Rok Rozman: From Olympian Athlete to Conservationist

Rok Rozman:

From Olympian Athlete to Conservationist

Former Olympian athlete and professional kayaker, Rok Rozman, now spends considerable time trying to save Europe’s last wild rivers. As a kayaker, and as a biologist and fly fisherman, he has seen numerous rivers across Europe and experienced – first hand – the threats imposed on them. Having grown up in Slovenia, Rok has seen the damage caused to pristine rivers and river habitats by hydropower dams, and with the escalating project-planning and pressure from the hydropower lobby all across the Balkan region (and beyond), Rok has decided that enough is enough.

By the Editorial Staff

You’ve been exploring lots of rivers with your kayak. What’s the main allure of combining fly fishing and kayaking?

I would say that the main draw to combining these two great ways to spend time next to the rivers is that it just brings everything to the next level. Kayaking a river first and then fishing it later makes things easier. From a kayak you see all the little pockets and eddies where the fish are hiding and especially feeding. You can find big fish and also learn to understand where exactly to find them.

You also get to see the insect life while paddling, so in that sense you can gain important information about the aquatic life and the environment, territory, and feeding habits of the fish. And when you combine kayaking and fishing into a single day it becomes even more obvious that these are two things worth combining; you can reach many more places with a kayak than you can on foot. It is also super invigorating as you are literally getting adrenaline, ecology, and chess dosage with every minute spent out there. At the end of the day, more incoming information and better spots mean more success in getting our scaly friends in the net.

What are the main advantages of using a kayak when exploring rivers?

A kayak brings you places you could never be if you’re relying on traditional means of transportation or simply hiking. I feel fortunate to have been able to spend some time in the deepest and most remote canyons of the world. The only way into those magical places is with a kayak - literally, as sometimes these gorges are not even reachable with a helicopter. Of course, we shouldn’t forget about the fun factor. Kayaking is pure fun and thrill, the steeper and harder the whitewater becomes the bigger the adventure.

What does it take to get started kayaking on rivers?

Time, stubbornness, and some skill. There are many different types of rivers you can kayak, fish and kayak-fish on. If you decide to be a kayak angler on a flat and slow river (class I-II rapids) you just need a nice boat (sit-on-top boats work nicely on those) and some pre-gained experience on swift water. Fishing on class II rapids rivers and above demands real whitewater boats with spray decks and full kayaking gear, as well as lots of experience on whitewater, but – nowadays - this can be gained at numerous good kayak schools.

For kayak fishing on rivers with class IV –V rapids you have to be a very experienced kayaker as the risks are much bigger; fast, wild water can be extremely dangerous if you underestimate the force and constant changes to current it involves.

Another important thing is to never do those kinds of trips on your own – kayaking on a higher level is like mountaineering or alpinism – you completely depend on your partner when the going gets tough. So that’s the kayaking part. For the fishing part you guys know what it takes. But believe me; when a fisherman sits in a kayak, he instantly becomes a better fisherman!

How do you typically set up a joint kayaking and fly fishing trip?

If the rivers are easy to kayak, I prefer to go alone. It just makes things more special and magical. When in a group there are other advantages, though, and I am looking forward to seeing more aspiring kayak anglers on the water and enjoy their company.

I get ready in the same way as for a regular kayak trip, I only add the fly fishing rod and reel and the most indispensable pieces of gear in a dry bag inside the stern of my kayak. On top of that, I bring a warm sleeping bag, light air mattress, a tarp instead of a tent, a hammock, some cooking utensils, first aid kit and some schnapps; if you go on a trip down a clear and cold river the good side is that there’s no need to bring the drinking water, just a bit of a disinfectant, haha.

The weight is always an issue when setting out on a multi-day-class IV-V river trip as you want to keep your boat balanced in those demanding rapids; mistakes are something you’ll want to avoid as every swim can mean “game over” for you or - at least - goodbye to your kayak and all the gear inside it.

Having said all that, these multi-day-trips deep in the wilderness really produce unforgettable experiences. These trips are REAL! You are out there on your own, testing your kayaking skills in the most remote corners of the globe while stopping for some casts in eddies that hold fish. If you don’t bring enough food, such trips can also turn into real hunting missions where fish end up on the plate – out of hunger and necessity, and not just some fancy dinner idea.

Do you have any special kayak-fly fishing moments that come to mind?

Oh, there’s quite a few. One of my first trips like that was a 7-day source-tosea descent on the Aoss/Vjosa river, the last big free-flowing river in Europe that slopes from the high Pindus mountains in Greece to the Adriatic sea in Albania.

