Tag Archives: megabass @en

Trinis 2017

03.10.2016Spineri @enbarbel, megabass @en, pike @en, Sakura fishing, sportism @en, trinis @en, trout @en, ultra light @en, zander @enSpineri

Trinis Neo and Shinjin Neo range of rods were accepted by fishermen not just in Croatia, but all over the Europe. That doesn´t come as a suprise, since both were built on great blanks and equipped with Fuji guides and fair priced. In 2017. these 2 families will become one happy family with more models than ever. We are talking about more than 50 models, both spinning and casting. We at Spineri, together with all of the people that attended 3. Sakura UL Tournament in Lokve, Croatia feel really cool because we had an exclusive opportunity to see and try some of the new models before everybody else.

Trinis Neo and Shinjin Neo gave us many great catches in the last couple of years, since they followed us on most of our fishing trips and we have nothing but great memories with them. When we heard that boys in Sakura plan to combine these 2 series in one, in a way that they will take Trinis Neo blanks and put Shinjin Neo guides and grips so that they can lower the price, it felt like positive answer to our prayers. The thing is that we like our Trinis Neo rods a bit more than our Shinjin Neo rods, since they are a bit classier. They trully are, as they say, top shelf product. In the other hand, Shinjin Neo rods are exceptional in so many ways. Their range was so vast, with so many models that suit modern lure angler needs that we used them more.

Sakura´s new range of rods is built on superb Trinis Neo blanks, which are fast, sensitive, powerful and transmit every move of the lure together with shiest takes so they deserve to carry Trinis name. To continue with a mission that started with Ryokan rods last year, and that is to close up Sakura rods to wider circle of fishermen, they decided to put Fuji Alconite guides on blanks, which are cheaper than SiC guides, but they don´t affect on performances, or durabillity at all, neither they make any difference while fishing. Difference in price is substantial, though, so new Trinis should cost somewhere like Shinjin rods in the past.

Now, when these two became one, when we have Trinis Neo blank wrapped up in Shinjin Neo equippment, we feel like we don´t have ask for nothing more.. Maybe only something in 2,50 meters of lenght around 25-30 grams of casting weight. Untill then, 2,33 long models from Long Range range will do the job, just like they did in the past.

So, what´s new and how does it look? 30+ spinning and 20+ casting models models that cover everything you can imagine, from UL to shore game, in lenghts from 1,80 up to 2,9 meters, with casting weights as small as 3 grams up to 150 grams. We have special models for micro lures and drop shot techniqe, followed by float tube models. Then we have some specials for spinnerbaits and cranks made of fiberglass, short models for vertical fishing, allround models for everyday fishing, together with long range, travel and power game models. It´s like the end that monolog from Tarantino´s From Dusk Till Dawn movie.. If we don´t have´em, you don´t need´em!

As we said, thanks to Sakura´s Tanguy Marlin we had an exclusive chance to see and try some of the new rods and we like how they feel and look like, as well as all of the people who tried them on Lokvarsko lake shore on 3rd Sakura UL Tournament.

4-piece travel model in lenght of 2,13 m with casting weight 7-28 grams was kind of suprise for all of us. It feels more powerful than rated and I find this awesome rod for heavy cover fishing for bass and pike. Fast, stiff and sensitive tip casts everything from 10 to 30, or even more grams and it´s strong backbone has enough power to cope with biggest bass and medium sized pike, among other species.

Great allrounder for those who travel a lot and can´t or don´t want to carry too many rods around. There are 3 more spinning models and 4 casting models covering most of the situations modern lure angler can come up.

Trinis Long Range models in 2,33 m of lenght and with casting weights of 20, 35, 60 and 85 grams are followers of Shinjin Neo Long Range models. Past models were my favourites, in lighter versions for bass, asp and barbel fishing and in heavier versions for pike and hucho. New Trinis LR with advanced blanks continues great tradition and looks better than ever. No matter if you´re after bass and pike on some lake, or pond, or you look for asp and barbel in river rapids, or you cast for seabass and bluefish from the sea shore, these rods will manage it. Although they are only 2,33 m long, due to it´s tip action, they cast lures far and accurate and because of it´s lenght, it´s a child game to animate twitchbaits, stickbaits and soft swimbaits with them. Shinjin Neo LR rods were exceptional rods with reasonable price, Trinis Neo LR with advanced blanks and same price are bargain!

Trinis Neo family of rods in 2,13 m of lenght were our pets. UL, ML, M version, we have them all here at Spineri. Because they are awesome rods. Awesome blanks, awesome equipment, awesome action, al packed in nice finish. They were a bit too expensive for our fellow fishermen, but every single one that put his hands on any of them said those are remarkable rods. After I spent some really quality time fishing with Trinis Neo M (2,13 m, 5-21 g), I can say that new Trinis didn´t lose anything of it´s action that I like so much. It seems very stiff at first, but it has perfect curve when fighting fish. I used mostly for bass fishing with wide range of lures, from soft stickbaits like 3-4 inch Senko to mid sized spinnerbaits and shallow and mid running crankbaits, but there were times when I was abusing it. Times when asp is chasing minnows on the other side of the river, and only lure you can cast that far is 30+ grams soft vib.. Well, Trinis can that, too and I am sure that new model doesn´t stand by a bit. Same blank, new guides, better price.. Doesn´t get better than that.

Somewhat in a shadow of new Trinis were new Sportism models. Sportism 862 MH was first Sakura rod I used. I remember an enormous amount of power packed in nice, eye catching red and white cosmetic. It turned out it is sensitive enough for shy zander takes at one side and powerfull enough to cope with 10-15 kilo catfsh in Sava river rapids. New models are redesigned, they got back Sakura black and orange cosmetic and thinner handles, so it sits nice in the hand. That feeling of power when you hold one, didn´t change, though. There are 12 spinning and 6 casting models covering everything from UL to XXH fishing.

