Category Archives: Spineri @en

Sakura- our choice

13.02.2015Spineri @enSpineri

We started our friendship with Sakura about a year ago. In that period we tried most of the lures that Sakura offers and this is our choice, a kind of ´best of´ in our opinion. If you haven´t tried it, you really, really should..

Sakura Slit Shad is soft swimbait we discovered first. It gave us so many beautiful moments, catches and photos that absolutely deserves to be mentioned first. It started shy, with perch and trout, then barbel, pike, zander and seabass came and now it´s definetely one of the hottest lures that hit shelves of Croatian fishing stores. Because of it´s great catch ratio it is absolute MVP in Sakura´s team! If we have to choose the colours, ayu, peppermint, ghostuccino and sexy shad are the ones. Last one, together with hasu and apple mint works great in salty conditions.

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Slit finesse proved to be great choice for largemouth bass in Croatia, whether you use it as a finesse tool, or you prefer power fishing. Really versalite piece of soft jerkbait! It showed great for perch in smallest dimension, and asp and barbel like it when water is skinny as well.

L16 Shad is our go-to lure when pike fishing. Sexy shad and Tennessee shad are 2 decors that we believe in the most. Depending on conditions we mix these 2 and they never let us down. With many smaller pike, L16 landed couple of nice fishes, in 80+ range.

Our hardbaits selection will be started with Akaru minnow. That little twitchbait kicks ass in fresh and salty conditions both. It´s penicillin for those big asp who have seen all kind of hardbaits, as well as for black bass, seabass and smaller bluefish. Crystal shad, ayu and Sexy shad are colours we give our trust mostly.

Crankbaits made by Sakura are in the upper class, whether we talk about the way they look, or their catch ratio. Golem family, helped with Kalik Crank and Rodeus family are superb lures for chub, bass, and catfish in Croatia. They go hand by hand with some legendary lures like Mann´s Baby -1, or Storm Subwart, and they look as good as high end japanese crankbaits. Sakura crankbaits bring best of both worlds in one, with fair price.

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Topwaters by Sakura are on that trail, as well. Naja has many asp, seabass and bluefish on it´s count, together with some chub and perch. It casts well and you don´t have to be pro angler to make it work. Aurora black may be the best there is when we talk about Najas. We can only thank Pop´n Dog for some nice photos with largemouths he provided us.. Colours? You can´t go wrong with Pop´n Dog..

Tanguy Marlin

25.01.2015Spineri @enbaracuda, finesse fishing @en, gt, night fishing, sakura brand, seabass ishing, shore fishingSpineri

Hi Tanguy. For start I must say you have a very cool first and last name. Have you ever caught marlin? It would be very cool if you did!

Hi Robert, I’m lucky and proud to have this name. For the moment I’m still waiting to target this specie and i am planning a trip especially for it. But I’ve been lucky enough to see one of this pretty wild things not far from our boat… And I feel impatient to be connected with this beautiful beast.

Tell us a little bit about yourself… Job, your fishing experience… Little bit about everything.

As many of us I’ve started fishing when I was young during weekends and holiday time with my family. From then it never stopped. In ´95 things have changed. I became really addicted to lure fishing when I met a japan guy called Hiroshi which made me discover casting, finesse fishing and much more. In the same time this guy became wholeseller for famous high end Japanese brands. In the same time I discovered bass fishing thru the Black Bass France association (where Franck ROSMANN, my actual colleague was the president) and I became complete fanatic about this fish…! I was spending all of my time on the water to catch them and discover all of the fishing methods for this exclusive fish. Quickly after I started working for Hiroshi during several years and then became general manager for Lucky Craft Europe. After this experience where I was completely focused on bass fishing I’ve opened my mind and changed company to work with an Italian one, named Pro Tackles. I started the distribution in all of France for Molix, Keitech, Ever Green, Imakatsu, Major Craft and much more. But I also opened my mind in fishing and started to concentrate myself on catching any species on lures. It was great experience where I needed to learn everything about pike, perch, zander, trout,LRF, seabass, and so much more again. I was living in Paris at that moment and missing the south west side so much. This area was definitely the best for me! Seaside is 45 minutes away from Bordeaux town. There are 4 big lakes close to seaside too, some nice and wild river at the opposite side, the area is probably the best for bass fishing, and we‘re 200 kilometer far away from Pyrenees mountain and Spain! Cannot imagine a better place in France! ;)

About Sakura brand, achievement… Lures in fresh water as in salt water.

5 years ago I moved to Bordeaux with a new job in Sert Company for SAKURA brand were my friend Franck was working since the beginning, 10 years ago. He was in charge of fresh water and I took care of salt water especially for the rods where Sakura is a very strong leader on French market. But our experience and knowledge combined with our management policy made us want to upgrade Sakura brand to a next step with hard lures, soft lures, and much more. Since that moment we are working on and improving the Sakura range to offer the fishermen the best products at reasonable prices.

So sea bass.

In France the sea bass is a very famous fish and it is targeted by lure fishermen since the beginning in the early 2000. I can easily say that this specie is more famous than pike, perch, or bass since that time. The main reason is because this fish is good to eat… Now the things are changing step by step. More and more fishermen are releasing most of their catches. They also stop fishing during the spawning period in winter (from January to April). Since last week the European rules have also followed the interest of this fish and stopped the commercial fishing during the spawning period. It’s a real good news because the sea bass stock in Atlantic is getting down for some years now and everybody is concerned about it!

