Catching pike with a donk: Pike donk with live bait

Many fishermen are passionate about pike hunting. Fishing with live bait on a donk is an ancient activity, but even today it is very popular and productive. For successful fishing, it is enough to know the basic rules for installing a donkey, as well as their varieties and application depending on external conditions.

Thanks to such fishing with a donka using live bait, you can catch large specimens

The main advantages of casting for pike

Even catching a predator with a simple donka outperforms in many respects compared to modern spinning gear and trolling fishing. Advantages:

budget price;
easy to assemble and use (suitable for beginners);
does not require long casts, which does not affect the result;
suitable for rivers with intense currents and deep-sea reservoirs;
you don’t need to constantly watch the tackle (the alarm will let you know about a bite);
It is permissible to catch pike on a donk both from the shore and from a boat;
thanks to the sinker, the bait is stably placed at one point and does not move;
it is possible to install up to 5 equipment simultaneously;
You can change the bait in 5 minutes.

A significant plus of donks is that older people can use them without any obstacles, since they do not require special efforts and maximum attention. The design of the tackle is such that after casting it, even large fish do not notice it - it does not alert you.

Predator on Predator

Catching pike with live bait at different times of the year

Pike, like most predators, is a restless creature; its activity largely depends on the time of year, temperature and atmospheric pressure. Therefore, fishing in different seasons has its own characteristics that the fisherman needs to know.

Spring

Let's start with the spring period. In spring, pike are most often found at shallow depths and hunt for small fish while camouflaging themselves in the grass. When choosing a place for an ambush, the predator tries to have good visibility, but it is quite difficult to notice it. So she stands and waits until the prey comes into her field of vision. This is followed by a powerful and fast attack, which in most cases leaves the victim no chance. Based on this behavior of the predator, live bait should be installed near a large accumulation of grass. If fishing takes place on a lake, then it is best to look for especially large pike near underwater snags overgrown with vegetation, on the edges (depth differences), as well as in those places where a stream flows into the lake. As for river fishing, in this case, pike can most often be found near underwater holes, whirlpools, and also in places where there is a difference in depth.

March

This month is considered one of the best for pike fishing. The thing is that after winter (when the fish is inactive), the predator has its first meal. At this time, the pike very greedily grabs any bait.

April

In April, a powerful flood most often begins and therefore the intensity of pike biting decreases. This happens because a large amount of dirt gets into the reservoir along with large amounts of water. This reduces visibility and therefore during this month it is best to fish with baits that can make some noise underwater. Fishing with live bait does not bring good results at this time.

May

This month can give the angler an excellent catch. The water in rivers and lakes is warming up and a lot of fish are moving into shallow waters

In May, pike takes bait greedily, even without paying attention to the hook pricks

Summer

In the summer, pike fishing with live bait is possible throughout the entire body of water. The predator especially often sets up ambushes at the exit from holes, or near flooded trees and snags. If there is a pronounced thermocline in a reservoir, the fisherman should determine its boundaries. Since temperature changes seriously affect the activity of both live bait and pike. An excellent place for fishing in the summer can be a bend in the river where the current weakens. In such a place there are always a lot of fry, which can attract a predator.

June

This month it gets really hot, which, of course, affects the behavior of the fish. However, in the first half of June, pike are caught quite well, showing a stable bite. Afterwards, her behavior changes; she spends most of the day in the grass, or in the depths. Therefore, the best bite during this period is observed in the early morning.

July

In July, the highest water temperature is observed and therefore the activity of the predator decreases. In addition, a large amount of algae appears in the water and the amount of oxygen decreases. During this period, you can catch pike at night or early in the morning. During the day the fish hardly bite.

August

The water in the river begins to cool, which leads to more active behavior of the predator. In the first half of the month, the bite may not be too intense. However, the second half of September can offer excellent fishing.

Autumn

In autumn, the most successful pike fishing occurs in reservoirs with great depths. It is the edge or exit from the pit that becomes a favorite place for pike in the fall. Here she hunts fish, which rise to warm shallow water in the morning, and in the evening, on the contrary, descend into not yet completely cold pits.

September

This month can bring trophy catch to the fisherman, as large pike at this time begin to feed heavily in preparation for winter. The fish bite greedily and can take bait anywhere in the reservoir.