In 2017. Ryokan family will get new members, too. One UL rod with solid tip (2,30 m, 0,5-5 g) and 2 work horses in 2,60 and 2,90 m of lenght with casting weights of 15-60 g and 20-80 g. Since I am abusing 782 and 802 MH models since they came, I am allowed to say that these rods feel unbreakable, especially shorter one. I´ve been casting big lures , over 70 g with 782 MH model and pulling pike from heaviest cover. Guys from Topfishing store lifted bags of fish food with it, but the craziest story is one that Tanguy told us; they took one and bent it in a circle, so that tip of the rod ended on it´s butt. As they say on TV, don´t try this at home.

Anyways, in a couple of days of Tanguy´s visit, these rods caught almost everything that swims in Croatia. Pike, zander, trout, barbel, asp, .. and it´s fair to say they domesticated here. Comments on presentation at Sakura UL Tournament were great, too, so there is no other to sit and wait for them to show up in fishing stores. Looks like we have a long, long winter in front of us..

American Dream

20.04.2016Spineri @enbass fishing @en, bass masters @en, jean christophe david @en, largemouth, megabass @en, sakura @en, Sakura fishingSpineri

Hi Jean-Christophe, welcome to Spineri, we’re happy to finally have you here.

Bonjour ! I’m glad too, I really appreciate the energy you put in your job and your pictures are beautiful. I was supposed to answer that interview a long time ago but I’m so busy fishing that I didn’t take time for that. Sorry.

For starters please tell us how did you find such big love for bass fishing and bass fishing competitions?

I come from a small island in north west of France, ile de Groix. I grew up fishing for salt water fish. We moved on the main land in 1988 I was 8 years old. At that point I’ve started to fish for carp, chub, trout, perch and pike I was using live baits mainly and some little spoon my uncle gave me. For Christmas 1989 I asked my parents to register me to a fishing magazine. I was able to read the hundred pages of the issue in one day, I was so passionate. Then I would go to the lake or the river and tried what I read.Usually it wasn’t a success but I remember one day reading a beautiful article about a French journalist fishing in Texas and Mexico and catching huge bass. He was using a spinnerbait. It made me dream so hard about bass and that crazy looking spinnerbait. I was 11 when I owned my first one. After that I’ve never put a live bait on my line anymore, except worms for trout. I built a lot of knowledge sharing with friends and older guys, but I also spent a lot of time fishing by myself. You can’t increase your level if you are behind your computer chatting about fishing instead of being on the water. In the late 90’s I traveled in the south west of France and started to fish for bass. It was amazing, I had the feeling that I didn’t know how to fish.Bass is so unique it requires so much technique and scientific knowledge. If you don’t know the seasonal pattern and what the fish are doing it’s going to be tough to adapt and catch them. Early 2000’s I met Tanguy and we began to fish together. Lot of fun, lots of good moments. We tried to give a new vision of fishing and a different energy through a blog, articles, videos and pictures. Then we fished tournaments together with a pretty good success.I fished in France, Italy and Spain for bass, but I felt limited. Even if the landscape and those countries are nice I felt limited and frustrated. I wanted to live my passion for bass fishing and fish in Bassmaster tournaments. I had to go to United States, it was a dream, it was in my guts. I was school teacher in France and it took me five years to save money and apply for different positions of school teacher in US. I ended up in Louisiana and bought a truck and a bassboat 15 days after landing from France.I fished the co-angler side of the Bassmaster Central Open my first year. I finished in third place overall and qualified for the pro side last year. It was tough because I don’t have the knowledge of the locals and I have a lot to learn.In 2016 I’m going to fish the pro side again and as everybody here try to qualify for the Elite series. It’s a huge challenge, really difficult, but I’m going to give all that I have for that. I’m spending over 250 days a year on the water and I have a partnership with RangerBoats for 2016, it helps. It’s hard sometimes, but it’s all about passion.

What are the strongest bass tournaments in Europe and how much are they strong compared to American tournaments?

In Italy you have a strong scene of bassmen so as in Spain. Portugal is good too. In Europe we have a strong field of angler influenced by American and Japanese bass culture. The only thing is we don’t have all the variety of habitats that the bass fishing handbook can offer. Europeans are good at fishing clear water and rocky lakes, but what about grass, shallow muddy water, smallmouth bass, Florida strain, huge lakes and rivers ?

We have so much to learn from Americans and you can’t do it in couple months !

Americans have been fishing for bass forever and brought it to Europe in the 40’s. Those guys are used to catch them all over the country since they are in age of fishing. You can’t compete with that without spending a huge amount of time on the water and share.

At one point you moved to America and started to participate in big USA bass fishing tournaments. How different is it to catch bass in Europe and in America?

Before coming here I was used to clear water and rocks or wood. I needed to increase my level in each compartment of bass fishing and discover what grass fishing was. The best scenes in United States are Florida, Louisiana, Texas, California and north east for smallmouth. So I decided to move to south west Louisiana thirty minutes away from the Texas border. I’m close to Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Toledo Bend (biggest man made lake in the US), Calcasieu River, Red River, Atchafalaya Bassin and a huge marsh that looks like Okeechobee in Florida and holds giant fish.

The strain of fish is different here in the south and the cold fronts affect them so bad! What is really different for me is the hunt. The way of finding fish. Those environments are so big, you have to cover a lot of water and be sure that you are doing the right thing. That’s why it’s so important to understand the seasonal pattern, how the fish behave through the year on each body of water you are fishing. After almost three years here I’m starting to have a better global vision of what I need to do.

Was it then that your friendship with Sakura start or before?

As I told you I met Tanguy and then Franck in the early 2000’s. We were close friends really quick, so when he started to work for Sakura I just followed him as a pro staff member.

I have read somewhere that, since bass, like all fish, doesn’t have eyelids it is estimated that during sunset he needs like 15 min for his eyes to adapt on the light shift. They say that is why he is so aggressive in that period for surface lures, what do you think about that?

Ahahaha! I don’t know about that and I’m not a scientist, but what I think is like for any other animal or human being before going to bed it’s dinner time, and before starting your day it’s breakfast ! Those two moments of the day are premium periods to catch fish, no matter what you are doing if you are fishing top water, crankbait, flipping or cranking. You can’t miss that !

On some videos we can see that in America bass is active under the ice… But here in Europe, specially here in Croatia, bass fishing during winter is dead. Are we doing something wrong or are the fish just inactive?

