Psaraki Minnow Lure

The Psaraki Minnow was designed in the lures’ workshop of Giorgos Tyrikos Ergas. It started as a handmade, wooden Pencil lure for Light Rock Fishing and from the first tests it displayed its promising and unique characteristics.

It was in 2020, that the Nerd Fishing team started its design process and company Tsouros Marine acquired its exclusive Selling & Distribution rights. Psaraki is the first Greek lure for Light Rock Fishing, produced on an industrial, mass scale. It is a lure designed for the Mediterranean coastline and fish species by a purely Greek team, successfully tested and manufactured exclusively in Europe.

The Psaraki bait will be released in two versions: Minnow (5 cm, 5.3 gr) and Pencil (5 cm, 7 gr)

Twitching: Psaraki is the ultimate lure for the most important LRF technique

George Tyrikos designed a lure based on the fishing style that, more than any other, unlocks the most desired species of LRF. Having fished extensively in almost the entire Aegean sea, from Ai-Strati to Crete, he turned his attention to intense Twitching, which is loved by many fish, but mainly by White and Saddled Seabream.

Realizing the need for specialized gear, George Tyrikos turned to George Kalaganis, to design and manufacture the well-known Best Seller, "Twitcher" rod. The mentality of the Psaraki Minnow lure, also fits into the same framework. The aim was to create a far casting lure, that could respond uniquely to Twitches, with fast retrieves. Psaraki produces a motion that is literally beyond anything we have seen to date. Its erratic behavior defies the mainstream swimming course and its immediate response to every Twitch, with random drops on a three-dimensional axis, are its main characteristic.

Fishing the Psaraki with intense Twitching, will make you realize that it is an artifact that has never been created in terms of concept and design. Several elements have contributed towards this goal, such as the general shape of its body, the synergies with the lip, but mainly the internal weight distribution. With a steady retrieve, the Psaraki lure produces a very intense Wobbling and Rolling and at the same time its tail turns in a circular pattern. With tension fall, the lure sinks with vibrations, which is a valuable trait in the pauses between twitches.

The king of Shallow Flats

One of the great challenges of "Rock" Fishing and especially LRF along the Greek coastline, are the rocks themselves. Obstacles on which so many lures have been tangled up and lost. On the Greek coastline, the most desired species tend to feed at the edges of the intertidal zone, i.e. on the shallows: there the risk of losing your lures is even greater.

Psaraki had to overcome this coastline challenge, as this is exactly the reason it was designed for. To achieve the perfect balance of the lure, three types of ballast were used. A central one which is molded and embraces part of the wire-through internal structure, two moving weights in the tail, made of metal and another two, mobile, "glass bubble" weights. In essence, what was accomplished was to “cheat” the central balance and stability of the lure.

Shifting the center weight of the lure, not only made its underwater motion more erratic and lively, but also provided an important tool against entanglements. During the retrieve phase, 2 or 3 Jerks (Strokes of the rod pointing up) destabilize the lure and make it rise very quickly to the surface, avoiding rocks. This can help the angler when he feels there is an obstacle, or when he has visual contact with it.

With the next Twitch, the Psaraki lure immediately returns to its gliding position and begins its intensive swimming. Almost any lure, when turned sharply from Twitches to Jerks, will tend to rise to the surface, but most have such a balance that they will either insist on being "pulled" downwards, or emerge slowly. This feature has been enforced to the maximum with this lure: with a bit of practice, the angler will actually see tangles being diminished dramatically.

To this challenge there are two more points to stress, when it comes to the Psaraki lure. First, the Psaraki will remain at the same level of the water column, as the one in which we started the retrieve. For example, if we let it, sink 5 cm below the surface and begin the retrieve, the lure will remain at 5 cm depth for most part of the retrieve.

Being a sinking lure, if we choose to let it sink deeper and start the retrieve later, the lure will insist on fishing deeper. So on one hand, we feel safer in the shallows, but also the option to search deeper.

In addition, the position of the rear treble hooks, is an ideal one; the lure swims slightly forward and thus the treble hooks come into a very mild contact with the obstacle, helping the angler avoid tangles.

Finally the treble hooks that have been selected, specifically for this reason, have inwards reversed points.

The ones who had the privilege to fish with the Psaraki lure, are not calling it the King of Shallow Flats for nothing.

The Seabream Battling Jaws

Once the challenge of fishing in the shallows has been addressed, the focus has been shifted to target fish and their particular needs. The strikes of White Seabreams, Saddled Seabreams and Gilt Heads, are very abrupt, sudden and tend to secure statistically less hook ups. These species focus on the back of the lure and in the first, few moments after contact, great pressure, steep heads and explosive "breakaways" develop, putting the lure under tremendous tension.

The solution that was given, in order to have more and safes hook-ups, was to move the belly’s eyelet, further back and closer to the tail, rather than the center, as is the case with most lures in the market. As a result, attacking fish come into contact with “more penetrating tools”, in less space. The eyelets have been designed not to be round, but oval in shape, for keeping the treble hooks closer to the predator’s jaws.

To complete the concept, the treble hooks selected to rig the Psaraki lures, are pointing inwards. While this factor might not facilitate the numeric side of the “Hook up Ratio”, it certainly contributes to better performance during battle. Most Seabream species fight furiously, but now they stay on our treble hooks much more firmly.

Increased Tolerance

Although Light Rock Fishing is considered a “light” fishing style, in reality those who practice it regularly, catch big fish and know very well the stress our gear goes through, how hard target fish strike and fight and most of all, how much our lures wear out, due to contact with rocks, or the jaws of a White Seabream, or a Gilt Head.

The Psaraki Minnow is probably the only mass-produced lure for LRF, that is wire-through and few can compare in strength. The lip is a solid piece, molded and deeply attached to its frame. It can withstand hits on rocks, abrasions and bites. The rings are heavy-duty and we recommend not to replace them with lighter ones, even if they seem to make the lure swim more freely. The Psaraki lure, combined with Heavy Duty treble hooks, is capable of taking on the mightiest LRF prey and reeling them in.

We can add to the equation its 3-layer varnish, which was made mainly to withstand hits on sharp rocks and for which the Nerd Fishing team insisted upon, to seal in the foils and colors. It should also be noted that the choice of inwardly curved treble hooks causes less wearing out to the finish in the long run.

Produced in popular colors, tested in the field

For the selection of colors, emphasis was placed on the embossed details and the colors to resemble the craftsmanship of hand-made lures. The purpose was precisely to remind and rely on a format that does not exist in the market and that is both effective and easily recognizable.

The foils have been inserted by hand as well as a large part of the paint. The final finishing is also done by hand, before their final packaging.

Literally, hundreds of color combinations have been created for the testing phase. Nerd Fishing selected the few that have performed all the others, along with various members of a large and active fishing community, which has been involved in the selection and promotion of the final colors, through social networks. The colors of Psaraki, whether in well-known Mediterranean bait fish, or in Transparent patterns, are colors that have essentially been "approved" by the Sea through the fish caught and have been decided by anglers, for anglers.

We are very proud to present the Psaraki Minnow. It is the result of intuition, hard work and skillful execution. We are certain you will enjoy it.