Advantages and disadvantages of live bait fishing
Perhaps for some reason you won’t like this type of fishing. The main advantages of live bait fishing look like this.
- In most cases, fishing using live bait is more productive than classic spinning. This is especially true when the fanged robber is cautious. The natural appearance of the prey, its smell, and the vibration of the bait are quickly determined by the predator, forcing it to attack the prey.
- You can catch live fish using several gears at the same time. Accordingly, the chances of catching pike perch increase.
- Most often, live bait fishing is passive in nature, which is especially appreciated by older anglers or those who prefer to admire the surrounding nature while fishing.
This type of water hunting also has some negative sides.
- One of the main disadvantages of this method of catching pike perch is the hassle of using live bait. I know from myself that when you need small fish, for some reason it becomes impossible to catch it. For this reason, it is best to prepare live bait in advance. To do this, you can use a lift (small fish) or a light float rod. In winter, small change is obtained using jig tackle.
- To store live bait, large containers of water are required, as well as a cool place (basement or cellar).
- In large water areas, you will need a boat to catch pike perch. The floating device is especially important in the fall, when fish concentrate on the riverbed edges away from the shore.
How to properly attach a sprat to a hook
On reservoirs with a current, we recommend placing it behind the head (preferably in one puncture), so the bait will hold tightly. It is better to place the sprat on the jig located below through the eye and hide the hook itself in the back.
The most practical is to double pierce the bait. The first puncture is made at the gill cover, and the second is closer to the tail near the ridge.
Some fishermen attach an additional tee (small) on a short leash to the jig. It is attached near the tail of the sprat. Thanks to the additional tee, the number of idle bites is reduced.
Be that as it may, each angler can only determine by experience how to plant the sprat so that it brings maximum results.
What hooks to choose for pike perch?
16.07.2019
Walleye is not a particularly wary fish and requires some unique hooks.
When choosing a hook, it is important to consider various points: body of water, weather, fishing methods and size of fish.
Catching pike perch with live bait goes well with relatively large hooks, while small hooks are more often used for microjigging gear and microwobblers. The main requirement is that they must be of high quality, durable and sharp.
When fishing for pike perch, you can use single, double hooks and treble hooks. All hook options have their own advantages and disadvantages.
What are the features of hooks for catching pike perch?
There is no consensus on which hooks will work best for pike perch; fishermen rely on their own experience.
It is better to stick to the main points when choosing:
- Catching pike perch with small live bait is often done with twin hooks. They are made like this: solder a second hook, thinner than the main one, to the shank of a durable hook. We string the bait onto a relatively fragile hook. There are many ways to place live bait on a pike perch hook, but most often the bait is threaded through the nostril or both lips at the same time;
- When using short leashes (up to 10 cm), it is advisable to use both single hooks and double hooks with an extended shank. The bait is attached to a thin hook, separately placed on a leash;
Various points are important to consider when choosing a hook for pike perch.
The size of the hook number for pike perch directly depends on the size of the bait
Typically used are Nos. 6-12; no matter whether a tee is used or not, large predatory fish are always caught well with forged options. According to observations, with a tee, derailments occur somewhat less frequently; the choice depends on the size of the fish in the reservoir; To attach live bait, a small, thin hook is installed on the fishing line.
Interesting! There is an unusual tackle for pike perch - a ball with a hook, it is made of metal or any sinking material, it is used for bottom fishing with live bait in the presence of thickets at the bottom
If there is a long leash, live bait will simply hide in the vegetation and wait out the danger, which is important for the fisherman to avoid. The ball will prevent the bait from moving far away
You can fish with homemade, domestic and Japanese hooks, but using “Japanese” hooks is more effective due to the high quality of the products. Russian hooks are unpredictable, sometimes they perform well, and sometimes they break easily.
Catching perch on a retractable leash
How to choose a reliable hook for catching pike perch?
Today, on store shelves there is a wide selection of hooks: some are branded, while others are either from little-known companies or are sold under the counter.
The only plus in favor of the second group is the low cost, but a cheap product rarely pleases with the result.
Such hooks often require preliminary sharpening; they are simply not able to penetrate the lip of a pike perch, and some can even be broken with your fingers.
What tackle to choose for burbot?
When choosing hooks, we recommend choosing models from well-known brands; after all, they are not too expensive, and the quality is high. The range of most manufacturers includes hooks adapted for catching pike perch.
The best hooks for pike perch are presented by manufacturers:
- Owner;
- Saikyo;
- Cobra;
- Mustard;
- Gamakatsu.
Any pike perch hook number 1-4 from the companies mentioned will last for many seasons and will help you catch even trophy fish. All manufacturers use chemical sharpening of hooks, they are sharp, and due to high-quality raw materials, they are also durable. Poor quality products can fail at the moment of need, and the long-awaited trophy will go into the water.
Originally posted 2018-09-12 14:23:21.
