As you can see JDM tackle has really taken it’s toll on us. Today we’re going to review/reveal another Japan hardbait. Most of us have tried, or at least heard about Yo-Zuri brand. Their variety of lures can actually blow you mind, and the price is not as premium as you’d expect from a JDM. Duel is the mothership brand, and sustains both brands, Duel and Yo-Zuri. Duel has been making lures in Japan for more than 40 years now, and still have some of the most demanded and accessible (pricewise) lures on the JDM market.

Yo-Zuri is a worldwide brand that sells, it probably sounded better than Duel, when introduced to the US market. Duel is the actual developer, that’s always improving, and coming up with new technologies, like they came up with the Magnetic Long Cast System, making some of the top rated lures in the world.

Hardcore is one of the brands most sought after lures, with a large variety of lure types, starting with minnows, both regular and deep diving, up to crankbaits and vibe baits such as the Hardcore Drum.

The F736 SH-50 is a suspending deep diving finesse minnow most suited for reservoirs and deeper river areas.

Packing:
The lure’s packing is Yo-Zuri standard, simple and effective to keep your lure safe until you manage to fish it.

Finish: Hardcore series are made out of durable plastic, with detailed gills and scales with both MAT and clear gloss finish. They’re really attractive to both fish and fisherman. They all are provided with the most realistic 3D eyes, but tend to “escape” the sockets after a few toothy predators. I tend to fix this problem with a drop of super glue upfront so I don’t loose the eyes.

This lure was clearly ment for something other than bass fishing, considering it’s size and “low profile”.

Terminals: I still don’t now what trebles are used on Duels and Yo-Zuris, but they are as sharp as they can get, even though they aren’t the toughest ones out there. They’ll hold  as long as you don’t get really excited about using them on a heavier than 6-8lb line.  If you intend on using them on larger fish I strongly recommend replacing them with tougher ones. I don’t replace them only if they get used, but other than that I am pretty confident about them for what I use them for. And I like they chose a dark, black, color for them.

Harder fighting fish need tougher trebles

Split rings are standard quality, and I believe they will never let anyone down.

As most of plastic lures it doesn’t have thru-wire construction, and, unfortunately I’ve had trouble in the past with the lip pulling of a lure while fighting a fish. I don’t have the pics to prove that, but have had friends with the same problem with some of the heavier lures in the Hardcore series, like the SH-60 and the 75-SP, which should be able to hold up to some strong fighting fish. Hope Duel will acknowledge this problem, and take some attitude about it in the future.

Casting: Little lure, lots of features. Tungsten weight and the proprietary Advanced Magnet Weight Transfer System, patented by Duel have a lot to do with the good casting abilities of this lure, considering it’s light 1/8 oz. weight. The Advanced Magnetic Weight Transfer System will work on most of the casts, but it takes a little power into the cast, to make the magnet “click”. You get the hang of it in a blink of an eye.

It casts like a charm for a 1/8 oz. lure. The further you cast it, the deeper it will get. The tungsten bb’s act as a rattle as well, so be prepared to call fish from a distance.

Action:The looks of the bait will win you in a millisecond. The patterns are as deadly as they get, being able to get both MAT, translucent and flashy patterns.

What about the action? How will the Yo-Zuri Hardcore SH-50 run? Is it worth the trouble? It definitely is. It has a deadly tight bobble that will start vibrating at the slowest retrieve speeds. I actually prefer tighter wobble over wider, but as you must all know: every lure will catch you fish eventually you just need the right conditions for that lure. I’m not talking about this lure though… you can catch fish almost every day of the week with it. You can use it as a suspending jerkbait in colder weather as well. It really suspends, as you can see in the video. We kept it motionless for a few moments so you can get the general idea of how suspending this lure really is. I’m putting accent on this detail, because most of the lures that are sold as “suspending” really aren’t. Most of them are a very slow floating lure. I won’t give names for now, but I’ll keep you posted on the suspending ability of lures in the future as well.

Video:

Application: This is definitely a finesse bait, most likely to be used for species like trout, perch, chub, asp and barbel. Bass is on the menu, but it’s not really considered to be a bass finesse bait. I especially like to use it on clear water reservoirs and in deeper river areas. I even went the extra length of painting a few of them in trout patterns for really clear waters. The action on these is amazing, and you have to consider they can be used with high efficiency in very powerful currents as well, as they are utterly stable.

