The 2025 Fly Fishing Film Tour is here, bringing another exciting lineup of captivating stories from the water. To get you pumped for this year’s films, we’re sharing an exclusive look at the filmmaking process through our F3T Behind the Lens series. Be sure to check out the full 2025 schedule HERE and grab your tickets today!
In this Behind the Lens article, we sit down with Rok Rozman at the Balkan River Defence to discuss their newest film, Streamers, Steamers, & Struggles on the Krka. In this light-hearted short film, the gang takes to the Slovenian Krka in search of a multi-species slam over a 3-day float trip filled with laughter, competition, and epic white water rafting. We sat down with Rok and the Crew to discuss how the film got its name and the deeper topic within the film. Check out the full interview below.
Flylords: What a fun, light-hearted film. In the midst of not leaving landmines behind, what is the main point you want folks to take away from watching Streamers, Steamers, & Struggles?
Rok: “The primary purpose of the series of short films is to deliver a meaningful and important message in a light and comic package. As a river conservation organization, there are multiple reasons why we lean toward comedy to get our message across. We have spent the last 10 years fighting tooth and nail against aggressive hydro development (and mass tourism) and for the preservation of the last wild rivers and river stretches of Europe with our initiative, Balkan River Defence. In addition to being a part of the Balkan River Defence, we are also fly fishermen, hunters, kayakers, and biologists, and we take the protection of our wild rivers as our responsibility.
We have produced two feature films (The Undamaged and One for the River: The Sava Story) and a number of mid-length films and recently realized the potential of short films. When it comes to the comic and light-hearted atmosphere in our short films, the main point we want to make is two-fold…and it’s pretty simple: we are fed up with thousands of films that try to make everything epic, heroic, and mythical where there is no real basis for that. At the same time, our crew just happens to be a bunch of funny individuals that, if placed in the right place at the right will surely deliver some sort of comedy. Hard topics are like life, best consumed and digested with laughter. And, if we are honest, we also like the challenge of packing a sometimes complex message into a short and funny vessel.”
Flylords: In this movie, the crew floats the Krka in Slovenia. But doesn’t the Krka travel all the way into Croatia and eventually into the Adriatic Sea?
Rok: “The Krka we floated and fished on is the Slovenian Krka. There is indeed a Krka River flowing in Croatia, too (and there is yet another one in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well), but the one we were on is the Slovenian Krka. Interestingly, Krka is used in Slavic languages (mostly in the Balkan Peninsula) to describe a karst or a chalk stream type of river that has a rich source or spring coming to the surface from underground.
Due to high concentrations of calcium carbonate, it hosts an incredibly rich diversity and abundance of insect and mollusk life. This, in combination with the fact that when conditions are right, calcium carbonate precipitates from water to organic matter like moss and causes this organic matter to become encrusted with a layer of minerals, which then accumulate on top of each other and create the only known biologically formed rock called tufa, creates an incredible environment for aquatic life. Since it keeps on growing (a couple of millimeters per year), tufa creates ever-new formations that provide both shelter and hunting spots for a vast array of fish in these food-rich waterbodies. To have 44 native fish species present in such a short river (the total length of the Krka between its source and outflow into the Sava River is only 95 kilometers) is a rarity worldwide. And we are happy and proud to have a river like that in our homeland!”
Flylords: Can all 44 fish species be found throughout the entire river system or are there specific areas better for specific species?
Rok: “There is a gradient of appropriate habitats for certain species. In general, there are more Salmonid species like brown trout and grayling found in the upper reaches of the Krka, where there are more rapids due to a steeper gradient of flow and consequentially more rapids and oxygen, as expected. But this doesn’t mean you can’t end up reeling in one of the salmonids just before Krka empties itself in the Sava River.
On the contrary, some of the biggest specimens were caught there. One of the beauties of these kinds of karst rivers is their incredible self-cleaning capability, which enables Salmonids to live even in lower river stretches. A rich diversity of plant and algae life, in combination with numerous places to hold both surface and intra-terrestrial fauna of invertebrates and micro-organisms, provides a cleaning service like no other. The middle stretches of the river are best known for chub, barbel, and the mighty huchen (Danube salmon). The lower stretch is known for giant Wels catfish, Pike, European perch, and wild Carp. Fishing on the Krka is like roulette. You always hope for a bite but never really know what to expect at the end of your line.”