It’s no secret that when you have ice in the water bass are pretty tough to catch! In Canada and northern states of United States they have a special strain of bass created to be more tolerant to very low temperature. You can still catch fish in really cold water but don’t expect a lot of bites. You have to slow down a lot. It’s painful!

Do you prefer finesse fishing or power fishing?

I wish I could fish a topwater all day for 365 days ! But unfortunately it’s not the case, you always need to adapt to what the fish want. I like to catch them fast and with a safe and strong technique, especially if I’m fishing a tournament, you know big rod and 20 pound test fluorocarbone with a big single hook. I like to locate them with a spinnerbait and then take the area apart and use a Texas Rig.

But when I’m fishing a river system with clear water I can’t avoid to use a spinning rod and 8 pound test fluorocarbone. Fishing a weightless Senko or a wacky worm is always efficient and the fights are fun on that kind of gear.

How much difference does the color of the lure make in bass fishing?

Colors are a big factor in bassfishing like in any other type of fishing.I’m going to give you a quick pattern I use on my soft baits:First you need to base you bait color on the water clarity and the cloud cover.If the water is clear and the sky is clear I use really light colors, close to translucent like watermelon, watermelon red, watermelon black flakes. White can be good in the morning and evening If the water is clear but you have clouds cover and less light penetration I go with a green pumpkin, green pumpkin black flakes or june bug.Then when it’s stain (50cm to 80 cm of visibility), june bug and green pumpkin are still my go to. Finally when the water is really dirty I use black, or black and red. Something that can offer a lot of contrast. Also you have to observe and keep in mind the kind of baitfish you have in the water you are fishing. Shad, crawfish… Because it will be a huge indication on what the fish are feeding on and you want to try to match it.

What Sakura lures do you use most in your fishing?

When I try to locate fish I like to use the MONARC spinnerbait. I’m also a big fan of the NAJA SUB and his unique way to fall by the tail. The SLIT SHAD is also a bait I’m using in many different context.

You made a small presentation about new Sakura Players rods. Are you planning to use them for tournaments? What do you think about the new Players?

Oh yes I’m planning to use them ! I’ve been fishing with the PLAYERS since the beginning of 2016 and I’m really impressed. Lighter than the FURIOZZA, really sensitive and powerful. The talon full carbon offers a new look but mainly more sensitivity and a good loss of weight. I’m really in love with the 7’4H for flipping and the 6’8M for top water and soft jerkbait.

Thanks Jean for being here on Spineri and sharing with us your incredible fishing story. We wish you all the best in future bass competition and life. We will be following you and we hope that now you will come more often here to share with us your experiences.

Thank you so much for that interview and for the support. I’m looking forward to writing in Spineri and sharing more fishing stories or techniques with you. Merci, à bientôt.

I would like to thanks RangerBoats, Navicom for Humminibird and MinnKota, Costa Sunglasses and Sakura Fishing.

Keep on fishing !

Jean

Franck Rosmann

29.06.2015Spineri @enblack bass @en, casting @en, Franck Rosmann @en, megabass @en, sakura @en, sea fishing, spinning @en, twitching @enSpineri

Bonjour, monsieur Rosmann, it´s real pleasure to have you on Spineri.

My pleasure too ! Please call me Franck!

Ok, Franck, for start, tell us what it´s like to have ´your own´ fishing brand? What it´s like to be in head of Sakura? I guess your job is a great joy in one hand and a big responsibility on the other…

Well, you’re right ! It’s a real pleasure that bring many satisfactions all year long depending of our activity. This job put a lot of pressure ans stress too, like a chess game!!! But when your new product or the whole range of your brand become popular all over your country or Europe it brings you joy like victory in competition. I must thank Mr Francis Coutou, former president and owner of SERT, who hired me as product manager 10 years ago when he decided to launch a new brand, Sakura.

Sakura has really nice range of lures, from topwaters, crankbaits, twitchbaits, softbaits, etc. Lots of novelties every year and so on. How many time do you guys spend on developing one single lure? How many of them never earn it´s spot in the final selection?

We try to reach a rate close to 100 % between projects and final commercial lauching. Because of the needs of current market we develop new products all along the year. The main phase is during winter between september and may but some projects need more time.

When you´re developing new lures in Sakura, do you make them to suit you, or you have the final consumers- fishermen in your mind? Or one goes with another?

Yes I can say both ! Some lures or other fishing tackle are “must have” in a complete range to match the market and consumer needs but we already have proven that we have made real innovations based on personal ideas.

And when it´s all done, do you know you have a killer lure that will be accepted worldwide? What it´s like to see that something you made catches fish all over the world?

In this kind of “game” you must be ready to face to all situations and stay humble and modest! But sometimes you think your lure will be a killer and nothing happens, sometimes it´s the opposite. But when developing rods, for example, it’s easier to think in advance what will be the future of your creation. Perhaps it’s because there’s less competition and because Sakura is very popular and has one of the best reputation for building good and affordable rods.

You know our products and we are lucky enough to offer some worldwide class lures, that’s a great feeling of joy and proudness when you see big fish that produced big smile on fisherman’s face ! It’s probably just because we are fishermen too !!!

Now, a little something about Franck Rosmann the fisherman. When Etienne visited us last year, we talked about you quite a lot. He said your style of fishing is power fishing, among other things. What are the advantages of power fishing, why do you prefer it?

I must say I like this kind of fishing because it’s active and often brings surprising and violent strikes. Power fishing allows you to have success even if you don’t know a place or if you’re not equiped with hi-tech sonar and fish finders. When I started fishing this kind of electronic devices were not allowed in France so that’s probably why I learned lure fishing with this efficient style. One more important point is that Power Fishing make you move a lot and ask you to adapt your strategy depending of the new spot you discover. It’s sometimes mechanical, but not boring !

What would you say, when is power fishing most efficient? Time of year, conditions, etc?

I can say that Power Fishing is efficient all year long. You must adapt the depth, the speed and the kind of lure you are using. There’s no only one style to practice Power Fishing. You can use topwater lure as well as heavy spinnerbaits or even rubber jigs. I remember one tournament in Spain we have not won but finished it on Top 3 thanks to shallow water Power Fishing with 3/4 Oz football jig with soft crawfish trailer.

