How to catch burbot in winter: 2 catchy ways and 1 old-fashioned way

Content

1. Catching burbot in winter - methods and gear
2. Burbot habitats
3. About search and catching tactics
4. Methods of catching burbot Zherlitsa (supplied)
5. Fishing with a “snitch”
6. Fishing with a line

From time immemorial, burbot has been the breadwinner and savior of the Siberian peoples during the hungry winter months. We ate with pleasure: we prepared delicious fish soup, pies and fed the dogs! “Trouble and help” - that’s what they called this slippery representative of cod in the outback. “Trouble” - because in any, even the most severe frost and snowstorm, we had to go out to the reservoir and check the “poke” and the lines, and “help” - because in the most difficult winter years we rescued and fed entire villages.

Catching burbot in winter - methods and gear

Back at school, reading fishing classics such as: L.P. Sabaneev, V.B. Sabunaev, S.A. Aksakov always noted to himself how they described Burbot, what impressive dimensions they called:

V.B. Sabunaev, “Sports Fishing”:

Quote: “Bubot reaches large sizes. In the Ob basin there are specimens up to 30 kg, and in Lake Onega - up to 20 kg. In water bodies in the middle zone, the weight of burbot rarely exceeds 1.5–2 kg, and the eggs are always larger than the molosniks.”

L.P. Sabaneev, “Life and fishing of freshwater fish”:

Quote: “The largest burbots are found in Pechora, Ob and especially the Irtysh, in which, according to Pallas, they reach 2 m in length.”

This never gave me peace. How is it possible, I live on the banks of the Great River, where there are 20-30 kilogram burbots and I have never caught them, and my grandfather, a spinning rod player, never caught them, and my friends only indulge in catching bass, and chubs on the ice, at best, are content with pikes and pike perch! How so, where is the omission? Why isn’t burbot fishing so widespread in our region?!

Of course, the classics in the old days described beautifully, throwing up their hands, the gigantic size of the fish. Today's reality is somewhat different; but the truth is that we have burbot and there are quite a lot of them , but only a few purposefully catch them! Let's correct this misunderstanding.

What do you use to catch burbot in winter?

Since burbot is a predator, its menu includes food of animal origin. The following baits are suitable for catching it:

• Live bait;
• Dead fish;
• Pieces of fish;
• Crawling out.

Burbot is best caught using live bait, and this is not surprising, since small fish are part of its daily diet. Other types of baits are less effective and only work in those reservoirs where there is a large population of burbot. This mainly applies to artificial baits. When using crawlers, you should take into account that other types of fish, including peaceful ones, also love them. Dead fish are just as attractive to burbot as are pieces of fish and pieces of meat, but the most catchy bait is live bait.

Small specimens of the following fish species can be used as live bait:

• Ruff;
• Perch;
• Minnow, etc.

Burbot habitats

The most important thing in catching burbot is to find its habitat, and that magical burbot path along which every day, at dusk, it goes on its hunt. The search may take a lot of time and effort, but if you manage to find such places, you will definitely not be left without a catch. You can catch it in this “secret” place year after year until the topography of the reservoir changes dramatically and it stops attracting this fish.

Of course, the most effective and less expensive way is to find and get to know an experienced hirer who has already traveled this path. But will he be willing to share burbot stopovers and feeding trails in your area?

Perhaps it will be even more interesting for a true burbot hunter to solve this riddle himself, find the fish on his own and enjoy consistent results. To start an independent search, you need to know the places that are theoretically suitable for burbot to live and feed.

So, burbot loves clean, running water. You should not look for it in the river on a muddy bottom or in standing water. The best habitats are sandy, pebble soils with boulders at the bottom, rocky rubble! A deep-sea snag with running water, and nearby there are exits to spits and shallows. Burbot is often found on the fairway, behind some kind of shelter that protects it from estrus. But in general, it is recommended to install vents at depths of 0.5 to 4 meters, on spits, in places where the main flow weakens and turns into lulls, on the border of reverse currents.