October

A great month for catching pike with live bait with bottom rods and spinning rods. Moreover, large pikes are often caught on the hook.

November

During this month you can catch the biggest fish. The best time for fishing is early in the morning. At this time, large pike actively feed, going to shallow depths.

Winter

In winter, pike, unlike many fish species, does not hibernate, however, its activity noticeably decreases. Therefore, it is possible to catch pike at this time of year, but a large catch is extremely rare. For winter fishing with live bait, girders are most often used, which are quite effective at this time of year.

What kinds of donkeys are there for pike?

Varieties, the design of which depends on fishing conditions, traditions in a particular region and the preferences of the fisherman himself. Despite this, they all belong to the varieties described below.

Trophy loot

Donka - installation on a reel

This is a traditional bottom equipment, which includes:

fishing line with a diameter of about 0.5 mm;
steel leash;
hook;
bait.

Can be held on different reels. With their help, the gear is installed on the ground (it cannot be fished from a boat). So, they first make a base for winding the equipment during pulling and transportation. The end of the line is fixed to the reel, and a weight is attached to the other. A steel leash with a double or tee is attached higher. Before casting, bait is attached.

Donka with a rubber shock absorber - fishing with an elastic band

With a shock-absorbing elastic band
Donka with a shock-absorbing elastic band is common among fishermen. Only it has features: fewer hooks, increased space between the leashes, which are also metal.

The design of the tackle is more complex than that of the supply. There are 2 stoppers placed on the main line at intervals of 1 meter, and a sliding leash in the middle of the stoppers. On one side of the scaffolding, a swivel is knitted, and to it - an elastic band of 7 m and a thickness of 1.5 mm in diameter. Next, attach a 2-meter piece of nylon cord, with a sinker at the end weighing 200 g or more.

When fishing for pike with an elastic band, it is not customary to use a rod with a reel. Before casting, the line is folded in a circle on the ground or other hard surface.

Advantages:

delivers live bait to the desired point without damage;
allows you to catch fish using several baits;
thanks to the rubber band, the prey rarely breaks off and escapes;
prevents leashes from getting tangled.

Disadvantages of gear:

designed for fishing for predators where there is no large accumulation of snags, algae and other obstacles;
problematic in casting and retrieving;
has limited mobility.

Spinning rod with live bait for fishing from the shore

Spinning donka
This donka with live bait is effective for catching pike. A branch with a thickness of 0.25 to 30 mm and a length of 15 cm with a weight is tied to one end of the main fishing line. The sinker should be small so that if it gets stuck in the bottom pile, the working part of the equipment is not damaged.

At a distance of 10 cm from the sinker, attach a leash with a tee through a carabiner. Usually the length of the leash is 20-25 cm. It is convenient to catch pike with such equipment at a distance of 13-15 m from the coastline, using a swimming device to arrange the equipment. Then you will need to use several gears.

Large pike

Donka with a float - summer fishing

A float rod can be considered another piece of gear - more active, searching. The rod and other components are the same as those of a standard rod. The only difference is that there is a bite alarm and a float. Also different editing.

Float equipment requires the use of moving live bait. It must move independently from side to side, luring the predator and dragging the alarm. The fisherman is also not idle - he periodically throws the fishing rod, moves it and slightly pulls it towards himself. If necessary, you need to change the frozen fish. The main thing is not to lose sight of the float.

Types of float rods

Typically, floats are made of foam in the form of corks, like champagne bottles. A hole is pierced in the middle and a fishing line is threaded through it, which is secured with a ballpoint pen. There are other, more sophisticated designs designed for fishing at depth. To do this, pins are stuck into the side of the cork and fishing line is threaded into their ears. When fishing in shallow water, the rig includes a weight that is attached not to the main line, but to the bottom of the float.

The float twitches slightly, slowly walking along the surface of the water - this is the live bait moving. And since pike mainly take from the bottom, you need to set the appropriate depth. If it suddenly sinks, it means the perch is hooked. When he moves to the side, he caught a pike. In the first case, the hook needs to be done instantly, in the second - not.

