Zirje for Amberjacks in winter: shaggy cats, hardly any people, a small warm kitchen making the best food, big fish and a yellow postal service van that takes me to the boat. That was my short short holiday on the Croatian island in a nutshell. Then there was a new glowing, shooting star on my ranking of the best skippers. His name is Damir Brajcovic, and this name should be remembered by anybody who wants to fish in Sibenik.
However, one after the other.
Winter fishing off the coast of Croatia – I had tried this before, six years earlier, in Jezera. At that time there were 30 boats on the water in front of Zirje, in between the police boat and an excursion steamer with dozens of anglers, who produced chaos with two decks laid on top of eachother. Of course we didn't catch anything. Now what? Skipper Patrick Baier had assured me that if I planned to spend a week fishing with Damir, I would have a great chance to catch an amberjack, and fortunately for me, I believed him.
Damir, a tall man, who reminded me a little of the submariners in the WWII movie 'The Boat' with his mottled full beard, had picked me up from the airport in Split. After a quick stop in the supermarket, we went to Sibernik and boarded his boat, the 8m long CRNI TIC (tuna bird).
In the darkness of a still distant thunderstorm, torn with thunderbolts, we made the nautical mile journey to Zirje, to the “main” village and ferry dock Muna in the north of the 12km long island.
First, Patrick had wanted me to stay in a small inn, in the northwest which is usually closed during the winter. Damir soon objected to this, after hearing about my sleep apnea, which requires me to use cPap – device, that needs a constant supply of electricity. He told me that the inn uses a generator for electricity, which is notorious for stopping frequently during the night. 'No way!' was his response, he would not take this risk. So Damir accommodated me in the 'more civilised' Muna in the North, on the opposite side of the fishing spots. I was hosted by Naser and his wife, the local post woman, Nada.
On Monday evening, they greeted us with air-dried ham, homemade apple schnapps and lots of warm pancakes. 'Here, I am better' I though to myself and was accommodated in a perfectly equipped apartment called 'Studio' by the Naser, the landlord. There were even a pair of slippers in front of the French bed and my small travel kettle I'd brought along with me was unnecessary.
Damir anchored on the south side of the island in a bay and waited there in the morning for me (from there, we were 6 minutes away from the fishing spot!), it was not a problem. Nada, picked me up on the first day at 7 o'clock, in her post van and delivered me to the quiet bay 10 minutes later: XXL package, express delivery! I hadn't ever experienced this in my long fishing career!
Damir had caught squid the night before, and at dawn, among them a splendid few weighing a good kilogram. 'The big ones catch Amberjacks, the small ones, not so good,' Damir had explained to me. After I had warmed up and worked my way through a 400gr heavey rubber fish, a “Kveitejig”, while jigging, I was secretly grateful when Damir rigged the large squid to the 7m long fluorocarbon leader. Before the leader came another 7m of tops hot (also made from fluorocarbon and a 750g towing lead on a 1.5m long piece of mono. Damir then dropped the squid to a depth of 80-100m, approximately 10m from the sea floor.
The “Aquatic Kveitejig” from the German dealer Sänger is actually developed for Norwegian halibut, but catches mainly in blue and quickly guided Amberjacks quite well. However, the long hook has to be removed and replaced by two assist hooks on short leaders – one at the top and the other at the bottom.
The fish don't react to shiny speedjigs anymore, says Damir. Not because they are learning, but because the greedy and careless have been caught over the past 7 years, leaving the more cautious and suspicious fish, passing on their genes. The Kveiejig had hardly been successful with other anglers in the previous two weeks. “The bigger schools are only forming at the beginning of February,” Damir said.
The large squid did not survive an hour. A fierce bite on the PE 3-5 jigging rod by Graphite Expert and the 10 minute fight on the 20 Stella became pure pleasure for me. Damir then estimated the fish to be 19kg, which later weighed in at 20.3kg. I was very happy, my last drill of an Amberjack, caught on the North Kenya Bank, was 7 years ago.
Now we only had squid in the 400g class. “This is going to be tough now”, I thought – and my eyes widened when Damir exchanged the leader for one with 6 hooks, 5 of which were moveable.: He simply mounted two squid, one behind the other- “This tempts them to bite two, rather than just one,” he says.
I was amazed! Then again, if you can switch from a graduate economist to a professional fisherman, and feed a family for 7 years, then you obviously have to be able to do such tricks.
It turned out that early in the afternoon, such a combination is catchy. Again a bite, and again some fast cracking was necessary in order to catch up the sag in the line created by the sinker and – fish on! This fish behaved strangely though. “Thats no Amberjack” Damir said – and he was right. It turned out that an approx. 1.5m long shark had swallowed the bait. Damir quickly took a photo of the underside of the head and sent it to a professional fisherman friend: “A great smooth shark, they are very common, taste good and we can keep it” was the answer.
This was very true, that evening, Nada fried 'shark-snitzel' for both if us and a steak for Naser, who doesn't eat fish. The shark meat was very tender and free of any shark like taste, she had soaked it in milk before. Nevertheless, I agreed with Damir that the next sharks we hooked, would be released to see another day. – I prefer sharks, alive.