The most active biting of burbot occurs before and after spawning. Spawning takes place at a water temperature of about 1 degree during the coldest winter period. During spawning, the fish practically does not feed, keep this in mind. Pre-spawning and post-spawning zhor are clearly expressed. During these periods, it is recommended to catch it purposefully.

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V. Grebennikov. Samolov for burbot.

The most severe frosts occur in our area at the beginning of January - this is nature. In this cold month, it’s not easy to force yourself to stick your nose out of a warm apartment and go fishing. But I really want to hunt burbot! Finding and catching this fish is not easy; you cannot do it without the help of experienced fishermen. I managed to find an experienced person. Dmitry not only knows a lot about burbot, but also catches it very successfully. He revealed many of his secrets to me so that I would share them with the readers of the magazine “Rybolov”. At the end of January, the frosts subside, and from this time until the beginning of March it is time for burbot fishing. Adults have spawned, become ill and are now fattening. Burbot hunts at night. He goes to his feasting places along the same paths, and almost always at the same time. Usually the first “exit” occurs from 19 to 21 o’clock, the second from 23 to 1 o’clock in the morning, and the third at dawn. True, this schedule depends on weather conditions and water levels in the river. The main thing in catching burbot is to find paths along which the fish leaves the river bed to feed. Most of the fishermen spend the whole night “scurrying” through the deepest parts of the river, drilling many holes and testing a variety of gear in them. And almost always such tactics do not bring success. Dmitry Gilev fishes differently. He arrives at the reservoir in such a way that by 18 o’clock he has time to install the electronic jet traps (photo 1), which were invented by his friend Andrei Plyusnin. These gear can be placed over a large space and reduce the time spent searching for burbot trails. The design of the samolov is very simple, one might say, clumsy.

Photo 1.

Components can be found on the construction market of any city - a piece of multi-layer plywood, any wires, an incandescent lamp, a simple switch, steel wire... The cost of the gear is minimal. And if you go to stores that sell electrics, the design can be made much more elegant. It all depends on the desire, imagination and wallet of the fisherman. On a piece of plywood measuring 15x20 cm, the following are attached: a switch, a rod with a light bulb, a coil and batteries. A design feature is the fine-tuning of a small push-button switch or limit switch D-703 or VK-5 (photo 2).

Photo 2.

Three staples made of rigid steel wire with a diameter of 1 mm are driven into a piece of plywood. A rocker arm made of the same wire is attached to one of them. It lies tightly on the switch button, recessing it. Behind the limit switch, the rocker passes between two parallel brackets. To secure it in the transport position, a curved thin nail is used, which is easy to unfold. The rocker presses the switch, the electrical circuit is broken, the light bulb does not light. The light bulb itself is located on a rod made of rigid wire. There are two wires inside the rod. The rod is made like this: the cambric is softened, for which it is dipped into a solvent, for example, 646 or acetone, for a few seconds, and then a rigid frame and power wires that go to the light bulb are passed inside. Once dry, the cambric hardens and firmly fixes the light bulb. The rod attachment point can be anything, the main thing is that it fulfills its function. The reel is a regular Tulitsa-65, inexpensive and known for not “biting” the line. Practice has shown that it is better to use AA alkaline batteries, which last longer in the cold. They are connected in series, wrapped against frost (photo 3) and “bandaged” with electrical tape. The power supply is screwed to the base of the airplane using ordinary wire through pre-made holes.

Photo 3.

Why do you need to install an incandescent lamp? This requires two batteries, and even those will run out quickly... It would seem that you can get by with an LED. The trick is that the brightly burning light illuminates not only the tackle, but also the reel with the unwinding fishing line, and even the place where the plane is located. You can pull the spoon out of the fish’s mouth without additional lighting and re-bait the hooks. To get the planes ready, we lower the bait to the required depth, and pass a loop of fishing line between the parallel brackets and the rocker and pull it 5-10 cm beyond the limits of the tackle (photo 4). The limit switch button remains recessed, and the light, naturally, does not light up. After this, we unfold the safety pin that held the rocker arm.