Fishing with live bait
Are you planning to catch pike perch with live bait, but don’t know what hook to use to catch it? No problem! The site catcher.fish will tell you which hook is used to catch pike perch using a float rod, a jig or other live bait tackle.
There are no special requirements for selecting a hook for pike perch, but still, there are some points that are important to know and that will make your catching of a predator better. All the information can be contained in literally a couple of paragraphs, so it won’t take you much time
All the information can be contained in literally a couple of paragraphs, so it won’t take much of your time.
So, if we talk about catching pike perch with live bait, then a single hook, a double hook or a treble hook can be used. Each of them has its pros and cons, and must also have certain characteristics. Let's look at everything in order.
What are the features of hooks for catching pike perch?
Content
There is no consensus on which hooks will work best for pike perch; fishermen rely on their own experience.
It is better to stick to the main points when choosing:
- Catching pike perch with small live bait is often done with twin hooks. They are made like this: solder a second hook, thinner than the main one, to the shank of a durable hook. We string the bait onto a relatively fragile hook. There are many ways to place live bait on a pike perch hook, but most often the bait is threaded through the nostril or both lips at the same time;
- When using short leashes (up to 10 cm), it is advisable to use both single hooks and double hooks with an extended shank. The bait is attached to a thin hook, separately placed on a leash;
Various points are important to consider when choosing a hook for pike perch.
- The size of the hook number for pike perch directly depends on the size of the bait. Typically used are Nos. 6-12;
- no matter whether a tee is used or not, large predatory fish are always caught well with forged options. According to observations, with a tee, derailments occur somewhat less frequently;
- the choice depends on the size of the fish in the reservoir;
- To attach live bait, a small, thin hook is installed on the fishing line.
Interesting! There is an unusual tackle for pike perch - a ball with a hook, it is made of metal or any sinking material, it is used for bottom fishing with live bait in the presence of thickets on the bottom. If there is a long leash, live bait will simply hide in the vegetation and wait out the danger, which is important for the fisherman to avoid. The ball will prevent the bait from moving far away.
You can fish with homemade, domestic and Japanese hooks, but using “Japanese” hooks is more effective due to the high quality of the products. Russian hooks are unpredictable, sometimes they perform well, and sometimes they break easily.
Read more
How to catch pike in spring?
Which fish is best to use as bait?
Pike perch responds well to:
- bleaks;
- roach;
- minnow;
- crucian carp;
- rudd;
- perch
The main requirements for live bait are freshness, integrity and vitality. A motionless fry must be removed from the hook; it is of no interest to the cunning pike perch. But the activity of the fry provokes the predator to attack, so it is better to stock up on bait in order to replace it in a timely manner. When catching fish, there is no need to place a feeder on the feeder. It is replaced with a sinker, which by weight must withstand the force of the current.
How to catch live bait: technique and important points
Fry are caught directly on the reservoir where fishing will take place. The tackle is a float rod with a small hook. Bait – maggots, bloodworms, dough. You need to fish in shallow water, in windows among the reeds. Complementary food - bread pulp.
Read: Useful properties of black caviar
But it’s much faster to get several fry at once with a “baby catcher” - a small lift made of mesh. They are lowered into the water in the shallows. They are fed with cereals and crumbs and after 15 minutes they are lifted ashore. Individuals of suitable size are removed.
During the day, even with a small number of bites, the live bait on the hook needs to be changed at least 3 times.
How to hook
The methods depend on the endurance of the type of fish being hooked. There are only 3 most popular:
- Behind the back. The back is pierced with a sting. The position of the hook can be adjusted close to the fin or to the tail. Installation is suitable for more hardy minnows, roaches, crucian carp, and loaches.
- For the lip. This must be done carefully, otherwise the damaged baitfish will try to escape. Used for fishing close to the shore or from a boat at short distances.
- For the rubber ring. It is placed on the body of the fry in front of the caudal fin. The hook is wound on it. If there is no rubber ring, then it can be made from ordinary thread. Used on weak-resistant live baits such as ide, chub, and bleak.
Tackle
Feeder gear is excellent for catching pike perch with live bait: you can make long casts from the shore, and it is perfectly suited for landing large fish. There are no strict recommendations on fishing strategy. Some people act by analogy with a classic feeder, that is, they are based in one place; for others, searching for pike perch seems more interesting. In the second case, fishing is more reminiscent of spinning fishing with probing the entire water area. This does not affect the equipment.
You can fish with or without a rod. In the latter case, take a regular flyer, like for a donkey or an elastic band. Feeder rods with a weight of 100 g or more are also suitable for catching pike perch with live bait. They allow you to cast heavy equipment quite far from the shore. In fact, there are no special differences in the elements of gear for white fish and predators. The same rod and reel that you use to catch bream. Reel size – from 3000. Powerful carp reels are not needed here.
Next is the fishing line. Take the braided line. Elastic monofilament lines have stretchability, which definitely interferes with fishing for pike perch. The jaw of this fish is strong; in order to pierce it with a hook, the hook must be clear. If you plan to catch large pike perch, the cross-section of the cord should be at least 0.16 mm, and better - 0.22 mm. This will allow you to throw the tackle to the far edge, and will also prevent the line from breaking when fighting a trophy predator.
