A lot of European countries boast of their craftsmen producing handmade fishing lures. Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Russia, Finland. This list seems to be endless. However, Serbian craftsmen, whose handmade lures have been known all over the world for more than a decade, stand apart on this list. And these lures have always been famous for their quality and catch efficiency.
Recently, plugs made by the Serbian craftsman from the city of Niš, Serbia, Igor Lepojević, have got rave reviews on the shores of the Adriatic. These reviews are made by both fishermen who prefer to catch fish in freshwater bodies and anglers who spend their time with spinning rods in search of sea trophies. adriaticnature decided to ask Igor and find out the secret of the popularity of his lures.
(Igor Lepojević. Photo by the author)
Hello, Igor! We have been planning to talk to you about your lures on the pages of adriaticnature for a long time. Thanks for getting round to having a conversation with us. Tell me, please, how long you have been making plugs, what you started off with, and where the name “Spasm Lures” came from.
Hello! I got acquainted with fishing in early childhood. For me, this acquaintance is still relatable to spinners by the French company “Mepps”. Spinners were the major lures in my fishing boxes until Serbian plugs “Ugly Duckling”, which are nowadays known to almost everyone, occurred. I didn’t believe my neighbor who showed me a lure made of wood resembling “Ugly” and said that he made it himself. And I decided to try it myself.
(Handmade plugs by Igor Lepojević. Photo by © Igor Lepojević)
Since then (it was about twenty years ago), I started experimenting with making lures. Sometimes, I tried to quit. But later I got back to them again.
I was lucky enough to study in the city of Niš at that time. I met great craftsmen who made unique and amazing lures there. Of course, some of them influenced my further work: Yoga, Antax, Killer, and others.
I was bent on plugs after I had graduated from the institute. I had other hobbies at that time as well. I played bass guitar in the band called “Spasm”, copying the band “Tool”. Later, I even used some songs as background music for my promo videos.
(Music band “Spasm” and “Spasm” plugs. Video by © Igor Lepojević)
Tell me, how you devise your lures. What are you guided by when you make them?
Truth be told, creativity decreases while production increases. The more lures I make, the less new ideas come to my mind. I used to simply imagine my favorite whirlpools in my “home” river Trgoviški Timok, and at once I came up with an idea of the shape and color of the lure the chub couldn’t resist.
Usually, I come up with ideas in winter, when I don’t have the opportunity to catch fish on the available small rivers. I try really hard not to come under the influence of other craftsmen and do my best to stay authentic.
(Catfish caught with Spasm Lures Wobblehead 8 plug. Photo by © Predrag Stojanović)
What fish species do you mainly focus on when making your lures?
The waters of the Trgoviški Timok River mentioned above, my test range for plugs, hid only chubs fifteen years ago. Of course, the successful stocking of rivers with trout captured me. A lot of ideas concerning making lures for this fish emerged. As a result, currently, I spent the most time studying the habits of these particular fish – chub and trout.
For the past couple of years, both members of the Serbian bass league in Serbia and fishermen abroad have been actively catching largemouth bass with SpasmLures. No false modesty, I would say that I am pleased with the results.
(Largemouth bass caught with Spasm Lures Zara 6 cm walker. Photo © SpasmLures)
What materials do you use when making plugs?
All my lures are made of wood species. Depending on the tasks, I use either linden or balsa.
You make both regular plugs and two-part plugs. What, in your opinion, are the advantages of these two types?
It all depends on the place and purpose of fishing. Two-part plugs are my favorite lures for trout fishing. Their vibration in the water differs from the vibration of one-piece plugs. But, most importantly, you just need to experiment with other types of plugs on the spot, there are no rules for fish.
(Hucho taimen caught with Spasm Lures Arthum 9 plug. Photo © SpasmLures)
Very cute mini poppers are presented in your “plug program”. Say a few words about them.
At first, Nano Popper had to be a dry fly for fly-fishing with a balsa body. In Serbia, these quite popular fly-fishing lures are called “bambula”. As for my experience, they were perfect for catching chub. And my friends catch various fish species with Nano Popper. You need a very light tackle for fishing with mini poppers so that you could throw lures weighing 1.5 grams using them. Fish attacking Nano Popper is very spectacular!
(Rudd caught with Spasm Lures Nano Popper. Photo by © Chris King)
Tell me about your topwater lures, which were originally invented for fresh water.
My favorite size is 4 centimeters. A funny story related to them comes to my mind. And it’s not about chubs, which were caught with my walkers without any effort.
Last spring, I really wanted to practice fishing with them on the sea. And I decided to catch at least any fish with small walkers in the Montenegrin Adriatic. However, I failed constantly, and on the very first fishing trip, I lost both walkers I took. I was a bit disappointed and started fishing with plugs that day. I went back home and saw that the sea had returned me one of them. Waves threw it ashore. I carefully put it in a box, returned to the river, and successfully continued to catch chub with this walker. As for the other walker…
(Chub caught with Spasm Lures Zara 4 cm walker. Photo by © Igor Lepojević)
It turned out that someone wasn’t too lazy to climb the tree, on which the other walker was hanging. Since that time, this someone, namely my buddy from Budva, Miloš Ćetković, got carried away by sea fishing with light lures. We got acquainted when he bought my plugs. Then, we started working together. We keep in touch almost every day, and when I come to Montenegro, he becomes my fishing guide throughout the Budva Riviera with pleasure.
