ELOPS GAME ... IL LIGHT ESOTICO

"Elops" è un genere che racchiude alcune specie di pesci tutte estremamente simili e quasi impossibili da distinguere se non sei un ittiologo... quello che interessa a noi è che sono distribuite nelle acque tropicali di quasi tutto il mondo, che sono parenti stretti del tarpon, girano in branchi, attaccano senza remore i piccoli lures e saltano come il loro parente maggiore.

"Elops" is a fish genus that collects several species all very similar one to another, so much that it is almost impossible to distinguish among them if you're not a biologist... what is of much interest for us is that they populate tropical waters in almost all the world, they are close tarpon relatives, swim in big schools, bite all kind of small lures and jump like their big cousin.

Sono più conosciuti come Ladyfish, io li ho incontrati a Cuba, in Sri Lanka anche in acque salmastre di risalita ma soprattutto a Kerè in Guinea Bissau... praticamente di fronte alla spiaggia davanti ai bungalow c'è un tappeto di questi pesci sempre disposti a farci divertire nelle pause tra le pescate più serie.

They are commonly known as "ladyfish", I found them in Cuba, in Sri Lanka brakish waters, but most of all at kerè in Guinea Bissau... in front of the beach right out of the bungalow there is practically a carpet of these small predators, always ready to give us some fun in the breaks and relax moments after some more serious fishing session.

Tecnicamente ci si può sbizzarrire, dai piccoli metal a lipless minnow e hardbait in generale, ma il massimo del divertimento è con piccole jighead e gomme di provenienza Ajing, ovvero tutte quelle piccole eschine che hanno recentemente invaso il nostro mercato, magari con un po' di contaminazione di grubbetti da acque interne.

Lures choice is very wide, from small metal casting jigs to mini stickbaits and minnow plugs, but most fun is using small jighead and soft plastics the kind that are usually sold for ajing game, with maybe some tiny grubs from freshwater as contamination.

Il primo anno che ho praticato questa pesca usai una Yamaga Blanks Blue Current 78, una canna di potenza 12 grammi circa, ma questa volta sono sceso parecchio come ormeggi, affidandomi alle attuali Blue Current 74II con casting weight di 8 gr e Blue Current 72TZ appena più leggera con 7 gr di max. Entrambi piccoli fioretti che rendono facilissima la gestione dei pesi leggerissimi di tali testine ma conservano una bellissima azione in combattimento per contrastare i mini-tarpon.

First time I tried the game , like 4 years ago, I used a Yamaga Blanks Blue Current 78, a sod labeled to 12 grams of casting weight, but this time I went down to actual Blue Current 74II with 8 grams maximum lure weight and Blue Current 72TZ with sharper action and 7 grams as max.

Both little whips make very easy to cast and control the micro lures, while keeping a fantastic action during the fight with the mini-tarpons

Lascio tutto il resto alle foto, compreso un occasionale snapper che ci ha fatto penare decisamente con un trecciato 0.6 libbre... una piccola cubera in pratica :D

Enough with words, I let pictures talk... last fish an occasional snapper that also liked the small softie and put up a cubera like fight on scaled down proportions :D

ULTRA LIGHT FUN, by Tomislav Jukic

Here goes an article by my friend and great fisherman Tomislav Jukic about Mediterranen light game, hope you enjoy.

ULTRALIGHT FUN

No surprise, my favourite type of fishing is spinning, casting artificial lures and retriving them back, trying to mimic bait and attract target fish to bite. I dont like to sit arround and wait for fish to come, i like to walk and find them by myself, and offcourse at the end catch them.

So many different spinning options and techniques, from saltwater to freshwater, from the biggest bluefin tunas and monster GTs to small stream trouts. Million of different posibilities.

I have done many offshore fishing trips in my fishing career all over the world and

my favourite type of spinning is 110% popping for GTs, but with limited time and resources i cannot spend all year fishing for them in far away oceans.

So like many others i have to adapt to my close to home waters and species.

I live in Slovenia, and we have amazing rivers, streams and lakes. I spend also a lot of time in Croatia all year round where i do mostly saltwater fishing.

Many anglers are using very strong rods for small fish that are the most common catch arround areas where I fish, and I dont see where is the point. Why not enjoy fighting small fish with light rod? It is not like fighting a 100 kilo fish with big and heavy fishing gear, but you will still have crazy fun fights and you will definatelly hear a lot of screaming drag. Isnt that the best noise there is in the world? Better noise than exaust of a sports car thats for sure.

