Sergey Voronkin is known to most anglers interested in sea fishing and at least a little to those who follow publications on the topic of sea predator spinning fishing on the Internet. And it’s not only the Russian-speaking audience, despite the fact that Sergey’s web-site Shore Fishing Games, articles of which are devoted to practical advice and sketches from fishing, is in Russian. Another Sergey’s Internet project doesn’t require translation into other languages. It’s a YouTube channel under the same name Shore Fishing Games, which has more than 11,000 subscribers and more than 3 million views nowadays. Sergey shoots the process of fishing with the camera, then, he edits videos, which help a lot of enthusiastic anglers around the world to learn or supplement their experience of the sea spinning fishing. Moreover, all these short films are shot on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, so there is an obvious reason for adriaticnature to start the “Conversation” column with a chat with Sergey.
(Sergey Voronkin with a Atlantic bonito caught on a metal jig. Photo by © adriaticnature.сom)
Sergey, congratulations on the recent hitting the Top 15 Surf Fishing Youtube Channels To Follow In 2018, dedicated to sea fishing from the shore. You absolutely deserve it! And at the beginning of our conversation, I want to ask a question about your YouTube channel. Tell me, please, what made you create a video version of Shore Fishing Games? Are you going to develop the channel, the number of views of which indicates a great interest of the audience?
Hi, hi everyone and good afternoon! Thank you very much for congratulations and kind words! But, before answering the questions, I’d like to express the great joy I’m feeling right now from the fact that the adriaticnature project was finally started! I know that it wasn’t started “suddenly”, I want to congratulate you on this remarkable event! I know the circumstances and I have no doubt that it will be a “must-read” resource!
As for Shore Fishing Games, I want to clarify that initially, it was the YouTube channel, which I created after I got interested in fishing videos that I published on my personal channel “just for myself”. And only then I decided to create a website and a Facebook page.
To be honest, I didn’t expect such hype about my absolutely amateur videos. I think this is due to the fact that at some point, some third-party and, apparently, popular resources began to post them on their pages. Hence, the number of views and subscribers increased. For example, I have a minute video with the bite of obvious trophy amberjack (I think it was this video), where it, with the screech of the friction, break the assist hook, and this video has more than a million views!
(Bite of amberjack that has over a million views. Video by © Shore Fishing Games)
In my opinion, a video with an impressive catch, of a large tuna or amberjack, for example, (YouTube is full of such videos) is worth such a number of views. But, of course, that bite was very exciting and important for me, especially in terms of reliability of tackle. So, I treat my “popularity” on YouTube with a certain degree of skepticism, although I won’t play cunning, it an extreme pleasure to see such an interest in my humble exploits! Thank you! I keep on taking a camera on fishing and I’m not going to stop developing, rather on the contrary!-)
Thank you very much for your kind words! adriaticnature will try to be interesting and useful for readers. Tell me, please, a few words about the equipment for shooting you use. A few days ago, when we got out to barracuda fishing, you said that you had picked up a more or less optimal set for shooting. What is it? What didn’t satisfy you in the equipment that you used before? What programs do you use to edit your videos?
Currently, I have two working action cameras. YI 4K+ and Sony AS200V, the former is the main, and I use the latter sometimes (when I’m not too lazy-) as an auxiliary camera for shooting from outside. Earlier, Sony was the main one, but it has a rather limited range of video settings and there is an unpleasant feature – when the weather is hot, and this is especially true for Montenegrin summer, it overheats and turns off automatically. Moreover, now it has run its course, although the picture is very good. YI 4K+ is almost perfect for me, but GoPro 6 is probably still more interesting. The camera is usually attached to the chest, while fishing, I plug in the power bank, turn on continuous shooting and “forget” about it for about 4-5 hours until the memory card runs out or the battery discharges. After fishing, I choose interesting moments, process them in the video editor and share them on my YT-channel or page on Facebook. As for editing, at the moment, I’ve chosen the Final Cut Pro program. I had quite a lot of experiments in this area before.
(Catching of leerfish weighing 7 kg. Video by © Shore Fishing Games)
The vast majority of videos on your channel are devoted to fishing with jigs, and we can conclude that your favorite “shore fishing game” is shore jigging. Why is it the jig? Is it the efficiency of catching, aesthetics, or anything else?
Yes, shore jigging is my passion! This technique revealed new feelings and emotions in me, as in the fisherman! I think I won’t be mistaken if I say that this is exactly what you need for true fans of sea sport fishing, fans of excitement and adrenaline. When you take a powerful spinning rod in your hands, put your hand on the ball of the handle-knob of the sea reel, and you get the bite of a 10-kilogram fish on fast following of a heavy lure, you forget such concepts as fishing line for bottom fishing or cork float, carp anglers, I beg your pardon! Consciousness is automatically tuned to further improvement of this particular way of fishing. Undoubtedly, shore jigging is a technique that gives great chances of catching a strong and large fish, a real predator and a worthy opponent, from the shore, using the spinning rod. This is very addictive. But sea fishing is very diverse. And trophy fighters are not always available from the shore. So fishing is not limited to one way of catching, there is always a place and time for plugs, topwater lures, soft plastic lures and many others.
