Rhipus: description of fish with photos, habitat, nutrition, spawning, fishing and breeding

How to recognize ripus?

The length of the elongated and slender body of the ripus resembles the structure of a herring; it reaches 46 cm, with a maximum weight of 1.5 kg. In appearance it resembles a whitefish or vendace.

The back is dark gray with a bluish or greenish tint, the sides are cast in silver, the color becomes lighter towards the belly, and it becomes white. The scales do not fit tightly to the body and are easily peeled off. The caudal fin is dark gray. The pelvic, pectoral, dorsal and anal fins are translucent in gray-brown tones. Like all salmon, it has a small adipose fin.

Habitat

This active fish gathers in schools and prefers to live at a depth of three to five meters in cool and quiet water. Most often it swims in lakes and reservoirs located closer to northern latitudes.

Lakes Ladoga and Onega are considered its homeland, from where it moved to Lake Peipsi, Seliger and other lakes of Karelia. Later, it appeared in the Ural and Siberian reservoirs, where it was released in the 30s of the 20th century.

She prefers quiet coastal areas of reservoirs with a rocky bottom and clear water. Therefore, it does not live near large cities; people go after it away from “civilization.”

Description of ripus fish

Appearance

The ripus fish is characterized by a slender, elongated body. The back has a dark greenish or blue tint. The sides of the ripus are silvery, and the belly is pure white. The scales on the body are not tightly held, so cleaning this fish is not at all difficult, and the fins are not bright brown in color. The fish can grow up to half a meter in length, weighing about 1.5 kilograms.

A distinctive feature of the ripus is that it has a characteristic aroma of fresh cucumbers if it is just caught.

Where does the ripus fish live?

Rhipus, like most salmon species, prefers cool water. Therefore, this fish is found in reservoirs located closer to northern latitudes. These are Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega, as well as reservoirs of the Russian Urals and Siberia.

Fishermen of the Chelyabinsk region catch this fish in numerous reservoirs of this region, both paid and wild.

It prefers to be at depths of 3 to 5 meters, choosing quiet areas of the water area, closer to the coastal zone, where there are scatterings of stones at the bottom.

It mainly feeds on zooplankton and small fish such as smelt.

Spawning period

At the 3rd or 4th year of life, this fish can already spawn. This happens in November-December at depths of 1 to 1.5 meters.

Each female ripus is capable of laying up to 3 thousand eggs, yellow in color and not large in size. Ripus fry appear after 14-16 days.

Commercial catch

The ripus fish is distinguished by its fatty and very tasty meat, which determined the industrial approach to ripus fishing. In the Urals, this fish is caught in large quantities and, to some extent, it is the breadwinner here.

Rhipus is also grown artificially on special farms in the Chelyabinsk region. Ripus fry are released into reservoirs in the spring, and in the fall they are caught to sell or cook something.

Spawning

Puberty in fish is later and occurs in the third or fourth year from birth. This is a very prolific species, the female ripus lays up to 3,000 eggs. Spawning begins at the end of November or beginning of December, when the water temperature drops to +4...+5 °C and lasts no more than 3-5 days.

Useful properties of ripus

Any fish is included in the menu of a proper and healthy diet. Ripus is no exception. This is a valuable type of fish, which is distinguished by its high fat content (up to 6.5%) and omega-3 fatty acids. The mineral composition does not disappoint either; it is rich in magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, fluorine, chlorine, nickel and others.

Of the vitamins, the largest share is niacin or vitamin PP. People who want to lose weight can safely include it in their diet, since 100 g contains only 75 kcal.

It has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the main systems of the body - cardiovascular, immune and nervous and internal organs. Fatty acids in tandem with phosphorus help the body better absorb calcium.

Useful properties of ripus fish

Rhipus is a valuable commercial fish due to its fatty and tasty meat. It is highly valued in cooking, but Ural housewives are more familiar with ripus.

This fish is mainly salted, but is often fried and baked in the oven. Many people also love it because it has a small number of bones, which simplifies the process of preparing it.

Availability of vitamins and minerals

The meat of ripus fish contains such useful components as:

Phosphorus.
Omega-3 fatty acids.
Magnesium, etc.
In addition to microelements, the presence of vitamins, including vitamin PP, is noted.

The presence of useful substances in this fish allows you to optimize the functioning of almost all internal human organs, including the cardiovascular system, central nervous system and immune system.

Calorie content of ripus

Fish meat is considered low-calorie, since 100 grams contains only 75 kcal. In this regard, ripus meat can be classified as a dietary food product.