You should feel the adrenalin when you hook 1kg fish on 0-5gr rod. And still with some experience fish will be easily pulled out.

All this began 5-6 years ago, when i bought my first ultralight spinning rod for fun, casting weight 0-5 grams. I didnt even know what im going to fish with this rod as it seemed to light for everything. I paired it with small shimano 1000 size reel, thin braid and leader, small jig hooks and some soft plastics. And the result was something i didnt think it will happen, crazy addiction, crazy fun and a lot of adrenalin.

On the beginning, i used this setup for small ponds filled with trouts, for fishing in small harbours and from docks, using small woblers and soft plastic smelly worms. Many fish were cought and more and more lures tested. Later i found schools of bonitos offshore, and i was sure i will not land any as rods were to light. But i tried, and bonitos from 1-1.5 kilos were landed on small 5-7gr casting jigs, the fights and runs were amazing, sometimes we even had to follow hooked bonito with boat as we were almost getting spooled. Crazy crazy fun. Than we were fishing for seabass from shore, top water strikes, biggest were up to 2 kilo! You should see bended rod, on the limit, but rod did pull the fish out. On sandy terrain many different type of breams were cought on Gulp sandworms, one of my favourite lures for ultra light spinning. Mackarels and horse versions of them in unlimited numbers. We also had great topwater action when fishing for bluefish, 2 kilo was the biggest. Great topwater lure is comming from Croatia, hand made Monarch Dok Sparky 10gr. This lure is also great for seabass, bonitos, bluefish, trouts and also pike.

If i think good i have cought almost all species that are at least a little bit predatory in their nature that live in areas where i fish.

There is no water where you will not be able to use ultra light fishing gear, except if fishing is not allowed.

I never, never leave home without one of my ultralight spinning setups in my car.

Im spending my summer free time in Croatia, from Istria to Dalmatia, and this rods will always catch fish. Specially in pike of the season when water gets very hot and fishing gets slow, this small lures will still catch you many many great fishes.

What is also great when fishing ultralight, with right lures on right terrain you will have excelent results also from shore in any time of day. Check the conditions, currents, wind, any kind of topwater action, bottom structure, try different lures and you are on for sure.

Now after so many years of ultra light spinning my arsenal of ultralight rods is getting bigger and bigger, more and more different species are getting cought, and im realising how many possibilities ultra light spinning actually has.

At the moment I’m using Yamaga Blanks Blue Current series of rods, and my opinion is they are one of the best rods for ultralight spinning on the market at the moment. I tried many different brands and almost all of them were good, but the Blue Current from Yamaga are diamonds. I have four and I use them all (well one is new and not tested yet). I use different length rods, 6.10Ti 0.4-6gr, 7.2Ti 0.5-8gr, 7.6Ti 0.8-10gr and the new 7.7Tz 2-9gr, that I’ve heard is best of them all. Old version of Yamaga Blanks Blue Current series named Ti (Titanium guides), is now replaced with Tz series (latest Torzite guides) and that means even sharper action and sensibility due to lighter guides and at the end even lighter rod. Short 6.10ft rod I use mostly in harbors, as rod is short I have advantage of controlling the fish when maneuvering her around some structures, ropes and other things that could cut through my line. Is also very good if we are crowded on a small boat. Long 7.6ft version I use mostly from shore, where casting distance is important. Also sometimes from boat, when there is top water action but fish are very careful and as soon as you come close they will disappear in deep water, again, longer rod more casting distance. My most used and my favorite of all is 7.2ft, its perfect all round rod, with good casting distance and still not to long when we are a few anglers fishing from boat. I use it 90% of my time. So nice rods with a lot of power, but still so light you can enjoy fighting even the smallest predatory fish. And they will bend good on all size fish. I use Shimano Stella 2500, Shimano Rarenium 2500 and Daiwa Theory 2508. Varivas Sea Bass braided line PE0.6, all kind of leaders from 0.12-0.25, all sorts of small wobblers, casting jigs, surface lures and soft baits mounted on jig hooks. If there is a moment when I find bigger fish, when my PE0.6 is not enough, I have spare spools with a bit stronger line, and problem is solved. I only did it one time, so there are really small chances you will ever have to do this.

Like all kind of spinning, leader is a must. I connect 1.5m long fluorocarbon leader with my braid using Albright knot, and than on the end of my leader comes small snap tied with Palomar knot. All these knots are very easy to tie and will take very short time to complete.

When landing the fish I like to use mini lip grip, and small pliers for taking hooks out of fishes mouth. As I release almost all fish I try to fish without barbs most of the time, I only take fish that I know I’m going to eat it fresh. And I think that is what everybody should do.