Due to the Advanced Magnetic Weight Transfer System you will be able to use it on a baitcaster if ever needed. Don’t expect long casts though.

I caught almost everything from chub to perch with this lure, and like to use it on trout lakes and rivers. They seem to especially like it when hanging to depths of 4 to 10 ft.

I usually fish it with up to 6lb rated line ( 0.18mm diameter-tops)

Hardcore 50-SH – Ratings (?/10)
Design	Really dynamic shape. It won’t keep you wondering weather to buy it or not. Hardcore lures are known worldwide for their incredible fish catching abilities. I like the sharp, black trebles, but if you want to hang on larger or harder fighting fish you need to change them for tougher ones. The trebles are well spaced, in such a manned they won’t ever tangle. The finish is tough.	8.5
Features	This lure is packed with features: great patterns, tungsten weighting, Advanced Magnetic Weight Transfer System, all in a 2 inch bait that suspends whenever needed.  Could you ask for more? I could… Please keep on manufacturing them . I won’t give it the highest grade though, because the lip seems to come off (I had it happen once) in some cases, and it’s not an isolated case, unfortunately.	6.5
Application / Performance	They run true right out of the box. Due to their tight wobble they are really versatile, and can cover a lot of fishing situations. It’s a finesse bait that will catch you fish, and catch your eye. It will start vibrating on the slowest retrieve speeds, and will keep on running true even in the fearsome currents.	9.5
Price	It’s on the premium side, but for a JDM I consider them to be lightly priced. I can swallow a 10-12$ bill, but for a lure of this size, most of JDM have a price tag that hangs well over 12$. It a good deal if you ask me.	7.5
Overall	Final Grade	8

Trouty lure:D

Conclusion: If you like finesse fishing, this lure has to make it’s way in your tackle box. You won’t be able to buy them for a long time from now on, because Duel/Yo-Zuri has stopped producing this model.. to think I just came to like it:). It’s a really small bait packed with tons of features.

The lip it’s not it’s strongest point, and is prone to come of on some of the Hardcore baits. Don’t ask why, but it happened to other people besides myself. The price is excellent for a JDM, but would love to be able to take it out full of confidence. The broken lip gets my heart pumping, and not in a good way, every-time I have a fish dangling at the end of this lure. I’d expect more from a lure in this price range, but unfortunately I can’t just throw them in the garbage, due to their unique action. I have no other lure with a similar action as the Hardcore 50-SH, not even close.

Other than that it has impeccable action, and will catch you tons of fish. I wish they had more match the hatch patterns though, and with all finesse deep diving baits… a sinking version would blow me off.

About Andrei

Professional angler, rodbuilder, lurebuilder, if it's about fishing you name it, he does it. He hates "relaxing", and takes each day as a challange. Whenever he's got a spare moment he's either fishing, cycling, hiking or training his ass at the gym. He's fishing for more than 20 years now. Strictly on artifficial baits from the age of 7, he's always on the look out for the newest stuff and techniques out there.

View all posts by Andrei →

Poland is no stranger to lurebuilding manufacturers. It probably has as many lure production companies as Japan does. They all seem to be fitting in the same category: foam crankbaits. There are of course some rare sightings of hard plastic hardbaits. As I said…. Rare!

Dorado Triada company has a very vast array of hardbaits, ranging from the very small, as the Dorado Magic 1.8cm, which is probably the smallest production crankbait I own, to big cahona pike jerkbaits, that are very popular in Europe.

For this review we chose Dorado Invader I4, which is a very versatile lure, and can be found in either floating and sinking version, which is a plus in my book.

I say it’s a very versatile bait, because it can be easily fished really efficient in both flowing water and still waters. This lure is stable in very fast flowing currents, and it can be fished at a very slow pase in lakes for e.g.

Packing is as simple as it gets… Nothing fancy, just what it takes to keep the lure safe.

