Step-by-step instructions for making a burbot snitch

Burbots are inhabitants of fresh water bodies, belonging to the Cod family, and are predominantly nocturnal. These fish are predators, but sometimes feed on carrion. Catching burbot in winter using a snooker is one of the oldest methods of active fishing, which, according to some sources, came from Siberia (Yenisei River). We will tell you how to catch by knocking, what kind of tackle it is. The article will contain useful tips, methods for making catchy “snitch”, and we will also give a number of common mistakes made by novice fishermen.

What is a snitch

The same gear that came from Siberia was a home-made design - each fisherman made and is still making some of his own changes. One fisherman comes up with options with reels, another with a reel, like on a donk.

A snitch is a winter tackle consisting of a stick-club and a rig with a heavy bait that sinks to the bottom. The fisherman smoothly raises the stick and sharply lowers the load. So it knocks on the bottom, which attracts burbot. The second essence of the name of the tackle lies in a slightly different meaning: when a fisherman takes out a fish, he puts it on the ice and literally finishes off our predator with this club.

Fishermen complain about the high sensitivity of burbot, saying that if this fish is not stunned immediately after fishing, then it can return and slip into the hole! Over time, the batons began to fade away, acquiring a more modern look: a powerful fishing rod and reel - the equipment, of course, remains unchanged.

The inedible part of the bait is a massive weight with one or two built-in single hooks. Most often, the sinker is made by the fisherman’s hands, but it can be replaced with a regular purchased jig head for silicone fish. As you can see, simplicity down to primitiveness is the main advantage of the snitch, which makes it possible for any angler, even a beginner, to fish!

A simple snitch for burbot has equipment for which there are also no special requirements, only:

• fishing line 0.3-0.4 or more with a margin of 15-20 m;
• jig weight (from 20 to 100 g) with bait.

It can be done with a retractable leash (we take a metal one in case of a pike bite) so that the bait is kept at a distance of 15-20 cm from the bottom surface.

In general, instead of fishing line, ordinary nylon thread is often tied to snitches, complaining about the poor eyesight of burbots. We’ll talk about this a little later - there is one most important nuance.

I would classify the snitch, roughly speaking, as one of the most ancient pieces of equipment. There are still people in our country (in Siberia too) for whom fishing has remained the basis of survival from time immemorial. As a rule, these are the most experienced and resourceful fishermen.

Do-it-yourself burbot catcher

You can't buy a snitch in a store. It is done, as they say, with your own hands. To make a catchable bait, a copper plate 0.8 mm thick is required. Dimensions:

• width – 4 cm,
• length – 5 cm.

How to make a snitch? Drill a hole in the middle of the plate along the future bend. Strengthen the loop in it to which you will attach the fishing line. Bend the plate so that its shape resembles a sloping roof with an upper angle of approximately 110 degrees.

This is interesting: Do they catch burbot in Karelia?!

Place hooks No. 8-10 according to the domestic classification on the sides of the structure. Having assembled the structure, solder the hooks and loops to their places, and fill the “roof” with lead, then trim it with a file. You can try placing pieces of live bait on the hooks to attract not only by sound, but also by smell.

Bait selection

Another advantage of squealing is the freedom to choose both edible and inedible parts of the bait. If we talk about the sinker, it can be the same jig head, a massive jig-spoon. Actually, a piece of lead with one or two hooks! The only important thing is the knock on the bottom surface, which is what the burbot will pay attention to.

The predator likes the following edible baits:

• bunches of red worms, you won’t be able to get them in winter, but you can buy them in the store or prepare them in the summer;
• chicken liver is already better, the bait is quite accessible at any time of the year, especially for residents of villages and villages;
• shrimp. Burbots actively feed on representatives of Crustaceans;
• sprat and sprat. Frozen fish is also suitable, as long as it is not salted;
• pieces of any fish living in the reservoir where you are going to catch burbot. Loach, ruff, perch, bleak, roach, gudgeon. A small fish can be mounted entirely;
• beef and pork tenderloin;
• pieces of sea fish fillet! I recently learned about this bait.

