Winter has come... Ice fishing for Perch

This year it is a little bit colder in december. That is why we are unable to fish for zander or asp anymore, but new opportunieties arrives. My nearby lake has frozen and we tried to catch some nice perches from ice! We started early in the morning because the water and the ice were very clear and it is the best time to catch the biggest fish. Later when it is very bright they can be very suspicious and impossible to fool :)

The ice was very thin  (~5cm) but we had special floatation suits, and we tried to remember not to walk close to each other :)

We caught some really nice perches >30cm with small ice pilkers, We also had some big perches that we lost during fight and occasionally some small pike was interested in our lures. 

Ice fishing could be really fun when you can't go fishing anywhere else... :) 

I also made a short movie when my friend Marek caught a nice 32cm perch. I hope you will like it:)

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!

Zander Fishing in Poland

Hi!
 Today I wanted to share with you the story of catching with spinning rod my PB of zander (european walleye).

It was the middle of November and I went with my friends to find some asps and zanders in Odra river. The day was cold - just above freezing and cloudy, but there was now rain or snow.  It wasn't windy also so it was the perfect day for zander for this time of year.

     In the morning my friend caught a really nice-  30in (75cm) asp with Hunter Fantom Lure. After that there was nothing going on for few hours. About midday i had few bites on heavy - 3/4oz (21g) and 8cm jig and I caught 3 small - 20in (50cm) zanders. At 2PM we finally decided to take a break and eat something. Wa also changed our spot and went ~10km downstream to bigger and deeper places. Just after starting fishing we both had good bites. My friend lost his fis after 30 seconds. I had much more luck and after 5 minutes fight I landed my BIGGEST zander so far. It was a beautifull fat and strong fish!

     Quick measuring showed that it was ~37in (>90cm) and ąrround 16lb. It was really fat. I hope I will fight this fish someday again :)

If you want to read something more on that topic visit my other posts about FISHING FOR ZANDER or read about my ZANDER LURES

 Here is a short video of releasing that magnificent fish!

sandacz from Jarek on Vimeo.

First 2013 trouts

There is a severe winter in Poland. There is a lot of snow and freezing temperatures. Although after a short conversation with my friend Marek we decided to try to catch some trouts in Kocinka river. It was very cold in th morning so we started fishing at about 10am so we had ~ 5 - 6 hours of fishing before dark. 

Kocinka river is small and difficult to access fishery. The weather was not good also. It was snowing sometimes and it was very windy. 

We had only few bites and only one small trout was landed by my friend. We didn't achieved any big success, but we had a lot of fun and we finally started new 2013 fishing season!!

Nice Rainbow trout

Next weekend and we are fishing for rainbow trout in Czarna Przemsza river again!
Last weekend we caught a brown trout instead of rainbow. Today we accomplished our goal :) This time it was colder than week ago. It was at about 0C and in the evening came frost. Now - at about midnight it is -2C and it's snowing. Everything is white outside... 

We had only 3 hours of fishing but it was enough for 2 nice rainbows. Mine was smaller ~12in, but Natalia had a big luck to land a beautiful dark coloured ~15 - 16in rainbow! 

On this photo our trout has a little "scared eyes", but I can assure it came back to water in a good shape! :)

Short report

My job is killing me recently... That is why a haven't enough time for fishing. Although with my friend Marek we decide to go for fishing at least for 3 hours in the morning. We didn't expect co catch something good in such a short time but there was a little bit of hope :)

We arrived to Kozłowa Góra dam reservoir at 6.30, it was dark, cloudy and foggy. Temperature - just above freezing. We started to fish for pike and zander. I tried my new lure - Savege Gear Real Eel - Works awesome! Will be my kiler :)

We had some delicate bites, but we couldn't hook any fish. Finally Marek caught first small pike, He unhooked him fast and we started to fish a little bit better. We caught 4 small pikes and o 1 baby zander. It isn't a dream catch, but I think it could be worse. 

I hope that weather will allow to fish a few more times before water freezes... And with better result of course!! :)

Natalia with beautiful rainbow

After a long break i have to catch up with my reports :)
This time i want to show you photos from our (my and my fiancee Natalia) trim to Czarna Przemsza river (previously described on this blog) It was one of the first warmer days of new year - beginning of march 2012.


We decided to spend whole day on fishing and picnic:) We arrived to Przeczyce (small village on the Czarna Przemsza river) at 9PM and after short briefing we started fishing and walking enjoying nature. It was a beautiful sunny day, and Natalia also was the lucky one - catching fantastic rainbow. Pictures speak for themselves:

At evening we decided to make a campfire and bake some delicious sausages! Must repeat this!!

My biggest Ide

Hi!
Spring is coming in Poland fast!  Although sometimes we have to face heavy rain:) Unfortunately this time it was a fishing day. We arrived to our best spots for Ide (spinning of course!) on Vistula river near Oświęcim (Auschwitz - city with former nazi death camp). at about 3PM.


After half an hour fishing with beautiful warm and sunny weather we saw dark, heavy clouds on the horizon. It was a bad sign, but we had to use our time. We took gore-tex clothes and decided to stay and fish in the rain. 


After an hour of heavy rain and strong wind i finally had a bite on my 1,5in Hunter Instinct 4 wobbler. After a nice fight in Vistula current I landed a FANTASTIC 20in and more than 3lb Ide. I hope I'll beat this record soon! :)

Fantastic Last Sunday

Hi!
I'm writing this post so late, due to lack of time. I had to prepare a short movie (bad quality because of old mobile phone - sorry).


Last Sunday I was fishing for zander on one of my favourite dam reservoirs. For first two hours I couldn't find any fishing and I had to go by boat to almost all my spots. Finally i find THIS place and had a first bite and first fish also - 20in zander.