Finish: As you’d expect from a Polish foam lure there’s nothing spectacular about it at first sight, but it has some really interesting detailed patterns, probably the best minnow patterns I’ve seen on a lure. No 3d eyes, and no detailed carved scales, but that’s just for the fisherman to notice. The fish will never notice these details. I’d have to say I’d love a few highly reflective metallic patterns amongst their actual colors. Other than that, the coating is as tough as it gets. Much tougher in time compared to much higher priced JDM lures I own. I have some Dorado lures for more than 2-3 years now, and even after lots and lot of fish caught they still looks like new, which is a real bonus.

Dorado invader 4cm - a very nice array of patterns

This is a shad type of crankbait, which has a typical shad design, nothing fancy, just the essentials for catching fish. The lip seems to be polycarbonate, and is as tough as it gets.

Terminals: At this price I didn’t expect high quality trebles, but Mustad has trebles much better than these, at the same price-point, like the 3551 , I would certainly prefer the other, as they are heavyer wire construction, sharper, and I wouldn’t probably go to the trouble of changing them. They have the same trebles as the Krakusek, and they bend quite easily. I’ve lost a good sized trout because I was lazy changing them. Other than the trebles, the split rings look to be tough, and … you guessed it: it has thru’ wire construction, which make them ideal for saltwater fishing as well. Saltwater is probably the ultimate battering test a lure can get. I’ve had some plastic lures fail on me even in freshwater… So you understand where all of this is coming from.

Mustad produces much better trebles at the same price point.

Casting and diving depth: Even though they don’t feature long casting system, 8 out of 10 casts they fly like they had the system, without tumbling through the air. It’s most likely because the line tie is in front of the lure, considering it’s a deep diver. The 4 cm invader is really castable on a light to medium-light outfit. You’ll be able to fish the sinking version on finesse baitcasters if ever faced with the challenge, but you’ll be limited in casting distance. You’ll most certainly be able to cast the 5cm one, and very well for that matter.

Notice the polycarbonate lip is stamped with the Dorado name

Dorado makes the invader in lengths up to 14cm, with which they brag of catching lots of double digit pike and catfish. The 4 cm version dives up to 1.6-1.8m on a very long cast.

Action: They got me on the first cast. I instantly knew they would be killers. They have a medium-tight wobble: not to tight, but not to wide either. I’d say just perfect. I would love if they all ran true straight out of their packaging, but I would be lying if I told you so. Some of them need a little twitching, but in the end you’ll get them running.

Video:

I mainly use them for lake trout, chub, and have to mention zander (walleye) and asp as well. It’s a good lure, that I don’t leave home without, especially when fishing those finicky wild lake trout. It certainly does the trick for me. Try them out, they might work for you as well.

They also have really good match the hatch patterns for what trout and other fish are foraging upon.

Trout seem to like them

Conclusion: Invader is a cheap lure, for every pocket. I prefer action over the lure’s actual outer-looks in any given day of the week. They’re a must have in my tackle box. The more patterns the merrier. As Dorado mentions on their website: “These lures are designed to catch fish not anglers!”. I would have to agree with that saying.

About Andrei

Professional angler, rodbuilder, lurebuilder, if it's about fishing you name it, he does it. He hates "relaxing", and takes each day as a challange. Whenever he's got a spare moment he's either fishing, cycling, hiking or training his ass at the gym. He's fishing for more than 20 years now. Strictly on artifficial baits from the age of 7, he's always on the look out for the newest stuff and techniques out there.

View all posts by Andrei →

Jackall is amongst the fastest growing tackle companies from Japan, one of which have made it to the US market. They always seem to amaze us with radical design, and last but not least the newly established collaboration with Shimano.

Jackall has all lures listed as bass lures. Of course that Japanese fisherman are known for their finesse tactics, but a crank so small will more likely get used in a trout, chub or even perch fisherman’s tackle box.

As you might already know, or know not, there are probably a handful of small crank-baits that get to the diving depth of this one. I know only a few, at least a few that I like: Jackall Diving Chubby of course, Lucky Craft Deep Cra-Pea, HMKL Crank 33 DR (This is the smallest of the lot). These are the ones I know of. If you know of any other small deep divers, feel free to leave a comment and we’ll make sure it gets reviewed.

Packing: Not the most impressive packing we’ve seen so far, but it’s enough to make it stand out on the shelf, especially with that BIG FAT Chubby logo. It’ll keep the lure safe during transport, even though it might get some treble scratches, as they are not secured. You know what they say: “It first needs to catch the fisherman in order to catch the fish”.