(Gray trigger caught on metal jig. Photo by © Shore Fishing Games)
Of course, jigs are not just “pieces of metal”, equipped with trebles and painted differently. Manufacturers, who produce quality lures, implement the design of the developer in them and test them on water bodies to ensure efficiency. Tell me, please, does the experience of catching fish with a huge number of jigs produced by different manufacturers enable you to classify these lures by common features? Is there a correlation between the types of jigs and their following options? What are they?
Metal lures, the so-called jigs or metal jigs, provide very a wide range of opportunities for sea fishing. In their case, there are no restrictions on either the following options or the working depths. You can catch demersal fish, swimming in the stones deep down, and fish hunting in the middle and upper layers of water. Hence, there is a variety of forms and followings. For example, for catching fish species that live near the bottom, asymmetric lures with a displaced center of gravity are well suited for slower rates of following, creating the effect of “falling off” when falling down and imitating a wounded fish. The names of such models usually have the word “slow”.
(Red scorpionfish caught on a slow jig. Photo by © Shore Fishing Games)
A typical example is ZetZ Slow Blatt or Major Craft Jigpara Slow. In the process of the stepped following at the bottom, they are good at attracting such fishes as the groupers, dentexes, scorpionfishes, porgies. And if there is sand at the bottom, you can count on the biting of weevers and lizardfishes, as well as flounder, skates and other “flatfishes”. The “inchiku”-type lures work efficiently not only at the bottom, imitating cephalopods. I caught most of the amberjacks using this lure option.
(Common dentex caught on inchiku. Photo by © Shore Fishing Games)
There are fish that hunt in any layer of water, for example, amberjack or leerfish. If it is deep enough, elongated jigs are perfect for catching these species, with a soft plastic hook-assist octopus. Like many others, these fish are very fast, and the following should correspond to it.
(Greater amberjack, jig and “assist” with a soft plastic “octopus”. Photo by © Shore Fishing Games)
A large number of predators, inhabiting the sea, gather in schools and feed on young fish in the upper layers of water. If we consider the Adriatic Sea, these are primarily little tunnies, as well as bonitos and dorados. In my opinion, the best metal lures for fishing these species are oblong and designed for fast and very fast following in the upper layers of water.
(Little tunny and an oblong jig. Photo by © Shore Fishing Games)
Such as Xesta After Burner, Ima Gun, Major Craft Jigpara Semilong, Molix Jugulo Casting Jig, and many others. Perhaps, this is the most common type of jigs, and most species of sea predators can be caught with them. If the water swarms with fish, you can throw a nail with a hook – and there will be the bite really soon!-)
(Fish for 10 cents. Video by © Shore Fishing Games)
It is good that the producers forge ahead and, in addition to the “classics”, they regularly offer new interesting forms of metal jig lures. Examples of recent purchases are as follows: Little Jack Metal Addict Type 01 and shrimps from Fiiish.
You almost never use fittings, the manufacturer adds to lures. Why?
Questions concerning hooks for jigs arise often. Should I change the “stock”? Should I remove the rear treble? What should be the length and size of the assist? And so on. It is difficult to answer unequivocally. Someone is completely satisfied with the fittings supplied with the lure, but someone needs to replace everything. It is clear that some, if not many, manufacturers save on parts to reduce the price. Changing it or not is a personal matter of every fisherman. Good hooks are rather expensive, sometimes they cost almost as much as the lure. It happens that the manufacturer doesn’t provide them at all. Then there is a need to buy them yourself. I answered this question and make assists myself. I have a couple of videos where I show how I make the main types of hooks, and what materials and tools I use. So, if I’m not satisfied with the “stock” option, I use my own one.
(Technique for making a single assist hook. Video by © Shore Fishing Games)
They often ask me a question of whether to use a rear treble when fishing with jigs. Tell me, please, what do you think about this matter?
Should you remove a rear treble? If you are going to lower the jig to the bottom with rocky terrain, of course, you should remove it! Otherwise, it should be there, if not at the first, then at the third cast for sure. It is a well-known fact that a predatory fish more often attacks its prey in the head, therefore, the assists in the “head” of the jig are always relevant. The setting of the rare hook increases both the chance of catching a fish and the chance of “catching” the bottom. Surprisingly, I saw “slow” jigs, completed with the rare treble by the manufacturer! What for? In my opinion, a short double assist, design in such a way that the hooks face each other, will be much better in terms of “not catching the bottom” and catching the fish.
