Many novice fishermen make the mistake of not checking whether it is possible to catch a bottom predator in a particular region. Fishing for cod fish, which includes burbot, is prohibited during spawning. In addition, in Russia there is a ban on the size of fish. A caught individual should be released into its native element if the size of the “tail” does not exceed 400 mm. Otherwise, the fisherman faces a fine. You should determine the fishing location and find out where you can fish. Local authorities often take care of this.
Features of catching burbot
Burbot lives on the bottom, therefore, it is necessary to choose areas of the bottom with vegetation and other kinds of obstacles. In autumn and winter, fish go to spawn, cold water is its element. It is before spawning that in the fall he comes across donk more often: zhor, and this affects everything.
The catching period is considered to be from mid-autumn to the third decade of spring. In summer, you can only catch burbot at night. High temperatures make the predator less active.
Photo: captured copy
Bait
Before catching burbot on a donk, you need to decide on an effective bait. Live bait is best suited for this task. Experienced fishermen recommend choosing perch or ruff. The second fish can be used even without a hook; the predator will catch on its spines when it swallows. The most important thing is to tie the line firmly to his tail. Other fish, such as roach, etc., are also suitable as bait.
In August, you can catch small frogs and keep them in a jar with fresh grass or in a special aquarium for land turtles. The most important thing is to leave holes for air penetration for amphibians, and periodically clean the container. The jar or aquarium should be kept in a cool place, for example, in a basement or cellar.
You can also collect worms in late summer or early autumn. At this time of year they live in the surface layers of the soil. Closer to winter, they crawl into the depths; even if the ground does not have time to freeze, it will be problematic to get them. Before fishing, worms should be kept in a tin can or other similar container filled with soil. Place it in a cool place, maybe on the balcony or in the refrigerator. Large worms are suitable as bait for burbot; if they are small, it is recommended to attach them in a bunch.
If the bait listed is not available, you can use a store-bought alternative. The predator goes well on pieces of beef and pork, sea and freshwater fish. You can use chicken giblets, lard and other meat by-products.
Expert opinion
Valery Andreevich Sizov
Professional fisherman with 35 years of experience
Note! It makes no sense to catch burbot using bait of plant origin. He definitely won’t react to it, unlike small conventional predators (Amur sleeper and others).
Rice. 4. It is best to attach the hook to live bait on the back. This will ensure good movement in the water. The hook can also be inserted into the upper or lower lip.
Habits of burbot
Going for burbot in the summer is futile. This predator is active in cool and cold water.
A number of factors influence the successful capture of a bottom predator:
- Water temperature.
- Bottom features.
- Fishing time.
- Climatic conditions.
Let's take a closer look at the above factors, which will ultimately help determine the tactics and strategy of hunting a predator.
Water Temperature Successful burbot fishing will occur in early spring or late fall season. The water temperature should be around 120C. The bottom predator does not like warm water, falls into a stupor and rarely comes out to look for food.
Bottom structure The fish loves a rocky bottom, hunts at night, and during the day, hides in snags or burrows.
Fishing time Night fishing is the most successful. As soon as it begins to dawn, the fish hide in shelters. There's no point in waiting for bites anymore. Climatic conditions The fish does not like bright nights, preferring darkness. His element is bad, windy or rainy weather on a dark autumn night.
Common burbot
Baits for burbot
Catching burbot in the fall involves using the following baits:
- worm
- live bait
- pieces of fish
- dead fish
- little frog
- piece of meat
- pieces of pork liver
I compiled this list from recommendations from various anglers. I used worms, live bait, pieces of fish, and dead fish.
I was not going to feed the fish with meat and liver; if you know for sure that no one fishes with such bait in this place, then you shouldn’t try. Frog, what the hell is a frog?
Where can I get it... so I’m turning to advice from the Internet, where can I find a frog in November? Store, freeze from June? Put a frog at home? Sorry for the outburst, dear readers, but many people recommend fishing with a frog, but few people know where to get it. If you know, please post in the comments and I will definitely find it and try it.
The worm was useful only for catching live bait; the burbot did not pay attention to it. To start, I cast three rods with different baits, a worm, a live bait, and half a live bait. The first bite was on a worm, I caught a gudgeon, then a ruff, then a gudgeon again, and then I took off the worm and put in a whole dead fish (minnow), and there was a lull.