Finesse fishing? How do you stand with finesse fishing and do you use finnese baits only when it´s absolutely necessary?

I like Finesse fishing too. I like fishing weedbed edges with small rubber jigs, targeting schools of perch or trying to find bass with light texas rigged softbaits. But you’re right, I use Finesse only when conditions are hard and fish inactive.

We know there is no such thing as a best lure, but there are some better than others. Do you have your favourite(s)? Lures you believe more than the others?

If we talk about bass lures, I like very much using rubber jigs, spinnerbaits and stickbaits or poppers. I also like buzzbaits beacause of the explosive strikes they can produce sometimes. One year I fished bass during all along the summertime only with a special buzzbait I have modified. For pike, spinnerbaits and spintails (Divinator from Biwaa) are my favorite lures. With my fishing buddy of the 90′, Laurent Poulain, we won many tournaments with spinnerbaits. These victories helped us to promote lure fishing in France thanks to the good results we had fishing versus natural bait anglers.

What kind of lures are in your fishing box when you`re after a black bass?

I have all kind of lures from topwater to bottom. Hard, wired or softbaits ! The only lure I did not use at all for bass is jigging spoon.

Favourite fish? Black bass, or?

Hahaha ! I think you already know the answer! Yes, Black bass stays my favourite fish because he’s a great part of my life. Even if I fished him obsessively for years, he impacted me not only my fisherman life, but he followed me since my teenage and help me be what I’m today. I did some small action for him compared to what he gave me during all these years. Now I have a new relation with him and don’t fish him as intensively as before. I discovered tropical fish both in saltwater and freshwater and I must admit I like GT and Peacock bass too… But it’s not the same story!

Fishing scene in France? What are you guys after mostly, what do you catch, with what gear and so on? Boat fishing, bank fishing, sea fishing?

In France, if we only talk about lure fishing, I can say that there’s two different major kinds of fishermen practicing in our country waters. Saltwater anglers targeting seabass and freshwater ones looking after Pikes or Zander. For sure you could find big catfish, bass, trout or perch fishermen but these first ones are the trendy. More and more anglers use semi-rigid inflatable boats or “bass boats” fully equiped with updated electronic fish finders and sonar. They use spinning and casting gear with all kind of lures and they are very skilled now if you compare the fishing level to the one we had in France 15 years ago, it’s amazing.

You traveled a lot, right? Visited some remote places and caught some nice fish. Do you have some place you would like to visit again?

I traveled a little bit more in tropical destination that’s right. It’s to balance the lack of time to go fishing during the year because of hard work. I pay attention to save some weekends to be with my family. I traveled many times in Madagascar and I really fell in love with this island for many reasons. It is not complicated to travel there and it’s a safe country with nice people…and good sized fish ! I’m sure to be back in the very next years. Same for Brasil and the great Amazon rivers. I had a nice trip 2 years ago but fishing was very hard. I need to go back there also to meet more Tucunare than during this first trip.

Peacock bass? You caught some.. What it´s like? Power fishing to the bone, I guess?

Peacock bass or Tucunare is a concentrate of muscle and hi-energy power. We can call him “Fast and Furious”. You’re right, it’s pure Power Fishing!!! I had never seen such a powerfull fish before. I sincerely recommed to your readers to try it once… or twice!!!

If you had to choose one characteristic that makes a good fisherman, which one would it be?

The most important for me : being respectful to nature and fish.

And bigger picture? What does it take to call someone a good, even great fisherman? Quick adjustment, open mind, lots of hours on the water, lots of gear, persistence, ..?

Nowdays, facing to high pressured fish, of course you need to have a wide range of lures and gears but it’s not the most important in my mind. The skills that make a good fisherman in terms of efficiency could be : open mind and sense of observation and being able to think like a fish. In french we call it “le sens de l’eau” that means to understand how the fish environment works and how the fish reacts to changes (daily, weekly, monthly, etc). When our population was more rural than urban this skill was common because people were fishing for eating. Now, mainly practicing catch and release, our fishermen put more confidence in tackle and electronic to help them to connect with fish! They are a new kind of good fishermen!

When we interviewed Tanguy, he said, simplified, sharing is a great way of learning about fishing. Internet made it so easy to share things these days, how do you feel about social networks, forums, blogs, etc? Is it easier now to learn something new, or there are too many infos that can make someone who just started fishing all confused and lost even before he started?

I agree with Tanguy and definitly think sharing from one to each other is the best way to learn. Not thru a machine, but live ! That’s one of the reasons why I founded Black Bass France in 1994.

Spinning vs casting. In intro for this interview, for which we are grateful, you said lure fishing for pike, bass and zander is 60% baitcasting and 40% spinning. Here in Cro spinning gear is much more present. Baitcasting gear has it´s share in pike fishing and sea fishing from the boat. Only small part of bass fishermen use baitcasting gear. Maybe the reason is that we mainly catch bass from the bank and most of the time with some of the finesse fishing methods. What it´s like in France and how would you bring closer advantages of baitcasting gear to the (bank) bass fishermen here?

Yes, bank fishermen mainly use spinning gears everywhere because of simplicity to use and efficiency to cast far effortless, that’s why it’s still very popular around the world, and in France too. When I (with my friends) did promotional actions with BBF we talked about comfort and quality of lure presentation. When you do close range cast like pitching (and this is easy to explain during fishing show or exhibition in shops) the people understant that you cast is accurate and delicate, so you can catch more fish and longer thanks to the ergonomics of casting rod and reel. Bass are very often hidden in the cover close to the banks so you don’t need to cast so far. But if you want to do you can buy a longer casting rod and it’s done ! Nowdays we (Sakura and other fishing brands) offer baitcasting gear able to cast finesse lures. For me, it’s clear when you must use light lures (< 7-10 g) it’s better to switch to spinning gear. I have nevers said that everybody must let spinning tackle down and only use casting one because it’s trendy or more fashion. A fisherman must be adaptative and use the best gear at the right time.

