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Writer's picturevalfinity

Winter fishing for Dentex and Amberjack in Croatia - Adriatic sea

Updated: Jun 15, 2023

Since the dawn of time, we have been driven by the instinct for survival and the instinct for hunting. I am not talking about money, at the moment. What once kept us alive (food) now makes us happy. Whether it's hunting wild game or fishing, both can be considered a hobby if it's not a job. I am not a hunter and I don't move in those circles, but I believe we can be divided into similar categories: people who use fishing as an escape from in-laws, bosses, or everyday routines, and those who don't expect anything else but to socialize with incomprehensible voices in the wee hours of the night. Unlike them, a smaller group of people still want to catch something. After that, everything else can be reduced to the goal, which is to catch any fish, or targeted catch, and even a trophy fish. The next step in progress is "psychology", where your goal is not only to catch the beast but to catch it in an imagined way - a certain fishing technique.



Personally, I love a wide range of fishing techniques and appreciate them all. During my life, fishing has taken me to various places where I had the opportunity to try out different things and gain different experiences. Everything has its charm. But personally, I believe that very little can compare to the adrenaline that a person feels when fishing for predators. The cunning, unpredictability, strength, and beauty of predators, in my opinion, are incomparable to other species. What I like most and what motivates me in hunting for predators is the wide range of fishing techniques, from stationary (fishing with dead and live bait from shore) to fishing on the move (shore spin fishing and boat fishing - spinning, jigging, trolling), as well as the game of outsmarting the fish, which requires me to make more strategic efforts because it is harder to catch. The feeling of the hunt itself, from preparation and execution to the final catch, is priceless.


Trolling with PANULA system


The term "panula" refers to a fishing technique that involves moving the boat to animate both artificial and live or dead bait. Those who think that panula fishing is just a matter of dragging lures or bait through the sea or freshwater and that they will catch something sooner or later, obviously have never tried it. Panula fishing is a very complex fishing technique that can last for a longer or shorter period, depending on the dynamics of fishing. In addition to the way the lure or live bait is pulled, the speed, depth, and location of fishing, knowledge of the targeted species, various decoys, the method of the system, and the weight of the panula, as well as the arrangement and spacing between the weights, are required.

Although I have previously written about fishing with artificial bait, I believe that in the pursuit of trophy-sized large marine predators, live or even dead bait is much better. The time of year determines the type of bait that will be caught during a certain season. In the autumn, winter, and spring, while walking along the beaches and promenades, you will often see the remains of night fishing for various cephalopods (inkfish). During this time of year, all small fish are withdrawn to deeper parts of the water and are therefore not accessible to panula fishers. Needlefish is always plentiful, but it is excellent for summer panula fishing when other bait (such as cephalopods) are much less abundant and therefore more difficult to catch. We conclude that in this period of the year, it is best to use what is abundant. However, this year, there seems to be very little of it (of course, I am talking about squid).



Through my experience and time spent fishing, I realized that each year is specific due to different weather conditions and circumstances, and it is necessary to adapt and maximize results. This year is very specific with long, warm periods, and the habitat of squid is very far from our fishing areas. The sea temperature is the most important limiting factor in activating the feeding instincts of predators and other fish. It is known that there is a certain curve, a combination of a parabola and a hyperbola, that describes the presence of a particular organism in a given year - which means that along the curve, the presence of the organism can be higher or lower the following year, but never the same. Therefore, I believe that this year's smaller number of squid and the more difficult catch is closely related to last year when they were abundant.


How about those calamari this year?


I believe everyone who went squid fishing this year has their own best version of how to catch them. The lack of squid in the nets this winter drove me crazy. It's an unpleasant feeling when a spider bites the last squid you managed to keep until the evening. After that, it's digging through the pile of dead and rotten squid and mounting them on the jig. It's a nightmare, to say the least. I can't say that I haven't had success with dead squid, but live squid is still better. You've probably seen on the Internet how squid behave when approached by a predator, and it's clear why even the disinterested and lazy can't resist them.

The average catch of squid in the areas of the central Adriatic where I fish this year is six to eight pieces from four in the afternoon to seven in the morning. I've tried all kinds of combinations, but using the jig in the evening until dark, at 15 meters, would get me one or two squid. Then, depending on the area, depth, and current, anchoring or drifting, using small jigs 5 to 8 cm long, soft and soaked or sprayed with fish or squid scent, I can catch up to six squid at night. At dawn, I go back to jigging in shallower waters, about 10 to 12 meters deep, where I might catch one, haha. With the sunrise and the first hour after, I can catch one or two more by drifting at a depth of 30 to 40 meters. That's what I call perseverance! Of course, after that, there's no rest or bed, but we turn on the engine and head to the nearest post office where hungry spiders are waiting for us, and we dream of groupers and dentex.