Here in Croatia sea bass is very popular fish for sport fishermen as a worthy opponent. People here say that big sea bass in clear water is impossible fish to catch on an artificial lure… Of course, there we enter a relm of mythical stories about this predator. What do you think about that?

When water is really very clear you have different options or possibilities for sea bass. This is my opinion what you should do:

– Target night! Because at night the sea bass will be hidden by darkness and feel secure. Then it can become less spooky than during day especially in summer time when people and tourist spend many times on the shore. Also the baitfish will be concentrated at some places such as harbors where the light will stock shrimp and food for baitfish and it will attract sea bass too.

– If you’re fishing in day you should use a longer leader than usually. 3 to 4 meter at least and using fluorocarbon leader is better than nylon or direct braid line.

– For the lure I suggest you to focus to small lures for sea bass. As 75 to 100 mm soft lures like Slit shad and similar length for hard lures during normal sunny day with transparency water. When you have combination of shallow + clear water it makes fishing really tough anyway.

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We can see a lot of short movies on youtube of you guys catching sea bass with ease. So one most popular argument about your sea bass is that you catch them on open sea were water is murkier than in the Adriatic. So is that true?

No, it isn’t true. The water can be very clear in open sea. Usually open sea is clearer than close to the shore. When water is clear we have to fish deeper or with finesse method or with lighter jig head. The feeling of how easy fishing can be in Atlantic is mainly due of very specialized fishermen and also because of the tide. Tides we have affect a lot the fish’s activities. The periods were the sea bass are active in a spot is usually short and intense, then they move and if you’re not able to follow them they disappear easy.

Best time of the day?

The best moment of the day is the first hours of the day and last hours of the day. But when the weather is cloudy and really windy, close to the tempest, water will be dirty and sea bass can become very active during this period. If the fishing conditions aren’t comfortable at that times you have to keep in mind that the biggest sea bass are usually caught in such conditions in Mediterranean Sea.

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Night sea bass fishing?

As I told you previously to me night fishing is = harbor fishing. Not only sea bass are concentrated to the light of the port. You can catch blue fish, seabass, barracuda, when you’re using sea bass lures. But if you’re using tiny to small lures as LRF or Rock Fishing style you can have a very funny fishing moment! Whatever you target, important is to catch something and have fun ;)

Very common claim is that sea bass lure presentation is very similar to zander fishing… Do you think there is truth in that?

I really agree with it. Just the depth, lures colors, and jig head weight are changing. But if you’re going in saltwater with your zander equipment and fishing style you have real good chance to catch sea bass.

What is your favourite strategy when fishing for sea bass?

There are no rules for me and to be honest I don’t have any strategy. The only way to go is to be minimum adapted to the situation and condition you’ll face. If you’re fishing with stick bait in open sea without birds and chase… In that moment you reduce your possibilities. If you are using a big soft bait of 200mm + 90 grams jig head in one meter depth…. You reduce your possibilities. But it doesn’t mean that you will not catch fish… It means that you don’t give you much opportunity to catch. Personally I love fishing with light tackle and jerking soft plastic such as L16 Koneel, but if the fish aren’t receptive to this lure I have to find another solution. I also love so much top water fishing with stick baits but we cannot use those lures all the year….Or we can do it…. But I love to catch a fish too much to experiment! Especially when my time on the water is so reduced.

The advice and key are the following: observation. You have to examine everything! Your environment, the waves, the water movement and current, winds, birds, baitfish, chase, all nature! Then you have to share! Talk with your partners, explain your feeling, what you’re thinking, joke! And finally you’ve to be on the water! If those 3 matters are combined you’ll understand fishing, learn more about, grow your experience and respect!

While fishing from coast, in desire to find good sea bass spot… What to look for?

If I´d be living in Croatia and have to go fishing from shore the first spot that I´d try would be the harbor and the pier, the beach but only at sunrise and sunset and outflow of river or water in the sea… Then if there’s nothing, I´d probably dive to see what’s happening down there.

Fishing from boat… Is it enough to find a school of baitfish, or?

If you can find the baitfish you certainly did the biggest part of the job. It is important to know where the favorite prey of the sea bass is. In France the favorites are the crabs and sand eel. But surely it will be different in Croatia?

I also forgot to tell you one important thing! When you’re targeting new species, whatever it is, you should not focus on big fish. Those old boys are too smart! You must try to find the small ones, and understand how they react, follow them thru the season. Then you’ll know more about them and you’ll become more intelligent to face the older ones ;)

Hard baits vs soft baits?

Both are complementary. It is a complete utopia to believe that hard bait is better than soft bait and reverse. Hard lures are absolutely necessary for shore fishing. Topwaters as Naja and Pop’n Dog are perfect for sunrise and sunset. Minnows and jerkbaits such as Smart Minnow, Reefsand Minnow and Ruty Minnow 95 and 125 are a must have for boat and shore. For shore you should have the longer (which will be heavier too) Smart Minnow. Smart Minnow 145 and 165 mm are deadly effective! The Rush Diver long bill minnow are good for casting and for trolling too. Your favorite Slit Shad is perfect for your water as they can be used with very light jighead because the tail paddle is really thin. So you can use it in shallow water and in slow retrieve. Also the colors pattern choice is huge and offers you much possibility for fresh and saltwater too. My favourite one is the L16 Koneel. It is a soft sand eel that needs energic jerking action to have unpredictable dart action which drives the fish crazy! My favorite is 150mm Koneeel rigged on 10 and 14 grams jig head…

The L16 shad are needed to search for fish in current area, or fast drift. Its powerful vibration helps the fish to find this lure quickly. You just have to find the right jig head weight for your depth. Don’t forget the casting jigs when you go for salt water! Those are the best to gain the meter necessary to be in the strike zone when you’re fishing from the coast or when fish are too shy to chase close to the boat. All those are always in my boxes, with some new development prototypes too ;)

Soft lures.. Swimbaits vs. soft jerkbaits? When and why?

