Trout day! Trouts, video-clip and lures

Last sunday I was fishing for trout with spinning rod. I used handmade lures and great trout lures from Smith - mostly D-Contact, but also Jade and D-Incite. 

It was a nice day - a little bit cloudy, but only a few drops of rain dropped. I started late ~8AM because, but we stayed there almost till 2PM - with some breaks.

The day started well with catching a nice 40cm(16in) trout on the first spot. After few casts accross the stream with handmade lure I made a little bit longer cast downstream. My lure dropped in the calm water. I draged it with a few twitches to the stronger stream and BAM! Very powerful bite! After a short fight nice trout was in my hand. I released it carefully after taking a photo :)

Few next spots gave my nothing, but the water was really nice and I knew it is just the matter of time until I will get another bite. Maybe an hour later finally something started to change. I had a lot of missed bites. Trouts were rising to my lure and than just touching it or biting really carefully. Very hard to set the hook. Of course sometimes I managed to deceive some of them. Most of better bites I had with Smith D-Contact and Jade. New lures my friend Baptiste showed and gave me.

Smith lures are very very very good quality. Nice colors, heavy trout twichbaits that are quite easy to use and sometimes they make a difference!

Like this day. They are very lifelike and maybe that is a part of their secret... In fact I think they are one of my favourites now! If you want you can read my post from the past about my trout lures here. Lot of them I still use, but also I've added some new ones:)

This time I was also using a sport camera on my head and I tried to film make a clip from my fishing trip. It was my first time so I think I must learn a lot but it was really fun to do it:) I already uploaded my clip to Youtube. Fell free to watch and comment!

New lures for trout, chub and ide

Hi!
I bought recently a few very interesting lures for light spinning - specially for trout, chub and ide and I wanted to show you them - I think they will be killers!!

First one - at the top is new product from polish company - "Hunter" model - Soul fantastic lure not only for trout for asp also!
Second and third ones are also from hunter - this model is called Champion they are in 2 sizes -  4 and 5cm (very good choice for trout).
Next one is famous Dorado Lake - very strong action near to the surface.
Last one imitates ladybug - very good lure for summer evenings from "SIEK-M" .


Polish Lure market is really interesting!  

Asp - fantastic sport fish!

Asp - sometimes called "salmon for the poor" is an awesome game fish. It is very hard to catch - you can catch it  only with artificial lures - but the bite is every time spectacular and impossible to forget!

How does this fish look like? Like this! :)

Asp on this photo is at about 28in but in big rivers like Vistula and Odra they grow up to 40in and 20LB! This one on a photo is my PB, but i hope I will face a bigger one soon !

Typical asp spots:

Asp live in big lowland rivers - they feed mostly on bleak, but also sometimes on silver bream, roach or small chub. Asp is a super fast predator and when you stand for a while by the river you can watch his attacks on the shoals of bleak. Check out on YT movie!

How to catch this fish? Chack out another YT clip made by my friend from Hunter Lures!:

If you want to catch an asp you must try it with special lures. Lot of polish lure producers make special wobblers for asp - for example Salmo thrill or Gloog hermes, but for me the best one is HUNTER SPIRIT! But it must be used with VERY fast spinning

Sometimes when the water is cold and asps are not as fast an aggressive i use some different lures and then i fish a little bit slower:

On the first photo you can find a long slim spoon and different upgraded soft lures, the second photo shows wobblers for slower spinning - HUNTER SOUL, HUNTER CHAMPION, Rapala Husky Jerk, Salmo Sting, Rapala Original and one hand made wobbler -  special for asp. If you want to catch an asp you don't need any more, but these lures and lot of time:)

I realize, most of you will not have an opportunity to fish for asp, but in this post i wanted to show you, that somewhere in the world are different than bass sport fishes and hunting for them can be exciting!!

Kogut – polish jig – fantastic lure for zander (walleye) and perch mostly, but pike and trout also!

Beginning of kogut lures:

In 1980’s few people from south of Poland received bucktail jigs from the USA. They didn’t know how to use it, no one knows what does “jigging” mean but tried try in many different ways. Finally Someone discovered right way of using this type of lure. First zanders in Poland were caught with bucktail jigs in Kozlowa Gora Lake (described erlier on this blog)........
To read more - Visit this site:
Kogut lure - How to make??

New site - how to spinning for catfish?

Hi!
Today I described a little my strategies of spinning for catfish. That is why there is a new site on my blog:

Spinning for catfish!

Feel free to ask and comment here!

New specials in my chub - ide lure box

Few days ago I ordered Hunter lures. Hunter is a brand new company established by one of the most famous spinning angler in Poland and Europe also - Andrzej Lipiński.