Few fishing stores that are close to me and can supply me with all the gear I need for ultralight spinning are Maguro Pro Shop in Croatia, Carpio and Monster Bite fishing tackle from Slovenia, Vagabond Fisherman from Italy.

Tight lines to all!

Tomislav Jukić

NETHERLAND BASSIN'

I grew up looking at european seabass as a hard to catch and elusive predator of my home sea, I learnt how to catch it even if never dedicated too much time to it, wrong move as the "branzino" hunt can be very challenging and a lot of fun.

That is why, when I received an invitation by my friend Lesley to join him in Europort area, I didn't think twice, took a couple rods, a bunch of lures and minimum luggage and jumped on a Ryanair flight for a somewhat different experience.
He in fact runs a very nice guide service, with fully equipped boat that was projected and built especially for this kind of fishing, as you can check directly on his webpage bassexpress.nl
He has a huge knowledge of local fishes and a great skill in finding them

Sono cresciuto considerando la spigole come un predatore schivo e difficile da catturare nelle acque adriatiche in cui ero solito cercarla. Ho imparato a pescarla ma non ho mai dedicato tanto tempo, mossa sbagliata magari, visto che la sua ricerca può essere una divertente sfida.

Ecco perchè, quando il mio amico Lesley mi ha invitato a raggiungerlo per una pescata nelle acque dell'Europort, non ci ho pensato due volte, ho preso un paio di canne, un po' di artificiali e un bagaglio molto basico e sono montato sul primo aereo Ryanair direzione Olanda.
Lesley infatti gestisce un ottimo servizio di guida, con una barca spettacolare progettata e realizata appositamente per la pesca a spinning e mosca in queste acque, come potete verificare direttamente sulla sua pagina web bassexpress.nl

Well, first impact is so strange, surrounding are heavily industrialized, scenery is completely manmade and somewhat blade runner like, we fish among big chimneys and enormous vessels, all the opposite I look for when at home.... but fishes are there, and in astounding big numbers.
Under the water the environment is in very healthy conditions and seabass are fat and aggressive.

Il primo impatto è stranissimo, i panorami sono pesantemente industrializzati, tutto è artificiale, sembra di stare sul set di bladerunner; si pesca tra raffinerie ed enormi navi cargo, tutto il contrario di quanto cerco quando sono a casa.... però le spigole sono lì, in numero assolutamente incredibile.
Sotto la superficie l'ambiente è in ottime condizioni a i pesci sono grassi e aggressivi.

Picture by Federica Truc

As the zone is a big bay system connecting river mouths to the sea and the current shifts a lot depending on tide, it is very important to move on the right spot in the right moment in order to find perfect conditions, and the mobility of  Lesley's fast boat helps a lot, even if fishing can be done also from shore.. when we hit the right spot fishes are there in big numbers, and double hookups are common thing

Dato che la zona è una grande baia che connette le foci di un paio di fiumi al mare e che l'escursione di marea è piuttosto ampia, la chiave è trovarsi al punto giusto nella fase di corrente giusta, e una veloce barca aiuta non poco allo scopo, anche se pure da riva la pesca può essere ottima. Essere nel giusto spot significa pescare su tanto pesce, spesso imbrancato, e le doppie catture sono assolutamente la regola.

Pic by Federica Truc

Pic by Federica Truc

Pic by Federica Truc

Pic by Federica Truc

My rod of choice has been  Yamaga Blanks Blue Current 72/C Ti, with 15 grams of lure range and paired with PE0.8... perfect to deal with these fishes with both hardbaits and soft shads like Black minnow and Artic Eel.

Come canna ho usato la mia cara Yamaga Blanks Blue Current 72/C Ti, potenza fino a 15 grammi con trecciato da PE 0.8 ( 12 libbre ) ... spettacolare e divertente con questi pesci, tanto con hardbait che con soft shad come Black Minnow e Artic Eel

Pic by Federica Truc

Pic by Federica Truc

I have not so many pics, cause we took the occasion to film a documentary for HF Channel  , and I have to thank cameragilr Federica to find the time to shoot some nice photos, but trailer of the video can be seen here as an appetizer

Peccato che alla fine non ho tantissime foto, dato che abbiamo preso l'occasione pre girare un documentario per HF Channel , e devo ringraziare la nostra operatrice Federica per aver trovato il tempo di realizzare alcuni begli scatti, ma potete vedere il trailer del video come un aperitivo :

Thanks again my friend Lesley, we'll be fishing together again soon!

Release for tomorrow!