After Miloš had come down to earth, descending from the tree with a trophy, of course, he went fishing and tried a new lure at the same time. You can watch the video he shot and find out how that turned out.
(Leerfish caught with Spasm Lures Zara 4. Video © Montenegro Spinning)
Your sea walkers are very popular with Adriatic fishermen. Judging by the numerous photos, in addition to bluefish, European bass absolutely loves them, doesn’t it?
I’m grateful to the famous Montenegrin fisherman from Tivat, Boško Petković, that it happened like that. When I first made the prototypes of Needlfish lures, he volunteered to test them at once. After other fishermen saw the results of his tests, they started treating handmade lures for sea fishing seriously and respectfully.
(European bass caught with Needlefish Spasm Lures walker. Photo by © Miloš Ćetković)
Recently, Boško began making his own lures from wood species, and sometimes I ask myself whether I influenced this process. He certainly influenced the current look of my Needlefish walkers.
I’m also grateful to the fishermen from Montenegro who supported my work and acknowledged the quality of my lures.
(Bluefish caught with Needlefish Spasm Lures walker. Photo by © adriaticnature)
Many lures that you’ve created for fishing in fresh water turned out to “work” excellently in sea water. What is the reason for this?
I don’t think that sea and river predators differ greatly from each other. But, I noticed that many fishermen were convinced that it was possible to fish on the sea only with sea lures, and on the rivers and lakes – only with lures originally intended for freshwater bodies.
When I found myself with a spinning rod on the seashore, the first lures I tried were light “chub” plugs. And I was delighted with the species diversity of fish attacking these lures.
(Annular seabream caught with Spasm Lures Arthum 4 plug. Photo by © Miloš Ćetković)
Your sea lures are painted in very extraordinary ways. What makes you paint them this way?
Colors are important only for fishermen. It was proved more than once. But I’m a fisherman. How can I go to the seaside without taking a walker with a green back!? And my friend fishing right next to me is telling me that I don’t understand anything at all because the best color for sea fishing is white!
(Gilthead seabream caught with Needlefish Spasm Lures walker. Photo by © Antonio Barbier)
Creative freedom is what I love the most. Rivers and sea are my inspiration. I understand that my colors are not hyperrealistic, but, of course, this is not my goal. The goal is to make the lure efficient and provoking predators into attacking.
Spasm Lures catalog presents more than 20 models of plugs, adriaticnature will list only a few of them:
WOBBLEHEAD 4.
* sinking
* 40 mm (1.5 inch) length lure
* weight 4.5 g (0.16 oz)
* running depth 0.3 – 1.0 m (3 feet)
* fitted with super sharp VMC (9651) hooks No.10
WOBBLEHEAD 6.
* sinking
* 60 mm (2.36 inch) length lure
* weight 8.5 g (0.3 oz)
* running depth 0.3 – 1.2 m (3 feet)
* fitted with super sharp VMC (9651) hooks No.6
ARTHUM 3.
* sinking
* 35 mm (1.4 inch) length lure
* weight 2.0 g (0.07 oz)
* running depth 0.3 – 1.0 m (3 feet)
* fitted with super sharp VMC (9651) hooks No.12
ARTHUM 4.
* sinking
* 45 mm (1.77 inch) length lure
* weight 3.5 g (0.12 oz)
* running depth 0.3 – 1.0 m (3 feet)
* fitted with super sharp VMC (9651) hooks No.12
ARTHRUN 7.
* sinking
* 70 mm (2.75 inch) length lure
* weight 5.0 g (0.18 oz)
* running depth 0.3 – 1.0 m (3 feet)
* fitted with super sharp VMC (9651) hooks No.8
ARTHRUN 9.
* sinking
* 90 mm (3.5 inch) length lure
* weight 9.0 g (0.32 oz)
* running depth 0.3 – 1.0 m (3 feet)
* fitted with super sharp VMC (9651) hooks No.6
DIGGER 4.
* sinking
* 40 mm (1.5 inch) length lure
* weight 3.0 g (0.10 oz)
* running depth 0.3 – 1.0 m (3 feet)
* fitted with super sharp VMC (9651) hooks No.12
DIGGER 5.
* sinking
* 50 mm (2 inch) length lure
* weight 4.5 g (0.16 oz)
* running depth 0.3 – 1.0 m (3 feet)
* fitted with super sharp VMC (9651) hooks No.8
MICRO ZARA.
* floating surface lure
* 40 mm (1.5 inch) length lure
* weight 2.0 g (0.07 oz)
* fitted with super sharp VMC (9651) hooks No.12
ZARA 6.
* floating surface lure
* 58 mm (2.3 inch) length lure
* weight 5.0 g (0.18 oz)
* fitted with super sharp VMC (9651) hooks No.10
NANO POPPER.
* floating surface lure
* 20 mm (0.8 inch) length lure
* weight 1.5 g (0.05 oz)
* fitted with super sharp VMC (9651) hooks No.12
NEEDLEFISH.
* floating surface lure
* 100 mm (4 inch) length lure
* weight 3.5 g (0.12 oz)
* fitted with super sharp Owner (ST-31) hooks No.8
* 125 mm (5 inch) length lure
* weight 8.0 g (0.38 oz)
* fitted with super sharp Owner (ST-31) hooks No.6
* 150 mm (6 inch) length lure
* weight 20.0 g (0.70 oz)
* fitted with super sharp Owner (ST-31) hooks No.4