Photo 4.

The tackle needs to be adjusted in such a way that it triggers a smooth bite. The adjustment depends on the elasticity of the limit switch button. It is important that there is no strong current at the fishing site, which can lead to false triggering of the trap. All that remains is to raise the rod with a light bulb at the end and cover the planes with powdered snow so that the hole does not freeze. At the end of the fishing line there is not a hook with a sinker, as usual, but a spinner of a certain design with a hook soldered into it. Fluorescent paint is applied to the surface of the bait or a piece of some material is glued, which Dmitry calls a “light accumulator” (photo 5). Before installing the fishing rod, the angler illuminates the bait with a bright flashlight.

Photo 5.

It is clear that in pitch darkness at depth such a bait will be clearly visible. A bunch of worms and pieces of fish are attached to the hook of the spoon. It is difficult for burbot to refuse such a “sandwich”. But there is a trick here too - it is better to use sprat or verkhovka, rather than ruff. Dmitry lifts the bait from the bottom by about 5 cm, which contradicts the usual methods of catching burbot. Holes are drilled along the edge of the river bed 5-10 m from each other. After installing the self-catchers, you can additionally look for burbot with a vertical spoon or with a “snitch”. There are various playing techniques. Dmitry uses the simplest method - he knocks the spoon on the bottom, then lifts it 15-30 cm, lowers it again and knocks. Samolovs are waiting for fish nearby. The burbot walks along the trail, feels the bait and takes it. Dmitry and Andrey laugh: “A complex system of levers and electronics is triggered.” Our winter nights are dark, and when the long-awaited signal of a bite appears, the light from the light bulb of the triggered trap is visible at a great distance. Usually, when fishermen fish with a girder, they run headlong towards the triggered gear. Dmitry goes to the samolov slowly, he knows that the burbot, having found the bait, rarely throws it away. The fish does not know that at this time the light comes on and the reel with fishing line unwinds. Savoring the coveted “sandwich”, the burbot slowly walks along its favorite path. Dmitry waits for some time, allowing the fish to swallow the bait deeper, then he hooks and tries to pull the fish onto the ice as quickly as possible. And here, it turns out, there are some subtleties! The burbot is so agile and resourceful that during slow fishing, it manages to lift its tail up and rotate it, trying to free itself from the spoon. As a result, he may not fit into the hole or may enter it with his tail first. What do experienced takers do? They keep the fish on a tight line, without giving it any slack. You can stand there for a long time, sometimes 20 seconds or even more. You need to have composure and endurance. As soon as the burbot waves its tail (and it will definitely do this), the angler immediately pulls the prey onto the ice. But beginners pull the fish with all their strength, and, as a rule, they do not have a hook at hand. The result is the loss of the trophy. ...We went on another fishing trip together. A six-wheeled all-terrain vehicle, made by a local craftsman, quickly and comfortably took us to the famous burbot pit, which is located in the bed of the Kosva River. This place is well known to many burbot fishing fans. A lot of people gathered on the ice. It is impossible to reach these regions on foot, so various and marvelous moving mechanical means were seen everywhere. The faces of the fishermen I knew were not very happy. People came up, said hello and silently left. It was clear why - the “electronic engineers” had arrived, who would now catch all the fish with their cunning gear. Just the appearance of the plane with intricately intertwined wires made them despondent. How much intelligence do you have to have to do all this? Some anglers have staked out the coolest holes in the deepest part of the riverbed. Others occupied all the approaches to the pit, while others simply collected their gear and, without saying goodbye, went home. Dmitry and Andrey had come to this section of the river several times already and thoroughly studied the river bed, the pit and the burbot feeding areas, which were located in shallow water. And they even knew the time when the fish would bite. And all thanks to the self-catchers. And this time, fishing, as always, was successful. In the evening, Dmitry and Andrey joined the bulk of the fishermen sitting on the pit and did everything like the others. It is known that fish sleep during the day, and in the evening they wake up and go hunting. At this time, the bite begins in the hole. But what happens next? The burbot leaves the hole and goes into shallow water. He goes to the feeding place along some secret paths known only to him. The guys determined that there were two edges in this place, thoroughly studied several trails and knew in what place, at what depth and when the fish would be there. Knowing the time when the burbot will be on the first edge of the pit, the guys set the traps exactly there. Not just on the edge, but in those places that were identified as burbot with the help of self-catchers on previous fishing trips. Booming silence and the dark blue darkness of the night, diluted with trembling anticipation... But then there is a ringing click, heard in the night for tens of meters, the rocker flies off the limit switch button and the electronic circuit closes. When several fish are caught from one hole, it becomes clear that the desired path has been found. If the traps are “silent,” it means that the fishermen missed, so the gear must be moved to another place. Soon it became completely dark, and those fishermen who remained scurried and fussed around the “magicians”, admiring the “northern lights” created by the burning multi-colored lights, signaling burbot bites. Soon the second “exit” of burbot began. At about 11 p.m., the guys moved the traps to the second edge, near the shore. The depth there is 1.5-3 m. And again the gear was placed on holes that were known to catch. After some time, fishermen set up self-catchers almost at the very shore, where the depth ranges from 1 m to 30 cm. It turns out that there are also paths in the shallows, which is where burbot hunts most actively. Closer to the morning, the burbot begins to move towards its resting place. He returns to his home along the same paths, where the traps are waiting for him again. In the right place and at the right time. Other anglers, of course, also catch burbot, but much less. They stay in the pit all night, and they only catch fish in the evening and in the morning, and the rest of the time they tug their jigs to no avail. They just don't know that there are no fish in the hole. Fishermen, of course, see that the “electronics” are fishing in the shallows, but they can’t do anything. The holes located on the trail are occupied, and drilling nearby is useless. Good fishing.