Despite the fact that the burbot is only a freshwater inhabitant, and the only species from the Cod family that lives in fresh water, as it turns out, it is also not averse to gobbling up a piece of sea fish. By the way, many fishermen note that catching burbot in winter often involves biting pike perch. This is due to the fact that minnows, perches, and ruffs are attached to the hook - the favorite food of pike perch.

The fish is placed on the hook through the mouth, with the tip into the abdomen. If it's pieces, it's better to take it with a fin.

How the tackle works

A burbot jig is a special type of tackle for vertical trolling. Its basis is a special weighted bait, which, when retrieved, hits the bottom of the reservoir, creating sounds attractive to predators and raising muddy clouds of soil.

A blank knocking on the bottom creates the illusion of an easily accessible object swarming at the bottom, which cannot leave the voracious burbot indifferent. The predator is simply unable to ignore the careless behavior of the prey. This probably explains the high productivity of a fairly simple fishing method.

Essential elements

A rattle for burbot is a simple piece of equipment consisting of available elements:

• winter fishing rod equipped with an open-type inertial reel;
• monofilament line;
• bait.

For fishing on pike perch, a rigid rod 50–80 cm long is suitable. You can take the same “stick” as for hunting pike perch. A nod is not necessary, since the contact of the bait with the bottom and the bite are clearly transmitted to the angler’s hand.

The diameter and breaking load of the fishing line are adjusted to the potential size of the prey. As a rule, a thread with a thickness of 0.3 mm with a strength of up to 4 kg is sufficient. You don’t need to use a leash, since burbot is not able to bite or grind the monofilament.

It is better to use fluorocarbon fishing line as a leash for catching burbot using a hammer.

Squealer is a special type of winter spinner, specially designed for catching burbot. The most common modifications resemble a balancer in appearance. They weigh 20–40 grams and are equipped with several single and triple hooks. You can use regular jig heads. The main thing is that the bait effectively hits the bottom, attracting the attention of the predator.

Recommended reading: Catching asp with castmaster

Baits used

Burbot leads a predatory lifestyle. It prefers natural baits, so a bare hook bait is ineffective. The main attachments for this gear:

• live bait;
• dead fry;
• fish fillet;
• earthworm;
• shrimp;
• crayfish meat;
• pork or beef cuts.

When going to “tap” burbot, it makes sense to prepare several types of bait, adapting to the mood and preference of the predator. A universal attachment is a small dead fish, for example, fresh frozen sprat or sprat, fallen bleak or roach.

Burbot really likes live bait. It prefers natural prey that lives in the bottom horizon. Therefore, you need to put a ruff, small perch, goby, and gudgeon on the hook. The fish should be fresh and move, creating convulsive movements.

An easily accessible but productive bait for burbot fishing is a few worms attached to a hook in a bunch. Fresh frozen shrimp works just as well. Sometimes the reservoir is dominated by juvenile burbot, which prevents adult individuals from reaching the bait. In this case, you can use maggots, putting on 7-10 pieces at a time.

When is the best time to catch

The most active burbot bite begins before and after spawning. Predators spawn in February, when the water temperature reaches +1 degree. The colder the water, the more intense the bite. It is also known that burbots are most active in the worst weather - cloudy, snowstorm. It is best to fish between dusk and dawn because we are dealing with a nocturnal predator.

Fishing for snitching is an active fishing process, in contrast to the use of under-ice girders, where you just need to set and go. In our case, the fisherman remains on the reservoir and “tapping” each hole in a promising place.

Experienced fishermen note that the best time for burbot in winter with snooker (and other gear) is in December. You can also fish in February, despite spawning - at this time the predator practically does not feed, however, the spawning period lasts about 2 weeks. It is important to remember that before and after spawning, burbot gets hungry!