The equipment designed for catching pike perch with live bait from the shore is quite simple. This simplicity lies in its effectiveness, because the fewer elements, the less likely it is that a big-eyed pike perch will suspect a trap. An important part of the equipment is the leash. No matter how strong the temptation may be to set a steel string in order to prevent the pike from biting, you should not do this. The pike perch sees a metal leash perfectly and will not approach the bait, no matter how appetizing the bait looks.
You will have to sacrifice something - either catch pike perch and know that a toothy one can cut the line, or not catch pike perch and keep the tackle intact. The conclusion is obvious: you need to take risks. Fluorocarbon is used as a leader for rigging zander. It is almost invisible in the water, durable, but the pike cuts it easily, so cuts are inevitable. If you are counting on a pike perch bite, you will have to come to terms with this. The fluor diameter ranges from 0.25 mm to 0.30 mm.
There are several rig options for live bait fishing. From the shore, pike perch are most often caught using gear that includes the main line, one or more leashes, hooks and sinkers. To secure the leashes, use either rubber stoppers or knots on the fishing line. Stoppers are more convenient, as they allow you to make sliding equipment.
You can also hook live bait in different ways. If a tee is used, then the fish is hooked by the back, head, belly or tail. A single hook can be pulled through the mouth and brought out on the back. This type of baiting resembles the connection of a silicone twister and a jig head. Experienced fishermen prefer to place live bait behind the head, since this is where the attack of the pike perch is directed.
Catching pike perch with live bait is not popular fishing, but useful with the right approach. You can finally be convinced of its effectiveness by considering all the pros and cons.
Pike perch is a predatory and observant fish, so it is very important to choose the right tackle, invisible to the fish, and interesting live bait. Fishing from the shore for pike perch is passive, so you should leave the arranged gear for a day or night, and then remove the fish. But before you start fishing, you should prepare live bait, because perch is not caught on artificial bait, and not all types of small fish are suitable. The structure of the perch's mouth is such that it allows it to eat only spindle-shaped fish no longer than 10-12 cm.
[THERE IS AN ANSWER] How to properly make a diverting leash for pike perch
Types of live bait for catching perch:
- bleak,
- gudgeon,
- bull,
- dace,
- roach,
- crucian carp,
- gudgeon,
- perch.
Live bait can be attached to a hook in different ways, it all depends on the type of fish. Be sure to leave the fry mobile, otherwise the desired predator will not be interested in the bait.
- Behind the back. The hook pierces the back behind the dorsal fin, the main thing is not to touch the nerves and spine, which will cause the fish to lose its life. This mount is suitable for hardy species of live bait: loach, roach, crucian carp, gudgeon.
- For the lip. This method is important because the baitfish can break off if it is too active. Used for fishing at short distances, close to the shore.
- For the rubber ring. If the fish’s body is too small, then a rubber ring is put on it and a hook is attached to it. If there is no ring, then use thread instead.
It is necessary to identify live bait only after its capture. To decide in the future: keep it for fishing or release it as unnecessary. Fry are caught in those reservoirs where fishing will take place in order to catch the fish that local pike perch feed on. The food is bread crumbs, the bait is dough, maggots, moths. There are two ways to catch live bait:
- Using tackle - a floating fishing rod. This method allows you to catch the fry one at a time, which takes quite a long time.
- “Malyavochnik” is a net for catching live bait. This way, small fish are caught much faster, because the net is lowered into the water for a few minutes and seasoned with bread crumbs.
After catching live bait, you should start catching the pike perch itself. This can be done from June to October. A wide time frame is an advantage of live bait fishing. In order to catch pike perch, you need to place several gears along the shore, directed in different directions. This will cover a large area, making it easy to catch pike perch. Different tackles for shore fishing:
After the first fish caught, you should not leave this place. Pike perch, as usual, does not swim alone, but prefers to move with the school. Other members may also be hooked.
You need to catch pike perch in certain water areas - this increases the likelihood of a good bite.
Catching pike perch with live bait is not popular fishing, but useful with the right approach. You can finally be convinced of its effectiveness by considering all the pros and cons.
- you can fish with several gears at once,
- The pike perch takes live bait more actively than artificial bait, because the predator is more interested in the fry,
- in search of pike perch, you shouldn’t constantly walk along the shore; you can leave the gear for a while and mind your own business,
- small spending,
- The tackle can be combined with others in different ways, which increases the chance of a good catch.
- fish for bait need to be bought or caught, the first method wastes a lot of money, and the second time,
- low fishing dynamics is considered a minus,
- the caught fish will definitely be dead, because people who immediately release the caught fish consider this method wrong,
- monitoring the condition of the fry: constant replacement,
- large equipment sizes.
It is interesting that this method of fishing brings specimens weighing more than 5 kg, and pike perch weighing more than 3 kg is rarely caught on artificial bait.