When fishing from the bank for black bass, what do you use most often? Spinning, or casting gear, reel, rod, lures?

To be linked with the previous answer, I always bring 2 rods when I go fishing from the bank for bass. 1 spinning combo like a Shinjin Neo 6’6 ML or Trinis Neo 6’3 M with a size 2008 5,1:1 Siryx reel filled with 8 X Sensibraid 0,12 mm and a casting one Furiozza 6’8 M or MH and a 6,4:1 casting reel like an Oxio or Calix filled with 0,16 mm braid line or 0,33 mm Aya mono. I always use fluorocarbon leader. With these combo and a small assortment of lures, I can stand many conditions.

I put in my box some bags of soft stickbaits like Gary Yamamoto Senko, Grubs and Crawfish or Flappin’ Hogs. For sure, I select some clear and 2 tones Slit Shads in size 10 cm (very versatile) and I take some hooks, glass beads and bullets in various sizes to Texas rig or weightless rig my softbaits. Some rubber jigs in 1/2 oz in black/red and watermelon colors are perfect. Never forget 2-3 spinnerbaits in hot and natural colors in 10-17 g (Monarc) and 2-3 medium sized jerkbaits (8 cm) and 2-3 in small size (5 cm), they are here to match the fry, so I prefer natural colors (Akaru Minnow and Phoxy Minnow). To be complete I pick-up some topwaters in small to medium sizes (4-10 cm) in mixed natural and hot colors (Pop’n Dog and Naja) and 2-3 shallow to medium runner crankbaits in the Golem and Bomba crank models.

I find that many fishermen here neglect the shore when they are after bass. Do you search for bass out in the open water straight away, or you work the bank first?

I agree with you. I always start to fish a new spot fishing the bank under my feet! Sometimes there’s some caves and bass like to ambush here… So be quiet when apprcoaching new spot and start casting some meters before the edge of water.

RH baitcasters.. They´re big in USA? What do you think of that, did you try it?

Since I started baitcasting I alwayas ask why american anglers mostly use right hand baitcasting reels!!! After years of investigation I have the following answer : US angler (at least in the past) were mostly Power Fishermen with big crankbaits and spinnerbaits and because this technic need physicial stamina and strength, they used their stronger arm, wrist and hand (if they were right handed) … the right one for casting and cranking ! Their weaker left arm was not sollicited as much to move the lure, just holding or jerking the rod. In Europe because of our fishing technics using lightest spinning gear to cast and move accurately the bait or the lure, we only use our stronger arm to cast and animate the lure. The cranking motion done with spinning reel is not so powerful and fast as with a casting reel doing Power Fishing! When I discovered the casting gear, I naturally tried to find left hand reel to keep my habits!!! I tried some RH reels but I don’t want to change.

Back to Sakura.

What can we expect in 2016. from you guys? New Ruty Minnow is an absolute killer, I fell in love with Phoxy HW at the first sight, Slit shads are still our favourite softbaits.. What´s cooking for new season in Sakura´s kitchen?

Hé hé ! Many, many news are cooking ! To give you a quick overview : we will widen the Phoxy Minnow HW range and colors, bring a new lipless crankbait with 3 different sound patterns, a metal blade, some intersting saltwaters lures like pencil popper and surface skipping spoon, new sizes of Crazy Anchoa jigs and Mister Joe, etc.. We have designed a super mini-monarc for finesse spinnerbaiting and different models of swimming jig and chatterbait, etc. Rods and reels ranges will be changed or completed as well (3 new series and new multi-piece Mitsio Travel).

Modern lure fishing in the future? Where do you see it, in what direction will it go? Real life decors on hardbaits, softbaits that look, feel and smell like the real thing, UL fishing, down-sizing of the gear, scents, ..?

I think fishing tackle must keep limits in terms of capacity to fool the fish by themselves! I think human action must be kept, that’s the thrill of fishing… If it’s too easy it’s not fun nor intersting ! I really wish that we could use more and more environmentally safe products to make lures and packagings.

And for the end, something that many people asked us already.. Sakura UL tournament 2016.? You were so generous last year, can we count on your support this year too?

We really appreciated to see such motivated people like you and all croatian anglers enrolled in this event, doing a very good promotion for our brand. For sure, we will support the 2016 Sakura UL tournament.

Monsieur Rosmann, thank you for everything, I hope I didn´t ´smother´ you too much and we´ll talk again when you make the final line up of the gear for 2015.

Merci beaucoup encore une fois!

Spinning vs casting

29.05.2015Spineri @enbass @en, casting @en, fishing @en, Franck Rosmann @en, megabass @en, sakura @en, spinning @en, twitching @enSpineri

I fish for bass with lures and became a true addict of this fish since I was a teenager, I mean from the beginning of the 80s. During all my school course I avidly fished for bass with traditionnal spinning tackle we could find in french shops. Since I started to work as fish farmer at the end of the 80s, I got some american fishing tackle catalogs and discovered the modern era of lure fishing. After a year of study and practice I tried to bring baitcasting fishing and tackle closer to the French fishermen through different media and animations field. I was an author in a wide spread fishing magazine so it was easy for me to share with other fishermen.

From the second half of 90s, I decided with some friends to found Black Bass France, a non lucrative association, to protect the Black bass french population and promote this game fish offering to anglers the joy of an amazing catch.

In the same time, the presence of specialists such as Hiroshi Takahashi, amplified and reinforced my goal to popularize modern lure fishing tackle. We created a real movement thru all the country and proved many times in predator tournaments that this tackle is even able to win versus natural baits, in various conditions.

Today we can see and affirm that the use of this technique is perfectly mastered by many fishermen, regardless the age and initial level. This technique has become so popular that we sometimes even tend to forget or even denigrate traditional spin rods and spinning reels in France for fishing as they did in USA. Because of the tough conditions, Japanese bass anglers never forgot to use spinning gear, when necessary.

However, my message has always been clear : One technique does not exclude the other one, but are totally complementary. Depriving yourself of one of those two would be a technical foul, in sports terms, it’s like starting a golf course with only one club!

