Catch & Release with Dimo Petkov

Catch and Release follows Dimo Petkov, Co-Founder of Stinky Socks, on a two-day camping trip with the Stinky team, while enjoying his favorite catch-and-release fishing. The video gets inside a very old fishing method that includes making of a hand-made rod just as people used to do it hundreds of years ago.
The method has been invented many years from now by poachers who were fishing in the restricted areas. As they couldn’t attract attention caring fishing rods, they started to make their own rods from hazel trees and small items hidden inside secret pockets.

The rods were easy-to-make and practically untraceable as it was easy to hidе them in the forest for future use. The only disadvantage was they were hard to use. If poachers wanted to actually catch something, they had to improve their skills. They had to be extremely quiet, while hiding behind rocks and trees. Nevertheless the method carried a bit of a charm with its absolute freedom and feeling of being close to nature.

Maybe that is why the method is still alive. Or maybe it is because in times of password protected content and high-tech devices, it appears it is still possible to make your own working device, which allows you to avoid the law restrictions and pushes you to become better, quieter, and more experienced.

You can actually win that hand made fishing rod, check out how here.

Catch & Release with Dimo Petkov from Stinky Socks on Vimeo.

If you are excited about that method, here is what you can do to test it:
To make a rod you first need to find a young hazel tree. Then the stick you’ve chosen needs to be carefully peeled and dried. You can start a fire and use it to dry the stick. It will make it stronger and more flexible, while creating a camouflage effect to hide your rod from the fish. Tie the line at the top of the rod having in mind you need it to be as long as the stick itself. At the end of the line, tie up a hook and the lead weight. Since the trout you want to catch is a predator, you need to use natural bait — a worm will do it just fine. Now you just need to know the river, where the fish lives, exercise it millions of times and you’ll be fine. If you just want to look at someone who did it, enjoy the video above.