Sturdy enough packaging for transoceanic flight

You have to love that BIG CHUBBY LOGO

Finish: Most of Jackall lures are plastic, with a highly intricate inner and outer design. Diving Chubby are equipped with ultra-realistic 3D eyes, and they even added scales to the lure’s body. They feature very lifelike patterns both natural and stand out of the crowd patterns.
Jackall even went the extra mile to design the Chubby’s gills, which are carved like. They feature both hi gloss coat finish and matt finish on their lures.

The finish holds up pretty well for a Japanese lure (the finish is not the JDM lure’s strength), and after fishing them for a season they look amazingly good.

3 must have collors. The MAT Chartreuse is blinding.

Terminals: Jackall chose a non-traditional way of placing the treble attachment rings. Use oval split rings, these are normally 50% more powerful than the same material round split ring.
Trebles seem to be Owner Stinger, definitely not cutting corners, not even on the smallest of lures.

As Owner accustomed us to… trebles are needle sharp, and will not straighten out easily. This is all I need in my trebles. What I had trouble getting used to was the color of the trebles. I actually hate silver trebles. I sometimes have the impression they scare fish away, and go the extra mile and change them. I guess they are salt water proof trebles, by the looks of it, probably with the growing popularity amongst bream fishermen in Australia.

Better view of the trebles

I almost forgot to mention they feature Tungsten weights, and a long cast system. For this size it’s quite impressive of the amount of features they managed to squeeze in.

The split ring is a detail not to be forgotten... Oval rings offer up to 50% more power than traditional rings. Don't really know how much that would count when fishing with lines up to 8lb

Casting&diving depth: Our casting tests put them in front of their class, straight A’s all the way. You can easily cast them on a bait-casting equipment if ever needed. I’d like to mention that if you throw them down wind you’ll be amazed how far they will go. The Tungsten weight and the long cast system make it worth the price, especially when fishing clear bodies of water, and it helps keep the trebles of the line while casting. You’ll make it run every cast.

They dive up to 2.3-2.7m on a cast, and much deeper on a long troll.

The bill is thick enough to pass the test of time, and long enough to keep it deep

Out of the box performance: I have 4 of these lures, and all of them swim true. You’d be amazed of how i’ve got the first one:).

It’s actually a funny story: Was fishing on a nearby lake with Razvan for perch. He got hung up on something, and after a harder pull it got unsnaged. 2 seconds later he was fighting a fish. The fish wasn’t hooked on his lure, but on another, the one he unsnagged . You couldn’t even tell the lure’s color, that’s how covered in algae it was. And upon all of these it had a very thick wire leader attached to it (on a lake with no pike).  I didn’t say anything:D… but when I saw the split rings were oval I instantly knew it was a JDM. Of course I didn’t tell Razvan, until he offered me the lure…  which looked awful. He thought it was some unworthy crankbait, considering it almost didn’t have hooks on it and was all covered with greenish-black algae.

This is the lure Razvan caught. It takes a lot of time to scrape the finish of a Jackall Diving Chubby

After cleaning it up, and searching for it for a good couple of hours in the Internet I finally found what it was. One year later when I started catching good sized chub and trout with it of course I had to order some more.

They all perform perfect right out of the box, no twitching needed for them to run true.

Application: I’ve mainly used them for chub, perch and trout. Had success on all of them species. Especially when they hung deep. This is my deepest diving small crankbait so far. I’m still on the lookout for deeper small stuff (if you know of any deeper don’t be shy on leaving us a comment).
As you’ve seen it has a nice aggressive, but tight wobble on both vertical and horizontal axis. It delivers a lot of flash, and the tungsten weight along with glass rattles incorporated make a lot of noise, calling fish from a distance.

Video:

Action: As you can see from our video it has an appealing action. I can vouch for it’s fish catching abilities, and have caught some really large chub over the last year.

Conclusions: All the possible and impossible features a crankbait could have in a really small package. Good attractive action and design, long cast system, good trebles that don’t cross paths, and deep diving at this small size. Could you ask more from a small deep diving crakbait? I certainly couldn’t …. except… MAKE IT DIVE DEEPER ( a sinking version would suffice – hope Jackall hear my prairs). I give the Thumbs up to Jackall on this one, as it’s one of my all time favorites.