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Let’s go straight to the point and leave aside the exceptions: spinning is better recommended for delicate presentation called “finesse” and/or to cast light and teeny lures with thin lines. When you need to cast far or fish deep and vertically, spinning should be the best choice too. Zander fishermen know that very well when they use soft baits, like shads, close to the bottom in more than 15 m of water. As a bass fisherman in rivers and lake with heavy shore cover, I really like to skip my lures underneath the tree branches to reach hidden spots where the biggest bass like to ambush. Even if some fellows use casting to do that, believe me it’s far more easy with spinning tackle (talking about soft baits, hollow frogs).

One more thing you must know about spinning advantage is that under high winds (saltwater fishing or bad weather in freshwater) you could throw your lure with minimum difficulty while with casting equipment it’s nearly impossible or you may spend most of your fishing time to untangle the bird nests made in your reel due to spool overruns. On the other hand,you will better use a baitcasting equipment for heavier lures and stronger lines, practicing a run and gun strategy named “power fishing”. You will be able to make repetitive and quick casts to different targets, keeping your boat or float tube in ovement.

Some lures I like to use for power fishing are deep crankbaits and spinnerbaits, but both pull on your rods and offer big resistance when you crank the line. That’s why, here again, baitcasting gear is a better choice. The multiplier and compact baitcasting reels can handle the efforts applied to mechanics while a spinning one can’t.

Let’s come back to the heavily covered banks we talked about before and let’s notice that baitcasting rod and reels perform more accurate and discrete presentation of rubber jigs or texas rigged lure in small pockets of reeds or close to dead trees. To do this properly when fish are inactive and stay close to cover, you will use short pendulum casts named pitching or flipping, to send the lure just in the nose of the fish. Because casting equipment is often more powerful and stout than spinning one, you will be more comfortable to pull a fish and extract it from heavy underwater cover with thicker line. That point gives you another advantage if you catch a bigger fish than you imagined, for example catch a big catfish when fishing for bass !

To sum up, if you want to own a complete equipment for bass, perch or pike, the proportion is generally shared like 60% in baitcasting gears and 40% in spinning. We are not so far from parity, keep this in mind … The pleasure and the results depend on it !

Franck Rosmann

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.

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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Winter joy

02.02.2014Spineri @enmegabass @en, perch fishing, sakura novelties, winter funSpineri

I loved winter when I was a kid. Sledding, snowball fight, making a snowman.. Even that feling when you can´t feel your frozen fingers was kinda cool. With years, that love melted like snow in spring. . I guess turning point could of been when my buddy hit me with a ice snowball in the head.

Winter fishing is dull. It´s slow. Fish is in deep holes, season is closed for pike, only zander and perch are in the mood. Sava river´s water level varies a lot these days so we decided to go catch some perch. It´s been a while. We set a date with Elvis and we picked him up on a Saturday morning in a Top fishing store. It is cold as it should be in february and we don´t have problem with it. But somewhere half way to Draganići, starts to rain. I have my neopren waders and waterproof jacket with me, Robert is well dressed as well, but Elvis isn´t. He has sweat pants, Garbolino hoodie and a jacket on him. Model. Model who is cursing from the top of his lungs at the moment cause he is aware he´s gonna be wet moment he steps out of a car.

We parked, fortunately rain stopped for now and we gear up. I am trying to tie a knot, but frozen fingers do not listen. It took couple of minutes for me to do it. Robert already caught nice chub and couple of perch. Slit shad in peppermint colour proves himself again. And again and again. He found them and he is pulling them out one after another. Elvis does the same. He is using same lure, but in ghostuccino colour.

[ezcol_1half]Then rain starts again. Elvis jacket is frozen in a moment so he goes in the cover. I park on his place and start targeting perch spot. I sign up with a fish shortly and decide to try Crispy spider jig, new Sakura lure. Fish is active, now it´s time to see does it work. I feel some poking, I guess perch are just nibbling on a silicone skirt. Finally, a decent strike, and nice perch is on dry. Understand ´dry´ as a figure of speech, because rain is falling like crazy. Our rods, guides and noses are frozen. Robert´s on a hunt, perch can´t see Slit shad, they bite like they hate it. They don´t, they love it! I am going upstream, but nothing happens. Canal floats too fast here I suppose, and majoritiy of fish is where Robbie first found them. In the end of canal, in deep and calm water. So I am coming back. I rig Slit Finesse 75 in blue back colour on a jig hook, another noveltie from Sakura for this year. I cast it, let it sink and twitch it with short twitches of a rod tip and with long pauses inbetween.[/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end][/ezcol_1half_end]

It looks like a minnow on a deathbed downthere I guess. Sharp strike followed with short fight and pikey is landed. Only for a moment, for it´s closed season for pike from 1st of february till 1st of april in Croatia. Although rain stopped, we´re done. Robert poked each and every perch out there, they stopped biting, Elvis is wet from head to toes, and I can´t feel my fingers any more. We´ll visit this canal in spring again.

I could come in a sweat pants then as well.

Wrong turn

06.10.2013Spineri @engarbolino @en, jigging @en, megabass @en, perch fishing, ultralight fishing @enSpineri

Where the wild hogs go is a title of an old croatian TV serial as well as a title that perfectly suits terrains that Robi and I visited, looking for pike somewhere between Okučani and Nova Gradiška. We came a bit too early in season and caught only a few baby pike, but perches forfilled the day big time. That` s why we`re seriously thinking that we rename our ultra light fishing to ultra slit fishing. But, one step at the time. Robi is bothering me to visit these canals for 2-3 years now. As we were driving up the highway, he was talking how pikes attack top water lures, how you can catch fish over 7-8 kilos and so on , all in a channel 7-8 meters wide and 1 meter deep. Yeah, right, I was thinking. Next moment we are getting off the highway at Okučani, then drive down the road and take a wrong turn somewhere. Dude wasn` t here for a couple of years, and of couse he didn´t checked on Google Maps where exactly he went fishing couple years ago. So, it` s early in the morning and here we are, in the middle of nowhere, with absolutely nobody on the road that we could ask for direction. After some dispute and calling names, we decided to get off of the main road and head towards the woods that we saw in the distance. Behind the forest is a Sava river, and forest itself should be transected with canals. At one of them Robert fished for pike before, and logically, if there is pike in one of them, it should be in all of them, more, or less. After 15-20 minutes of driving down the road we hit the first canal.