On the second day of fishing, the wind turned south (Yugo) and there were short, steep waves – also in my stomach – which made offshore fishing quite unpleasant, so instead, we came inland and fished for Dentex. It was an interesting experience,: Damir stood on the stern, in his left hand, a light trolling rod, in his right, the remote control for his electric MinnKota motor located on the bow of the boat with the view concentrated on the depth contours of the sonar.
We then trolled for squid and had a little bite. Instead of the hoped for Dentex, a trophy sized weaver fish had grabbed the squid.
On this day, the other boats didn't have much success either: The wind was the harbinger of a storm (first Yugo then Bura), which held me on land for the next few days.
The forced break brought me in addition, very nice experiences. “We make excursion” said Naser and already we were on our way in his small Citroen, lacking number plates. Most of the cars waiting for the summer season (and rusting slowly in the salty air) have number plates. “Nobody need them here, I've only paid two fines in many years” laughed Naser. On the roadside, there are cars in every conceivable condition – from complete scrap metal that nobody disposes of (where would they take them?), to rattling crates that surprisingly still drive, to cars that were still in good condition.
Naser took me to a hill and very proudly showed me a small chapel, abandoned by the church, which he still keeps in good condition. I ask him about his religion because his name sounds Muslim to me. “Yes” he says, “I am a mixture”. His father was a Muslim Bosnian, who apparently prevailed in the naming, his mother, a Croatian Christian, gave him catholic faith. Naser had decorated the chapel with images of saints, devotional objects and crucifixes. “Whether church or Muschel (the German word for shell), all the same,” he says “Shell? Naser???” He prunes. “How do you say? – Ah. Mosque, not Muschel!!!” It escapes him, he has to laugh again.
Back in the car, 60 year old Naser tells me how he learned German at school, along with French: “Very nice words like melody. But forget it,” he says. “You speak too?” – I nodded and he began: “Sur le pont d'Avignon on y dance on y dance…”, and I sing along. How ridiculous: Nowhere on a Croatian island do I sing a French folk song, with a Bosnian who was expelled from his homeland during the war. I can't sing it very well at all, but still, I feel really comfortable!
We moved on. An old man on the street: Naser honks his horn in a friendly manner and stops for a short chat. There are only about 80 people still living on the island. “Everybody knows everybody” he says. Nada, his wife, is 55 years old and the second youngest on the island. There is one lady is under 50 “the geriatric nurse” Naser explains to me.
The ride takes us to a vantage point with a panoramic view. “There lies Sebenik”, says Naser. On the railing in front of me the usual information is engraved such as “New York, 7000km”. A little to the right of it, another engraving points to the “sunset on June 22nd”. I look there in the near open sea.. “Aha”, I think. The excursion is finished.
Walking through the empty streets of the village I see cats, many of small stature with thick winter fur. The rubbish bins are their territory. Other than that, I notice the silence. It is the silence of missing people.
On the day following the storms, the water was still choppy, but fishable. Although the Amberjacks, that we saw on the sonar, kept their mouths tightly shut.
“This is probably due to the heavy thunderstorms at night” Damir explained to me: The fish were extremely irritated by the strong, bright flashes and were still very nervous the following day. This is also the case with the tuna in the fattening farms, the bluefins panic during the storms and many fish die. – A small Dentex weighing around 2kg pitied himself and was received by Nada with shining eyes.
The next day, a Sunday, it was empire weather: bright sunshine, little wind and a calm sea. We had 3 Amberjacks, one of 17kg, the second 25kg and the third about 30kg on board by the afternoon – and we were the only one of 7 boats that caught that day.
This was not a coincidence: two of the boats motored beside us for some time and Damir, a very fair angler, gave them tips on how to fish with a squid tandem. However, what makes Damir a successful skipper, besides his intimate knowledge of the fishing spots and techniques is his Mind Kota, with which he steers the boat silently over the fish. “They are now also sensitive to noise,” says Damir.
Amberjacks must be stopped after the bite and should be taken away from the reef immediately. This is not always possible. Patricks skipper Ivo had lost a 50kg Amberjack on the day of my arrival, which pulled relentlessly between the stones and came away the winner. The best time for them? January-February, Amberjacks bite: when the wind refreshes, one hour before low tide at dawn or dusk, after new moon until full moon. The days around new moon and afterwards are not so good. However, they do not always play by this rule…
I've learned a lot from these days. Among other things, that squid fishing is an art in itself. For example, the trolling with big squid wobblers. Damir has weighed down a hand line of strong mono with many lead olives.
He trolled two of the wobblers motoring at about 2.4 knots, 40m behind the boat, 12-13m deep approximately 1.5m above the bottom. This method is mostly successful in the moonlight, no matter if increasing or decreasing. (In the full moon light on Monday, Damir caught more than 20kg in squid!) On moonless nights this method makes no sense: “Then green shining plankton hang on the line and the squid don't bite”, he says. Damir fishing by drifting and lures squid under the boat using light.
This week brought me many new impressions and experiences and I felt very well taken care of. Ashore at the friendly Naser and Nada, who cooked me delicious food every evening in their small kitchen.
I also felt like I was in very good hands with Damir, who is an excellent skipper. With him you can have good conversation on board and listen to nice music. For me, one thing is certain: With Damir and the winter fishing, Patrick Baier has now opened up a jewel whose glitter has a high potential for addiction, at least for me…
More information: info@biggame-kroatien.de