After about 1.5 hours (in fact, the bites were more frequent), there was a bite for half a fish, a burbot of 400 grams was caught. Then it was bitten by a dead fish, a burbot of 600 grams. All this means that the bait worked like this: The best bite was on half the fish (mainly on the gudgeon), in second place was the dead fish (larger specimens were caught on it), the live bait worked only towards the end of fishing, it probably became a dead fish.
How to make donka for freshwater burbot
Bottom tackle is stored on a special wooden base - a reel, 20 millimeters thick. The ends have dovetail cutouts.
The main fishing line is 0.3mm nylon fishing line. There should be about 30 meters on the reel.
As a load, you can use flat lead weights - blanks. A leash 150-200mm long, 0.2-0.25mm in diameter: this will be enough.
Regular bottom tackle
Donk option with a rod
Times change, old tricks are becoming a thing of the past. Today, most anglers use bottom rods, paying attention to the elements of equipment: hooks, line, sinker, reel. Let's take a closer look at each element of the equipment.
Rod
On the northern rivers of Russia, in particular Siberia on the Oka and Ob, where a trophy specimen can pull five kilograms, it is better to work with powerful rods that can cope with heavy loads and work on hooking fish. In central Russia, where the weight of the predator barely reaches 2 kilograms, there are no specific recommendations. Since the sensitivity of the blank does not matter, you can use a Soviet-made duralumin spinning rod. They catch crocodiles using cheap Chinese spinning rods.
Spinning Crocodile price 500 rubles
The length of the fishing rod used to catch this predator does not exceed 3 meters.
fishing line
Most often, when fishing with a homemade donk, monofilament fishing line is used. Experienced fishermen and consultants focus on this. Some fishermen do not agree, citing the fact that the braided line has zero stretch, therefore, you can feel any touch of the fish on the bait and hook a predator in time.
Giving preference to monofilament, opponents say that it is more resistant to mechanical damage, especially when fishing occurs in areas with a rocky bottom.
Suitable main line diameter is 0.3/0.4 mm.
Using braid means working with a cord to which a shock/leader of about 3-4 meters is attached. We are talking about monofilament or fluorocarbon.
When the predator is feeding, you can use metal leashes, the length of which is within the range of 300-400 mm. At this time, the fish are less careful.
Coil
It is advisable to use an inertial coil, or an inertia-free option. If we talk about a spinning reel, then the size should be more than 3 thousand, or 4 thousand, it’s more reliable. These indicators take into account the thickness of the fishing line and the load.
Hooks
It is advisable to use hooks with a long shank. Don't take small sizes. And most importantly: the larger the hook size, the more bait there is on it, therefore, the chances of taking a test, or even a trophy specimen, increase. Experienced anglers use double or single hooks.
Sinker
When fishing, you must use a sliding sinker or a blind rig. When choosing the shape of the sinker, the bottom topography is taken into account. For fishing on a rocky bottom, an oblong version of the product is suitable.
On a flat bottom, or with sand and pebbles, it is better to mount a faceted weight, a flat design, in the form of a spoon and feeder feeders, which are filled with finely chopped
worms, meat or minced fish, with the addition of soil.
When fishing for burbot, where there is a fast current, round-shaped weights do not work: they are constantly blown away from the fishing point.
Zakidushka with two leashes
Do-it-yourself burbot donka is a simple design, but there is one feature. You need to mount 1 leash, and attach the second one slightly higher, as shown in the figure. The distance between them should be greater than the length of the two leashes so that they do not get tangled.
Donka using two leashes
It is necessary to constantly monitor the leashes, since a predator can sit on two hooks at once and create certain difficulties for the fisherman when fishing. The winter donkey requires much less fishing line than the classic version.
It is not necessary to be on the shore all the time. You can while away the time by the fire by regularly checking your gear.
Winter donka
The winter donka, in contrast to the summer version, has a more delicate rig. In addition, you can place it anywhere, on different horizons, and not just at the bottom.
It is believed that winter fishing for burbot is a lottery, since in still water the predator is not very active.
What is donka?