Use in cooking

Housewives love to cook this fish, and there is an explanation for this:

it is easy to clean;
there are few bones in it, about 10%;
During heat treatment, fish retains all its beneficial properties.

It is delicious fried, boiled, or steamed. Ripus is an ideal filling for pies and dumplings. By the way, in Finland it is the main ingredient in Finnish pie, which is the national dish of this country. It is also smoked, salted, pickled and dried.

Its caviar is no less significant in cooking. It is also very tasty and healthy.

Fishing

When going fishing for ripus, you should remember:

A more active bite is observed in the dark, since at this time the fish prefer to go in search of food.
You need to catch it in quiet places in lakes with sandy and rocky shallows, as well as at depth.
The most successful fishing is observed when the first solid ice is established, which continues until the spring floods. In lakes with cold water it can be caught all year round.
When winter fishing, you should not make several holes side by side to prevent the lines of two fishing rods from tangling, otherwise the angler (or anglers) will spend a lot of time untangling the gear.

Since the ripus lives in a flock, if you get on it, you can get a good catch in 2-3 hours. It usually bites on the “rise”, that is, it takes food from the bottom and begins to rise without resisting at all. But if you sit too long and don’t hook in a timely manner, the fish will make a “farewell gesture” with its tail, safely leaving the hook.

Fishing begins at maximum depth, gradually decreases it, and “probes” the entire thickness of the water, since the ripus can rise even higher in search of food.

Equipment for winter fishing for ripus

Many fishermen, going for ripus in winter, take a tent with them. Of course, it won’t add much warmth, but it will protect you from the wind. Before you start fishing, you need to make a hole, so a drill forgotten at home can put an end to the whole event.

According to experienced fishermen, for successful fishing it is necessary to illuminate the holes, then the ripus will bite better, so such experts must take illumination, preferably LED. She is lowered under the ice. The light attracts plankton, which it hunts for.

Please note: it is prohibited to fish using the backlight, so what experienced fishermen recommend is not always legal. Whether to break the law or not is your choice. We recommend following government guidelines.

In ice fishing areas, a whole tent city appears on the lake. Each tent has its own light source. Therefore, when choosing a place for fishing, you should move away from your neighbors, and especially not settle in the center. The more light, the more the fish are dispersed throughout the lake, which negatively affects the bite. Therefore, it is better to settle down a little further away from others.

Anyone who decides to fish all night should buy a gas stove to avoid freezing. But it is worth considering that the heat begins to melt the ice, so you should only fish on solid ice and put a rubber mat or a layer of straw under your feet. This will protect your shoes from getting wet. And also for convenience, purchase a chair or high chair.

Remember, fishing is prohibited during spawning.

Choosing gear

For fishing, a regular small winter fishing rod with a hard tip is suitable. Since fish swim at different depths, they catch them “vertically” and one jig (a hook soldered into a pellet made of lead or tin) is not enough here. They are knitted several at a time onto a fishing line (fishermen attach up to 10 pieces at once), making a distance of 60-100 cm between them.

The fishing line is chosen to be long and quite rigid so that it does not twist. Its optimal thickness is 0.25. Since the fish does not grab the bait, but sucks it in along with the water, it is better to choose thin and light hooks, the optimal size is No. 10 and No. 12. The line must be lowered very slowly; this is achieved thanks to the light weight of the sinker (up to 1.5 g), and the nod, equipped with a feather, helps to catch the weakest bite.

What to catch ripus with?

This predatory fish bites well on bloodworms, insect larvae - bark beetles or burdock flies. Some anglers catch it well using small pieces of lard. Therefore, it is better to take several types of bait and find out experimentally what the fish prefer to “bite” on now. When setting the bait, the hook tip is left open. Vegetable baits are not used.

Before starting fishing, the fish are well fed; the best bait is considered to be boiled mormysh (freshwater amphipod crustacean), which is crushed and mixed with sand. When the bait settles to the bottom, several feeders filled with crustaceans are then lowered. Each of which opens at a different depth and forms a column of bait.

After feeding, the fish begins to react. But you need to feed it without fanaticism, because after eating, the rhipus ceases to be interested in food, no matter how tempting it may be. It is also easy to attract with a crochet hook with beads without an attachment.

Fishing at depth

When fishing for ripus from great depths, you should hook with any, even a very weak poke. Some novice fishermen whom I took with me to Uvildy initially made the same mistake: they waited for a specific bite (as when fishing at shallow depths), not paying attention to the subtle shudders of the guard. Mistake, good gentlemen!

