Hi Gong Lei it’s a pleasure to have you here on Spineri.

Thank you for having me here.

On your Facebook profile we have a chance to see that you catch a lot of big fish! Can you say how did your love for lure fishing start, and what pushed you to develop yourself more as a fisherman through the years?

Yes, I love to chase after monsters and keep challenging myself for big fish.  It all started many years ago.  I find using lures to “trick” fish to bite is more challenging than using real baits or trolling. It’s the thrill I get from casting, working and fooling the fish to bite.

If we judge on your videos, you have a wide range of very aggressive predators that like to attack your surface lures. Do you prefer some species rather than others?

I choose my target species.  I travel very far, as long as 2-3 days to search for my target species.  I go after the strongest or the fastest ones.

It’s seems that you fish some untouched waters. Is fishing with casting reel and lure something usual in your place or are you an exception? How is the situation with catch and release approach on your waters?

There are not many lure anglers where I live but the number of fishermen is quite significant too.  Therefore, the fishing grounds around here have very high pressure.  Many anglers here don’t release but throughout these few years, the number of catch and release anglers has increased quite rapidly.  I have been trying my very best to educate them.

We can see that you prefer fishing with a casting reel. Is that because you like fishing with this gear or is that just simply the best setup for fishing these big fish in hard cover?

Using a casting reel to fish is more challenging.  You get better accuracy and sensitivity.

Plans for future?

At this moment, I am concentrating in Papuan black bass but I do have plans for other species also.  What are the challenging species around where you live? 

I think that every species of fish is challenging if you chase their record breaking specimens. So we have big pike that I think you would like cause they are very aggressive. Big catfish that are very strong and unpredictable. We also have large brown trout and hucho hucho salmon. Catching a trophy specimen of any of these can be really hard and challenging. There is more, and I would like to use this opportunity to invite you to Croatia to chase whichever you like. We would be very happy if you would come. You have everything here… You only need to buy a ticket and take some gear that you prefer :)

If somebody from Europe would come into your neighborhood looking for some advice about lure fishing. What would you tell him? What fish is present in all the waters?

There are Europeans coming to where I live to fish from time to time.  The common problem I saw is casting skill and understanding the lure action problem and hence my advice to them is to practice the casting and understand the actions of lures before coming over.   Since the fishing pressure is high, brushing these skills certainly helps.

We know that you have caught one of the most popular sport fish in the world “black bass”… But we also see on your wall that you catch a lot of real black bass. More precisely papuan black bass. How powerful and aggressive is this fish? Between black bass and Papua black bass, which do you think is more agressive in attacking your lure?

The common black bass or large mouth bass is a lot easier to catch compared to Papuan black bass.  One is among the weakest fish and the later is the strongest freshwater fish I have ever encountered. Do note that I can’ find Papuan black bass in where I live. I have to travel 2-3 days by flight and sea to some remote rivers in South East Asia to get them.

DUO has some great lures, can you tell us which are your favorite models from this company?

I am the Pro Staff of DUO.  I would say all their lures are designed for a reason. I don’t have any specific preference but I tend to sway more to top water because I like to use top water more than other. 

And if we ever come near your fishing spots for black bass, except fishing gear, what is important to have with you if we would go to such remote places? Something against bugs, snakes?

As for black bass, it all depends on where you fish. There are places medium heavy setup would suffice but there are also places you need to use the heaviest casting setup you can find on the market.  I have been using my own custom rods recently, custom to suit my style and target fish at specific places I fish.  Snakes have not been an issue but insect repellents against mosquitoes and sand flies are essential.

We saw you caught giant trevally… Are you impressed how strong this fish is?

Giant trevallies are strong without a doubt, but fresh water is my forte. I only spent less than 5% of my time during such trips on saltwater species.

Do you have a brand of rods and reels that you prefer to use? Can we know the names of brands? If you have them?

As I have mentioned above, I have been using custom fishing rods and design them from scratch, i.e. from the blanks for all these expedition and adventure fishing. They are solely for my personal use and I don’t have any plan to make it commercial at the moment. However, nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. Who knows one day I may cooperate with some company to develop them for the mass market.

That is it. Big thanks for this interview and for letting us into your world of fishing. We’re looking foward to see more of your fishing adventures and great catches. And hopefully you will come here to Croatia someday and we will take you fishing :). Tight lines!