We talked to Boštjan Lipnik, the author of the www.ribiskekarte.si web portal. Last year it was included in the Telekom business incubator of the 11 most innovative ideas in Slovenia. The portal brings together and promotes all of the Slovenian fishing waters in a number of world languages. And if the initial intention of the portal was a more practical one, today it has grown into a real international information center for fishermen, as well as for all the local tourist information centers, accommodation facilities etc.

In the past Italian and other foreigners used to come in big numbers to fish for salmonids. Our waters were famous for having large quantities of these fish. What's the situation like today?
It's difficult for me to compare how it was then and how it is now, as I don't have enough information on visitor numbers in the past. Today in certain fishing districts foreigners still outnumber domestic fishermen. Most of them come from France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Spain, England and Russia. On our web portal we also have a lot of visitors from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and also from the US. However we can't include the latter into the number of actual visits to the country. It is a fact though that the quality of fishing is decreasing. A lot of energy is being spent on "managing" water flows for the needs of damns, smaller and bigger power stations etc. It is very worrying that despite all the warnings, water interventions are being carried out in a brutal way. We can come to
the conclusion that the end goals are questionable. Funds received from grants also largely influence what's happening.

Fly fishing is considered to be a very demanding fishing discipline. How susceptible is today's younger population to fly fishing and fishing in general?
Our observations say that fishing families are decreasing in number. At the same time however among unregistered i.e tourist fishermen, our observations say that there is a large number of young people interested in fly fishing and other kinds of fishing. If we consider the essence, most fishing families work according to well established methods from the past which younger generations don't
want to accept. The methods that older generations are used to are extremely foreign to younger generations, who rather devote their time to fishing itself than to the community. Of course there are also exceptions.

A few years ago illegal fishermen in the Dolenjska region practically blasted fish. What's the number of illegal fishermen today?
It is impossible to say how many there are. It is a fact though that they can be limited in their operations if the watchmen do their job well. Maybe it would be better to point out the problem of individual groups of illegal fishermen rather than their high number. In certain regions in Slovenia you have organized bands able to take away great quantities of fish in just a matter of days and then sell them to local restaurants. You could even say that they literally "empty" whole rivers or streams.

Where do Slovenian fishermen fish the most? Which are the most popular fishing districts?
I think every fisherman would give you a different answer to that question. According to our information the fishing district on the Sava Dolinka is quite interesting. In the last few years the wild trout is dominant there. The Sava River in the area of Radovljica and Tržič is also well visited, as is the Kokra River. In Ljubljana there's growing interest for the Ljubljanica River and for the Iška River which is a real pearl considering its purity and surrounding nature. There's increasing interest also for the Vipava River in her upper part, where you can catch in a very clean environment precious Soča trouts. Towards the end of the season there was also a demand for spin fishing from boats on the Soča, which is possible in the lower part of the river. The Meža na Koroškem River stands out as well. Most interesting, especially in the spring, due to the warmer climate, is also the Rižana River. For lovers of big game carp the Šmartinsko Lake predominates. There is growing interest for carps heavier that 20kg at the Gajševci artificial lake and at Lake Mola, where you can also be surprised by a big game grass carp. Due to the wonderful environment there's also growing interest for the Tržec gravel pit, where you can also catch carps heavier than 20kg. Well visited are also the fish ponds and gravel pits in Maribor and its surrounding areas. Certainly there are many incredibly beautiful places in Slovenia. However sadly there are too little well known fishing districts, which we try to improve with our web portal.