Fun in Greece.

 Recently back from our yearly holiday break in Greece. Typically we arrived in foul weather back in Skye whilst it was a very hot September back there. Back in Greece we spent most of the time with family at my hometown but also went south to the Peloponnese for a wedding. This was a good opportunity for fishing there and I had my usual light game setup ( Crostage CRX-784LG, Stradic ci4 2500f) and a heavier one (Gamakatsu Akilas mobile 80H, Daiwa Ballistic LT 6000). 

In all I used the light gear 95% of the time as I just didn't get the conditions or see signs of good fish. I had some sessions from the inflatable paddle board and a few from shore. I had to work for my fish most of the time but when I encountered 'tasty' conditions ( choppy sea) the fish would switch on. Surprisingly I encountered the most new species ever, managing to catch wee amberjacks, tunny, blue runner, pompano and a dentex! I was thinking that I'd get these species down south but actually my local area was the most productive... I did have a close encounter with a beautiful mahi mahi coming inches of my tiny metal jig but deciding against hitting it in Nafplio. That place had a good variety of predator species but I didn't manage to get anything decent out of it unfortunately.

There were 2 days that stood out for me. A wee shore session on a windy day whilst we were at the beach. I fished a rocky bay and caught some feisty wee amberjacks, a tunny OTT and raised a couple bass but only had one half-hearted hit from them. Cracker of a light game session! The other day that stood out was when we rented a boat for half a day and explored around the nearby little islands. We encountered masses of aggressive garfish that would hit most lures and that's where I also got my first dentex on a Savagear Gravity Pencil! 

Scenery from an ISUP...

Feisty wee Amberjacks! 

They fought well...

...but this guy fought harder!

My first pompano ( litsomelanuro in Greek)

Surprisingly few scad and false scad this time...

A nice bream on a metal 

A tiny wee blue runner!

Masses of garfish!

The queen of the Mediterranean!

I also had a couple freshwater outings where I mainly got chub on topwaters. I had a couple donkey sized chub spit my popper or come unhooked straight away that really got the heart going. These were definite pb fish and I suppose they'll have to wait a year...

The day before our return flights, I took a few topwaters and went down the local canal just to see if any wee jacks or chub would give me a pull. I got much more 'pull' than I expected as I lost a fat chub at my feet (I didn't get the net with me) and proceeded to lose 4 more poppers getting cut-off on jacks or snagged up by good chub! I think I need to get a designated heavy- cover  topwater setup for these situations. Still able to cast small lures but with more backbone for landing fish in these overgrown spots.

Popper engulfed...

Plenty of this size...

Didn't get their grandparents this time unfortunately...

As always the days went by pretty quickly but that's the way it goes when you're having fun. Already I have some ideas of things to try next time I'm over, namely getting the ISUP in the canals and maybe visit an island too. 

Returning to Skye in the current weather was a rude awakening of sorts but I'm hoping to get out as soon as conditions settle for the 'golden' part of the season!

Tight lines 

Holidays done.

 Back to Skye a couple days ago from my month long holidays in Greece. This was not strictly speaking a holiday as we went there to do our wedding and baptise the children, hence most of the time was spent with family and preparing everything. 

I only managed 4-5 sessions and most of them in freshwater. I did get a bucket list fish though as we visited Lake Plastira for a few days after the wedding. Its a dam  with rocky bottom and it has good numbers of predatory barbel. In my area in N Greece we don't have this species and I've always wanted to catch one on a lure.

Being midsummer I assumed that they would be close to deeper water and I caught one close to the actual dam. I used a variety of lures and presentations, trying to mimic crustaceans and small fish near the bottom by mainly bottom-bouncing and yo yo jigging but the fish preferred a bronze spoon on a straight retrieve a few meters from the bottom (!). Its always good to be surprised in fishing... Unfortunately i snagged and lost that lure a few casts later and didn't get any other bites. I was hoping that this trip wouldn't turn out to be a grind fishing-wise but the fish had other ideas... I fished a couple other areas with the ISUP and whilst I could see fish jumping (seemed mainly for parasite removal not hunting) they wouldn't hit. The last morning of our stay there, I revisited the dam and fished small metal jigs on a straight retrieve. It took a while but I got another bite and an unreal fight from a better specimen. These fish fight like salmonids! I released the fish and fished another hour or so for no more bites...

Streamlined power.

My first barbel on lure.

A much better specimen!

ISUP on the lake

To be fair I knew from my research that the autumn months are better for these fish and it felt like they were just post-spawn right now. Nevertheless I got another species scratched off the list. I'll definitely plan a dedicated trip for them sometime in the future.

The last few days in Greece saw me have a couple lrf sessions from the ISUP which has become my favourite summer fishing style. One day I had a good number of species and located a group of yellow scad but had to cut the outing short and the next day my efforts were thwarted by an actual storm that justified my purchase of a double paddle for the paddleboard...

ISUP lrf annular bream.

A wee melanouri (saddled bream)

Yellow scad are great fun!