Andrzej Lipiński is famous mostly for his great trout chub, ide and asp fishing abilities. Fishing World Champion, Champion of Poland. He was my fishing idol for many years.

That is why I had to buy his lures. They are typically designed for chub and ide. Great imitations of bugs - very realistic with rubber legs. Good looking lures with strong and sharp treebles. I will test them soon!

One lure is fantastic imitation of bleak. Designed and intended for asp - fantastic sport fish (check out youtube for "ASP"). It is called "SPIRIT". I think it will be my killer.

You a also visit a company website - Hunter - lures to see more photos of lures and fishes.

Polish lure market is very rich and I am a "lure junkie" as someone said :)

Brown Trout & Rainbow Trout Spining Lures

Fishing for brown trout and rainbow trout

is very popular in Poland. Today i would like to show you my selection of spinning lures for trout. In Poland trout are present as well in mountain streams and rivers (like Dunajec and San) as in small lowland streams. Everywhere people use a bit different lures, but this difference isn't very big. I distinguished 3 main groups of these lures:

• crankbaits
• jigs
• spoons and spinners

CRANKBAITS:

First group of crankbaits - used in bigger streams and mainly in winter and spring are quite big lures - 2,5in - 3in (Salmo Hornet 5, Salmo Minnow 7, Rapala Original 7, BigBait Caster, Góral, Kenart)

Second group of crankbaits - smaller and very versatile (between 1,5in and 2,5in). You can use this lures everywhere and everytime. This lures in my box are: Salmo Hornet 4, BigBait Flyer, Salmo Bullhead, Rapala Original 5, YoZuri Ace Minnow, Jaxon Ferox 4.

Third Group - smallest crankbaits (1in - 1,5in), used mainly in summer and in smaller streams: Salmo Horner 2,5, Salmo Hornet 3, and my FAVOURITE TROUT LURES - Góral - in many different color choices. Best small lures i have ever had!

JIGS:

Sometimes - mainly in wintervery effective are small jigs - as well plastic jigs as marabou and "kogut". I don't like to use them for trout, but sometimes I have to if I want to hook something :)

SPINNERS AND SPOONS:

Spinners are good lures mainly in summer, when trout feed on bugs. Spoons are always good, but they are better for brown trouts than for rainbows.

It is worth to try! :)

Salmo fishing videos on youtube

Hi!
Today I'd like to show you videos made by Salmo, about Salmo lures. You can see there how they works and how to fish for pike with them. I hope you enjoy!

SALMO JACK

SALMO FATSO

SALMO SLIDER

SALMO SWEEPER

Zander Fishing- lures, spots, technique

How to catch a zander ???

Zander (pike-perch) is a fantastic sport fish well known in almost whole Europe. it grows over 20kg (44 pounds), but typical catches are much smaller of course. most common are zanders between 1 and 6kg (2 - 13 pounds). Zander is a close cousin of American walleye.

Zander lives in lakes, dam reservoirs, rivers and in Baltic sea also. The best are deep spots with sand, rocks or gravel at the bottom. Of course zanders sometimes, when feeding come near to the shoreline and feed on fry in very shallow places. This situation occurs mainly at night. After sunrise it is better to find zanders near to sunken tree rots, big rocks, etc..

Zander fishing is VERY popular in Poland. That is why you need to find some special lures or techniques to achieve success. I have got 3 main types of lures, that I use regular 

1)POLISH JIG - "KOGUT" is a fantastic lure - invented in south of Poland at about 20 years ago. For a long time it was a good protected secret. Now everyone knows about "kogut" but not everyone knows how to make it and how to use it. I make this jigs by myself. Sometimes even my friends want me to do a few "Koguty" for them. I will write soon a tutorial "How to make your own polish jig - kogut". I'm using "Kogut" 70% of time when fishing for zander.

2) Most popular group are softlures with relatively heavy jig heads. If the depth of your spot is 3m (10ft), you should use 14 - 28g (1/2 - 1oz) jig head. The key is to raise your lure very fast from the bottom and let it fall down again. 90% bites comes when jig is falling down, so it is necessary to have great contact with your lure.

My favourite jigs are:

• Relax kopyto, california, clonay
• Lunker city shaker
• Dragon lunatic

3) Last, but not least group are slender crankbaits and slashbaits. They are fantastic lures, when zanders come to shallow spots to feed on fry. Most people use them only in rivers, but I do this in lakes and dam reservoirs too. In this group  I use mainly:

• Salmo sting 6cm, 9cm floating, suspending and sinking
• Rapala husky jerk, original
• Kamatsu jointed minnow
• Salmo minnow shallow runner and super deep runner

All this lures are effective, when you find zanders and use your lure correct. Zander fishing is quite difficult and it is necessary to learn all the time, but catching a BIG zander is the best reward.

Danube Salmon - How to catch?