Except the sand eel and eel shape soft lures that needs to be animate with energy (jerking and twitching) for the shad soft bait I use them slowly with minimal action. The paddle tail will move water by itself and it is well know that this movement is so much effective.

The sand eel shape (L16 koneel or Majikeel) or minnow shape (Slit finesse) is perfect to fish in baitfish ball or sea bass school. If sea bass are active you have to twitch or jerk it alternatively with some stop. Then your lures will evaluate to different depth level and it will help you to know if the sea bass prefer bite near surface, in the baitfish ball or to the bottom. The advantage of those lures is the crazy evolving action that creates panic action in baitfish ball. This action can create activity and increase the predators’ aggression.

The L16 Shad are truly a fish finder. They can cover quickly a very wide area without a lot of energy spent in animation. They are working by themselves with effective tail beat. I must say that it is perfect to locate the fish (depth and zone) in spread area. Conversely the Slit shad it better to fish slow when you know where the fish are. It is like your last weapon!

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Sea bass colors?

All the natural pattern are effective in salt water. I have a high preference for Aurora Blue, Aurora Black, Ghost Minnow, and Pearl White… Everything in the blue, green, metallic, and white tones. But Pink (like Laser Pink color) or Yellow (like Pearl Lemon color) can be really effective when water is muddy in winter or windy condition. Soft baits are another story, the natural and transparency color are totally the best! What is important to the colors for hard and soft lures is the contrast in the color. It must have 2 different tones that are opposite. Except for the white… Because we always need an exception ;)

Me and my friends recently visited special place on Adriatic coast, Neretva river delta. On other locations in Croatia sea bass is very shy and if we are talking topwater fishing, only thing I could consider throwing is some lure with small surface action and without rattle. But there on Neretva… Even in small harbors and shallow water they are very aggressive towards big noisy lures. What could cause such a big diference in big diference in their behaviour?

It is the mystery of fishing that makes each spot and location different. In France we’ve have similar type of comportment. For example at Atlantic Side, noisy stickbaits are very effective but not that much at the Mediterranean side. But in Mediterranean sea all the silent and discrete stickbaits are popular and effective. Again, at the outflow of the Rhône river were water is more muddy and forage fish density is higher and noisy stickbaits are better than the silent ones. In this case I will tempt to say that this phenomenon is because the bait fish density is higher than in the other place. Then the sea bass and others predators are satiated easily so when you’re using noisy lure you trigger aggressive reaction, not feeding reaction. If the lures aren’t swallowed in mouth and fish are hooked outside the mouth it means that this is aggressive reaction.

One person told us that you are expert in finesse fishing for bass. Have you applied this way fishing in sea bass fishing? And if yes, how good were the results?

I´ve tried to use some similar methods during summer conditions (super clear water, sunny day, many tourists in water…. Probably the worst condition to have good day) and I must tell you that it is working very well. I think if you are using same kind of method in Croatia it will work too. It means light weight jig head (for sea it means 5g to 10g), and not big softbait (75mm to 100mm) and fish slowly. Not too far from what we’re doing in zander fishing… It’s a kind of mix of different kind of fishing finally ;)

Our favourite lures for sea bass are Slit shad, Slit finesse and Naja… Do you share this pick or you have some other favourites?

I have plenty of lures from Sakura to cast for sea bass such as Spinback jig, Balatuna, Majikeel, and some new prototypes too. But I cannot fish only with my products, if we wanna grow I have to use the lures from our contenders to raise my experience and find out what to improve in our range of lures.

Your sea bass equipment? Rod, reel…

For the shore fishing I use a SHÜKAN NEO 8’6’’MH with Alpax FD 4008, but sometimes 7’6’’ in medium power can be good too. I love this series because it is very versatile. From boat to shore you can do what you want with it so it’s really convenient.

Also for boat the SHINJIN NEO in Long Range (the 7 feet to 7’8’’) series are great and to find a rod entirely built with Fuji equipment at this price is really tough or nearly impossible! For the reel.. Since last year I use RYOBI SLAM because its light weight makes it very comfortable and the strength and drag is enough resistant for sea bass fishing. One point important to me too is the line and for this I use the 8X Sensibraid in 0.12 to 0.16 depend the fishing style. For finesse fishing the 0.12 and for shore or soft lure fishing I use the 0.16mm.

This is it… We hope that you will visit us in next year as we have some really nice locations for our fishing adventure. Big thanks from all of Sakura fans (and there is more of them every day) from Croatia!