(Technique for making a double assist hook. Video by © Shore Fishing Games)
In turn, the jigs intended for fast following in the upper layers of water, the rear trebles will be most effective in addition to the head assist.
Which sets of gear do you use now?
On the sea, I use three sets that enable me to work with lures from 1 to 80 grams. This is Smith Shore Jigger SJS-100/80 (cw 40-80) complete with the Shimano Twin Power SW 6000HG reel, which has been working efficiently for more than two years. Palms Shore Gun Evolv SFSGS-96MH (cw 12-45) complete with the Shimano Twin Power SW 4000XG reel, capable of fighting with 10 kg tuna and working flat out in any role – light jigs, plugs, softbaits – it can be anything. There are several spinning rods for ultra-light lures, but recently I have been using the fairly simple low-cost rod, complete with two upper knees, presented by friends – KAIDA Paladin 7’6 (cw 1-7 and 3-12) with great pleasure. I think this set is the best for me, it meets all my requirements. Sometimes, I thoughts about the fourth, heavy set with a powerful reel for catching tuna, which sometimes occurs in the immediate vicinity of the shore, but apparently I’m not ready for this yet.
What kind of multifilament and fluorocarbon shock leaders do you use? What, in your opinion, are the best knots for shock leaders and multifilament and shock leaders and solid ring?
Gosen Jigging Braid 8 multifilament with Varvas Shock Leader is on the reels right now. I knit them with the FG knot using Daiichiseiko Knot Assist 2.0. I hook-heavy jigs from 50 to 80 grams through the ring split ring on the solid ring, tied to the shock leader by a reliable AG Chain knot. I hook the light, up to 45 grams, ones on the strengthened clasp.
(AG Chain knot. Video by © Angling Knots)
What advice would you give to visitors of the Adriatic coast with a burning desire to catch predatory fish with a spinning rod efficiently?
The main advice for those who come to the Adriatic is as follows: don’t forget to take a spinning rod or even two! Sea fishing is extremely diverse and there is no way you can miss the chance to catch something interesting, including tuna, striped mullet or squid. Joking aside, it makes sense to highlight a few key points that you need to focus on if you are going to fish in the Adriatic.
The first questions that usually arise are as follows: Where should you catch fish? What should you catch and how? If you are new to sea fishing, in the beginning, these questions will pose a dead end. I understand these feelings perfectly. But it’s not so scary. The sea is such a thing that, you know, there is fish everywhere – at the beaches, in the ports, on the rocks. And you can catch a decent fish absolutely everywhere. The easiest option is to come to the nearest port or marina, where different fishes always swim and you can always meet local anglers who can tell what you can catch in these places. Moreover, it will be very useful to study the forums of anglers, which discuss the results of fishing and other issues. Of course, tailing or going to fish with one of them would be the perfect option -).
The best time for fishing is morning or evening, as a rule. If you set a goal to catch fish such as tuna, bonito, dorado, amberjack, grouper, dentex – you should head for the rocks. Study the maps of the area for the possibility of getting close to the water, detailed Google maps facilitate this task significantly. Navionics maps will also be an excellent assistant. You can study the depths directly at the shore. The greater the depth at the shore is, the higher the chances of catching trophies are. It’s great if there is an accessible cape in the sea, at least twenty meters deep.
Don’t forget about the precautionary measures – I highly recommend not climbing the rocks, when there are a storm and big waves, despite the increased activity of fish in this weather. If the place is unfamiliar, carry out preliminary exploration, having studied the terrain and the ways of approaching the water during the daytime, before you go fishing there. Besides, be attentive to the thunderstorm situation, and if there is the slightest suspicion of possible lightning, stop fishing. I have a video in which you can see almost no lightning in the sky, but I’m struck badly. Believe me, fishing isn’t worth dying.
(Fishing in stormy weather. Video by © Shore Fishing Games)
Sea fishing, including fishing on the shore, is a real test for gear! Gear, and it is particularly important for coastal jigging, should be of high quality and reliable. Try to use products of recognized manufacturers specializing in “salty” issues. Who knows, perhaps, all of a sudden, a ten-kilogram tuna will be tempted by your 40-gram jig. Prepare a spinning rod you can rely on! There must be at least 300 meters of cord on the reel. The fluorocarbon lead shouldn’t be weaker than the cord, that is, it shouldn’t lag behind. Check all the knots, eliminate the “weak spots”, otherwise fishing can end without starting.
Don’t fall into despair if you catch nothing at first. Don’t doubt your lure – it’s not true (when little tunnies are active, they can be caught even with a treble with a piece of the electric wire insulation attached to it). Be patient and persistent! Fish can appear at any time!
(Catching of little tunny weighing 10 kg. Video by © Shore Fishing Games)