Flylords: In the film, we noticed you were throwing a two-hand rod for big pike. Did you ever get one?
Rok: “Haha, I did get a solid bite and managed to see the fish that took the big streamer, but the camera didn’t manage to capture that. Unfortunately, a very solid pike found a way to unhook itself before we managed to convince it to swim into the net. That’s fishing sometimes.”
Flylords: Every trip has amazing moments that don’t quite make the final cut. What didn’t make the cut this time that you think about with this adventure?
Rok: “Well, one of those moments is surely that big take I just mentioned, but others are more intimate and lasting. Things that happened hanging out next to the campfire after cameras were shut down are always the best, aren’t they? You can notice we did quite some damage to cans and bottles and can imagine there were many stories and jokes told, even some bets made.”
Flylords: How long was the float, and how long did it take?
Rok: “We floated for 3 full days and covered a mere 25 kilometers. We took it easy, as we all think that sometimes less is more, especially in this rushed way of living that is somehow creeping in even in our part of the otherwise slow-paced world.”
Flylords: When the crew camped, we noticed that they were camping on farmland. Is there an understanding between land owners and users of the river, or are there designated areas where you can camp?
Rok: “We camped on a wet meadow on a river island, which gets its grass cut once or twice a year, depending on the conditions. The farmer can only reach the island by driving his tractor over the river channel when the water levels are super low, so this limits his interventions and, in a way, makes this half farmland, half wilderness.
The private property thing is not as evident and harshly used in Slovenia as it is in America, for instance, and many things can be simply solved if you kindly ask the owner/farmer for permission. Also, there is a law that states that the banks of the river up to the high water line are public. So, in combination with both facts, you can find a place to set up a small camp in almost every given situation. But no matter where, when, or how you decide to set your camp, the main thing should always keep in mind is you are only visiting there. It’s always good to practice to pack out what you pack in.”
Extras:
Flylords: In the film, the crew goes into a local market to buy a local wine. What type of wine was it, and do the vineyards in the area affect the river at all?
Rok: “The special type of wine this wine region is famous for is called Cviček. It is a light red wine, which is, next to Tuscany’s Chianti wine, the only other known wine composed of red and white sorts of grapes. This combination makes it special alone, but when you add in the taste and ease of drinking it, it becomes evident why there are so many vineyards there. It has a low alcohol percentage, which makes it a traditional energy drink of sorts for those working in the vineyards and farm fields. The impact these vineyards have on the river is that there is usually a fisherman or two enjoying this beverage while fishing. The locals in this part of Slovenia don’t buy wine at the shop like we did. They all have their own small and traditional family vineyards, so the impact on the river environmentally is almost nothing.”
Flylords: Two years ago you targeted Huchen, last year you chased marble trout, this year was a multi-species slam, what is next for the Balkan River Defence team?
Rok: “In terms of river conservation, we will keep on doing our best to keep big dam projects back. One of them, called HPP Mokrice, is proposed to be built on the Sava River just downstream of the mouth of the Krka. It would create a huge reservoir that would also flood the last kilometer of the Krka, and what is worse, the downstream laying dam would cut the main migratory route for most of the Krka fish species. The Sava River, from the confluence with the Krka, is free-flowing for more than 700 kilometers, all the way to where it meets the Danube in the Serbian capital city of Belgrade. This makes this stretch of the river, together with Krka, one of the longest remaining open fish corridors in Europe.
Despite all those facts and the fact that both Sava and Krka are protected by the European Union, it is unfortunately not enough to keep the aggressive Green Deal agenda at bay. The push to build dams has never been stronger, as it is backed by big investments, subsidiaries, and changes in river conservation laws. This will destroy all remaining free-flowing rivers and river stretches of Europe. But to end it on a positive note, we came up with some really fun ideas for the next film around the campfire that may or may not involve us on a saltwater trip!”
If you’re interested in fishing with Rok and exploring Slovenia, check him out HERE.
Don’t forget to buy your Fly Fishing Film Tour Tickets HERE! And make sure to check out our other Behind the Lens articles below!