First of all I wanna thank you for your support, your work and your kind welcome! And I look forward to see you soon in Croatia ;)

Jarun lake

19.01.2015Spineri @enfinesse fishing @en, modern fishing, ultralight fishing @en, urban street fishingSpineri

Jarun lake is a place where one can enjoy in many things. It is called Zagreb sea and it offers many things that real sea provides. Long walks, beautiful girls, cocktails in bars, and of course, fishing. Jarun, among other species, holds nice population of perch. Nothing big, 25-30 cm long fish is already a nice catch, but there are so many of them one can spend all day in chasing these striped bandits.

And all of it in urban street fishing kind of way, where one eye can be looking at the tip of your ultralight rod, and other one can enjoy in roller girls that are common at the shores of the Jarun lake.

There is no such thing as ´best lure ever´, lets be honest. Since Jarun lake is connected with Sava river with canal, it´s water level is not always the same and water clarity isn´t always the same. So, there are some colours and presentations that work better than others in some conditions. If we would have to choose only one lure for Jarun lake, that would be our all time perch favourite Sakura Slit shad. But we like to try new stuff so we sometimes deliberately forget it in a trunk of a car.

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As it is everywhere in the world, clarity of water dictates lure colour. Best colours for clear water are natural. In other conditions, when water is murky, or we fish in deeper water colours like pink, orange, or yellow are great choice. Sakura Slit shad in ayu colour brings best of both world, because of it´s dark back and yellow belly.

Days when Jarun lake´s water level is slightly elevated are the best for fishing. Predators come close to the bank and feed on little fish and larvae. Proven softbait on a jig hook is all one UL angler needs to have a really good time. When water level starts to fall and clear, things get a bit complicated. It´s the same everywhere. This is the time when one has to make an additional effort to catch some fish. Texas rig, carolina rig, split shot, or drop shot rig are some words that are good to know in those times. Or you can try some new stuff.

At the end of the season we got some new toys to try and play with from Vagasky Lures. It was clear at the first sight that some of these lures will be a killer for perch. Time when fish isn´t so active isn´t the best time for trying new stuff for sure. One with lack of confidence, knowledge or experience can easily be fooled, or dissapointed if new lure doesn´t catch him a fish. No matter good old proven lures didn´t catch any. Luckily, years of experience gave us a dose of self-confidence so we decided we´d give Vagasky Lures a try in heavy conditions. Couple of nice fish proved us we were right at the start- Vagasky Lures do have couple of killer lures when perch is target. Until we test it more, only three words: Dali, Picasso and Monet.

When fishing is slow, presentation of a lure is as important as lure itself. Even more. Softbait on a light jig head is always first option. Second option is to think what and where fish eat when they don´t eat for real. The third important thing is the amount of stimulus needed to one moody perch (zander, bass, ..) takes a bite. Fourth, and it could be second also, is down-sizing.

There are no roller girls these days on banks of a Jarun lake. Jarun lake perch are in some lethargic mood. But if you come to Zagreb in an early spring and you have your fishing gear with you, Jarun lake is a great option and you will be suprised with it´s (natural) beauties. And perch are nice, too.

Monster Hunter

24.11.2014Spineri @enabu garcia @en, baitfish, crankbait, Etienne Fleurant @en, pike @en, pike fishing, soft swimbait, suspended pike, twitching @en, worm hookSpineri

Etienne Fleurant is a superb fisherman specialized for taking big pikes out of their homes.. After he sent us plenty of photos with really big fish, we asked him if he would like to share some of his secrets, experiences and fishing stories with us.

So lets go…

Hi Robert, hi Goran, I’m glad to talk about pike fishing with you. I have followed some of your outings and I have to say there seems to be many more things to discover in Croatia. You have a lot of different places, preserved, as well as beautiful landscapes. In short, lot of good reasons to visit you again. I could even see some pictures of big pike. And as you know, pike is one of my favorite- hand by hand with black bass.

What kind of water do you prefer for pike fishing? Big, or small, shallow or deep, lake, or river?

I love them all!

But I must confess that my favorites are the great outdoors. I love big lakes. They hold a lot of mysteries. It’s a bit silly but when I fish these places, I always tell myself that there are giant fishes, measuring their home. May be a resurgence in the Lockness monster story…

What kind of feeling is to catch pike on large, deep lakes?

Pike fishing in big lakes is special. It requires extensive research and a lot of practice time to get consistent results. This is a fishing where involvement is very large and it gives weight to each capture. Pike is the iconic predator in France. Pike fishing in large and big lakes adds some greatness to each fish. Each bite, your heart beats faster, as you can have an appointment with a giant.

I’m sure Lokvarsko lake in Croatia holds very large fish.

How to find big fish in this kind of lakes?

As everywhere, food is an essential element for predators fishing. So, the research of position of baitfish is an essential step. In deep lakes where the water is clear, pike move a lot. They stop only a few places more or less time. The feeding periods are generally short and sudden. Suddenly, they bite. Then about ten minutes later, it´s dead calm. I most often search baitfish with sonar. I like when the baitfish’s position indicates that fishes are disturbed. It is better to see lots of small balls exploded than a big school placed near the bottom. The other important factor in this kind of lakes is the wind.

At each appearance, or change of direction, pike can become active. During this time,you must be fishing your best spots!

If you caught big fish on lake you know, do you try to find similar situation on a lake where you are the first time? Does pike live and hunt on same place the whole time?