About Andrei

Professional angler, rodbuilder, lurebuilder, if it's about fishing you name it, he does it. He hates "relaxing", and takes each day as a challange. Whenever he's got a spare moment he's either fishing, cycling, hiking or training his ass at the gym. He's fishing for more than 20 years now. Strictly on artifficial baits from the age of 7, he's always on the look out for the newest stuff and techniques out there.

View all posts by Andrei →

After a long night sleep in our comfy Coleman tent a coffee was really refreshing at 5:00 o’clock in the morning. I was going to fish the largest, and deepest of the lakes in the area. You have to understand that glacier trout are really finicky, considering 9 out of 10 days they feed on insects rather than minnows. Of course the large ones prefer the minnows, but those are solitaire and cautious, and more often very difficult to catch.

Mobile phone panorama of lake Bucura

Let’s now get back to some more fishing. I only fished for 3-4 hours without any results, other than a couple of strikes. Trout were present, as I’ve seen a couple jumping, and a lot of them feeding on flies on the surface, but it seems I haven’t been able to convince any of them. It’s not my last day here, and we still have a lot to explore, as you’ll see.

Enough fishing for the day, we have some serious hiking ahead of us. Even if we have set foot to go to the deepest glacier lake in Romania (no fishing rod this time – no permit to fish in that area), we passed the mark that should’ve lead us there, deviating 20 minutes from our original trail.

It's Romanian for "Danger"

Nice excuse for a break ... "Let's take a few pictures:))"

Is this the right way?... NOPE

We decided to follow this trail to one of the tallest peaks in the area, Retezat peak 2483 meters high. In total a 3-4 hour hike to the summit, and another 2-3 hours back. It’s a medium difficulty hike, that I don’t recommend if you’re scared of heights, because it’s as nature left it, except the trails are marked.

Only 2251m ?!.... Another 231 to climb

Made it to the sumit.

Another cell phone panorama of Retezat peak

The weather was with us on this day. No wind on the summit... no one could believe it

This was it for the day. We were exhausted when we got back, so no fishing.

Next day we were engulfed in thick fog, so our plans to go to lake Zanoaga were again left aside. After the fog scattered enough we decided to to make a shorter hike, considering the weather was unstable, to Peleaga summit, 2509m high – 1.5-2 hour hike to the summit, and about the same back. This is a medium to light difficulty hike, with a few rougher spots.

Here dogy, dogy...

Peleaga summit.

Retezat mountains

Enough hiking … I have a special date with some trout mamasitas.

After returning to base camp from Peleaga, I just couldn’t stay still. I had to go fishing. As I said, until you figure them out you’d think these trout are impossible to catch. I’ve had a lot of strikes, but again, no fish. Something wasn’t right. I had to fool them somehow. I’ll have the next day just for doing that, and nothing else. One entire day just for trout fishing.

Long hike for no fish!

Tired as I was, I just couldn’t get up at 5 o’clock again. We woke up at 8-8:30, had our traditional food breakfast: home made dried and smoked ham, tomatoes, fresh cheese (darn… my pack was heavy on the way in), had a coffee, and now I needed a plan. I’ve seen a lot of minnows with large black spots on them, white belly, almost black back. None of my spoons matched the description. This might have been one of the problems. Luckily I always carry a black marker with me, just in case. I’ve put my artistic talent to work, and painted about half of the lightest spoons I had with me. No need for the heavy ones. This lake wasn’t very deep.

I finally cracked the glacier rout code.

Panther Martin no.2 on the job

Packed and ready… let’s do some trout fishing. They were feeding all over the lake. Anywhere was a good place to start. After struggling with my hand painted spoons for about half an hour I had about 10-15 strikes, but still… couldn’t catch any. Have tried the Megabass Izabella spoon again, but with no luck on this lake. The area was overstocked with black and yellow striped flies. I could easily mistake them for wasps if I didn’t know better. I needed something to imitate, at least the colors, because I wasn’t fly fishing. I must try out those Panther Martins. It was really sunny outside, so I chose a copper bladed one with yellow body and black stripes. It was an instant hit. Only 2 casts and the fun was on.