Predators (in this case, the target species is dentex and grouper) can be divided into those that hunt alone or in small and large schools. Schools usually form before the spawning period (the fishing ban for dentex is from April 15 to June 15 because it's the spawning time from late spring to mid-summer). Then the frequency and need for feeding increase. Depending on whether they are in a school or not, their hunting tactics change. Moreover, some fish species that hunt alone sometimes form small or large schools and accordingly change their hunting tactics. Hunting from ambush or camouflage turns into careful tactics of hunting as a group - like a sports team, coordinating hunting tactics within the school and synchronizing during the actual hunt. Usually, it involves driving small fish towards where the ambush is set up, away from the rest of the school. This allows us to catch several trophy specimens of grouper or dentex in a micro-location.


Bait


Autumn/winter fishing with live bait, depending on whether we fish in the northern, central or southern part of the Adriatic, is tied to great depths, specific to that particular area. I believe that, like me, most of you feel a certain amount of awe towards the fish we are trying to catch. In the central Adriatic, specifically the area around the island of Žuta with its numerous small islands and rocks, things have changed a bit. Unlike last year, when I had good results fishing along the island shores, this year the situation is a bit different. There was some action on the islands, but it was incomparable to the action around the rocks. I had the time and opportunity to follow the migration of large predators from shallower autumn spots/rocks, where the fish were at 35-45m, to deeper and slightly simpler spots at 45-70m. These spots were simpler in terms of less abrupt and steep depth transitions.


Since fishing is closely tied to weather conditions and it's easier to catch fish during warmer months when the sea is rough in combination with clouds that make it harder for fish to see the line or rig, sunny weather in winter allows fish to spot our bait more easily at those respectable depths. I haven't noticed that a leader as long as the bait made of Kevlar with hooks literally made of hooks bothers the gof or zubac. I believe that due to reduced visibility, it's much easier to deceive the fish. The only problem is actually getting close enough and moving slowly enough.

I've noticed that fish migrations, up or down by a few meters, weren't happening on a weekly basis but rather on a daily one! The sun was definitely my reference point. It even happened that on a cloudy, rough day, I caught gofovi on zubonja posts, and if there were any strikes on squid by zubonja, the realization of the bite as well as the force of the strike weren't at a satisfying level. I literally pulled the squids out without any body parts. It looked like a human bite on a bread crust. I couldn't believe how determined and aggressive they were on sunny days.


When fishing for dentex at such depths, do not expect the rod to be pulled out of your hand and the like. People with less experience will first think that they are snagging, i.e., hitting the bottom with the sinker. In 90% of cases, since I hold the rod in my hand for timely reaction and additional reading of the terrain and situation with bait, the bite looks like tapping the top of the rod, which I always accompany with a slight deviation of the rod in the direction of the fishing line. Finally, this tapping turns into a resistance that sometimes begins to pull the fishing line from the spool with great force, and sometimes sluggishly (the drag must be adjusted just right so that it does not give in under the weight of the sinker or the influence of the strength of the current and the movement of the boat, but on the other hand, it is on the verge of giving in). And that's exactly when I strike. Striking is quite complex if you do it alone. At the very moment when the fishing line starts to unwind, you need to add throttle to tension the system, and at the same time, with the other hand, strike the fish sharply and briefly, as they say. If you have done everything well and the fish starts to run, you must be aware that you are her guest and that she knows her neighborhood very well. This means that she will try with all her might to reach the bottom and the safety of the rocks and crevices that are interspersed with it, and in this way, by burrowing and scraping, try to break the leader or, in the worst case, get stuck in some hole from which it is almost impossible to extract it.



If you were not able to pull the fish away from the reef or shore by adding gas and driving, and strong but measured reeling into deeper waters where you are in control, and if it still manages to hide, there is nothing else left to do but wait for it to come out. Depending on how patient you are and how much you trust your gear, and if you still feel the fish on the rod, I recommend keeping the system constantly tense and waiting for about 20 minutes. If the fish does not come out then, try to pull it out with a sideways drive and a little stronger reeling as much as possible. If you succeed, congratulations, as it is not often that you come out as a winner from such a situation. As for the gof (amberjack), unlike dentex, it is much stronger and explosive. I believe that no amount of caffeine can wake you up as much as a violent strike and the unwinding of the line while you are already dozing off around noon due to lack of sleep and fatigue. The drilling routine is similar, but unlike dentex (which you drag like a rag to the surface after separating it from the bottom), the gof keeps you breathless until the end of the fight, that is, until it reaches the boat.


Advice


Finally, a note for those of you who are a little braver: I warn you not to take winter, wind, moisture, and cold at sea lightly. For this reason, I suggest warm clothing and footwear, from skull caps, gloves, long pants to hiking boots and thermal suits. There are no crowds at sea, and you are not on the fashion runway, so if you look like a hamburger (which is really warm), you have nothing to be ashamed of. Respect big fish because they reward you with their strong fight and beautiful appearance. Release their little ones back into the water and try not to harass or overfish them during spawning season and fishing ban periods, which are well known to everyone. Good sea!

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