Every situation is different. And, yes, experience can be a good tool, but it is necessary to analyze each of them. It depends on so many factors. The season, type of lake, weather, fish population…

But I think in large clear lake, pike don´t have really special areas. To me, they spend their time in swimming, to find water temperatures that best match their thermal preferences. This is very different from the smaller lakes or shallow rivers where pike can have their territory. But one thing is sure,to take big fish, you have to fish places where they are. And a lake that has already given big fish continues to produce big fish because it has the characteristics needed for that.

Best time for pike fishing (calendar month and part of the day)?

Without any hesitation, autumn.

The baitfish begin to regroup and fish are easier to locate. In addition, the weather conditions are favorable with windy days that I love. You can get bite at any time during the day. Sometimes the sign trigger is hardly perceptible. But to catch big fish regularly, you must be prepared to spend many hours on the water.

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Does this change from water to water or there is some pattern?

As I told you before, each situation is different.

It would be too easy if there was a model that was still running… The most important thing is to know your lake and pike behavior. For example, in France, pikes of alpine lakes do not behave like those of the West Lake.

When you´re after a big fish, do you spend more time looking for the right spot, or you spend most of the time casting? Do you change your strategy if you can´t get a bite?

I never change strategy when I search specifically for a large fish. I’m looking for baitfish, and if I see pike around, I fish. If it does not bite, there are several solutions. When I do not know much about the lake, I remain long on the spot and wait for pike to become active. If I know the lake better, I exchange areas and try to find which area will be good. Sometimes I fish only ten minutes before a zone change. But this approach requires a very good knowledge of the fishing area and in order to do that, you have to fish every day of a week.

After it can also be a mix of both. I can only select two areas and divide my time. Sometimes, the feeding zones are very small. Other times, they can be very large. For example, during my last trip, the first day we took all our fish on an area of 50m². But the second day, at a time of the day, we were getting bites all over the lake.

Do you think that big pike is a teritorial fish? Do you change spot if you have bites from smaller pikes? Or did you have situation where you had more ( 90 + ) big pikes at one spot?

Pike does have a territorial behavior, but lake is very different. I think the fish evolve with congeners of the same age class. When I fish big lake for big pike, each catch of 75cm fish pushes me to change the area.

Does pike prefer big meal or smaller ones have a pass to?

I am not a pike for answer to this question… I often use 15cm baits. There are sufficient to sort little fish and not too big for use all day long.

If pike is not active can you triger the attack with bigger bait?

Maybe!

I often say that we fish only active fishes. We are not smart enough to fool the fish who do not wish to eat. Especially a big pike is a fish of a old age and it managed to grow so big because eating is it´s job! It is often said that the pike is akward. I do not think so. It distinguishes perfectly that your lure Is not a prey.

What lure strategy did bring you the bigest fishes?

Cranking shad. Retrieve a 15/20cm soft bait lure.

Do you think that big pike is a lazy fish or it will run for a meal?

Big pike are not lazy!

They can travel great distances to find a diet that suits them. They know their environment and prey. They capture only during periods of activity because apart from those moments of euphoria you can not deceive them. But when a big pike hunts, it can swim more than 20 m to take your lure.

What kind of setup do you use for big pikes?

I use tackle adapted to my lures. But for catching big pike as all the other species, tackle is not the most important. I just want to be sure of reliability. But I understand that you would like some clarification.

So my ideal ensemble consitutes like this:

– 7.4 feet XH rod able to cast a 100g lure

– 6.4 ratio reel with a good and progressive brake

– 0.25mm braid

– 0.40mm leader on fluorocarbon

– 0.80mm terminal on fluorocarbon

– 15/20cm soft bait with jighead adapted for the lake I want to fish.

I hope I answered some of your questions. But the best thing that I can do is to come again to you so we can try to catch big Croatian pike together. In the meantime, there are some beautiful days by the end of the year to catch a big fish, so I look forward to your pictures…

Etienne Fleurant

Show of Force

25.09.2014Spineri @enmegabass @enSpineri

When you catch 50 perch in one day and when you by the end release those under 35 without taking a photo cause they seem to be small, you must be living somewhere in the northen Europe, you went there on a fishing trip, or you ́re one lucky bastard. That ́s how we felt like when we visited Štikada lake near Gračac.

Lake just to be known for it ́s nice population of trout, but it looks like these days striped bandits play main role in a lake. 4 of us like them a lot and it seems like they were avare of it, cause they have afforded us great fishing experience, a kind of we ́ll remember while we’re alive.

We came at the lake early in the morning and couple of minutes later Danijel already had 2 nice fish. Small Awaruna swimbait got the job done. In the next couple of minutes, Robert with his catch of 34 cm long perch showed what potential Štikada lake has. Once again Slit shad proved itself.

All 4 of us had a fish, or 2 by the time wind started. It was followed by a rain, strong enough to make fishing not so comfortable, to say the least ,especially when you fish with 5 cm long softbaits on 3 g jig heads.

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Rain in cooperation with heavy wind is falling almost till noon. A bit after noon rain stops, sky clears and we enjoy in Sun. We spent those couple of hours in finding a piece of lake sheltered from the wind, but we didn ́t find any so we decided to get back on a position where we started. By the strip of water grass which extends under an angle of 45° to the bank, Domijan hooked nice perch, 34 cm in lenght. Danijel and Robert are near by and simultaneous game starts. They hook perch one after another. I am bit remote and getting bites as well, but not even close to those 3.