Equipment and installations

Zhivtsovaya

The main condition for such installation is that the decoy fish should not touch the bottom in order to be in constant motion to attract the fish.

Installation is as follows:

put a sliding sinker on the main fishing line or cord, install a rubber bumper, bead or float stopper (to prevent the swivel assembly from being broken by the sinker);
next to the stopper, tie a swivel with a piece of fishing line for a leash; Two more stoppers are placed on the same segment. A metal leash with a hook is placed between them;
An underwater float is attached to the end of the lead line to lift the equipment with live bait above the bottom.

Tackle

This type of equipment is used when fishing with dead fish. For the leash, fluorocarbon with a cross section of 0.5 mm and a length of 20–25 cm is used.

A carabiner or swivel is installed on one side of the leash, then after 10 cm in steps of 3 - 4 cm, two copper wires 7 - 10 cm long are tied in the middle with a regular knot, which will hold the dead fish on the tackle.

After the outermost copper wire, two tees are put on the leash and fastened with knots at intervals of 2 - 3 cm from each other.

The design is completed by a conical float with a body of 70 mm, modified in a special way - the antenna in the narrow part of the cone is cut off completely, and in the wide part a tail 5 mm long is left, in which a hole is drilled for attaching to the rig.

The procedure for equipping with live bait using frozen sprat as an example:

the thin end of the float is inserted completely through the mouth of the sprat; after tucking the leash, the tees are located near the head and under the belly, they are not stuck into the body of the sprat;
using copper fasteners, the live bait is fixed to the rig;
We attach the carabiner to a pre-prepared loop on the main fishing line with a sinker.

This type of installation is self-locking.

Installation of live bait on pike

To collect live bait tackle you will need:

double, or better yet, triple hook with a leash up to 50 cm;
sliding weight
swivel;
bumper;
fishing line 40 cm and thickness 0.5 mm.

The use of a sliding sinker increases the receptivity of the equipment and after swallowing the bait the pike does not feel heavy. Only after locking the load with a knot is the predator caught under its own weight.

Donka for live bait

In creeks, channels, whirlpools and small rivers, they resort to a special installation of donkeys - when the distance between the banks allows. They pull a strong cord, to which they attach (from the boat) pieces of monofilament up to 7 meters long with a thickness of 0.4 mm. Metal leashes with hooks and attached bait are tied to their ends. A sinker is attached at a distance of 60-70 cm from the leash. Then they throw the tackle downstream (if there is one) and swim to the shore.

If there are several leashes, the likelihood of catching a trophy pike increases

Choice of live bait

One of the components of successful fishing is the correct selection of bait. It is recommended to get live bait where pike fishing will take place. You can also use purchased options, or fish caught elsewhere. Best bait for pike:

crucian carp;
minnows;
roach;
perches;
rudd;
bream.

Other baits are used depending on the characteristics of the reservoir. So, if there are ruffs or rotan there, then the pike will peck at them.

Rudd - live bait for pike

If you are hunting for a donk, adapted to hook several baits, you can use different types of fish. Then it will be possible to see the gastronomic preferences of the predator and then act in accordance with them.

If there is no bite for a long time, you should examine the tackle and bait. It happens that the bait hides in silt or algae, becoming invisible to the pike. To avoid this, attach a small piece of foam that will keep the bait afloat.

How to properly mount live bait

To prevent the bait from flying off during casting and the current, it is hooked under the dorsal fin, a knot is made from fishing line and the end is tied to a hook. You can catch the fish on the soft tissue of the upper lip.

When fishing for pike with live bait, use crucian carp or perch.

The fish used should be small in size and weigh no more than 100 grams. For trophy pike, you need large bait weighing up to 200 g. The bait is attached at four points near the head, tail and in the central part of the back.