When fishing with live bait in the summer months, it must be taken into account that the small fish that are waiting for their turn to become bait must be provided with appropriate conditions for their activity. The water should be cool, so it is recommended to change it more often.
Places to catch pike perch with live bait
Favorite places for pike perch are rock ridges and other hard soils or artificial structures that force the river to change direction and turn its channel. They also willingly go into holes where the current is slow or completely absent and where whole heaps of snags and brushwood accumulate. On flat reaches, especially with a muddy bottom, encountering pike perch is unlikely.
Places where pike perch are found and can be caught by swimming should be examined in detail in advance in calm weather and find out:
- depth and speed of current;
- which bank the boat is pressed to, where there is no current, where it has the opposite direction;
- places where the boat will be carried by the current and you will have to resort to oars;
- the location of special hooks (for example, a cable or anchor cable on the river bottom).
As a rule, they fish under a steep bank, as there are great depths there. To determine at what distance from the shore it is better to drive the boat, drive across the river with a depth gauge and get acquainted with the bottom profile.
Since pike perch rarely walk alone, if you find one, it is natural to expect a second one in a given place. The bite site is noticed by shore signs and, as accurately as possible, they drive through it again.
The success of fishing, first of all, depends on good knowledge of the river. This method allows two options:
- The fisherman goes down the river, fishing the places he encounters, known in advance, where the pike perch is supposed to stop.
- The fisherman always travels along the same section of the river, repeatedly going downstream by swimming (without oars) and going up on the oars “idly”, that is, without fishing (the bait is taken out and lowered into a bucket).
The first option assumes a thorough knowledge of the river at a distance of several kilometers; with the second, it is enough to study one of the selected sections, the length of which is only hundreds of meters.
Fishing using the methods described is possible all summer, right up to frost, and at various times. However, the angler must remember that when the water level in the river changes (for example, in the event of a flood), pike perch leave their usual places and need to be looked for in other places.
Under the gills
This method requires some skill and experience. We hold the baitfish in our palms, but this time it matters whether we hold it with its head or tail towards us. Both this and this option are possible. If we hold the live bait with its tail towards us, then we place the end of the leash under the gill cover, carefully pass it through the gills (photo 19), bring it into the mouth (photo 20) - and then we attach a double to it (photos 21 and 22).
You can do the opposite: we put the end of the leash into the fish’s mouth (photo 23), pass it through the gills under the gill cover (photo 24), take it out - and, stretching the end of the leash that appears to the loop on the opposite side, we hook it to the main tackle. And we attach the double to the loop (or we already have it there from the beginning - photo 25).
What should you pay attention to? First of all, you need to hold the fish tightly (so that it does not injure itself when hooked) and try to damage the gills as little as possible, because a fish with injured gills will not live long and will soon become uninteresting to the predator due to its lethargic behavior and unnatural position in the water. I once saw a program when the presenter advised placing a leash with a carabiner under the gills and bringing them into the mouth
Well, firstly, a carbine is completely inappropriate here, and, secondly, in this case, the injury to live bait is catastrophic.
Another nuance is the size of the double. It should not be small, medium, or large, but exactly in size, i.e. the number of the double should be commensurate with the size of the baitfish. A double that is too large will look ridiculous, is inconvenient for live bait (if convenience is even worth mentioning here) and may simply scare off a predator. And if it’s too small, it will fall into the baitfish’s mouth and cling to it - and the likelihood of empty bites will progress.
The good thing about the above-described baiting method is that the number of realized bites increases, and the probability of the live bait breaking tends to zero. But, of course, there are also disadvantages. Live bait quickly loses its vigor and falls asleep - and you have to change it more often. In addition, you cannot fish, say, with a long cast of float gear, because... During the actual casting, the live bait is very seriously injured and dies almost immediately.
But this method is acceptable if you have a sufficient supply of small fish or they are strong and vigorous. I use a live bait attachment and a leash when fishing with circles and girders, and I also had successful experience of fishing with bottom gear on a still body of water. True, I had to cast carefully, not far and very carefully (I went deep into the water in waders as far as I could and, one might say, manually laid out the equipment), but there was a point in that fishing - the burbot was caught reliably, because swallowed fish from his head, not paying attention to the mustache-hooks. Well, the most lively and tenacious ones were then selected.
Double for zander
A double hook for catching pike perch will be the golden mean, which is located between a neat single hook and a so-so harsh tee, which practically does not forgive the predator’s mistakes. A double hook does not cause any particular danger to the fish, like a tee, and, at the same time, a double hook is more reliable than a single hook in terms of the quality of hooking fish. Single bites or fish leaving a double hook happen less frequently than with a single hook, since the double hook has a higher chance of successfully hooking the fish when biting.
For catching pike perch, choose double hooks Nos. 1-4, as well as single hooks. It’s also better to choose doubles with a long fore-end - it’s easier to put on live bait, and it will be easier to pull the double out of the pike perch’s mouth later.