If we describe the donk schematically, then this tackle includes:
Rod. This can be a spinning rod or a Bolognese rod. Recently, it has become fashionable to use a feeder rod for catching burbot;
A reel or reel with the supply of fishing line necessary for normal casting. The reel used in the equipment can be either inertial or inertial. Both options have their pros and cons. Reels are most often used in vertical, winter fishing for burbot from ice;
The main fishing line must be strong and have shock-absorbing properties. Burbot is a strong fish, so the cross-section of the main line should not be less than 0.3 mm. In open water fishing, the length of the line depends only on the casting distance.
Catching burbot on a donk in winter
In the design of a winter donkey, the rod changes little. The tackle is mounted in the same way as the option described above, except that much less main fishing line is required. (Based on: depth at the fishing site and a maximum of 5 meters of reserve).
In addition, the winter donkey equipment includes an adapter made of copper wire. The main line is tied to the adapter. The adapter should be located at the boundary of water and air (the place where ice forms) and serves to protect the main line from damage.
When fishing from ice, anglers usually use a fishing line with a length equal to the depth at the fishing spot with a reserve of about 4 meters. Since burbot is most often caught at night, the fishing line can be of any color.
Sinker for rigging
Two types of sinkers are allowed, blind or running:
A blind sinker is more often used for winter fishing “in a plumb line”;
A running weight, limited by stoppers, is used for fishing in open water conditions.
The shape and weight of the sinker completely depend on the strength of the current and the nature of the bottom at the fishing spot. The only requirement for a sinker for bottom fishing is the ability to hold the rig in the current.
Often, for open water fishing, sinkers weighing from 50 to 150 grams are used. For vertical fishing, 50 grams is the upper limit.
Even novice anglers rarely have problems preparing their rods. After the main line is wound onto the reel spool, a sinker is tied or attached.
Leash for burbot
For the leash in the rig, a fishing line with a cross-section of no less than 0.2 mm is used. For burbot, it is customary to use leashes up to 25-30 cm long.
In a donk designed for burbot, it is customary to use 2 hooks. Leashes with hooks are placed as follows:
Leash No. 1 is knitted as a continuation of the main fishing line. By the way, it is convenient to use the “swivel – carbine” system for attaching leashes;
Leash No. 2 is knitted above the sinker, at a distance of about 35 cm from it.
Hook for burbot
This element of equipment must, first of all, correspond to the size of the bait used in fishing.
There are no special requirements for its appearance, shape, or color. The only thing you need to pay attention to is the length of the forend.
Hooks with a longer shank are easier to remove from the mouth of a night predator. Hooks made of thin wire are less likely to injure live bait. If we talk about sizes, it is customary to use hooks in the range of No. 9 - No. 12 for burbot.
Bite alarm
In cases where a feeder rod is used to cast bait, a replaceable rod tip will signal the bite. In all other cases, mechanical or electronic alarms are used.
Autumn fishing for burbot on a donk (video)
Finding a fishing spot
The predator is distinguished by enviable pedantry, using the same route (path) for hunting in order to search for food and control its habitat.
You can try your luck and explore promising places on the river with snags, tree rhizomes that grow along the shore, where the predator prefers to rest during the day.
Most often, it attacks the bait at the exit of snags or holes where there are underwater springs.
Bottom fish can move through a closed reservoir and attack from ambush.
When catching a predator in winter, it is recommended to pay attention to the hummocks that form on hard-covered areas of the bottom. It is better to use an echo sounder (for example Garmin), it will make it easier to detect and place donks on the predator’s paths.
Place of winter donka among other gear
Catching burbot in winter on a donk is not the most popular type of fishing, but this does not mean that it is ineffective. This method of fishing is not for everyone. Mostly anglers use knock fishing. For this, special knocker baits are used, as well as winter spinners and heavy burbot jigs. A passive fishing method is also often used - using winter burbot baits, hooks and pokes. Donk fishing is something between these two methods.
For winter donka fishing, equipment is used that is almost identical to the jig and a fishing rod with a nod, but the equipment is not left unattended, but is constantly under the supervision of the fisherman. This method is suitable for those fishing enthusiasts who want to fish with fishing rods and not with fishing rods. In this case, the tackle always stands at the hole, and not in the hand (as when fishing by knock). The fishing rod is installed in the hole, and the angler sits quietly and contemplates the nod, waiting for a bite. If you’re really bored, we take the donkey in our hands and catch it by knocking.