Varieties of donks

Equipment of this type can be different; its components differ. Bottom tackle for pike with live bait can be:

traditional, it consists of a fishing line approximately 0.4-0.5 mm thick, a steel leash, a hook and the bait itself. It can be stored and transported on various reels, round self-releasers, or homemade wooden ones with a holder. It is with a reel that the tackle is secured on the shoreline; this species does not allow fishing from a boat.
Tackle with rubber is known to many, but it is usually used to catch crucian carp and crucian carp. For pike, there are some subtleties in the formation of gear: after the rubber, a piece of fishing line is placed, about 5-8 m long, at the end of which a sinker weighing up to 200 g is tied, in front of it one or two reins with hooks for live bait are formed.
Catching pike on a donk from a boat is carried out using a feeder rod; the installation for this purpose is completely wound on a reel with good traction characteristics. The tackle itself differs from other feeder ones in the absence of a feeder and the use of not only live fry, but also lump fish as bait.
Donka with a feeder is used extremely rarely for toothy predators, this is explained by the fact that many do not know what to feed the fish with. However, you can catch a trophy specimen with this type of gear.

Each of them, with proper collection and selection of bait, will be able to attract the attention of the toothy resident of the reservoir.

Technique for catching a predator on a donk

The hunting tactics for toothy fish are special. This fish, as soon as it becomes interested, immediately begins to attack. The main thing is not to rush into hooking. It takes time for the fish to thoroughly swallow the bait. When this happens, make a confident sweep with a sweeping movement.

The most difficult thing is to pull the toothy one out. Predatory prey begins to behave aggressively, strongly resisting even on the shore. You have to concentrate extremely hard, because the trophy you come across will begin to rise up in the form of a “candle”, sharply go to the side and jerk its head. We can't let him leave.

River pike

The rod must be kept parallel to the water or tilted lower. If you hunt for pike using a bottom rig from the shore, you need to be extremely focused and careful.

Scheme of donkey action on pike

Advantages of donkey when fishing for pike

When catching any fish, the choice of gear depends on the characteristics of its behavior, food preferences and activity, and this also applies to pike. Pike are caught with a spinning rod from the surface and in the water column, but also in the bottom layer, especially during periods of gluttony, it looks for food, and in this case it is the bottom that helps to interest the fish with a tempting bait.

The toothy predator is capable of waiting for a long time and looking out for its next victim, including those that prefer to hide in holes or stand near undercuts. Unlike active spinning, the use of bottom gear refers to passive fishing, but there are situations when it is more effective in both short and long sessions.

The advantages of catching pike on a donk are that:

with the help of this gear, if necessary, long casts are made;
effective fishing in the current, at great depths;
you don’t need to monitor the tackle all the time; when a fish bites, the alarm goes off and all you have to do is hook the fish and bring it to the shore;
the bait is in the same place and waits for the voracious pike.

Unlike spinning fishing, the use of a donkey allows you to fish the far reaches of a reservoir, regardless of whether it has a current or a lake with standing water.

Properly tied equipment flies far and it is easier for the fisherman to throw it to the designated fishing point. This, of course, is not a carp rod with a filigree, precisely selected rig that flies at a distance of 100 meters and further, but the pike rod also has good flight characteristics.

If you have a watercraft, boat or raft, then pike fishing is simplified, but the casting tackle is quite long-range, and its use does not require constant movement around the reservoir with oars or a motor.

When fishing on rivers with strong currents and at great depths, bottom rigs for pike are more effective than spinning rods. Thanks to the use of a heavy sinker, the bait on the hook is delivered to a given point, regardless of how deep it is. When the depth at the fishing point is 2–3 meters, spinning baits show their best sides.

But if the depth is greater, and there is also a strong current, the donka catches the spinning rod and has clear advantages. In such cases, the correct selection of the sinker, or rather its weight, is very important, because you need the bait to be at a given point and not be washed away by the flow of water. On the other hand, a sinker that is too heavy makes fishing difficult and alarms large pike, so you have to look for a “golden mean.”

To cast a load that is too heavy, you will need a powerful rod, and the tackle becomes coarser, which will affect the fishing results.

Important! Select a sinker such that it holds the bait at a given point, but when a predator bites, it does not create obstacles for fishing. The tackle must be sensitive and this depends on the correctly selected load.

Another advantage of the rod for pike is that it does not require constant attention from the angler and you only need to pick up the rod when the alarm indicates a bite.

After casting the bottom tackle to the pike, the rod is installed on the stands, and the fishing line is fixed with a signaling device and all that remains is to wait for the bite. Due to the fact that the rod does not require constant attention, anglers place 3-4 donks, thus increasing the chances of a qualifying catch.