There are doubles for catching pike perch, in which one hook is smaller than the other. The smaller hook is used to attach live bait, and due to the fact that this hook is smaller and thinner, live bait receives less injury when hooked and remains active longer.
How to properly place live bait on a hook
In this part of the article, we will consider various fishing conditions, linking with these factors methods for effectively baiting bait. One of the most popular and favorite fishing conditions among fishermen is fishing for predators in low-current or stagnant water. Such conditions apply to fishing for pike, burbot, perch and catfish in river oxbows, backwaters, lakes and reservoirs. You can fish with a variety of gear: starting with float rods, hooks, donks, floating circles and stationary girders, ending with setting winter rates for underwater fishing.
It is most rational to attach live bait for pike fishing through the gills onto steel leashes using double hooks. The thick, massive steel double does not injure the body of the baitfish, and this installation allows the baitfish to move with a slight roll towards the bottom, which perfectly imitates a sick fish, which pike prefer to see in their diet. In addition, the hooks in the snout of the baitfish will in any case fall into the catfish’s mouth, since it always swallows the prey from the head. In most cases, such bites do not require hooking; the fish is caught on its own at the beginning of its movement after swallowing the bait.
Read How to catch carp on a feeder and prepare for fishing
https://youtube.com/watch?v=n6slE6Ey8VA
Catching pike perch with live bait using a float rod
Pike perch can also be caught with live bait using ordinary float tackle. A telescopic fishing rod up to four meters long is equipped with a spinning reel, a fishing line with a diameter of 0.25 mm, a spindle-shaped float, sliding, with a long “antenna”. The limiter for the float is a knot of colored fishing line with a diameter of 0.30 mm. The sinker is set to sliding (of the “olive” type). A carabiner is tied to the end of the fishing line, to which (in anticipation of a pike biting) a metal leash with a single hook is attached.
The float is a very important element of equipment. It must be highly sensitive and provide minimal resistance to the fish, otherwise it may become wary and throw out the bait. For the same purpose, the fishing line should have a slight slack during fishing.
Live bait is usually hooked to the upper lip, and so that it receives less damage and remains viable for a long time, it is “supplied” to the water with a soft pendulum cast. When thrown over the head or from the side, it falls with a loud splash; hitting the water can damage the bait and frighten the predator. However, it happens, and not so rarely, that pike perch grabs live bait even after such a cast.
It is recommended to fish in the shallows with a float rod, throwing the bait “under the nose” of fattening fish. When biting, they hook at the moment when the float decisively goes into the depths. Fishing for pike perch on a rocky bottom is made difficult by frequent hooks, the main culprit of which is the sinker. To reduce the number of hooks, you can use a special sinker made of iron, copper or tin wire. Its main advantage is that when reeling in the fishing line, it takes a vertical position and clings less to the bottom. And if a “dead” hook does happen, it is usually the sinker that is lost, and not the bait or prey. They make a sinker like this. For a piece of wire with a diameter of up to 6 mm and a length of 15-20 cm, one end is flattened with a hammer to a thickness of 2 mm. Then a hole with a diameter of 1 mm is drilled in the flattened part for attachment to the fishing line - the sinker is ready. Its length is determined by the type of metal and the thickness of the wire, as well as the size of the stones covering the bottom. So, if the stones are large, use a longer sinker than indicated in the table.
View sinkers (metal) | Sinker diameter, mm | |||||
2 | 2,5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
Sinker length, | mm | |||||
Iron | 5 | 8 | 12 | 19 | 31 | 44 |
Copper | 6 | 9 | 13 | 22 | 35 | 50 |
Tin | 7 | 11 | 16 | 27 | 44 | 62 |
Catching pike perch with live bait in still water
In still waters, pike perch is caught with a light rod with an elastic tip, equipped with a reel, fishing line with a diameter of 0.30-0.40 mm and a length of 15-20 m. At the end of the fishing line, a loop is made, to which two leashes 20-25 cm long are tied (one with a diameter 0.25 mm for bait, another with a diameter of 0.10-0.15 mm for a sinker). The float is sliding, made of cork or foam. The limiter for it is installed 60-70 cm from the end of the fishing line. Live bait is placed on hook No. 3-4 by both lips, bringing the sting out through the nasal opening. Throw it to the maximum possible length. After the sinker touches the bottom, the float floats up to the limiter and lifts the bait to a height of 20-25 cm.
In another version of the rig, a sinker is tied at the end of the fishing line, and in order to lift the bait fish above the bottom, the leash is equipped with an additional float - a glass ball, which is installed using a swivel on a side leash 10 cm long. Before fishing, it is filled with water so that the sinker is held in a vertical position. Below the ball, about 15-30 cm, a swivel with a leash about 30 cm long is attached. With this tackle you can fish at different depths, since when you reel in the fishing line, the ball goes to the bottom, and when you unwind it from the reel, it rises to the surface. This technique is especially recommended when fishing in lakes and reservoirs, where pike perch hunts not only at the bottom, but also at the top. In rivers, they catch it only after rains, when the predator leaves its shelter and begins hunting for prey near the surface.