Given that we do not know where we are, we have no choice but to try a method of attempts and errors, as we say here in Croatia. Couple of minutes later, our gear is arranged and we are ready to kick some pike´s butts. As we came close to water, I realised that it is only 30 cm deep. So I am throwing a lure only formally, without any hope at all. At a third try, nice pike misses my lure, raising a cloud of silt of the bottom! Well, I am thinking, maybe Robert wasn´t talking nonsense during the way here after all. Downstream, canal is unapproachable so we give up of it.

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Each of us caught a couple of baby pike in the next canal, so we decided to sit in the car and go deeper into the woods. Gravel road soon turns to dirty path with plenty of muddy holes and my beautiful Mazda is soon unrecognizable. After a few muddy and uncomfortable kilometers on the left side we finally see the canal. First lay-by is ours and a little bit later we are following footsteps of wildlife through the ruined forest down to the water. Thru the entire length of a canal visible to an eye, piles of branches stick out of a water, and literally, some parts of canal contain more trees than water. That´s why Roby is casting a spinnerbait, while I lay my hopes in 85 mm long Slit Shad rigged weedless on a worm hook. Nothing happens for a while, only a buddy of mine is commenting that he feels like something is poking his spinnerbait from time to time.

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After a while, I finally have a decent stroke in the mesh of branches and Slit Shad finally lands a 15 cm long perch. I am replacing Slit Shad 85 with one 75 mm long and landing another perch, around 20 centimetres. 25 lb tested wire trace and almost 2 centimeters long snap doesn´t bother them at all. Robi puts 5 centimeters long Slit Shad on, and in next 5 throws lands 5 perches. Ok, that´s it, screw the pike, screw the heavy duty equipment, let` s do some ultra light fishing! In a moment we are back at the car, and next moment we are back on the water with our UL rods. Next few hours we are literally killing ourselves in perches between 20 and 30 centimeters long. Closer to surface fishes are smaller, but when lure comes to the bottom undisturbed, bigger fish hits it. Although water is a bit muddy, even the smallest perch packs whole bait in its mouth. They are flawless! Although we would probably catch bigger fish by increasing jig weight, both of us use 2 gram round head jigs on our hooks so we can control bait better. In really heavy conditions we rig our Slit Shads on a small worm hook weighted with tungsten on a shank of it. This decreases percentage of hook-ups, but we are taking out perches from the spots that would be inaccessible otherwise.

After some time and God knows how many fishes caught and released, I am picking up a spot that it´s almost screaming it´s hiding a decent fish. There is a huge tree in a water after which there is a zone of deeper, calm water with many branches in it. I am coming butt down and on all 4 and taking out 7-8 perches in as many casts. Next cast brings me a porky, humpy fish and I am calling Robert to come and make some photographs. During the shooting, I am joking with Robert by saying I cleaned him a spot from small ones so he can catch a big one. He took me seriously and now he´s aiming the worst cover there is with 5 cm long Slit Shad. After a couple of snags and lost lures, tip of his Game Hunter starts to pump, and Twin Power starts to skid. I know it` s wicked and mean of me, but I really am hoping he hooked a small pike instead of a big perch! But no, life isn´t fair! Little bastard soon lands big perch, 30+ cm long in my own opinion. Superb catch for water this big and I can only congratulate to my friend. A few shots later, nice hubby fish is getting back in a deceptive certainty of a water. After that we caught some more perches in same spot, and than decided it´s enough for today. More than enough. We´ll be back for sure. If we don´t get lost along the way, that is…

Sakura Slit Shad- you gotta try it!

09.09.2013Spineri @enbass @en, megabass @en, perch @en, softbait @en, swimbait @en, trout @en, worm hookSpineri

I bought more than many lures in my life. Some of them looked good, with some of them my friends had nice results, some of them I saw on internet and had to try, and so on. You know how it goes. Some of them turned to be great, some of them turned out to be complete disasters. That´s why I am skeptical when someone, even though we know each other for a long time and he is a great guy and a great fisherman, comes to me and says,´ You gotta try this, this really works!´When you literally demolish perch on on a first try, when you catch few bass around 40 cm on aq fot summer day, when you trick 3 trouts in between 40-50 cm in a day, scepticism is gone and you say to yourself, hell, yeah, this really works. OK, it catches fish. Even cooler is it catches pretty much everything. In last year along with already mentioned species, we´ve been catching pike, zander, chub, asp, seabass, barbel, catfish and seabass!

Sakura Slit shad is available in 50, 75, 85, 100, 125, and from this year 150 nad 175 milimeters of lenght. It´s packed from 20 pieces a blister to 3 pieces for largest ones. They are scented with crawfish scent and salted. Mr Yamamoto long time ago tought us what that means. Fish that kind of a bait hold longer in it´s mouth so you can set a hook better. Material they are made of is neither too soft nor too firm. Crystals of salt crush when fish chews Slit shad, I am pretty much sure same happens when one chews a real thing.

Because of great mixture of a material and thin tail, Slit works on slowest retrieve, even rigged on a worm hook weightless. Rigged on a jig hook works great as well, with a nice body roll. It goes for all sizes. All of the sizes can be used like a topwater lure, kinda buzzbait, or torpedo. It burbles and leaves bubble trace behind. Bass and pike find it irresistable! With bullet weight in fornt of the lure, or rigged on a weighted worm hook it is weedless and can be fished from surface to bottom, even in a heavy cover. Once you set a hook, Slit Shad slides down the hook and miss hookings are minimum. It does happen, but usualy with smaller fish that can´t pack lure well. What to say in the end? Let´s say we found our new best friend in a Slit Shad. Try it, you might feel the same.

Tight lines!