I was catching about every 5-7 casts, and had at least 1-2 fish follow the spinner each cast. Just amazing. I finally cracked it. The majority were under 30cm, but in 3 hours fishing I managed to catch about 20 trout between 25 and 35cm. Tons of fun these little guys.

And when you thought there was no one to take me a picture.

I was starving, so i had to go eat some, but got my ass back for some more fun. They weren’t as active as they were earlier. A storm front was closing in, so I had to get me some picture worthy fish. Surprise… only the larger ones were biting. After catching a few 30-40 cm ones I had to change to a larger spoon. I just couldn’t resist the temptation. Lucky guess… on the first, and last cast I’ve nailed he largest one so far. Amazing fight on 3lb line with this one.

The big one on the last cast.

The rain just started pouring after this one, so I had to report back to base. It was an amazing C&R experience, with no one to bother me. Had tons of fun. The landscape here is amazing, as you can see from the pictures, and you might be surprised of what kind of wild life you might see. For the first time in my life I’ve seen a wild marmot… didn’t get the chance to get a picture, as it was running scared on the Retazat mountains vertical cliffs.

I’ll definitely come back next year for some more adventures!

P.S. All trout were released!

About Andrei

Professional angler, rodbuilder, lurebuilder, if it's about fishing you name it, he does it. He hates "relaxing", and takes each day as a challange. Whenever he's got a spare moment he's either fishing, cycling, hiking or training his ass at the gym. He's fishing for more than 20 years now. Strictly on artifficial baits from the age of 7, he's always on the look out for the newest stuff and techniques out there.

View all posts by Andrei →

It all started last year, with an exceptional trout fishing trip trough Romania for a week, when I’ve fished all over the country, trout only. Rivers, lakes, whatever I could find, I investigated. I knew I’d go over 2000 meters in 2010 both hiking and fishing all together. Nothing on earth like it!

Splashy big fella...

Try to catch them by hand if you can. It's what happens when you leave home without a fishing net.

I decided to go hike fishing for 5-6 days. I got my car to the actual end of the road, where I left it for the next 5 days. From there a 2 hour hike to the place where we would camp. I had at least 60-65 lbs of luggage, so not such an easy hike. I really enjoy sight seeing, hiking on designated routes on summits, or other glacier lakes, so it’s not all about fishing. There’s nothing like it in the world. This is how freedom looks like, no cell phones, no one to bother you. It’s like problems never existed, you’re lost in the moment.

You thought this hike was easy? Just climbing on rough terrain. No wonder cars or bikes can't get there.

Nice soft moss all over the place.

To go on such a hike you need some basic equipment, besides your designated fishing tackle. You can’t leave home without a good pair of hiking boots, but that’s a must for any fisherman, tent, sleeping bag, stove. Besides your large backpack, I’d recommend a  smaller one just for 2 to 6 hour hikes that can fit the basics: food, waterproof clothing, water, your camera, and of course, some fishing tackle. You might enjoy a nice synthetic fleece that acts as a wind stopper as well. I’d highly recommend it, as at over 2000 meters altitude,  temperatures can plummet 10-15 degrees in less than 5 minutes.

If you prefer warm food and tea the stove is a must. You have about zero wood at this altitude, plus you’d ruin the scenery,that’s almost 100% intact.

Lets get back to after that 2 hour hike to “base camp”.

For whoever knows me, I can’t stay put, not even if I’m dead tired. As soon as me and my girl friend got the tent installed, and everything inside it prepared for the first night sleep, we made a 30 minutes hike to a nearby lake. We lost the trail, and had to follow the boulders that were going straight towards the lake. I’m used to jumping rocks and boulders, I actually prefer hiking over this kind of terrain, as it keeps my brain focused, and forget about the fatigue or muscle pain, but for whoever is not used to it it can be hell on earth. This is the extreme side of fishing, I guess.

Still not tired? You'll have to climb this to go to bed ).

Luckily it's all downhill to the lake.