If the pike perch does not take the bait within 20-30 minutes, it is recommended to change the place.
When there is a bite, which is noticed by the vibrations of the tip, the rod is taken in the right hand, and the fishing line is hooked with the left.
Treble hooks for walleye
A tee (treble hook) is considered the most effective when catching pike perch: if the pike perch has swallowed the bait, then it can no longer get rid of it. The disadvantage of a tee is that it is very noticeable in the water, especially in winter. As for spring or summer, using a tee is absolutely justified. In addition, a treble hook takes up a lot of (relatively) usable space, which can cause the walleye to refuse to bite. And yet, the advantage of a treble hook is obvious: the number of fish hatches practically reaches zero, which is very important when catching fish such as pike perch.
Tees are chosen the same size as hooks - these are No. 1-4 and always with a long shank. The ideal option is when one of the treble hooks is smaller.
How to catch pike perch with live bait
Continuing the topic, we will consider the main and most popular methods of catching pike perch using live baits, describing the configuration of the equipment and the location of installation of the tackle in a body of water being fished for pike perch, and also highlight the most suitable hunting seasons for each method, focusing on the pike perch bite based on its intensity cycles throughout the year .
Fishing with a float rod
A float rod is a universal equipment for catching pike perch with live bait from the shore and from a boat. For the base, select a telescopic Bolognese fishing rod with a length of 4 to 7 meters with a spinning reel. Monofilament fishing line is used as a cord with a fluorocarbon leash up to 40 cm long placed at the end. Sliding weights are used, in the form of an olive. The floats are practical with a barrel-shaped body and a short antenna with the possibility of installing a firefly in its body, which will allow you to comfortably fish with live bait at night. This type of gear is used for fishing at the junctions of shallows and dumps at depths, where fish go out to hunt in the twilight and dark hours of the day. Pike perch are successfully caught using float rigs in the summer months.
Spinning fishing
Pike perch using live bait is effectively caught using a spinning rod remounted under a coastal hook. For the fishing rod, spinning rods of medium and slow action, up to three meters long, are selected. The inertia-free reel is equipped with a braided cord no thicker than 0.2 mm. A sliding flat lead weight is used with an effective mass selected according to the force of the current, and a 0.25 mm fluorocarbon leader completes this simple but effective installation for pike perch. Knit the leash directly to the cord, not forgetting to install a damper bead in front of the knot to prevent deformation of the knot by the sinker when casting the equipment. They fish riverbed pits with baitfish, where pike perch are caught especially well in late autumn, intensively fattening up for the winter season.
Fishing with bottom tackle
Bottom fishing with live bait on lakes is carried out using tackle with an elastic band, which is mounted on the bottom slopes in depth. As the main cord, braided fishing lines from 0.3 mm in diameter are used, equipping them with half-meter leads, in increments of five meters, made of monofilament or fluorocarbon 0.35-0.40 mm thick. The leashes are equipped with fixed foam floats, which should keep live bait 30–40 cm from the bottom. They catch with a rubber band all day long.
Fishing using the presented method is successful in the spring months, still in muddy water. Recently, lovers of pike perch hunting have increasingly begun to use feeder equipment as a bottom fishing rod. The feeder is equipped with a feeder using chicken or beef liver as bait, as well as finely chopped fresh fish, which stimulates more predators to approach the catching point. For installation, sensitive knitting of the inline type is practiced. The feeder shows its prey activity in the summer months, especially in July and August, which is passive in terms of pike perch activity.
Read Fishing on the Oka in the Serpukhov region
Fishing with mugs and girders
The classic live bait tackle for large pike perch is considered to be a circle set with the current over promising sites for pike perch. The mugs are equipped with a 0.25 mm monofilament line without the use of a leash, with an olive weight stopped 40 cm from the hook. Live bait is released 60–100 cm from the bottom. The work of the circles is monitored by a boat moving behind the squadron of fishing devices. The method is effective throughout the open water season.
Stationary zander poles are placed from the shore or from a pole in the water near promising pike-perch points. Equipping a fishing device with a cord, a weight and the method of installing live bait in the water horizon is similar to a floating circle. There is a design for a winter ice trap with a bite alarm in the form of a rising flag. Winter, as well as summer, stationary girders can be successfully used for round-the-clock fishing, monitoring only the activity of the live bait mounted on the hook, which is done at least at three-hour intervals, and monitoring bites.
Tee for zander
Triple hooks for catching pike perch are the most effective, the number of escapes is minimal; if the fish has swallowed it, it has minimal chances of escaping the angler. Tees would be the most popular equipment, but they are too noticeable; in winter, pike perch can easily see the hook. In spring and summer, installing a tee on a fishing rod for pike perch is quite justified.
If the fish stop biting after installing the tee, it is better to replace it with a double. Tees are also used with numbers 1-4; an extended forend is a prerequisite. Ideally, one of the hooks should be smaller than the others and is used for attaching live bait.