It was hard work catching fish in its deep canyons with crystal-clear water, especially because I was under pressure to catch some. (I had promised the Balkan Trout Restoration Group to bring some tissue samples for DNA analyses of a catchment never sampled before).

I managed to catch 5 beautiful little trout and I was happier to each of them in my hands than some of the big trophies I’ve caught in the past. The sample (with just 5 individual trout along 80 kilometers of river) was a super small sample but it provided 3 different genetic lineages; fario, dentex and marmorata, which left all of us in awe – just imagine the diversity of that river!

We even made a film on that topic called “One for the River – The Vjosa Story” which kick-started the fight for last free flowing rivers of Europe in the Balkans and then evolved into Balkan River Defence (https://balkanriverdefence.org). So, a simple kayak trip combined with some fishing has the potential to grow into something big, haha!

You’ve spent considerable amounts of time kayaking and fly fishing the Balkan rivers. Which threats are they facing?

Yes, I’ve been paddling rivers around the world, but I always refer the Balkan pearls with the greatest of joy. The rivers inside this geographically, politically, and culturally diverse area are just that – very diverse. Mostly flowing on top of limestone they are truly special. Sometimes they disappear into unknown underground systems only to reappear on the other side of a mountain as a river with a different name.

Crystal clear, still packed with life and lots of rapids, the Balkan rivers are my great love. They offer the perfect environments for fish and kayakers, but unfortunately also hydro development; from big, tall dams for large scale hydropower plants to super-small hydropower plants that divert whole flows into pipes trough mountains.

So, when I heard that they want to build 3.000 dams in the Balkan region I was shocked. My first reaction was holy f***, then I had a glass of schnapps and then I said: “Well, you can’t just sit down and watch them destroy everything, try and do something!”

So, a very long story (of the past 5 years) short would be something like this; I dropped everything else in life and dove into the project I named “Balkan Rivers Tour”, which proved that river conservation can be rock’n’roll, that everybody can join in and help - no matter prior expertise – and that the outdoor community needs to come together in order to protect the places we love and get so much from.

With the help of my good friends and fellow NGOs in the region, we pulled off the biggest direct action-for-river-protection in Europe in invigorating a tour in 2016 and we are now continuing to do the same every year – expose, prove, and show that these proposed dams are unnecessary (there is no real need for extra power supply in the region as most of the countries are net exporters of electricity), that they are funded by profit-mongering world banks and institutions, that most of the projects are fueled by rampant corruption and individual greed. On top of that, we are doing out best to show that hydro is not green at all, that it destroys the essence of the river – flow (fish can’t migrate upstream to spawn, the frys can’t go downstream, there is no sediment transport, warmer water temperatures in reservoirs etc.) and at the end of the day – dams are dangerous and are causing global warming with their CO2 and CH4 emissions.

Are there any ways that kayakers and fly fishermen can unite when it comes to protecting the Balkan rivers?

Oh yes, for sure! My little personal project was to try and dispel the myth that kayakers and fly fishermen can’t coexist.

Fishermen were always angry at kayakers when they passed them in their favorite spot on the river and though it’s the end of the day since vivid colored boats and yelling guys spook the fish. They also believed kayakers to be damaging the spawning grounds. But that’s all totally untrue. And the same goes for the kayaker’s idea that all fly fishermen are arrogant, old men trying to have the river to themselves and injuring poor fish just for the photos.

I knew it would work as the time has come for people to really care about the rivers and to join forces to fight for them. If we do things on our own and in different directions we can keep on fighting with each other, but we will lose our essence, all the free-flowing rivers. So yes – we can unite and realize we are the same tribe, completely crazy about wild rivers - and with our big hearts we can do some big things. What is boils down to, quite simply, is this: If you really love a certain place and feel an organic need to protect it – act on that impulse!

The global fly fishing community is much bigger and more influential than the global kayaking community and we should be aware and use that as an advantage. Kayakers will always be the crazy crew ready to do some crazy unconventional things; but we need more than that to win the battle for the rivers. We need masses, we need funds, we need sustainable tourism as an alternative to energy production, some very influential people on our side, and we need to spread the word about the attack of foreign investment and greed into the last pristine river stretches of our continent so that even more people can join and resist.

I firmly believe that kayakers and fly fishermen possess all the assets needed to protect these rivers. We are literally a perfect combination. So lets just all realize what Ed Abbey said years ago: “Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.” So don’t just fish to get that photo and show it to your friends, remember that the river in which you caught the beauty is your close friend and that we all help friends in need.

See you out there on- or next to the river. Tight lines and good lines (as we kayakers say).