So read the magazine “Rybolov”, study electronics and take advantage of the experience of Dmitry and Andrey.

Source: https://belkamfish.com/

About search and catching tactics

For an effective search, we need to have at least 5 zherlits. The tactics are quite simple - we find a promising area that fits the criteria stated above, and begin to install vents perpendicular to the shore every 2-4 m (depending on the length of the area) from shallows to depth. We note the triggers, the depth from which the bites occurred, shift to this parallel and, in a checkerboard pattern, fish the zone more accurately.

Don’t despair if you don’t manage to find the magical burbot trails the first time; in each section of the reservoir, for various reasons known only to the fish, they can be extraordinary and incomprehensible at first glance. Try, move, drill, but remember that the emergence of burbot most often occurs closer to night, so be patient, you may need more than one day to examine a fairly small promising area. Sooner or later you will stumble upon a burbot trail, its habitat, and you will be generously rewarded.

How to install the supplier

Typically, winter fishing for burbot using baitfish is carried out in the dark. This predator mainly hunts at night or in cloudy weather. The amount of fishing line in the reel should be 1 meter greater than the depth of the reservoir. This is due to the fact that the fish in question, after biting, can go to snagged places, from where it is difficult to get it.

Holes for supply are drilled at a distance of 10-15 meters from each other, which allows you to determine the catchable place. After catching the first trophy, you can move the gear to this area. Burbot move and hunt in groups of several individuals. These predators prefer shallows, snags, and areas with a protruding steep bank of the reservoir.

To equip the bait, they use fishing line with a cross-section of 0.4 to 0.6 millimeters; the diameter of the leash should not exceed 0.45 millimeters. The bait can be any small thing, such as perch, roach or ruff. The nozzle is hooked onto the lips and should have minimal damage. After this, the tackle is lowered to the bottom of the reservoir and the set is fixed on the ice.