Pike don’t bite on the bottom every five minutes, and sometimes you have to wait at least an hour for a bite, so there’s enough time to service all 4-5 rods. When fishing with 5 donks, it is possible to fish several promising areas and look for fish, expanding the fishing sector, which gives an advantage over spinning anglers using only one rod.

Changing bait or bait on the bottom takes 5–7 minutes, so the fisherman never gets bored. On the other hand, when fishing with a spinning rod, the angler needs to constantly recast the tackle, and also work with the reel, reeling in the fishing line or cord. Not everyone can do this tedious task, but using bottom gear when fishing for pike does not require constant physical effort.

It is easier for older fishermen to catch pike on donkeys, and they take advantage of this equipment, both on rivers and at stakes. Even if there is a sudden bite from a predator, thanks to the correctly configured friction brake of the reel, the angler always has time to react and hook the fish.

Another advantage of the donkey for pike is that after casting the tackle is in a calm state, and there are no factors that deter large trophies. Before attacking the bait, the pike carefully observes its behavior and if something alerts the predator, it will choose another target.

But in the installation of the donkey there are no elements that can frighten or alert the predator, and the bait is in a natural position, so the likelihood of biting and catching fish increases significantly.

Which place is suitable for catching pike on a donkey from the shore?

Donka is considered a universal tackle, since it can be used both in still water and in strong currents. Differences in bottom height play an important role. It is ideal when, along with the stingrays, there is a border between clean water and overgrown water. Such features indicate that the predator will have somewhere to hide when hunting prey.

Using a donkey requires free space. It is necessary so that when hooked, the pike has the opportunity to move a couple of meters away from this place. To study the depth, it is better to use a special device - an echo sounder or a marker. There is no need to stop in places with dense growth and snags, since the pike with bait can hide in them or the tackle can get tangled.

Pike habitats

The donk needs to be mounted on flat ground, where there are no tall thickets and trees. They can interfere not only with installation, but also with casting.

Choosing a place for donk fishing

The coastline does not always allow the fisherman to use a donkey. Beginners often throw out equipment without thinking about the terrain and depth. At such a point, the baitfish will swim all day without attracting a predator.

First of all, clean sites are selected on the shore. If necessary, you can slightly refine the workplace using a hatchet or knife. This is required not only for comfortable installation and removal of the donkey, but also for the purpose of safe running in case of a sharp bite.
Before casting live bait, you should study the bottom topography a little. To do this, you can remove the leash with the hook and tap the selected water area with a sinker. If the equipment clings to snags or thickets of grass, then it is better to look for another point. After a bite, the pike will definitely rush to natural shelter.
When choosing a place for a donkey, you should consider how the trophy will be retrieved from the water to the shore. If the length of the landing net is not enough to reach the water's edge, then problems will arise when fishing.
To ensure that the probability of a pike bite is as high as possible, you need to spend a little time studying the area of the reservoir. This can be done with the same spinning rod with a load. Of particular interest should be differences in depth, entrances and exits from pits, places of confluence of tributaries, entrances to oxbow lakes, boundaries of clear water and algae. At such points the pike will find shelter favorable for an ambush.

[custom_ads_shortcode2]

How to make bottom tackle for a predator with your own hands

Catching pike with live bait is carried out by different types of bottoms, each of which is better demonstrated when working from the shore or from a boat. The design of the gear will be slightly different. Any donk can be assembled with your own hands if you have the necessary elements at your disposal.

Live bait for pike - white fish

An example of assembling a spinning rod:

Take a spinning rod of the required power and length. Professionals choose steel “Leningradka” or fiberglass “Crocodile”.
A reel is selected for the fishing rod. If you have the skills to use inertial, then choose this option. Otherwise, they take a cheaper but powerful inertia-free machine with a volume of up to 5000.
A braid with a diameter of 0.20 mm or monofilament line with a thickness of 0.35 mm is wound onto the spool.
To the other end of the leka, a rig is attached, including a weight and a hook.

Tackle for catching pike with live bait
It’s not difficult to make a running hook. You will need:

telescopic form;
inertia-free, up to 4000 in size and smooth running;
fishing line with a cross section from 0.35 to 0.5 mm;
leash with a diameter of at least 0.4 mm;
single or double hook of the appropriate size;
lead weight ("olive" type).

