Feathertail Sand Eel and Sightcast Minnow

Feathertail Sand Eel (L): colored tubing, thin saddle feathers and UV resin.
Sightcast Minnow (R): worm hook, bucktail and faux bucktail, bleached peacock

Winter Fishing in Med

I just got back late last night from Samos, Greece. I had a great time, partly due to wonderful Greek family who were my hosts. The fishing was quite slow, the main culprit being very cold weather which rolled over during the second part of my stay and shut everything off. I fished through most days, skipping only the coldest/wettest mornings. Managed to catch only scad. First several mornings looked quite promising, with decent amount of surface activity. I did have one hit/miss from a bonito, since some were around during most mornings. Also threw at barracuda who lingered near the pier, without takes. I observed either large false albacore or baby bluefin in the middle of the bay, smashing through schools of finger mullet. Nothing close within fly range, though. The piers and jetties did harbor a good amount of bait. I am hoping to return for another round in the future... Best time to go would be September-November, which is not surprising.

Baitfish Variety

Baitfish comparison...  Hooks sizes 2/0 and 3/0, narrow vs wider profiles.

Sardinella aurita

Round sardinella (Sardinella aurita), another important Med baitfish for small tunas...

Sardina pilchardus

Tying few more for Med... European pilchard (Sardina pilchardus), tied somewhat more elongated than the naturals. Small tuna attractor, 6" on 3/0 hook. Versions on the second photo are slightly smaller.

Eco-Masterplan for Balkan Rivers

Preventing biodiversity loss in the heart of Europe: Eco-Masterplan for Balkan Rivers 

Colored Tubing Baitfish

Few craft fur candies tied with Hends colored tubing, L to R: pale yellow, olive, pink, sand.

Suspended Squid and Heart-Foam Slider

Inspired by my old heart-foam squids...just smaller. Crease slider below is tied on 3/0 Varivas hook.

Crease Flies

Olive and pink crease flies... Tied with thicker foam on 3/0 Gamakatsu SP11 perfect bend hooks.

More Magnum Candy

Magnum silversides, and also good imitation of European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus.) These imitate full grown specimens, tied on size 2/0 hooks.

Magnum Silversides and Fish Headz

Glass Core

 Albacore on graphite and glass. Jason Zimmer displays a nice albie before the release. He also took the only quality photo of your's truly in this post. Check out Jason's work on Instagram.

Circle vs J-Hooks

Still Going

From past few days... Top photo courtesy of Jason Zimmer.