What to use depending on the conditions
The gear is used among the main bottom fishing rods. They are almost no different from those used to catch peaceful fish. Their only difference is a more reliable and robust design. Larger diameter of the leader, powerful size and shank of the hook, powerful reel from 2500 (size/Shimano), larger spinning rod test from 40–50 g.
From the shore
The set is like this:
- Throwback - a reel tied to a small peg, a sliding sinker and 1-3 fluorocarbon leaders.
- A spinning rod with a length of at least 2.4 m. As described above in this article.
- Bottom rubber band (just like for peaceful fish, but with more powerful fishing lines).
From the boat
You will need:
- Sheer bottom - placed at depths where long casting is not needed. You can use either a reel or a reel with a small rod.
- A short spinning rod no longer than 1.7 m.
- All types of gear (except for elastic) can be used wired. But the wiring must be done very slowly and smoothly. So that the bait does not get caught on snags or grass.
However, this has more to do with jig fishing. All signaling devices are used for the donk. Bells, electronic, in the dark - light.
Selection of tackle and accessories
Fishing for pike perch can be done using:
- float rod;
- spinning;
- bottom tackle.
Float rod
Fishing using a float rod can be carried out from building structures (bridge, cape, dam). This tackle is also convenient when fishing from a boat, because it allows the angler to reach the desired depth for pike perch.
Gear requirements:
- Durable, rigid rod up to 6 m. You can use a spinning rod (up to 3 m).
- Inertialess reel.
- Monofilament fishing line, diameter up to 0.3 mm.
- The weight of the float is at least 3 g.
- The load - “olive”, together with live bait, must be proportionate to the carrying capacity of the float.
- The length of the leashes is up to 0.5 m, the width is 0.2-0.28 mm.
- Hooks - strong (preferably forged) No. 7–10. Doubles can be used, but tees are not recommended.
Spinnig
Suitable for autumn-winter fishing. This type of gear is used by experienced specialists, since it is very difficult to get a pike perch to bite on artificial bait.
A spinning rod for a predator using live bait must meet the following requirements:
- Medium-fast or fast rod up to 3.5 m long (test 10-40 g). For fishing from a boat, a shorter fishing rod is used - up to 2.7 m.
- The reel is a spinning reel, preferably with a front clutch.
- The fishing line is braided 0.16 - 0.24 mm.
- The length of the leashes is 0.5 - 1 m, the width is 0.2 - 0.25 mm. Fluorocarbon, which has a tensile strength of at least 7 kg, is often used.
Bottom tackle
Used by fishermen throughout the summer. This type of bit is placed in the deep habitats of the predator, next to snags and other shelters. The bait is live bait (usually small fish).
It is recommended to fish for donka at night.
There are the following types of bottom gear:
- The simplest and crudest type of donkey is the zakidushka. A load weighing 0.1-0.2 kg is tied to the end of the fishing line (the diameter of which is 0.4-0.7 mm). Then leashes up to 1 m, 0.3-0.35 mm are attached “loop to loop”. Hooks No. 7–10 are used. The tackle is collected on a reel.
- Fishing with a rod. A hard-type carp or spinning rod is used. If fishing will be carried out from the water, its length should be up to 2 m, when fishing from the shore - 2-3 m. The type of reel is both inertial and inertialess. The weight of the load is selected depending on the strength of the current. The main fishing line is 0.3-0.4 mm monofilament. The length of the leashes is up to 1 m.
- Bottom tackle with rubber shock absorber. For it, a fishing line of 0.5-0.7 mm is purchased, leashes of 0.5-1.5 mm with a diameter of 0.4-0.5 mm (they are attached from the end of the fishing line with a distance of 1 m from each other). A rubber shock absorber is tied to the end of the main line on the leash side, and a load is attached to it on the other side (using a nylon cord).
- "Predatory feeder" The main difference between this tackle is the use of a feeder rather than a sinker. In addition, a feeder rod is used. The bait is a standard set for attracting white fish (bloodworms, worms with clay or soil), or sliced fish.
For donka fishing, strong hooks with a long shank No. 1–3 are used.
Single hook for zander
Single options are often used, because they have a certain superiority over doubles and tees:
- the single model has a lower risk of being detected. It bites better, since the pike perch does not feel the trick;
- The main advantage is its smaller size, which provokes better bites: greedy, sharp and deep. The pike perch will prick itself on the hook only at the moment of deep swallowing of the bait. The bites turn out to be both frequent and confident.
However, there are also disadvantages that discourage some anglers from using simple hooks. The main disadvantage is low efficiency; the likelihood of catching fish is significantly reduced, because only 1 hook is used. Fishermen note a high risk of fish disappearing; the pike perch’s jaw is strong and cannot be easily penetrated with a hook.
Single options are often used
Fishing with a zherlitsa shows itself better with single options. In winter, they are a mandatory component of the tackle, since in light water it is easier for fish to detect the hook.