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After a lot of fish between 30 and 35 cm, Robert has a big one on his Trinis. He fights big fish for a couple of minutes now and we suspect on brown trout. Fight is on 3 or 4 minutes already and fish shows no signs of weariness, even steals a meter, or 2 of a line every now and then. Little by little, resistance subsides and finaly big, fat perch appears on the surface. After couple a photos we measure it and meter stops on 39 cm mark.

That ́s one big ass fish for Croatia, and at the same time, that breaks down Danijel ́s record perch from Mrzla Vodica lake by a centimeter and of course that ́s reason for Robert to start joking and poking Danijel. Maybe he shouldn ́t have, because only few casts later Danijel also has big fish on his rod.

After a while another giant finds itself on a dry and meter stops at 40 cm mark. Robert can ́t believe his eyes, Danijel is laughing and so do Domijan and I. Fish isn ́t as fat as Robert ́s, but it is longer and Danijel is back on a throne. Revenge of fallen came pretty fast, too fast if you ask Robert.

Show of force continues for quite some time, we are setting our hooks almost on a regular basis. It looks like in every moment one of us has fish on, sometimes 2 of us fight simultaneously. We help each other, bypass one another, pass rods one to another, simply put, we are having a blast! After 50-60 fish, show ́s over. Last one is caught by me while I was trying to catch nice brown Domijan saw. Robert caught nice rainbow at the end and we decided to call it a day.

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Stikada lake granted us with great day, a lot of nice perch and 4 personal records. The show is over, the stage remains empty. The main actors are resting behind the scenes created by water grass. Daniel’s blissful smile and absent look describe the best how much we enjoyed. Till some other time, till some other show, our deep bow. Pleasure is all ours.

Etienne Fleurant- pure fisherman!

04.09.2014Spineri @enCabranka, Dobra, Etienne Fleurant @en, trout @enSpineri

This story started innocently, with mail from Tanguy. He said he has a friend who would like to come to Croatia for fishing. A month later, Etienne came to Croatia and blowed us away. We thought we ́ll spend some time with normal (fisher)man. He even introduced himself as an average fisherman. We even made fun of him because of his his carpfishing past. But it didn ́t take long time for Robert and me see he is ordnary man, but no ordinary fisherman.

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When a man just listens to him talking about fishing and fish, he sees that this guy knows a lot. When you see him on a water, you know he knows even more than you thought. Our plan was to take him to Sava river, for some barbel, chub, asp, and so on. Unfortunately, water level didn ́t let us so we went trout fishing. We took him on Dobra river and there his talent and knowledge, quick adaptation to changing conditions and understanding of fish behavour came to the fore. At the same time, some kind of easiness and calmness which he exudes while fishing simply can ́t be unnoticed.

In simple words, fishing looks like a walk through the park when Etienne is doing it. Wild brown trouts, those predatory but finicky fish look as silly as those rainbows from fish farms when they are at Etienne ́s gunpoint. It took him some time to get the hang and after that Robert and me did the smartest thing we could- watched a master, an artist at work. We got first row tickets for Etienne show and we enjoyed every minute of it.

I could write how and on what he caught all those trout, but I won ́t. Man is preparing an article on that subject so wait for it. I will just say it was done with such ease that my pal Robert and I commented that he is crazy, that it can ́t be done, that it ́s insane and so on. You get it.

We were curious how he will perform at Čabranka river the next day. Well, he nailed it as well. Čabranka is a bit different than Dobra, it ́s smaller, with more rapids and nice population of brown and rainbow trout as well. Etienne caught his first rainbow in first cast, I even had him in a number of fish for some time and then happened what happened at Dobra the day before. Again he took some time to find a pattern and then run that pattern for the rest of the day. Once again I forgot my rod from time to time and watched what he ́s doing. Once again I enjoyed the show. It was smartest thing I could do.

All three of us caught fish in rapids, calm water, pools, in any given situation, but again our French friend caught more. Many more. Although he said he is no expert in trout fishing, results speak for themselves. Either he is too modest, or Croatian trouts fell on his charm and smile. Let ́s say it is this other thing, just to make us feel better.

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Anyway, big finale came late afternoon. On a 200-300 meters long part of Čabranka he caught more than 15 trout in 15-20 minutes. Last 6 of them in as many casts. That was it, he took apart his rod and didn ́t want to fish no more.

Till next time, Etienne and thanks a lot for magic you shared with us!

1. Sakura UL fishing tournament

27.08.2014Spineri @enmegabass @enSpineri

Every single fisherman who visited Lokvarsko lake and lake Mrzla Vodica at least once can confirm both of them are beautiful and rich with many fish species. Since the lakes are located in a Gorski Kotar region, scenery is absolutely amazing and I can say it is one of the most beautiful places one can come to relax and enjoy the unbridled nature. So, together with our friends from Topfishing store and Sport Fishing Club Lokvarka that manages the lakes, under the tournament.

Registration fee is 150 kn (20 euros). Payment can be made in Topfishing store, or to Mr Danijel Snajdar. 65% of registration fee goes to prize money together with prizes of our sponsors. For all aditional info you can contact us at Spineri Facebook profile, or send us an email at spineri.com@gmail.com.