Imagine: up to 30 meters of fishing line goes under the ice from your guard or nipple, and the main fishing line, in addition to the thin working leader, is different for everyone and is often very coarse (up to 0.3 mm). Almost everywhere in the lake there is a weak current, which creates a small, but still a fishing line loop on the gear. Question: how do you need to pull the end of the fishtail so that the fisherman finally bends his nod confidently?! With what force must a bite from a small 130-gram fish be transmitted along the entire long fishing line in order to confidently crush the guard?!

That's it, I'm talking about the same thing! Unless the whole shoal of ripus hangs on all the hooks! Therefore, when hooking even on a very weak poke, you can be sure that it is not just a fish reluctantly poking into the bait, but a bite when the fish takes the bait in its mouth. Another thing is that ripus (unlike perch) is such a cunning fish that does not hold the bait in its mouth for a long time, and if it doesn’t like something, it immediately spits it out. Therefore, it is not recommended to yawn during such fishing - there is only one fishing rod, and it is always in your hand. Otherwise, instead of a ripus pie, you will have to “suck a bear’s paw”!

Breeding and growing ripus

Over the past few decades, the ripus population has decreased significantly, this is due to environmental deterioration, uncontrolled fishing, poaching, and this species is considered endemic, as it occupies a limited range.

During spawning, fishing with ripus is prohibited. Therefore, ripus is the object of artificial fish breeding and acclimatization. It is acclimatized, for example, in the reservoirs of the Urals, where it feels good there. What’s interesting is that among Ural ripus, puberty occurs earlier, in the second year of life.

Under artificial conditions it is grown in ponds. The planting material is caviar at the last stage of development; it is delivered from fish factories and placed in baskets. They are placed in the pond at a depth of 1.5-2 meters, and the distance between them is 50 cm.

Next, the eggs are further incubated. Clean fine gravel or small stones are poured into the bottom of the baskets, and the top is covered to prevent other fish from getting into it. After some time, larvae hatch from the eggs. They leave the baskets and go to live freely in the pond. The area should be free of vegetation and away from drains.

When artificially reared, ripus from eggs grows up to 60 g in one summer. To obtain a commercial stock per 1 hectare of reservoir, the following is required:

larvae in the amount of 3 thousand pieces;
1500 fry;
fingerlings, that is, young animals of the current year, 200 pieces.

If the fingerlings are left for the second summer to feed, then for the winter they are transferred to wintering ponds, where they coexist with the carp fingerlings.

Fishing for ripus

Fishing for ripus is similar to fishing for whitefish. It begins with the first ice and ends with its melting, and the ripus bites especially willingly on the last ice. At night, the bite improves significantly if you shine a flashlight or car headlights into the hole. They catch ripus using ordinary winter fishing rods with a hard whip from great depths. When fishing, it is important to search for fish vertically, that is, constantly change the depth and use several jigs or hooks at different depths with a distance of at least 30 cm from each other.

The bait can be jigs, small pieces of worms, burdock moth larvae and pieces of lard. Ripus and hooks with beads without attachments are attractive. Groundbait - ground boiled jig mixed with sand.

Ripus often bites on the rise. When fishing, he may have almost no resistance and even swim to the hole himself, but if the fisherman does not have time to tighten the fishing line, then the fish is very likely to disappear.

Interesting Facts

There are certain facts about ripus fish that are useful to know:

Freshly caught ripus smells like a fresh cucumber, just like smelt. The usual fishy smell appears after 2-3 hours.
This fish spoils very quickly, its maximum shelf life is only 1 day.
Why is ripus called the “royal” fish? Previously, there was a lot of fish in Lake Pleshcheyevo, on the shore of which stands the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky, which previously belonged to the reigning family. Fish from this lake could only be caught for the royal Lenten table; the rest of the people were forbidden to engage in fishing. If this law was violated, the person was deprived of life. Hence its nickname “royal fish”.
By the way, the coat of arms of the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky still depicts vendace, a close relative of the ripus.
It is very popular in Finland. It is the main ingredient for many national Finnish dishes.
Rhipus feeds on chebak, so where it is found, there is most likely a rhipus there.

So, the importance of ripus fish is clearly underestimated. Residents of Russia are wary of unfamiliar types of fish, but in the Urals, for example, it is very popular, it is healthy and has the most tender meat. And winter fishing for ripus is an activity that many experienced fishermen enjoy.

Copy link