and three rivers. Lakes are Kočevje lake, which is better known by its Carp population (this year its visited by a lot of English, Czeck and Austrian tourists). Other than carp we have a good stock of Pike (since 2016 we establieshed C&R policy) an average pike caught is about 5-7 kg or 90+ cm in lenght. Other lake is Reško lakes where you can only fish for Pike and Zandre, but from this lake fish can be taken home, so the population is harsh :( (sadly in our country Pike is still marked as in eatable fish, but I hope this will change in the future). The river Rinža flows through the city of Kočevje. There you can find all species of fish like in Lake Kočevje. Other than Carp an Pike there is a lot of Tench, Wels Catfish, Bream, Rudd, Asp, Zandre, Perch, Roach and so on. The other two rivers (Čabranka and Kolpa - the border river between Slovenia and Croatia) is in general the salmonid water, where can you find Brown Trout, Grayling and most popular Hucho Hucho or Danube Salmon.

Thats my country in general. If you have any other questions do not hesitate.

Best regards!

Hey Falko,
I have been to Ljubljana!
I went there in the late '70's to listen to an opera by La Scala Milan at an outside concert held in a walled garden within the city.
What I remember most was the amazing mountain roads, the wild countryside, the sumptuous seafood, the lemon citrus drink and my hotel where everything was constructed almost exclusively from wood.
You truely live in a wonderful part of the World.

Many thanks for your detailed reply

[Falko]

Hy Guys,

long time since I posted something on here. The work ist just killing me, I even didn't have a lot of time to fish, hope this will change in a few days, just to go on with this winter Pike thing :D

But the reason I am posting right now is to you to see the footage from our Kočevje lake. As I said, we have a lot of carp anglers from diferent Countries this year, and some of them released good movie clips (mainly talking about carp but now and then they show the lake from up above, I hope this is ok, as some of you were asking about my place where I live).

So here they are, one in Italian and one in German language, If any of you understands it's super, if not just schroll to see the Lake :) and the third is actually a film from our local TV group (which is not associated with the fishing, but since you like forests and bears, just to give you that feeling).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y682SnK ... Y8E4Zlg8Aw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U60838n ... pp=desktop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCaQn-8LwP8

Hope you enjoy them and I will try too put on some Pike pictures as well.

Best regards and tight lines

Erik

[Happy Hayes]

Cheers for posting them Eric .
Regards
Tom

[Mike J]

Hi Erik
Thanks for posting the videos, stunning landscapes indeed.

Can you tell me something about the river fishing, especially the Grayling, the sizes, the seasons and how you fish for them?
Also are there pike or roach (Rutilus rutilus) in your rivers and if so how big do the grow?

Dont forget to tell us about your fishing this winter.


Mike.

[Falko]

Yea, we have Grayling on river Kolpa, which is the border river with Croatia. There is strictly C&R policy for Grayling and only barbless dry fly can be used for a bait. Average size of Grayling is 40 cm and there are a lot of them. Here are some clips of Kolpa river while fishing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPD71yU ... HS1Lpp1D1E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPD71yU ... W8-7_ojGUM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjcEVYR ... bZ4n-pr1_8

For the river Pike fishing there is some, but our river is pretty much like a canal so there is a lot of small pikes. Eventually there are some Pikes caught over 1m mark. Mainly rivers for Pike in Slovenia are Krka, Drava, Sava and Ljubljanica. There is a better chance to catch trophy pike.

For Roach or Rudd fishing at my river there in not much interes so they get big if the pike let them :D 1,5 kilo or even 2 kilo is random here.

Regards,
Erik

[jlawsonvet]

Looks and sounds amazing!

[danubia]

Hi Mr Falko, walked past your namesakes grave in Vienna last week! Your capital llubjiana (Ok I can never spell ir) is one my all time perfect places, remember a bar called 'bones bar' (i think) - they had a cocktail called 'sex in the disabled toilet' which I did not dare ask for!

[Mike J]

Hi Falko,
Many thanks for posting the links to the Grayling fishing.

Barbless catch&rlease is how I fish in England though most of our fly fishing is Czech nymph or a bait under a float.

Those 1.5kg roach sound amazing, especially if they are not fished by local anglers.

Does your country allow for visiting anglers?
If yes - what are your seasons for different species and the tackle regulations?


Merry Christmad

[fishingrod]

welcome to the pit