Needless to say we also got covid as well and it seemed like nature was conspiring against me catching fish..! Perseverance pays off though and on my last session on my last day in Greece, I chose to visit my favourite dam close to home. It was raining but meant to clear later on (great conditions for midsummer fw fishing). I had a big fat chub on a fiiish black minnow imitation even before inflating the paddleboard and many more came afterwards along with some wee perch. The best action came near dusk where I experienced the best topwater bite in freshwater ever! The chub would attack anything that touched the water and I lost count of how many fish hit!

Fat chub!

A few of them about..

Topwater chublet.

It was tricky landing them on the ISUP with all the trebles flying about and I'll need to make a cradle or something for holding the fish on... I used cicada- like topwaters, small poppers and walkers. All of them got hit equally though I had better hook ups with double trebled lures.

I can't recommend the ISUP highly enough for summer fishing in calm waters. It has really opened up a ton of fishable ground for me and I'm seriously thinking of customising mine for more serious fishing, ie add seat, transducer mount etc. The low cost, speed of deployment, speed on water and quiet approach make it a perfect fishing platform. I suppose having my inflatable pedal kayak in Greece would be an even better fishing vessel but setting up the kayak and launching can feel a bit of a faff while the ISUP is a doddle. 

I'm really looking forward to some solid fishing here now. Need a few sessions on the mackerel and possibly sea trout but we'll see how it goes. Got some guiding booked and time to get serious soon as Autumn is just around the corner! 

Tight lines!

Holiday fishing with an ISUP!

 Been home for a few days now after my holidays back in Greece. Only went for a couple weeks and it was mostly for family time, especially since my folks hadn't seen the baby yet. I wasn't too fussed about serious fishing but I did want to visit the dams for perch and chub and this time I had a secret weapon...! I brought along an inflatable paddle board (ISUP) and was keen on trying to fish off that. 

The main reason behind the SUP purchace was because one of the dams had gotten overgrown with vegetation and it was very difficult to fish from the shore. I hadn't fished there for more than a decade even though it held big perch and chub.

I opted for a beginner ISUP, the Suprfit 10.8. Its fairly straightforward inflating it etc, though I bought a double paddle as it only comes with a single for stand up use. To be honest I just needed a stable platform to fish from and be easy to paddle. I did try to stand but only when I was playing with it on the beach and let's just say sitting or kneeling is much better for me...lol  Blaming my extra holiday weight for the lack of balance!

Anyway, the ISUP proved to be very good for what I wanted it to do though unfortunately things have changed on the dams... The overgrown dam seemed to have been reclaimed by nature! The road there was full of fallen rocks and had young trees growing on the sides. Moreover the place where I used to park was so overgrown I drove past it without recognizing it! Eventually, I found a single access point to the water and managed to get the ISUP in. I started casting a small spoon around and it didn't take long to get a fish on! A very nice chub came up after a spirited tussle. Been a while since I had a chub and I was chuffed with this one. Its another obliging and pure fun fish to catch! I had a few more smaller fish on little cicada topwaters but it was slow fishing  for sure. Near sundown I concentrated my efforts for perch but despite fishing with little shads and drop shot I got no perch bites... Instead, I had another good chub on a little Fiiish black minnow imitation. Surprisingly, this fish was caught deep, where I wouldn't expect to find them. The water temperature was quite high so maybe that was the cause. 

The high water temperature along with the increased vegetation may have been the reasons why I didn't get any perch. In the other dam, I found them where they usually are, near boulders and a drop off into 15m+ water. Therefore I should have searched for deeper water structure. I suppose that's something for next year...

 

 

 

 I could really stay fishing on the lakes for days but unfortunately time was yet again against me. Reckon theres a PB chub and perch hiding in there for sure!I have left he SUP there for next Summer anyway. Im sure it could have applications here in Scotland (with wet/dry suit) but the wind would make things tricky for sure. On small lochs though it could definitely help.

Back in Skye now and will have a couple days targeting perch and pike before I hit the pollock again. Its about time for topwaters!

Tight Lines

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quick trip to Greece.

Just back from a week's holiday trip in Greece. It was mostly for visiting family and chilling out, but managed to grab a travel rod as well.
Due to the hot Autumn they are having I was hoping I could re-visit the canals and rivers of my area, that I haven't fished in years. Chub and jacks were my main targets and I used mostly little topwaters and spoons for them.
Unfortunately, as usual, the time was very limited and only managed a quick session or two. The canals in my area are generally overfished (netting) and the fish tend to be very small unless a boat or belly boat is applied to get to areas away from the road. Nevertheless, I had some fun with chublets and jacks both hitting the little lures hard, especially the jacks were going airborne for them!
It was such enjoyable fishing that took me back down memory lane and the fishing I did in my youth... Reckon I'll try and get a trip in early September next year as its the best time of the year for this.

If only I could find small topwaters 16 years ago!

Flying cucumbers!

Engulfed.

Also had a couple casts in the salt.

Usual suspects.

I used my Major Craft Crostage CRX-784LG paired with the Shimano Stradic 1000FC. Lures were mainly Aliexpress cheapos and the chub tended to show preference for more natural colours while the jacks wanted 'loud' ones.
Back to windy Skye now and looking forward to the winter fishing. Weather seems to be improving towards the end of the week and Ill try and make the most of it.