Tactics and principles of fishing

A snitch is a “cunning tackle” with a very simple but effective design. The trick lies in manipulating this predator due to its characteristics. One of them is the burbot’s poor vision, which is compensated by another ability that allows our aquatic inhabitant to survive.

He is able to sense vibrations in the water from afar, including the sound of a weight hitting the bottom surface. The burbot will smell the bait, and if there is some kind of bait, give it a few minutes, and it will come right away. True, together with other predators. Fishermen took these features into account and came up with a method where you just need to knock on the bottom. Burbots are also attracted to light sources - all the signs of a deep-sea predator are there!

Before catching burbot in winter using a snooker, the fisherman looks for a promising place and drills holes; burbot feels best at depths from 4 to 15 meters. Next comes the classic fishing technique, for one oscillation – 1.5-3.5 seconds, we begin to raise and lower the bait by 10-15 cm, and then you can reduce the amplitude to 3-4. So we knock. This is approximately the frequency, but as for hooking and fishing, the fisherman’s attentiveness is important here. The tactics are as follows:

1. A sudden strong blow “to the hand” is a sign of an attack by our predator.
2. The fisherman hooks it and has a choice: either he shakes it with a reel or fishes it out with his hands.
3. At this stage, the burbot will try to position its tail towards its opponent, so you should not hesitate to pull it out. You shouldn’t behave like you would with a pike either - pull it in and then let it go so that it supposedly gets tired. If he goes into cover, you won’t be able to pull him out of the ice.
4. If the burbot manages to stand across the hole (they do this too), then you will have to correct it so that it comes out to the fisherman with its head or at least its tail (you need a hook).
5. It’s not enough to catch, the burbot should be stunned so that it doesn’t slip into the hole and generally suffer from suffocating in the air

During the day, burbots bite quite rarely, mostly right before or after spawning. Fishermen say that during the daytime burbots usually stand in the deepest places, but at night the fish follow the route in search of food. Most often from a hole in the shallows (perpendicular to the shore) or along snags, heaps of stones, large boulders.

Every angler with extensive experience knows that at night when fishing for burbot, you need to cover the hole with a hat or something else. Why: although the burbot is blind, it sees the source of light; at night, a fisherman’s ordinary headlamp acts as it. If the hole is not covered (the fisherman will look into it with a flashlight), the predator will easily determine the place where he is being pulled!

I once told this to a fisherman, and he replied: “Do burbots have any intelligence? Cover the hole, the location will be determined.” No, of course, this is rather at the level of instincts; there is simply a pattern that is clearly manifested in our topic. The fish has a disadvantage (vision) - get ready for the fact that there will be advantages that will allow our predator to survive in difficult times.

In addition to a heightened sense of smell and touch, poor eyesight is also compensated by strength and dexterity, which beginners often cannot cope with when fishing. This also includes hunting skills - the burbot first creeps up 15-20 cm from the bait (at this moment it “sniffs”), and only then suddenly grabs it.

Typical mistakes when catching burbot using a snitch in winter

When catching this predator you should not make the following mistakes:

1. The fish bite also depends on the weather - if the night is moonlit, warm and calm, then the activity of burbot will most likely be minimal.
2. Fishermen use large jig heads instead of a jig. But the effect of such equipment is much worse - the dregs rise less and the sound is not the same.
3. When fishing, do not loosen the line. This is especially true for the place near the hole, where the burbot may curl up and not want to come out of it.
4. It is believed that the snitch is promising only when the predator goes to spawn, but this is not so. This bait can be used throughout the winter, but it is most promising from January to March.
5. Another way of hunting is fishing with a balance beam. Although this new popular bait has a unique action, the smell, turbidity and sound of the hook still outstrip it.
6. The winding ring through which the snitch is attached to the fishing line gives additional sound. The effect will be even better if instead of one ring you attach a small chain of rings.
7. At night, burbot are attracted to the light of a flashlight, so this preference for light is worth taking advantage of.

