Adriatic Big Game adventure with Megabite ship

If you crave a true adrenaline rush, the spirit of the sea and a fight with huge fish in the open sea, then come fishing in the middle Adriatic with the the experienced crew of the ship Megabite and her skipper Igor Zdenjak. Adrenaline packed fishing trips are our everyday life, and with us you can add this fishing adrenaline spice to your perfect, idyllic Croatian holiday. As well as the fishing, there is much beauty to be enjoyed while sailing the seas of middle Dalmatia and its many islands, islets and rocks with their untouched nature, crystal clear water and innumerable unnamed beach coves ideal for quiet relaxation.

What is a fishing day like?

Each morning we leave Zadar port at 9. The fishing starts following a 1 1/2 hour sail and continues late into the evening. If you wish, we may make a lunch break and/or a swimming break at a beach that can only be reached by boat. Open sea fishing can be difficult due to large waves or strong wind, but this is all part of the adventure that you will be sharing with the crew. Depending on the season, several fishing techniques can be used in a day and you may partake in as few or as many as you like. Good suggestions, perhaps born of experience, are always welcome. All fishing equipment is provided but if you prefer to use your own gear, which must be adequate, you may do so, with prior agreement with the skipper.

What are the fish and the fishing like?

The fishing season on the waters around Zadar lasts from the beginning of April until the end of December. At the start of the season we troll the open sea for little tuna, use flapper paternoster rigs from the anchored ship as well as the very popular vertical jigging over reefs. These techniques successfully catch amberjack, dentex, grouper, John Dory, forkbeard and several species of blue fish like mackerel, horse mackerel and bonito.

June 15^th is the beginning of the big game fishing season, when we go after large predators in the deep seas. The blue fin tuna is the main target, together with the swordfish and several species of sharks. Big game fishing is very successful throughout its season, which ends on October15^th , with August and September being the best time for giant tuna, when specimens over 200kg are caught. We fish for tuna, swordfish and sharks using drifting and trolling techniques.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBomrz7H-cQ&feature=related

From October until the end of the year the dentex and the amerjack are the main targets. During this time night squid fishing can also be arranged. Three-day trips to the open sea of island Jabuka can be organized between April 1st and July 1st.

About the ship

The Megabite is an Albin 31 fishing boat, with 3.85m hull width and 10.5m length. It is equipped for any fishing technique, with outriggers, a radar, an ultrasound depth/fish finder, a GPS device and a VHS station. Powered by two Yanmar 315kW engines, the ship also has four beds, a deck lounge, a kitchen, a TV and a radio.

Just to add, Igor Zdenjak skipper of the ship is one of the best amateur chefs in Croatia, and he can cook some of his cooking specialties for you at the boat.

contact: izdenjak@net.hr

Paddling a kayak and fishing on lake Lokve

Kayak fishing is more than regular fishing from the boat. It's like a way of life, enjoying the whole story about it. Ocean kayak will give you all you need, mobility and easy paddling vessel that are made even to start the fight with big game fish like tuna. We are really enjoying in each day we spent in kayak no matter do we caught some big fish. The main story from this day is not related to any special fish, but to the lost of one rod that failed from the kayak to the lake. Not happy end, cause we couldn't find it in 20 m depth. This is why you always need to tie rod with a kayak. Speaking about fish, we had 3 pike bites but no catch, and I had many small chub on dry fly. It looks like they have never seen dry fly in their life, so they swallow it on the surface so unadvisedly. That was great, because they are known as a careful fish, not always easy to be caught.

Remarkable Marble trout from river Idrijica (Slovenia)

Our friend from Slovenia, Žiga Tomšić had many capital fish in his life, and he sent me photos of this beautiful Marble trout (Salmo marmoratus) for this blog. Thank you Žiga for this :)

This remarkable trout has been caught 16th of June on river Idrijica. Žiga used Loop Opti Stream 490 #4 rod for this fish. Small nymph has been tied at the end of 0,12 Stroft tippet line. I'm really impressed by the beauty of this fish, and I would like to have one as soon as possible at the end of my fly line, or at least to take some photo of Marble trout. Since Žiga is willing to lead me to this river, I'm thinking to afford myself one trip this year...

Hungry like the wolf

Check this guys !!! A friend of mine had a strike on a weedless rigged discontinued 13 cm LB jerk minnow, and the line broke on the hook set. Bummer! He tied another one, made a cast to the same spot and had another strike. This time everything was fine and a 2 kilo pike was brought to the shore. Well, just then it all got to be funny. He noticed his own broken off leader hanging from the pike mouth, and the previous lb jerk minnow was not to be seen. It was completely in the pike`s gut. As it turned out pike ate it after the line broke, and even decided she wants another one... Crazy! In his words the same sort of incident happened last year too...Do I need to mention LB jerk minnow is his favorite lure.... just to add pike is released back to lake :) (Daniel Vignjevic Dalien)

Beautiful trout from Lokvarsko lake!

Story and photo: Daniel Vignjevic Dalien

This pic is a story of how one bite can change fortune and log a tough day on the water as a great memory! After whole day of pike trolling, working hard and constantly adapting we had no success, and were totally resigned. In the last hour of the day, we decided to give up on pike, and try to land one of elusive lake trout present in this beautiful lake. I reset my rods and replaced heavy pike rigs with Okuma hyper vision monofilament leader and smaller spoons. First pass over 8 met ridge in 13 met water - baam! The queen of Lokvarsko lake was on!
A full story about trolling for lake trout will be found in the next issues of Prakticni Ribolov magazine http://www.prakticni-ribolov.hr/

Stephan Dombaj Junior has left the building...

Well, what to say! I'm always glad to meet new fishing friends, and this one is a real fly fishing star. Stephan Dombaj Junior is famous passionate fly fishing promoter, great caster, founder of Fly Fishing Nation, guiding agent, journalist and photographer... (it is not easy to describe him in one sentence ;)). Star, but simple, warm and nice person, easy to communicate with, like some old buddy. I was honored to be his host yesterday at Ontario lake, focused to catch some carp or pike on fly. Unfortunately, carp were not at the same positions like few days ago, and we couldn't see them in some large schools. But in the shallows, Stephan had one bite and he missed fat carp that was digging the ground in front of him. Complete story you can read at his site Fly Fishing Naton http://www.flyfishingnation.de/2011/06/12/meeting-the-breed-raodtrippin-north-croatia/ so I have no other word to describe it better. Whole bunch of my best friends were there to meet Stephan (Dalien, Ante, Miro, No Name and Crni) and I hope he enjoyed our company. Next time we will guide him in trout and grayling mission to Gorski Kotar :) Thanks to Janko for driving him, Ontario lake to be unpredictable like it can, and to ŠRD Piškor for supporting us. Stephan, see you soon :)

Ribolov Magazine #3

http://www.ribolov.net/