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Lokvarsko lake is a very special place of absoultely amazing natural beauty and rich with many fish species. Since last year, it has become the top destination for trout, pike and most importantly perch hunters. Perch population of this lake is huge! Previously ignored, perch is now the prime target and I won ́t lie if I say tons of this little hooligans swim in Lokvarsko lake. Current record perch was caught by Mr. Danijel Snajdar on Sakura Slit Shad 50 mm. If you need an advice, you can find him at facebook under Lokve ribici profile. Lake is famous because of its nice population of brown trout as well. Back in 1968., during the discharge of water from the lake, brown trout measuring 125 cm and 25,5 kilos was caught, together with one samller and many fish between 60 and 70 cm! Last year, during the fishing for spawning, 91 cm long trout was caught.

There is a small chance a fish like that will make someone one happy fisherman at competition, but perch will fulfill a day for sure! They are the main reason we decided to organize this competitition at Lokvarsko lake. Tons and tons of those little voracious striped bandits swim in a lake and attack the lures like there ́s no tomorrow!

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Tournament will take place on a part of a lake that is known as a perch hot spot. Last year they were biting one after the other, like on a treadmill every time we visited Lokvarsko lake. We caught some chub too, and smaller trout is not a big suprise as a guest. I must emphasize that that both chub and trout will be weighted instantly aside from perch and released back in the lake with maximum care! Pike doesn ́t count, so you don ́t have to bitch and whine if one bites through your leader.

After the tournament you can try your luck with pike at Mrzla Vodica lake, if you like pike fishing. Lake is full of it and september can be very generous month for pike anglers in Croatia. Be aware of catch and release regime on Mrzla Vodica lake!

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Hope we ́ll meet at September 14th at 1st Sakura UL Fishing competition at Lokvarsko lake. Don ́t hesitate to contact us thru email, or our facebook profile with any questions!

We would like to thank to all of our sponsors:

Sakura

Topfishing

ŠRK Lokvarka

Tmarti Handmade

Lokve Tourist Board

Lokve Township

Mr. Marijan Leš, gorskilazi.com

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Easy shiner

06.05.2014Spineri @enbass @en, keitech easy shiner, pike @en, seabass, soft swimbait, walleye, zander @enSpineri

Some people use 3-4 lures all their life here in Croatia. They keep it simple. When they go for a zander, they throw white, or yellow grub. For pike, there is inline spinnerbait with willow leaf blade.

Now and then, they put a Rapala Original on a snap and that´s it. And they catch fish. On the other side, there is us. Me and my friends, as well as some unknown fellows, kind of people that would tie the devil himself on a line if we only could. Just to see how he wiggles on retrieve and darts on a twitch.

Although I have more than enough lures of all kinds, I am allways in a search for a something new. And in those rare moments when I think I have it all, or at least enough, somehow it happens that something new finds me.

That special evening, I wasn´t looking for anything. Cross my heart and hope to die! I even have 2 witneses that I was sitting calm in a Cajti caffe, drinking Velebitsko beer and watching football on a TV. I wasn`t thinking about fish, fishing, lures, rods, or anything similar. I just sat there and that was it.

Then my good friend Krmpa came. Without rhyme or reason he pulled some 10 to 15 bags of soft plastic lures of various kinds. Bye-bye football, hello rubbers! As he was sipping his gorki pelinkovac (croatian liqueur made of aromatic herbs, goes nice with beer), I was digging into the bags.

From that pile of rubber I picked 3 pieces at the end. The one that Krmpa was claiming has the best action ever I didn´t take. I simply couldn´t because it smelled bad. Real bad. And it wasn´t beauty queen either. The three I took looked like a tuned Lunker City Shakers. They sat in my box, I ignored them for a month, or two and then they saved the day 2 times in 48 hours, when i couldn´t get a bite on anything else.

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Next telephone conversation went something like this:

´Hey, buddy, those rubbers i took from you, what´s that? Keitech Easy Shiner? OK, thanks..´Keitech was established in 1996. by Kei Hayashi. All I managed to find on web is that one of the mostsuccessful tournament fisherman in Japan.

Anyhow, Mr Hayashi´s Easy Shiner is another exciting swimbait with a great catch ratio. It comes in 3 sizes: 3, 4 and 5 inch and variety of colours. Sleek profile is created by a fusion of a Shad Impact´s body and a Swing Impact paddle tail.

Because of it´s tall and slender body, Easy Shiner has great body roll. Body roll which is not as aggressive as one would think by looking only. That´s why it can be rigged on hooks with heads weighting only 2-3 g (1/16-1/8 oz) and still have great, not too offensive action, which isn´t case with other swimbaits with similar shape of body. I found an information on the web that upper side of a body is made of one material, and lower of another, salt infused material. This could be a reason of it´s great, not too strong body roll considering that salted material is heavier than the one without salt. Material is pretty soft and that also contributes to Easy Shiner´s great action. It is scented with squid scent, but not as heavily as Swing Impact. According to our experiences, it works for pike and zander, and we have no doubt that trout and largemouth bass will find it attractive as well when season comes.

Unlike some other swimbaits who have hollow belly, Easy Shiner has only a shallow slot on it´s belly. In that way, normal jig hook gives good support to the body, so it won´t slide off the hook during a cast or retrieve. On the other hand, worm hook sits nicely and hooks up fish well. He is more durable than hollow belly swimbaits as well.

