For the second year I have been fishing with a spinning rod on a non-freezing small river. The activity of the pike and the almost complete passivity of other predators are surprising. Is this a common occurrence for winter spinning?
I have been regularly fishing on mini-rivers in winter for five years, and this picture has already become familiar, although at first it was also somewhat puzzling. The winter activity of pike in non-freezing water bodies is, perhaps, only a little lower than it happens at the height of the autumn hot weather in water bodies with a natural thermal. This also applies to the number of bites, and their quality, and resistance to playing. Other predators, I agree, become much more inhibited in cold water, which affects their ability to respond in a timely manner to spinning lures.
Compare: perch is perfectly caught on a jig or a sheer lure from ice when the water temperature is not higher than +4, while with a spinning rod on a jig, that is, with a relatively fast bait, it takes much worse in such cold water. But if the water in the river is several degrees warmer, everything changes, and the perch bite much better. It is for this, by the way, reason that perch on the Moskva River in winter is most often caught by spinning in the area from Kolomenskoye to Chulkov; lower the water gets colder. Well, for pike, the water temperature is less critical, therefore, it continues to be caught on a jig almost as well up to wide edges and partial freezing of the river.
Last year, at Rybinka, ten days before the freeze-up, we suddenly found a pike weighing up to 5 kg. at a depth of less than a meter. Whom we speak – they do not believe. Maybe this is still no exception?
This is really no exception. Moreover, our Saratov colleagues have worked out a whole system of pike fishing under the reeds in the pre-winter period. Such fishing lasts a week and a half and it falls, as a rule, in the first half – mid-November. Pike of different sizes, including more than 5 kg., For some reason she knows, goes to the sand under the reeds and responds very well to more or less suitable lures for these conditions. If in the upper reaches of the Volgograd reservoir this principle of fishing is well known and therefore widely practiced, then from other Volga reservoirs rarely comes information about pre-winter fishing in the shallows. But still, I know of two or three more such cases. Plus – I myself happened to catch pike before freeze-up at “indecently shallow” depths, however, not on a reservoir, but on ponds and lakes. So it makes sense to tackle the topic more closely. Very pleasant surprises are possible here.
This summer, unexpectedly few pike were caught on the Oka. She was “knocked out” last year, or what?
Indeed, this season for many of us, who often fish on the Oka (within the boundaries of the Moscow region), has become very weak for pike, some do not even hesitate to call it a failure. Moreover, such predators as pike perch, perch, chub were caught no worse than on average in recent years. Probably, only ichthyologists can name the exact reason for the sharp change in the species composition on the Oka near Kashira and Serpukhov. I can refer to my many years of experience fishing on this river. There were years when one species suddenly disappeared, while another one multiplied in large numbers. This was almost always due to the salvo hits of highly toxic discharges into the Oka, which killed selectively – either pike perch or podust … Accordingly, species more resistant to poisoning very soon came to the “cleaned” place – asp, ide … The pike never had a reputation for being particularly pampered creatures, and about the solid “etching” on the Oka in the last goal I do not know anything. So, it may very well be that the reason should be sought in something else.
In the summer he practiced in the “swamps” with a speedboat. There are many attacks, but at best one in five comes across. Maybe there is a more “killer” alternative?
There is such an alternative. Perhaps she is not very athletic, but it allows you to achieve the desired result with a very high guarantee. We are talking about a dead fish on a tackle, or rather, without a tackle, because a hook, a leash and a piece of copper wire can hardly be called a “tackle”. The hook is either a double, or a single-piece of the offset type, but this is not necessary, you can take the most ordinary one. If a double is used, then the fish is fixed with a wire so that its body lies between the hooks. If there is a single – you should also do everything in such a way that the sting does not stick out. A medium-sized fish weighs 10-15 g. This allows it to be thrown quite far. The permeability of such a dead fish is very high, it rarely clings to grass. Wiring is slow, with small pauses. When taking a bite, the strike is not instantaneous, but with a delay of three to four seconds. Efficiency (efficiency of bites) is about 70%, which is very good for fishing in a “swamp”.
The person from whom I learned spinning often caught pikes on fish canned in formalin. And I caught it very well. Why is this type of bait out of use?
The period of enthusiasm for canned fish fell mainly in the 60-70s. I found him already “at the end”, but, in principle, I am familiar with the topic. I was immediately embarrassed by the fact that a formalized fish is very different from a fresh one. It loses color, acquires a “plastic” consistency and smell, which can be called disgusting. At first, I didn’t really believe that a predator is generally capable of pecking at this stinking muck, but then I became convinced that it was pecking. However, the bite of the “mummified” fish was not particularly impressive, so I preferred the fresh fish. Later, when I began to improve in a variety of jig fishing, I came to the conclusion that canned fish is actually already moving into the category of artificial lures. And therefore “foam rubber” or “rubber” is better, with them there is less headache. At the same time, it cannot be said that the idea of catching with canned fish is completely meaningless. In the West, fish canned without formalin enjoy some success. They are also used in stationary pike fishing, which means that the edibility of such a bait is preserved. These fish have not yet reached us, but, most likely, this will happen soon. Then we’ll see.
author: Konstantin Kuzmin
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