Tight Lines

Gear used
Rod: MajorCraft Crostage travel CRX-784LG
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000Fc
Mainline: Duel Hardcore x4 PE0.6
Leader: Toray Excellent fluorocarbon 6.8lbs
Lures: Various

Freshwater fun!

Whenever I go back home in the warmer seasons, one fishing opportunity I never miss, is to head to the dams of the Nestos river to target mainly perch. These dams haven't got a great variety of fish and a distinct lack of the main large European freshwater predators. Although this doesn't sound promising to the lure-angler, in fact it has lead to good numbers of quite large perch thriving in the artificial lakes and becoming the apex predator there. More over there are many (also predatory) chub along with the introduced pumpkinseed and occasionally rainbow trout.
Usually September-October is considered the best time of the year to target the perch and after organising the details, I loaded the car and set off. I was planning to fish two spots of the lake that have served me well in the past with good catches. On reaching the larger Thisavros dam I was slightly worried about the low water levels as from previous knowledge, this means that my first mark probably wouldn't produce... Despite this, i decided to head down for a couple casts and see whats there.
 I was fishing right under the main bridge of the dam and after some casts it was obvious that there were no fish as expected. Changing tactics, I rigged a small silver spoon and started retrieving near the surface hoping that a chub might go for my lure.. i got the first small one from a very shallow area and released it straight away. Moving further, I was walking along the bank that now stands much higher than the waters edge and I saw a nice chub wandering near the shore without noticing me.. I made a cast a few meters towards its direction and saw the fish change course and attack the lure! After a short fight I got the fish up, and released it after the photo. Soon after I decided to move to my second mark as the sun was going down and I didn't have much time left.

Under the bridge...

..and looking to the right.

First one.

Second chub.

The second spot is a mini-dam of a small river, connected to the main dam by massive underwater pipes. The main factor for perch fishing in this lake is the existence of rocks and boulders, that the perch seem to prefer over other habitats. The small dam is made completely out of big boulders, thus creating a good place for the perch.
I started fishing with dropshotted small minnow imitations and after a few small perch I felt the slight 'touch' that bigger fish tend to do, and connected to a better fish. After a lively fight I hand-landed it and released it back straight after the photo as these fish need to be put back fast in order to get to the bottom (sensitive to pressure changes).
Although I persisted with the dropshot and jigging shads, i only managed some smaller ones and headed back to the car as it was already dark.

The small dam.

What I wanted..

it coughed up this!

After a rather comfortable sleep in the car, I woke up early and headed down the dam as sunrise and early morning is the best time for big perch. I decided to start with a small shad on a jighead, in order to cover the area more a\efficiently and was planning to use the dropshot once i found the fish. I got a bite on the second cast and after a very good fight I landed a beautiful plumb perch that filled my with anticipation for what was coming next.. Disappointingly it wasn't meant to be and I could only get smaller perch and even they were few and far between. I even swapped my lead for a pilker but could not find any bigger specimens.

The only decent fish of the morning.

This usually works...

The sun was already high on the sky and was getting very hot, so I decided to fish on the opposite side of the dam and experiment with different lures and presentations for the small fish. I got my new LRF rod (my friend stepped on my previous one in Mytilini!) the Majorcraft Solpara SPS-S792M (7'9", 0.5g-5g). and my old Tica Libra 2500 reel that was filled with 3.9lbs Toray  Bawo Upgrade fluorocarbon. I started by using some small cicada lures (metal vibration) that i had previously used in the sea but with limited success. Whilst retrieving I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of bites I was getting and then fish.. Both perch and chub seemed to go mad about them while ignoring the small spinners that is the main lure used here for them. I then tried some spinner-tails that were clearly more effective on perch. The fish were attacking the fry that was shoaling up on the bay formed by the dam and near the rocks. Thus i decided to use small straight soft lures as in saltwater LRF to mimic them. Although perch love straight soft plastic lures, i had never before caught any chub on them but today the seemed to tear them up with fish coming in a steady stream. They were not of a great size but superb fun on the LRF gear.

Power Isome is good in freshwater too..

  As I was fishing, I heard a splash a couple meters away and saw an otter looking at me and clearly surprised as much as me by this encounter! After the otter the fish moved further away from the shore and as it was already very hot, i decided to head back home. Although I didn't manage to get more of the bigger specimens, I'm planning to visit the dam soon and hopefully I'll have better luck next time. I thoroughly enjoyed the fishing and got very positive feedback from the new rod even though it was purchased in haste.


Thanks for reading!

Gear used.
Rod: Major Craft KG Evolution KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g and  Major craft Solpara SPS-S792M (7'9", 0.5g-5g)
Reel: Shimano Stradic Ci4 2500f and Tica Libra 2500fd
Mainline: Spiderwire Ultracast Fluorobraid 10lbs, YGK nitlon DFC fluoro leader 10lb and Toray Bawo Upgrade Fluorocarbon, 3.9lbs
rigs: mainly dropshot and jigheads for the softplastics.
Lures: various