We got to the lake, and it only took 20 seconds to spot a few trout. It’s a shallow glacier lake, not more than 1.5m-2m deep, but it’s filled with trout. Not the largest, but enough to have fun. Even though the lake has tons of minnows, these trout are focused on insects. That means they are really hard to catch on spinning gear with regular tactics. Even so you can trick them with dead accurate casts. I don’t know how many of you are used to spinning sight fishing, but it’s tons of fun, and you can see it all happen. You just need to find the perfect lure that they’ll hit as soon as it touches the water. For me the Megabass brown Izabella did the trick. The steps were: spot a trout, concentrate, cast into it’s field of vision so it can hit your lure as soon as it touches the water, and you’re on. Not all of them will get your lure, but you’ll trick a lot of them this way. They sometimes need to see the lure move for 1-2 seconds before actually biting.

Preparing my rod.

This is how paradise must look like. I didn't think it would get better than this... but it does.

Not the largest trout you'll see, but still, good practice. Izabella didn't let me down this time.

I’ve caught a few of them. Nothing picture worthy, but I had a lot of fun perfecting this fishing technique, and of course, releasing them. We had enough for the day, so we return to the camping site for a long night rest. Tomorrow we have a long hike ahead of us, unlike anything we’ve seen in our lives.

Keep tuned! I have more to tell…

About Andrei

Professional angler, rodbuilder, lurebuilder, if it's about fishing you name it, he does it. He hates "relaxing", and takes each day as a challange. Whenever he's got a spare moment he's either fishing, cycling, hiking or training his ass at the gym. He's fishing for more than 20 years now. Strictly on artifficial baits from the age of 7, he's always on the look out for the newest stuff and techniques out there.

View all posts by Andrei →

It all started when we got back from Knin, a beautiful town in Croatia, where the Trout World Championship from shore took place. Me and Andrei, were the captains of the Romanian Spinning Team.

The best thing about a World Championship is that you get to compete, watch and learn from the best. So, after returning home, all we had in mind was trout, and trying all the new techniques we’ve learned in Croatia. We only had one problem. Rain had been poring all over the country for about two weeks, and made all rivers and lakes nearby muddy.

We needed a backup plan, and we needed it fast. Andrei suggested we went trout fishing on a lake, near a famous natural park. Boat fishing was a must, as the water level was about 40 meters higher than usual, which made shore fishing near to absolute impossible.

I’d rather not say how we arrived around 12pm, or that we almost drove into the lake because the road was engulfed by the water, or that pitching the tent was a bit tricky without a flashlight or the fact that we had only 3 sleep hours left till dawn, but that’s what really happened.

But, who cares about these details when you wake up in the morning, take a deep breath of fresh mountain air and in front of your eyes lies a beautiful lake surrounded by forest that’s filled with wild trout? We had a quick breakfast and jumped into the boat.

For me, lake trout fishing was a new challenge. I only did river trout fishing so far, and lakes need a totally different approach. This is because of the huge water volume, which makes locating fish more difficult. Even when you located the depth where the trout is, they can be very selective when it comes to artificial baits and their underwater presentation. Also, the weather conditions can change all the variables in no time. So if you take all these into account, you quickly realize it’s impossible not to fall in love with this type of fishing, which pushes your fishing skills to the edge.

We started fishing with different lures, and while I was fishing a spoon Andrei was fishing crankbaits and jerkbaits. We needed to explore different water depths and lure vibrations, in order to see where the trout are feeding. This seems a pretty simple and efficient strategy in theory, but practice doesn’t always agree. We had strikes at a water depth of 15 meters, and also just below the surface at 0.5-1 meter. The problem was that few of this strikes were decisive, allowing us to actually set the hook. The first day we managed to catch between 10 to 15 trouts, mainly between 1-2 lbs, but these weren’t the ones we were after. Besides, I really wanted to wrestle a big one.

What I noticed was that the water surface was full of insects, and trout preferred them instead of our small fish imitation lures. So I switched to a small Salmo wobbler, Tiny model, which perfectly imitates a bug. I used this model before, but mainly when fishing chub. Now, I needed something that would make little noise when it falls on the water, and can wake trouts interest. Something very similar to an insect.