All components of bottom tackle are sold in specialized stores.

Making any type of donka is accessible even to a beginner

Having finished manufacturing, they move on to equipment. The main elements used are: fishing line, sinker, hooks with leashes. Hooks - they must be sharp and strong, so it is recommended to stick to foreign brands.

If a feeder with bait is used as a load, various proven methods should be used to secure leashes and hooks (you can connect them up to the feeder or after it). No less popular is the method of arranging hooks in the bait. It is important that they do not cling when casting.

It’s not difficult to remake store tackle in your own way:

They remove the native bait.
They put a cambric (a silicone tube for fastening the line to the float) on the line, which is intended for restriction.
Move on to preparing the leash. Its cross-section should be about 0.25 mm, with a length determined by the type of bait and the intended fish. There can be several leashes. The hook is also selected taking into account the size of the prey.
Next, install a carabiner with two rings - a swivel. The main line is passed through a hole, the leash is secured to another with a regular fishing knot.
A colored bead is put on to serve as a soft stopper.
It will be useful to add a bite alarm.

The feeder version of the donkey (with a feeder) is more suitable for fishing the water area from a swimming device. When installing, they follow a similar algorithm, only adding a container for bait. If loaded modifications are taken, the weight is excluded. Pieces of fish will be used as bait.

How to make a pike donka with your own hands

Every angler planning to acquire a pike bottom must first choose a modification suitable for fishing. If you have a boat or a wading suit, you can make some classic gear. For fishing from the shore on a still body of water, it is better to give preference to an elastic band. And it’s worth taking a snack for river fishing.

The very name of the gear suggests that the predator will have to be caught at the bottom. Of course, the live bait will rise above the bottom surface by the length of the leash, which will not go unnoticed by the pike. But the sinker should be on the bottom, limiting the movement of the bait.

To make a working bottom for catching pike with live bait, you will need:

a spinning rod with a length of 2.1-2.7 m and a test weight above 20 g;
spinning reel 3000 with friction brake;
monofilament line 50-100 m long with a diameter of 0.30...0.40 mm;
metal leash 0.5-0.7 m long;
hook;
sinker weighing from 20 g.

Even a novice fisherman will need 10-20 minutes to assemble the gear.

First, the rod is put into working position and the reel is installed on it.
The line is pulled through the guide rings and fixed on the spool when the shackle is cocked. Then, by moving the reel handle, the line begins to wind onto the spool.
The sinker is tied to the end of the main line.
Stepping back from the sinker by 1 m, a knotted loop is made. A metal leash will be attached to it.
Fishermen do not have a consensus on the type of hook. Some use a large single hook, others use a double hook, and others prefer a treble hook.

Advice!

When using “spiny” live bait (perch, ruff), you can use a treble hook. But for fishing for roach or crucian carp, a double or single hook is preferable.

The weight of the sinker must be selected to suit the conditions of the area of the reservoir being fished. In still water, 20 g is enough to hold back live bait. But when fishing on a river, you often have to equip the fishing rod with a 100-gram weight so that the equipment does not get carried away by the current.

[custom_ads_shortcode1]

Useful tips for catching pike with bottom tackle

Favorite habitats
Several practical recommendations for beginners on catching trophy pike on a donk:

It is advisable to obtain bait near the reservoir where fishing is planned;
to catch large fish you need larger live bait - weighing more than 150 grams;
catching period - in early spring, late autumn and in the dead of winter (in summer, the toothy fish does not react so zealously to live bait);
you need to check the condition of the gear every 2 hours after casting;
You can’t catch a pike without live bait;
You can fish for pieces of fish before freeze-up or when using a feeder;
It is better to place the bait on a treble hook, winding it so that it comes out through the gill opening;
It is recommended to make the leash yourself (the length should be between 30-50 cm);
Monk is used as a base;
Immediately after hooking a fish, you cannot immediately hook it - wait until the bait is completely swallowed.

The remaining subtleties of pike hunting are learned in practice. Fishing for a predator on a donk with live bait is an exciting pastime. If you know how to make tackle and how to catch this hardened prey, a rich catch is guaranteed.