We achieved best results by rigging it on a jig hook, or a weighted offset worm hook and twitching it gently. Rigged like that it gives the most. Wide and tall body produces a lot of flash, but overall action isn` tacky at all. By our experiences, that works great for active and semi-active fish, especialy for zander, which often needs to be tampered, but not too much.

A piece of Africa in Europe

27.02.2014Spineri @encatez @en, cichlid, fishing @en, Slovenia, Tilapia @enSpineri

If you´re fisherman, you´ve heard of a nile perch. Unfortunatelly, we didn´t make it to Nile, but we took a fishing trip to Slovenia in a search for a tilapia. Tilapia is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the tilapiine cichlid tribe. Tilapia are mainly freshwater fish, inhabiting shallow streams, ponds, rivers and lakes in Africa and both Americas.

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They can be found in aquariums around the world as well. I guess that´s the way how it got in a Topla Struga lake near Catez spa. Considering tilapia is an invasive species, it soon became main fish in a lake. It can reach 4 kilos and it is an omnivore, feeding on plankton as well as on higher plants, but it can be taken on artificial baits as well so we decided to give it a go. We used Slit Shad´s tails, AJ Sticks and AJ worms and baits from Berkley Powerbait line of baits. Salted and scented, as you can see. We caught some, but if you really wanna catch these, you have to use maggots. Down side of fishing with maggots is that smaller fish like it so much it becomes boring after a while. We used split shot and drop shot technique, with small round hook in lack of small drop shot hooks. I used Sakura Sportism UL rod, while Robbie used Garbolino Game Hunter Microlure rod.

Lake Topla Struga is under RD Brezice administration, daily ticket costs 10 euros and lake is open for strangers on Wednesday and Sunday. You should know that there is float fishing competition going on there every Sunday, at least in winter, because this lake never freezes. Reason why is warm water from Catez spa.

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Link on where you can buy daily tickets is below, but be aware that some of places listed open at noon.

http://www.ribiska-druzina-brezice.si/index.php?display=podatki-dovolilnice

Blast from the past

09.02.2014Spineri @enbass fishing croatia, catch and release @en, trakoscan lakeSpineri

This text has been written in 2007. We are publishing it now to remember Trakoscan lake as it just to be. Slug Go was indispensable back then, Owner Rip´n Minnow was almost only small twitchbait from Japan that was available in Croatia, and Yo Zuri Arm´s Swisher only topwater lure. Bass fishing in Croatia started pretty shy. And then it exploded over the night. Couple of years before this text was made, you couldn´t find bass rod, only one store was selling soft lizards, creatures, soft jerkbaits and so on. Couple of years later, every store had at least something to offer to average Croatian bass fisherman. Some of us used rods we fished with on our big rivers, like Sava, Kupa, or Drava river. Others got their hands on some short Daiwas and Shimanos. Berkley Cherywood was a big hit when it came. I myself caught God knows how many fish with it. Who had Lamiglas, GL, St.Croix or something with a pedigree from US was a big shot. Most bass fishermen were chasing bass with Slug Go rigged on unweighted worm hook, Lunker City Fin´s nad Mann´s Shadow. Spinnerbaits, poppers, walk the dog types of baits (in Croatia known as zara), or torpedos were reserved only for those who had some relatives, or friends abroad.

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When GY softbaits came, that was huge. Selection of bass lures increased big time, all kinds of rods became available and half of fishing nation got hooked up on a bass. Including me. I found out that bass is a real sport fish, side by side with asp. Fish that will go for any lure when in mood, as crazy as veteran from Vietnam with PTSP syndrom. Who even once saw it guard and protects its nest, had to be thrilled with a pack of balls and heart that fish has. Or one was heartless. We just to open bass season as soon as in february, if winter wasn´t too long and too cold. We learned it likes to hang out by the shore, in cover. We also learned rather fast it takes all kind of baits. Some of them, thise classic ones, like wobblers, spoons and inline spinnerbaits we had. Others, like soft lizards, frogs, worms, or creatures, we embraced. Some, like jigs, weird looking topwaters (Crazy Crawler and Jitterbug, for example), even buzzbaits, have never really sat to bass fishermen in Croatia. Slug Go was absolute number one for a long period of time. Then came Mann´s Shadow, GY Senko, Fin´s and others. We found that these are go-to lure for bass in early spring, in prespawning period. We used woblers thru a day, and especially in the evening. Floating shallow runner, or mid runner with a rattle between 5 and 10 cm caught a lot of fish. Owner Rip´n Minnow was hot when it came, that little twitchbait caught me some nice bass. Same thing was with Yo Zuri Arm´s Swisher. I liked to cast it in late afternoon and evening, when minnows tend to swim and feed just above the surface, or at the surface chasing flies. Spinnerbaits were another big discovery once they came. Now we could work our way thru cover of any kind, what we couldn´to do with our conventional lures.

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We had difficulties in post spawning period, but realised pretty soon all world does, so we didn´t give it much of an attention. We just to compensate it later in the season. If you don´t live here, you´ll find this text odd. Only reason why we decided to publish it here is that Trakoscan lake was once eldorado for bass fishermen. I don´t know how many daily tickets was sold there, but it was counted in thousands. Friend of mine had a 60+ cm long fish there. Big fat female he misshooked twice. Fishes around 40 were normal. Lake was full of it. Now, 6-7 years later, we are on a start of another bass season in Croatia, but there is no bass left in Trakoscan.