Squealing is a first-class method of catching burbot. If this predator lives in a particular body of water, then sooner or later a burbot trail will be found, and then the presence of a catch is guaranteed. Also, promising places will show other anglers hitting the predator at different times of the day.

Types of snitches

There are a number of modified and even invented versions of this gear by fishermen; there are several types of snitches:

• Siberian squealer - the one with the club. The fishing line can be wound either on the stick itself or on a reel of protruding nails;
• a snitch with a powerful fishing rod - the pacifying function is no longer there, but a reel has appeared;
• tackle without a rigid holding element or a snitch with a loop.

Further, the snitches are divided according to bait options:

• classic - a homemade weighted element that has an oblong shape, based on a triangle, rectangle, trapezoid. Available with one, available with an additional hook;
• jig jig – the weight resembles a large jig in appearance and looks like a jig head. There is only one hook;
• The Finnish version is a modification of the oscillating spoon, lead is soldered onto its lower part, and a hole is made in the upper part so that the bait takes a horizontal position in the water.

Tackle without any hint of a fishing rod is a coiled rig with a loop at the end. The whole point is that the fisherman simply unwinds the line and holds it in his hand directly above the hole. The gloved hand plays the role of a reel. It is more convenient, of course, to have a fishing rod or at least a stick in your hand.

How to make a snitch

As for the holding element, it couldn’t be simpler - any handy tool that looks like a stick will do! Do-it-yourself squealing for burbot is very simple:

1. Take a stick 60-70 centimeters long, remove it from the bark and sharpen it.
2. Closer to its end, use a knife to make a recess around the axis of the future baton in order to wind the fishing line and ensure that the thread slips.
3. Make a handle if you like. You can wrap some electrical tape, some handlebar handles can be used.
4. Reel - two nails with wide heads are driven in closer to the middle. The distance between them is about 15 cm. The nails are slightly bent in different directions so that the fishing line does not jump off.

I saw options with coils, whichever is more convenient for you. You can tie a safety cord to the stick, to the handle, the loop is put on your wrist - the tackle will not go anywhere. You can make a burbot bait from anything, but it’s best to use wood as a base - it’s very easy and quick to process. After this, you can go to the nearest fishing recreation center and try it out in action.

Jig weights are made a little more complicated; in most cases you have to solder them.

There are shell baits, very common baits, they can be made as follows:

1. Take a cartridge case, say, from a 7.62x39 caliber carbine (AK). It can be done from a gun; if desired, nothing prevents you from shortening a large cartridge case.
2. Two options. Either throw bearings into it and plug it with lead, or fill it with liquid lead (an explosion of the primer must be excluded; simply disassembling the cartridge, if any, is not enough!).
3. Two single offset hooks are soldered to the wall so that the points point to the sides and upwards.
4. It’s better if you can solder them so that their rings are aligned.
5. If necessary, the bait is processed with a file.

First, a brass sleeve is better soldered; second, before soldering, you should try to adjust the hooks so that the entire bait takes a horizontal position when hanging. If the cartridge is disassembled, then the primer should be neutralized and the bullet should be saved! They also make jigs from bullets!

Short sections of tubes, for example, made of copper, are also called sleeves. This metal is excellent at soldering, and you can make it heavier without liquid lead - drive lead pellets of a slightly larger diameter inside so that they don’t roll out.

Some fishermen simply make a mold from the same clay, put hooks in it, fill it with lead and sharpen it. Just please, if you actively work with this metal (smelting, pouring), try to protect your respiratory organs. Lead is very poisonous and tends to gradually accumulate in the body.

Homemade snitches

Often fishermen make this bait themselves, or modify store-bought ones. A do-it-yourself fishing rod for catching burbot in winter is made from improvised objects. There is nothing complicated about this, the main thing is to grasp the meaning of the bait and transfer it technically into the product. The bait should make a sound when it hits the bottom, the hooks should be positioned so as not to interfere with the sound of the bait baited on them.