10 minutes later I had another two and I lost one before landing. I was trying lot of lures (crankbaits, softlures and of course KOGUT lures - they were most effective. Especially the one made for this blog recently:

After this few fishes I made a break to eat my second breakfast. Then zanders disappeared. I was trying to find them, but I caught only 2 small pikes. I thought it was over. In addition it was VERY HOT and sunny and I was fishing in sunken forest - you know what does it mean... :)


I decided to come bach to the place where I caught first fish. It was very good choice. In a very short time I had another 4 zanders - a bit bigger: 22 - 24in and small 20in pike.

Then after 20 minutes without bite i made a difficult decision - go home. It was 3PM, very sunny and I had nothing to drink.Without a doubt it was my best day this year. Fishes weren't very big, but big amount of them was enough for me. A few of them I've recorded for you with my poor quality mobile phone:)





I was using 2 sets
1) Shimano Alivio 2,6m up to 21g (3/4oz) with Daiwa regal XiA 2000 and 6lb P-Line braid.
2) Dragon Destiny spinn slimm design 2,1m (7ft) up tp 21g (3/4oz) with Team Daiwa R4 3012 and 15LB Spiderwire Stealth braid.

Fishing competition

I love fishing alone or only with a few good friends. I like wild spots with no people around asking me: “Do you have some bites?”.  Fishing is for me a time to rest. Although few times a year I participate in fishing competitions. In past few years I tried myself in the hole GP cycles of my province and national competition also and I won some trophies (catching zanders generally).

Last year competition

Winning zander

This year I gave up a little. I participate only in my sectional competitions – like my Section Championship last Saturday. We have been fishing in Przeczyce dam reservoir. Przeczyce is well known of its big zanders and lot fantastic perches. Sometimes you can catch there a nice pike. Catfishes are very rare. I fish there sometimes and I knew that it was hard this time to catch lot of zanders to win. Instead of zanders, perches were biting well. It was my strategy for the day.

Competition started at 6AM after short briefing. We was fishing from boats (2 competitors in every boat) in C&R formula. Every fish was measured by the referee, going by boat between us and other competitors, and released immediately.

I caught the first fish – 8in (20cm) perch -only bigger than 18cm (~7in) perch mattered. My partner from the boat caught one also. After that we had a lot of perches between 5in (12cm) and 12in (30cm). In the middle of competition we heard about a big zander – 75cm (~30in).  It was a danger for us to loose so we had to catch more big perches.

After 6 hours competition was over. I ended it with 23 perches 18 – 30cm (7in – 12in) and my partner with 25 perches the same size. There was also a LOT of smaller fishes but they weren’t counted.

It was time for results. My partner form the boat won the competition and became a Section Champion, I was a Vice Champion and guy with a big zander was third.

Great time and another trophy for my collection. Now it’s time for quiet fishing… alone….

One is mine! :)

Me and my partner

Zander Hunting!

For last few days I have been hunting for a big zander with my friends. We were fishing between 3am and 8am at monday, tuesday and thursday. We have been trying to catch a really big zander (30 -35in at least), but it isn't a easy challenge. We had a few bites of small zanders (at about 20in). 

Everyone at least once lost a big zander before landing. We were out of luck...

Finally my friend Marek caught at 5am a very nice zander - +30in with my KOGUT JIG.

I hope next time I'll be the lucky one :)

First Carp!

Yesterday we have been float fishing in the private fishery with nice crucians (the same fishery from last week).

After a few hours we had some nice crucians (12in - 14in), but Natalia decided not to make photos with them. As she said - "they are to small, we need to catch a bigger one!"


How surprised was I when suddenly she landed her first nice carp! Quite big one for small pond - at about 19in and 3lb. There was lot of fun and  smile :)

We had also a chance to catch really big grass carp. Natalia saw some fish eating pieces of calamus from the surface of the water. So i tried topwater fishing with a small piece of calamus. After few minutes at about  30in - 35in grass carp tried to eat my bait, but he panicked in the last moment and we lost our chance... It is our next objective! :)

Good fishing day with Natalia

Good fishing day with my girlfriend Natalia

Today we went to try float fishing in a new pond. It is not so far from us and it is a private fishery. We started fishing at about 2PM in a silent, overgrown corner (bay) of the pond. I put some groundbait with canned corn into the water. As hook bait we have been using maggot and corn.

Natalia caught first fishes - at about 5 nie rudds (between 8 and 10in). We have seen lot of nice fishes jumping all over the pond.

Once there was very big carp (maybe 15 - 20lb) swimming among our floats. I was trying to catch something bigger, but I wasn't this lucky one today:) Some small perches - it was all for me:) Finally we had one nice bite, but we couldn't land this fish.

After that Natalia caught 3 beautiful crucians with the biggest last one - our new RECORD - 16in and over 2lb big, fat crucian!! BRAVO!!!!

During fishing we had a little picnic also. It was great day. At the end of the day I tried some spinning for pike, but I only lost my ripper tail because of some shilly-shally pike:)


All fishes are still alive! C&R as always!!!


Can't wait to repeat this!

My April-May fishing!

This year spring came quite early. With first warm days I was trying to catch some trouts, chubs, ides and perches with little crankbaits mostly.

I was fishing on Wisła river near Oświęcim, Odra river, Ruda river and Czarna Przemsza also. First trips weren't succesfull. The water was cold and fishes weren't active, but after few weeks situation was much better. I didn't catch any huge fish, but the amount of them was quite good. Czarna Przemsza was fantastic place for brown and rainbow trouts:

Wisła, Ruda and Odra gave me some nice chubs and ides. I was using my favourite tiny crankbaits for them and thin 3-4LB mono. It was a good start of long season! I am stil waiting for my first asp this year.

Everywhere was also lot of nice perches. They were sometimes a nice surprises.