Danube Salmon

is close cousin of syberian taimen. They both are the world biggest salmonidae species. I heard about over 200lb taimen! Normal size of danube salmon is between 10lb (~30in) and 40lb(~50in). Sometimes 60lb. In Poland you can't take danube salmon if it is smaller than 70cm(~28 inch). There is also limit - one fish per week.

Most of anglers releases all of them because it is very rare and beautiful fish. In Poland we can find danube salmon in 3 big mountain rivers: San, Poprad and Dunajec (on my photos) and sometimes in big dam reservoirs on this rivers (like Czorsztyn, Rożnów, Solina). This fish needs clear, cold and deep water, but sometimes when feeding (mostly on trout, grayling, chub and barbel) it comes to 2 feet depth.Danube salmon favourite feed is big fish. Often between 10in and 20in. Sometimes even bigger! That is why it is necessary to use big lures - mostly crankbaits.

This fish is a night predator. It feeds mainly between sunset and sunrise, but in Poland is forbidden to fish at night in most of mountain rivers. That is why it is very difficult to catch. I didn't catch one yet, but i had a few bites. Once i lost it before landing. There are people who try to catch it for 10 years or more without result.

I live over 200km from the nearest river with danube salmon so i can't fish there often. My friend who lives 15km from Dunajec caught already (during 12 years) over 90 danube salmons bigger than 28 inch!!

For three years i collected a few best lures for danube salmon. Of course there is much more of them, but they are very similar.

Recipe to catch danube salmon is:

• Come to Poland to Dunajec in Sromowce in November when it is snowing and it is cold and windy
• Start fishing with sun rise
• Use long (9 - 10 feet) and heavy (up to 4 - 5oz) rod - I use Shimno technium 2,7m (9 feet), 50 - 100g (2oz - 4oz).
• Use light, but strong reel - I use Penn Slammer 360 with 30lb monofilament
• Use big crankbait(6 - 8 in) imitating trout
• Fish slowly, cast across the river, look for deep spots and underwater obstacles like big stones.
• Be very PATIENT. You can come here for a week and leave with nothing...

Pike Lures - jerkbaits, crankbaits, softlures, spiners and spoons

     

Today I'm going to describe best polish pike lures.

Maybe some of them would be new for you and you will try them by yourself!! I think my pike lures could be very effective for your northern pike and musky.

    

First and best known group of them are jerkbaits

I know that jerkbaits are common almost everywhere, but we have in Poland some interesting models. Typical size of jerkbaits is between 4in and 7in. There are of course some smaller and bigger, but I don't use them often.

     

 

      This group in my box is represented mostly by gliders - the best of the best Salmo Slider and a few BigBaits. Also there are some pullbaits on first photo - Salmo Fatso, two hand made jerkbaits and one BigBait (pike imitation).

     

Second big group are Softlures.

They are very popular in Poland. We use as well foreign models like Lunker City Shaker 6in, as our domestic products like Relax Kopyto 5in, 6in. We use them together with 0,5oz - 1,5oz jig heads and 6/0 - 12/0 hooks. Most common technique is jiging or sometimes jerking. The weight of jig head you should compare with the depth of your spot. I usualy use 3/4oz for 8ft - 10ft depth and 6 inches soft lure.

      First photo shows my favourite Relax Kopyto 6 (6 inch) in few different colours. In the second photo we can see Delalande Sandra, Prologic Alien Eel, Lunker City Shaker, Relax Kopyto 5, and 4 Imakatsu Javallon, Rozemeijer Shad, Prologic Cannibal Shad and one of my best lures - little pearl Prologic LB minnow - fantastic lure!!

     

We also often use crankbaits, twitchbaits and slashbaits.

Our technique is just the same like everywhere in the world, but we've got some interesting and very effective crankbaits (mostly made by polish company SALMO). Average size of them is between 3in and 7in.

 

      I like very much Rapala lures. In this photo you can see Shad Rap 9, Shallow Shad Rap 9 and DT 16. Also effective are Kamatsu Jointed Minnow, Dorado Lake (Perch imitating - also great lure for catfish) and silver holographic Jaxon Ferox, but i like mostly big Salmo Whitefish, Pike (You can  also find his smaller version on this photo), Perch and Skinner, which are good trolling lures too.

     

Of course I use some other lures like big spoons and spinners,

but not so often like jerkbaits, softbaits, crankbaits and slashbaits.

      Honestly I don't prefere them, but sometimes it is the only way to feel a fish on the other end of your line. 

      Every lure mentioned here has been tested by myself in different fisheries and in my opinion is a good choice for northern pike. Maybe for other species too, but I can't be sure of that. Of course there is much more models and types of pike lures in Poland, but I didn't use them yet. Contact me if you want to have more information about this lures.