Methods for catching burbot

Today we will talk about the two most common methods of catching burbot from ice:

• on zherlitsy, postavushki, “poke”. There are many names - the essence is the same!
• in a plumb line to the “snitch”. A special jig with a fish bait, which is tapped on the bottom, thereby attracting fish.

Zherlitsa (supply)

We will not mention the design of the vent itself in this article. There are a lot of them and each angler can choose the one he likes best. Beginner fishermen can buy a ready-made girder in a store, equip it correctly - and this will not be the worst option. Burbot is so unpretentious to the quality of tackle that it can be caught simply on a rope with a nylon leash and a hook, as they did in the villages. This hunter has poor eyesight, but his sense of smell is good. When searching for prey, it primarily focuses on the smell and lateral line, and only then on the organs of vision.

I repeat, the thickness of the line and the delicacy of the tackle for burbot are of secondary importance, so I suggest using a main line with a diameter of 0.4 mm and a leash of 0.3. They are necessarily connected to each other by a swivel and a clasp, into which a sliding weight, like an “olive,” rests, sliding freely along the fishing line. We select the weight of the sinker depending on the conditions: depth and current from 50 to 200 grams. The hook is a medium-sized double, it is better to select it based on the size of the live bait you caught. In our Ob realities, I would recommend using a soft tungsten leash so that the pike does not feed on your live bait with too much impunity. In addition, the leash simplifies the installation of live bait with a hook. An important point should be taken into account when equipping the vent - the nozzle should be located near the very bottom!

I recommend rigging live bait as follows. We push the leash through the mouth, bring it out behind the gill cover and thread the double into the loop of the leash, hooking it behind the back of the fry. No knots, simple and works great. Especially in the current, the fry stands with its head in the current, so it is easier for it to remain active longer, experiencing less water resistance. There are different ways to attach live bait, you can familiarize yourself with them in our article and choose the one that suits you best.

The load should lie on the bottom, and not float in the water column - burbot is a bottom predator. After a bite, he usually swallows the bait very deeply. You can also use a large single hook, this will make it easier to remove it from the voracious mouth. I like the double rig, and if the burbot is swallowed too deep, I just unfasten the leash from the clasp and put on a new one. I recommend that novice fishermen use only one leash - this will prevent tangling and snagging on the hole when fishing.

Another interesting way of rigging, definitely worthy of attention, you can watch in this video:

Fishing with a “snitch”

The most effective fishing tactics will be to combine these two fishing methods. I loaded several baits with fry and sat next to me in the tent so that it wouldn’t get boring, playing with the bait in a plumb line.

The squealer came from the banks of the Yenisei, although this is not certain. The essence of the gear is simple - a powerful fishing rod, often just a baton stick (which also performs pacifying functions), a thick fishing line, at the end of a large jig-spoon (pictured) on the hook of which a piece of live bait is hung. The fishing technique is not complicated. We throw the bait several times near the bottom, lower it sharply, creating a knock and raising the mud from the bottom, and take pauses.

If you are unable to make such a spoon yourself, and there is nowhere to buy it (which is most likely), you can replace it with a heavy jig head. To extract more noise, it is recommended to hang small petals from rotating spinners through the winding ring. Noise play is one of the main factors attracting “blind” burbot.

Fishing with a line

We will not promote and teach how to catch burbot in this not entirely sporting way. It is allowed to use no more than 10 hooks per person, otherwise the net will be considered poaching gear. Let's leave this productive, but more tedious method of fishing to local village fishermen, for whom it is acceptable.

Nozzle for burbot

Everyone knows the fact that ruff is the favorite delicacy of burbot. It’s great if you can catch him before setting up the girders on time and in plenty. But most often you have to use whatever you have: spruce trees, roaches, perches - everything goes to the girders. You can indulge in experiments and try to catch crawlers or dung worms with a bunch, but where will you dig them in winter? And then bream and ides are unlikely to give you peace! Options with giblets and other meat/chicken by-products may also work, but here the initiative is in your hands! Live bait is usually the most consistent bait.