Watch the video: how to catch pike on donkeys using crucian carp as live bait.

Donka as live bait

Fishing in late autumn for predators. What does live bait rig consist of? At what distance should the leash be placed? How to make a cast so that there are no jerks and the bait does not fall off.

Often the owners of the sandy riffles of small rivers are only minnows. At least, the entire daylight hours are completely given over to them, swarming in the sand in flocks and rushing at any fly or insect floating with the current. Any other fish will only flash quickly through the open shallow water and disappear into the black hole nearby. But on the border of this hole and shallow water, splashes and blows of a sizeable tail are sometimes heard. This predator hunts for frivolous minnows that have strayed from the flock. If it is an asp, then most likely it cannot be taken with live bait tackle. There are more chances here for spinning rods and corresponding baits: castmaster, narrow oscillating white spoon, wobbler, small rotating spoon. But pike and large perch may well become prey for an angler with a live bait.

It is on a sultry afternoon, when any other fish stands in the pits and disdainfully turns away from any bait and bait, that you can catch an abundance of minnows with a light float fishing rod in the retrieve, throwing a hook or a small jig with a piece of a worm straight through the shallow water, so that the bait touches the bottom . Live bait will come in handy in the late afternoon, when long shadows from trees fall on the water and predatory fish come out to hunt.

In the period of late autumn, when it would seem that popular fishing with float gear, spinning rods and feeders freezes and stops, meanwhile everything is just beginning in fishing for the nocturnal predator - burbot. This is one of the three periods of high activity of this predator. Summer is completely excluded from the list of intensive burbot fishing. This cold-loving fish rests in deep cold holes with springs at the bottom, under driftwood and in burrows. Only early spring, late autumn and part of winter are the times for catching our freshwater cod. Late autumn is also different in that it is the period of preparation of burbot for spawning, which occurs in the middle of winter. Therefore, autumn becomes a fattening time for this fish. And if you get to the place where the burbot lives and fattens, you can catch quite a lot of nocturnal predators, and often the largest ones, when compared with the spring period. There is, however, a peculiarity inherent specifically in the autumn season. And it does not please gourmets. From a gastronomic point of view, autumn burbot is inferior to spring fish in terms of the quality of its famous liver. Firstly, it is smaller in size than burbot in the spring, and secondly, it has some kind of brown color and not the most delicate taste. In the spring, the liver takes up probably a third of the burbot’s belly, the color of the liver is white and it is very tender. In the fall, burbot apparently has to “squeeze” its liver into a place for caviar.

There is no need to change anything in the side bottom, which has temporarily become a coastal one, except for the removable equipment. That is, it is enough to unfasten the feeder with leashes and place the pre-prepared live bait equipment assembled on the reel. Or have a couple of live bait donks in stock, which on a small river often bring the largest prey. For the most part, this applies to periods of summer heat, when relatively large bream, ide and sorog can only be caught at night and at the earliest dawn. The predator often hunts throughout the day, especially if the weather is calm and cloudy, with a slight rain of mushrooms.

Live bait equipment consists of a removable undergrowth, at the end of which a load weighing about 100-150 g is tied, depending on the current in a given place. A soft metal leash (preferably made of leash material) with a single or double hook is attached to the undergrowth using a swivel and clasp. If the place is unfamiliar, then to begin with it is better to put a single hook No. 8-8.5 of domestic numbering. It is likely that the main prey will be perches, and for them doubles may be too tough. If pike bites follow, then you can go for the average option in the form of double No. 7.

The leash is placed not at the sinker, but at a distance of 1 m from it, since both perch and pike are often taken not from the bottom, but in the water column, especially in summer. Live bait minnows are caught by the lips. Otherwise, hooked to the back, it will sail and rotate in the current, like a propeller.

The cast is made not by the fishing line, but by placing a hook with live bait on a flat sinker and throwing it like a stone. In this case, there will be no jerking, and the bait will not fall off the hook. On a small river, such a primitive casting is quite enough to deliver the bait to the border of the shallow water and the pit where the predator feeds.

Alexander Tokarev

On thin ice

And I fed the roach...

Until the white flies fly