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Čabranka, river of fulfilled dreams

11.07.2013Spineri @enbig brown trout @en, fishing in croatia, garbolino @en, gorski kotar @en, megabass @en, mepps @en, trout fishing @enSpineri

Winding road takes us thru Risnjak mountain from Delnice to Čabar. Deer jumps from the woods, stops for a moment and disappears back in woods. It´s been 7 or 8 years since I visited Cabranka (it pronounces chabranka) last time, maybe even more. I knew nothing about trout back there. However, among couple of rainbows, I was so lucky to lure beautifull 44 cm long brown trout. I couldn´t take my eyes of her when I finally landed that lovely fish. Adrenalin hit me so hard i was shaking for quite some time after I took some photos and released it. Every now and then, photos of some trout caught in Cabranka river were released in fishing magazines in Croatia. Each time it was like they are calling me to come back.

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Couple of years later, here we are, drinking coffee in Klaric caffe bar and talking with Mr. Klaric. Through conversation with him, Robert and me decide to start our excursion all the way downstream, where Cabranka meets Kupa river. I am occupied with trout, while Robert has his mind set on grayling, whose population is rich in those parts of Cabranka. Cabranka is pretty low, but I manage to trick couple of smaller brownes. Robert is bathing some flies somewhere behind me. In a deeper part of river I finally see school of nicer fish. I try with inline spinnerbait first, then with a twitchbait, but I get no response. So I move along upstream, certain it these are graylings.

In next gap happens the same, and in a third try i finally have a fish. It came out after an inline spinnerbait, but didn´t take it in a first try, so I offered her Megabass X-55 twitchbait next. It couldn´t say no to that. Brown around 30 cm soon got back in a certainty of a hole she jumped out. In a couple of hundred meters upstream I caught couple more fish, and then at Gerovcica river mouth strong strike stops my inline spinnerbait. I am sure I hooked nice brown trout, but happiness lasts only till I saw chub under my feet. He packed lure in its mouth like he hasn´t eat for days. Now i realise those shadows from deep weren´t grayling, but chub. That´s why Robert couldn´t catch any!

We skip shallow parts upstream and then rain starts to fall like crazy so we rest in a car for a while. As soon as rain stopped, we are back in business. We fish on a part of Cabranka that is shallow at first and then starts to deepen. I can´t hook decent fish which strikes my Aglia with gold blade 2 times in a row, I land only a couple of smaller fish. We take a break for a quick snack and we´re back on the water in no-time. It´s late afternoon and I simply can´t postpone a visit to the place where I caught my first brown trout any more. I recognized the rock beneath which it jumped out at first. But water level is lower than it was back then, who knows where it is now.

I am going downstream back to place where I left Robert. He had cople of smaller trout and nice grayling on a fly rod. It´s getting dark so we pack. In that moment a car parks, guy comes out and says to us Mr. Klaric sent him to show us a fish. He grabs a big bag from a trunk. At first I thought he has a huchen in it. When he took it out of a bag, I couldn´t believe what i saw. It was a trout. Big, fat brown trout. 6,9 kilos and 70 centimeters. Robbie takes few shots of a lucky fisherman with his trophy and they leave. When we came back to caffee, Mr. Klaric just looked at us and smiled..

What´s up, guys, he says..

What´s up? Someone catches a 7 kilo carp and he´s happy, pike, or zander that big is a nice trophy everywhere. This guy caught 7 kilo brown trout, that´s what´s up! We were lucky to see biggest brown caught in Cabranka river ever. Couple of beers after we are still under impression, but it´s time to hit the bed. Tomorrow morning we are back on water. We fish for a couple of hours and come back for a coffee.

Mr Klaric suggests us that we go upstream and give it a try around powerplant. Cast a jig and you´ll get some fish, no doubt, he says. We´ll do, sir! We parked somewhere downstream the powerplant and went up. Cabranka flows thru woods here and there are lot of rocks in it. Lot of whitewater. So I tie a jig head on a knot, rig Sakura Slit shad on it and cast it in a whitewater. It sank, water caried it and i felt something. I wasn´t sure if it was a rock, or a fish, but I decided to set a hook anyway. My Ghetto rider bended as fish wildly swam downstream. I managed to turn her, and it jumped out of the water. Rainbow! Another jump, some more pumping and here it is, in my hand. For a moment only. Each time I try to catch it, she goes ballistic! Finally, it lies tired on a side. Silver beauty rests in my hands just as long as robbie needs to take couple of photos and then it jumps out of my hands. That´s some crazy ass fish, I think to myself.

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We get out of river bed just by the powerplant and got back couple of hundred meters upstream. Waterfalls, one after another but with not much water. Tough terrain. We finally hit one that is richer with water and has a deeper pool. Again I lay my hopes in Slit shad. Cast in a corner of a pool takes trout around 30 cm out of its shelter, but it misses my lure. I decide to let it rest so I aim straight in white water. Lure dissapears and only a second or 2 laterit stops. Maybe it jammed between 2 rocks, I am thinking, so I nicely try to free it with a tip of my rod. As line got tense I realized rock moves. I set a hook as hard as I could and fish got mad. She pumps like crazy, Ghetto Rider is bent like I am fighting big bass, and fish is all round the pool. I am yelling for my friend to come down and help me, but he´s talking on his cell phone and doesn´t hear me screaming. He finally sees I am in a trouble, but trout is tired enough I can pull her in a shallow water. Beautifull brown trout rests there for a while, while Robbie sets his Canon and after a number of photos I bring it back to life and there it goes. I light a cigarette to calm down and buddy goes back to his cell phone. I wanna catch that smaller one as well. i rig new Slit shad on a jig hook, cast it and half a meter before that rock I was aiming another nice trout grabs my lure. I yell Robbie, Robbie again, he turns around, sees my bend rod and he´s like, oh no, not again! I start to laugh. Ghetto rider tames this as well, fish is soon tired, I wanna unhook it while my buddy gets down and in that moment fish twitches, runs thru my hands, my boot slips and I lose my balance as I try to turn to catch it once again and I fall in water. What the hell, some have to get away! We get out of the water satisfied and go search for some tamer terrains. We find a dam and decide to give it a try. 10 minutes later Robert catches nice dark trout and that´s it. Time to eat something. We fish some more after, Robert lands nice grayling again and the day is at his end.

Tomorrow morning after coffee we pack. Time to go home. We got what we came for, we saw giant brown trout and we´ll sure come back.