Golden queen of river rapids

Sava is amazing river. I am sure that in the larger area you can't find other river that offers fishing adventures as you can have it here around Zagreb. Big asp and chub, pike perch, pike and catfish are species you can target with lures, but there is one species that isn't typical carnivore and here is acting like the greatest robber attacking small minnow fish. We do not know what is causing this behavior, probably large amounts of small whitefish that is common food for all fish species here, but in joke we are saying that it may be a nuclear power plant which was built on the river upstream in Slovenia, that makes some fish species here so big and aggressive like barbel.

Barbel, the golden queen of river rapids is commonly fished with different types of minnow like plastic and silicone lures and can be fished with streamers, nymphs and jigs too. There is one lure that is perfect for this type of fishing. Duo Realis Shad 59MR gave me some good chub, but barbel absolutely love it or hate it that much that in some areas of river it is almost sure it will be violently attacked by this beautiful and powerful fish. Some colors works better than other, but Neo Perl is a winner. On river Sava you can even see how barbel attack small fish. You just need to put this lure in area behind large rocks where river rapids are created, hold it in right position where lure vibrates and works at one place. No need to retrieve, just wait for attack, and give some action with the top of the rod, moving your lure few meters left and right, up and down. 

Some barbel are really big here, weight up to 5 kg or more, so you can expect high adrenaline action when you have it at the other side of line. To be honest sometimes it is difficult to get it out of the fast water. Some fish were unhooked after tough fight and some straightened the lure hook in my case. Breaking lines can be avoided by using braided line with the help of reel brakes. I found useful to have unhooking mat for gently removal of hooks, and to rest the fish during photo shooting before releasing it back to the river. So, try your Duo Realis Shad 59MR in rapids of your river and enjoy fishing your barbel and other fish species around the world with DUO lures (among other from your boxes) ;).

Vibration is important

http://duo-inc.co.jp/en/fieldreport/world/2013/07/161017.php

Duo Realis Vibration series of plastic lures are designed to be successful bass catchers, but the largest model Vibration 68 seems to be "a must have lure" for catfish and other river predators. Since last year I have been fishing only few times with this lure, and almost each time I had specimen of this mustached fish on my rood. OK, till now all caught fish are not that big, but I have to admit that the largest catfish broke my braided fishing line and escaped with my lure in it's mustache. I couldn't stop it when it started to swim downstream, and I really think this was a nice trophy catfish, I'm dreaming to have on my photos in the future.

Design of this lure is absolute perfect for fishing in the rivers. Heavy enough with narrow profile looking from above has excellent casting abilities, and it is great for searching the areas in the river. It produces fantastic vibrations with sound effect that is irresistible to catfish. And not only to catfish. I have some chub on this lure, and smaller sized version 52 is great for asp. The main point is in leading this lure trough the river. I always use river currents as the energy without or with slow retrieving, allowing the lure to run along the river and holding my braided line tight. At the end I stop it and let it vibrate in the place on the edge of the river rapids, holding my rod high enough to place lure approximately 1 meter from the bottom of the river. It is important to feel the tiny vibration produced by lure in river current and just to hold the rod without any action waiting for fish to bite. You can let the lure for one minute to work on this way at one place, and than move it upstream slowly and repeat the procedure. Some fish will took lure in free swimming along the river current when you are just holding your braided line tight. The other fish will took lure when vibrates in the place or when lure is slowly retreived near the bank. Sometimes adding the action with the top of the rod helps, but this lure works for you without wasting your energy for any fast retrieving. Of course you can twitch it sometimes and add some moves with feeling to provoke the fish, but generally you need to use lures vibration and keep your energy to fight with the fish. It is well known that catfish is a great fighter, that deserves to be released like other fish back to water after a short photo session.

Asp fly fishing

A chub story

This is a photo story about real game fish - chub, that lives in almost all inland waters in Croatia. You can find it in high mountain streams and rivers, as well as in large lowland rivers and lakes. Usually fishermen catch it with various fishing techniques and types of lures and baits, but it is a shame not to use fly rod and flies made by yourself. Sometimes it will took nymph type of flies or some jig bellow the surface, but the real thing is happening at the surface of the water. You can try with two types of flies. Imitations of large insects (grasshopper or bumblebee for example) or with a floating streamers that imitates small prey fish. This is a real sight fly fishing and your fly has to be thrown right at the fish head, but  fish should not see you at first. Long leader is necessary, but diameter should not be less than 0,18 mm.  Be quiet on the coast, and you can have fly fishing of your life, with a significant number of fish, some of which hits the edge of the 60 cm, and weight 3,5 kg or maybe more. The other fish species that can be simultaneously caught with chub in our large inland rivers is asp, but this is a part of another fishing story.