When fishing by plumbing, using jig heads with live bait is the best way to catch fish. The size of hooks for pike perch in combination with a jig head is approximately No. 2-3. When hunting with live bait, the best choice is No. 1-4. An extended forend for pike perch is the best design.
Pike perch on an offset hook also goes well, but it is better to use it when there is a high risk of live bait coming off. When fishing with an offset hook, there is minimal risk of even soft baits coming off.
How to put live bait on a hook: classic method No. 1
If you are not a fan of experimenting and inventing anything, then the classic method is suitable for you - by the dorsal fin.
This method is definitely the most popular because it is both simple and very effective. When baited in this way, the bait on the hook looks very natural, slightly showing signs of a wounded fish, which acts on the predator as a call to attack. But, in order to successfully catch a predator using this method of baiting with live bait, you need to know several very important rules in order to use the effectiveness of the method at 100%.
So, it is very important to bait the bait in such a way that it causes minimal harm to it and it remains active for as long as possible. To do this, it’s enough just not to damage the fish’s ridge, which runs approximately in the center of its body.
Try to insert the sting about 3 mm below the fin, then the live bait will stay securely on the hook, and its spine will remain intact.
As a result, your bait will be active for a long time and actively attract a predator all this time. Predator bites on dead live bait will occur much less frequently, or pike, perch or pike perch will not be interested in it at all.
The second important point is that the position of the live bait should be as natural as possible. In its natural environment, the fish usually swarms in the ground in search of food, so its usual position is at an angle to the bottom with its tail slightly upward. Therefore, when placing live bait on a hook, you need to hook it slightly moving the center of gravity forward so that the head tilts.
It doesn’t matter how much the bait fish’s head is tilted; you can experiment with different tilt angles. But, approximately, it should be at an angle of 30-45° to the bottom
Catching pike perch on a feeder
Some fishermen use a steel leash, others do not. There is a category of fishermen who do not even install such leashes on pike, believing that they scare the attacking fish.
[THERE IS AN ANSWER] How to put live bait on a walleye hook
When fishing for pike perch, you can use a feeder, which contains bait for peaceful fish. It attracts small individuals, and they, in turn, attract a predator. We can recommend the following bait: breadcrumbs are mixed from crushed fish. You can use store-bought sprat or capelin as fish.
The duration between casts can reach 20-25 minutes. After casting, the rod is positioned so that the bait fish can rise from the bottom and remain in the water column.
A baitfish wounded by a hook, even with the most careful hooking through the “back” or by the tail, has little desire to behave actively in a reservoir and relatively soon becomes dead. Accordingly, from the point of view of the same pike, it no longer looks so “appetizing” that a lightning-fast bite would follow.
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A baitfish wounded by a hook, even with the most careful hooking through the “back” or by the tail, has little desire to behave actively in a reservoir and relatively soon becomes dead. Accordingly, from the point of view of the same pike, it no longer looks so “appetizing” that a lightning-fast bite would follow.
At the same time, if there is no result for a long time, the novice fisherman repeatedly checks the abandoned tackle or replaces live bait, which alarms the fish, for which any suspicious object is dangerous due to its innate instinct. Experienced fishermen who prefer to catch predators using casting rods with bait in the form of live bait have long learned to overcome such obstacles in a fairly simple way.
How to attach live bait - a tricky way
How to attach live bait with maximum fishing effect When baiting live bait, no matter on a double or tee, cunning advanced fishermen use a method of fixing it on the hook in the form of a kind of bridle.
Simply put, the hook is, as it were, attached to the body of the baitfish without a puncture. An elastic band for money or a piece of so-called aircraft model rubber (See picture) is ideal as a fastener.
What are the advantages?
With its help, the live bait is fixed on the hook and does not lose its viability until the very moment of the bite. Actively trying to get rid of the rubber band, he is forced to make movements in the water that imitate a sick or wounded fish. Of course, this behavior of the bait is very attractive to any predator.
In addition, predatory fish detects its prey not only with the help of its visual organs, but also by detecting even slight fluctuations in the water caused by the attempts of the baitfish to free itself from its bonds. Thus, a fry “restrained” with an elastic band is able to attract the attention of those fish that are located far enough from the place where the casting rod is cast.
At the same time, the fisherman is confident that the bait has not died, and therefore there is no need to once again remove the tackle from the water, thereby alerting freshwater “hunters” for small fish.
It turns out that this little trick successfully copes with two factors at once that influence the “lack of biting” of predators - violation of silence and constantly active live bait. This method of attaching live bait is also excellent when hunting for such freshwater “monsters” as snakeheads, catfish or burbot. You just need to slightly lengthen the leash with live bait so that it can actively move around the bottom, but not move far from its surface.”
The weight is attached to the anti-twist tube. The main fishing line is threaded through the tube, and a swivel is attached to the end of it. It should not go through the tube. A leash with a hook is attached to the second eye of the swivel. The length of the leash, depending on the fishing conditions, should be from 30 to 60 cm.