After a few casts, we got to a great shadowed spot, with overhanging pine right over a cliff. It seemed like the perfect place for opportunistic trout that were just waiting for bugs to fall into the water. The Salmo Tiny fell near the cliff, and started its belly dance very close to the surface.
In no time the Tiny lure was rammed by a big one, spectacularly jumping at least 4 feet out of the water. The strike was incredible, and the trout huge. It was show time!

Because I was fishing a Light St. Croix 6’6” rod, with 2 lbs monofilament, it was very important no to rush and tire the fish using my rods action and the reel brake. Any fast movement could scare the fish and make him snap the 2lbs fishing line. Also, when you notice that the fish intends to jump, it’s important to keep the rod tip in the water, trying to force him to stay under. During these spectacular jumps, hook-offs are much more likely to happen.

If you keep your calm, (yeah I know, pretty difficult when dealing with a potential personal record) and put constant pressure on the fish, you have a big chance of winning the battle.

So, after an awesome fight, with some runoffs near the boat and the first half of my rod down underwater, I managed to bring the fish to the net for some great pictures.

It was a beautiful 7lbs lake trout, which may not seem much, but for me it is a personal record and a big addition to my future lake trout fishing career.

Soon after the catch, the weather quickly changed with a big storm approaching, so we had to stop fishing and start packing. But don’t worry, we’ll return soon, because now I have a new record to break!

About Adrian

Professional angler, web enthusiast and tackle fanatic. Always in search for new things that can improve his fishing.

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I don’t know how many of you go stream trout fishing, but you must definitely know that trout are among the spookiest fish out there. If the water is crystal clear and if they just get a glimpse of you, then, you might not be able to catch those trout.

I consider trout fishing the ultimate frontier, either stream trout or lake trout, both satisfy me the same . You’re out there battling the elements, walking upstream, downstream, boating on an empty lake. It’s perfect! Especially if you consider that trout are pretty finiky at times it makes it even more challenging.

Stream fishing for trout is very demanding, both on your ability to focus, on your eyes, and on your ability to stay upright on those slippery rocks, and of course precise casts near boulders or other larger or smaller structures.

If you truly want to catch good sized trout you’ll need to be all over the place, with dead accurate casts, and most likely you’ll want to be camouflaged as best as you can. I’m not saying you dress up like a marine. Keep it simple!

There are 2 types of trout streams: the murkier type and the crystal clear water type. The second one is where you need to be hiding all the time. When streams are murkier, I’ve had trout come up to my ankles after spinners or cranks. I think that never happened in very clear water streams, where sometimes I wondered why I wasn’t catching any in spots that most definitely held trout.

Most of the times I go spinner fishing upstream rather than downstream just because it helps me blend in better and catch more trout. I forgot to mention that almost all trout are oriented upstream, meaning you will always be behind them, where they have a narrower field of view.

Camouflage tips:

1. Use the boulders in your advantage. Consider they are there for a reason: for you to hide behind them. You can stick your head above them, but as soon as you show your entire body you will most likely spook those trout, diminishing your chance of catching any fish in that area. This is available for every other structure there is in the water, like fallen trees for example.

2. Use small water falls in your advantage. I’d better say level differences in the stream bed. You can stay hidden behind them, and trout won’t be that spooked even if you get closer, because the angle you are visible from (for trout) is too sharp, so they will see less of you.

3. Stick close to the shore, trying to have bush or something the same color as your clothes behind you. In this manner you will mix with the background. This is the best way to approach small ponds that form along these trout streams. I will always take the shallower side of the river, knowing that larger trout prefer deeper water and are always on the move. This way you can definitely catch more trout than if you’d go through the center of the stream (small pond), and you’ll always have both sides approachable.

4. Use man made structures to your advantage. For example hide behind bridge legs/pylons, and cast under them bridges. When you approach a bridge, you definitely know it has deeper water under it. In these cases I prefer to step outside of the water and walk to the bridge on shore. I can get behind those legs/pylons without trout even noticing me.

Keep these in mind and they won’t know what hit them.

About Andrei

Professional angler, rodbuilder, lurebuilder, if it's about fishing you name it, he does it. He hates "relaxing", and takes each day as a challange. Whenever he's got a spare moment he's either fishing, cycling, hiking or training his ass at the gym. He's fishing for more than 20 years now. Strictly on artifficial baits from the age of 7, he's always on the look out for the newest stuff and techniques out there.

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