Technique for catching burbot on a donk
Knowledge of weather conditions is one of the factors you need to know. When going for burbot, it is better to take several bottom tackles. Place them along the shore in promising areas, at a distance of 1 to 2 m from each other.
Burbot campsites
Since fishing occurs at night, bite alarms will be required: bells. If fishing takes place without the use of bite alarms, you need to check the gear every 30-40 minutes, carefully tightening the fishing line. If fishing takes place in winter, you can leave the gear overnight and check it in the morning.
It is necessary to monitor the condition of the live bait. Inactive bait should be changed periodically. The bite occurs as a slight twitch; at this moment, the line gradually lowers, and after thirty seconds, a hook is made.
You should spot the fish against the current, otherwise there may be a run off.
Winter tackle can easily be classified as a passive fishing technique. There is no need to constantly be near the gear and monitor the process. It is possible to go home until the morning and then check the condition of the gear. In early spring and early autumn, this will not be possible, since it is during this period that the bite intensifies. It is important to choose the right meeting place with a bottom predator, prepare gear in advance and check the weather before going out on a quiet hunt, good luck.
Preparing bottom gear for burbot fishing
One of the most catchy tackles for burbot is the so-called undercut. Structurally, this tackle is somewhat different from the classic donkey. To make it, we need a fishing line with a diameter of 0.4-0.6 mm. It is wound on a Neva reel attached to a spinning rod. A steel rod or a folding Chinese spinning rod will do. A flat sinker weighing 150 grams is tied to the end of the fishing line. Leashes with a diameter of 0.25 mm and a length of 25-30 cm are attached to the main fishing line. Hooks are used No. 6 according to international numbering:
There are 8-10 leashes in total. They are attached in the same way as with an elastic band: by tying the side leash to the main line. Moreover, they attach 3 hooks, and then make a gap of 2-3 meters, through which the next three hooks are attached. The length of the working gear is approximately 8-10 meters. Up to 70 meters of working line is wound on the reel. Backing is wound under it if the coil is inertia-free. There is no need to back up the Neva. Schematically, the approach looks like this:
As can be seen from the figure, at the second end of the working line there is another sinker - a sliding one. Its weight is approximately 30-40 grams. It is attached after casting. When casting, it naturally does not participate. They attach it to the fishing line using a carbine, and lower it down the fishing line, on which one locking knot is tied, or a rubber stopper is threaded through. This stopper or knot is located 1 meter from the first hook of the rig. Thanks to this sinker, all the hooks will lie on the bottom.
This gear allows you to fish wide areas of the river. The fact is that burbot moves along certain paths. With the help of donks it is not always possible to detect these trails. Yes, if you use up to 10 donks, you can probably find burbot. But, firstly, not all fishermen have such a number of donks, and secondly, even if they do, laying out such a quantity of gear is a long and tedious task.
Place and time of catching burbot in autumn
Determining the exact location of burbot is almost impossible. It can be located both at a distance from the shore and close to it, both in depth and in shallow water. Therefore, for successful fishing, it is better to use 3-5 donks and cast each of them at a different distance from the shore. This way you will catch all possible points where there may be
burbot.
The burbot bite becomes active at night. Burbot can also bite in the evening and in the morning, but the best bite begins with the onset of darkness. As you know, the worse the weather, the better the burbot bite. Therefore, in inclement, rainy, windy and cold weather, burbot can bite in the evening and morning no worse than at night.
It is optimal to start fishing for burbot by throwing your gear in the evening, around 17:00-18:00, so that the gear is already completely ready. Then you won’t miss the evening fish bite, if there is one. You can continue fishing until 9-10 am. You are unlikely to expect a burbot bite later.
When going burbot fishing in the fall, you must take into account that the weather and temperature at this time are unpredictable, and the risk of catching a cold is very high. It is clear that a fisherman will not be stopped by the danger of getting sick, but you should still take more warm clothes, a tent, and preferably make a fire to make night fishing cozy and comfortable.