Classic snitch

A common option is to make a burbot knocker from a brass sleeve. To make it, you need to saw off the capsule part, fill it with bearings, insert pieces of lead along the edges (for mass) and seal it well (so that water does not get inside). After this, the hooks are soldered on the outside on the same line (necessarily with a bend upward), and an eye for attaching to the fishing line. There are many design options, the angler can show all his imagination - the main thing is that the tackle fundamentally works.

Squealer - jig

In winter, a fishing rod for burbot can be equipped with a special jig. These lures are more like jig heads - they are large and heavy. The most catchy ones are considered to be cone-shaped products, suspended at an angle to the vertical line. The correct suspension is perpendicular to the line or at an angle, that is, the bait should be horizontal to the bottom plane. This is necessary to ensure that the back of the metal bait hits the bottom, rather than dipping the bait itself onto it, especially when using a large bait. In winter, you can also use special heavy sea baits - jigs, finders and others. For additional sound, various metal objects are attached to the bait - petals, nuts or balls.

Finnish snitch

The Finnish spinner for burbot is a regular spinner, in the lower part of which a special weight is installed, which not only gives weight, but also produces an additional noise effect when hitting the spinner. You can also make such a device yourself from a regular burbot spoon to improve it. The catchability of certain solutions can only be assessed experimentally. You can search for a lot of homemade products with detailed instructions on special fishing forums.

Finnish spoon for burbot

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Errors in fishing

Even when fishing with such simple gear, many beginners make a number of mistakes, examples:

1. They are slow in fishing after hooking. You need to pull it out immediately, before the burbot has time to go into cover and confuse everything.
2. Do not cover the hole from the headlamp when fishing at night - although burbots have poor eyesight, they can see the hole perfectly well illuminated in the dark.
3. They go in the hope of a rich catch of burbot in clear weather or a moonlit night. Fishing under such conditions is very, very rarely successful.
4. When bringing the predator closer to the edge of the ice, beginners make sudden movements - this is not allowed. The burbot will resist even more strongly and, most likely, the large individual will defeat the fisherman.
5. Make extra noise like, “Oh! I hooked it, it bites!!!”, it’s also not worth it. We sit quietly, quickly and patiently draw out the opponent.

Other mistakes are more general in nature, for example, beginners are often poorly prepared for going out on night fishing. In inclement weather, you will have to not only catch burbot correctly, but also, roughly speaking, try to survive. You need a tent, light sources (fire, kerosene stove or LED lamps), and a supply of provisions. Otherwise, the only thing that winter fishing for burbot with a snitch will bring you is a spoiled mood, or even something worse.

Useful tips

Experienced fishermen advise lubricating the monofilament with goose fat in order to increase its reliability in cold weather. For our case, I strongly recommend taking an ice drill with a wide auger - you will have a better chance of correcting the burbot faster if its belly is facing the hole. A not very large individual can even get through in a bent state.

It is known that if a burbot emerges from a hole with its tail first, it is very difficult to pull it out by hand (slippery) - some harsh fishermen pull the fish out with their teeth. It’s better to take a hook with you and keep it handy. There are telescopic boat hook designs, they are inexpensive, very convenient and compact.

You can enhance the bite with the help of a kind of bait consisting of minced meat, pieces of meat or fish. The smell of this mass will attract all predators, including burbot, even from afar. The bait should be loaded slightly higher upstream; the stronger it is, the more grainy the consistency should be.

Petals from rotating spoons are also attached to the sinker bait - this amplifies the sound when it hits the bottom surface. A hammer made from a sleeve, equipped with such petals, is an excellent working option! Fantasize, create something new, take into account the recommendations of other anglers and be extremely careful on the ice - take care of yourself and happy fishing!