Spinning fishing
02 February
Overview of spinning fishing on a pond
Fishing on ponds is of great interest when such reservoirs are paid or located in places remote from densely populated cities. You can catch a solid trophy with a spinning rod. Such ponds are often found:
- - pike;
- - trout;
- - perch.
Predators often choose ponds that are replenished with water from small rivers, springs or streams. They are home to huge specimens that can amaze even a very experienced fisherman with their size. The main thing is to know the peculiarities of catching such prey and understand what equipment needs to be used for this on ponds.
Features of fishing on a pond
Ponds become covered with ice earlier than other bodies of water and thaw later. But the water in them warms up faster than in rivers and lakes. Typically, fish stop spawning in ponds in May. After this, you can catch a large predator using a spinning rod. In this case, the fisherman must take into account the fact that:
- 1. The most active bite is observed in early June. Perch and pike are caught using wobblers and spinners near the shore.
- 2. In mid-June, the water in most ponds begins to bloom. The fish becomes lazy and unpredictable. During this period, you can only count on a catch in the early morning or evening.
- 3. By August, the fry grow up, and active biting resumes. Predators attack small poppers, wobblers, and light jig baits right near the shore. It's easy to see where the pike or perch are. The fish are where the fry fan out across the surface of the reservoir.
- 4. In autumn, the water in ponds cools quickly. Predators go deep. Hunting for them becomes difficult and often fruitless.
Promising site
And now we are on that section of the river that lived up to expectations and, as if, says to you: “Well, come on. Let's see what you can do!”
The location represents a 90 degree turn of the river. We are interested in the right bank, directly around the bend. As we can see from the satellite image, in this place the distance from coast to coast is sharply reduced. This is a very significant criterion, since the wider the river in the place that we consider promising and the wider the very area that we will explore, the more difficult it is to find the fish we need on it, the more tied the fish may be to local bottom reliefs, schools of forage fish, etc. And we don’t want to spend too much time looking for it.
So what we have here:
Before turning along the right bank there are extensive and, at our water level, shallow sands. They do not arouse strong interest, since the background depths are shallow and the availability of food supply is meager. Marked with a number in the picture «1»
.
Around the bend, the river bed presses against the left bank, its depth here is 12-13 meters. Marked with a number «2»
.
Under the right bank, around the bend, a relief clearing is formed, about 200-300 meters long and 100 meters wide from the right bank to the riverbed (the numbers are very approximate), which is pressed as tightly as possible to the river bed and has a moderately weak current. Not sands. Background depths are 3.5 – 7 meters, depending on the setting on the site. Marked with a number «3»
. This is where we will now look for decent fish.
Necessary criteria for this type of place:
- Relief and difference in depths in a promising area (perhaps just dunes with a gradual increase in depth).
- Presence of food supply (fish gathered in schools in the bottom layer of water). We were interested in a large predator, so we tried to find a larger one.
- The presence of a predator of the required size on the site or adjacent riverbed.
Choosing a location and gear
Choosing a place to fish on ponds is not difficult. You just need to take into account some nuances. Medium-sized pike and perch love overgrown reservoirs, where they live permanently. But in order to catch them, you need to be able to make precise casts and select baits that do not cling to aquatic vegetation. Beginners can count on successful fishing in the following ponds:
1. In the spring, when the grass has not yet grown. For a couple of weeks, pike have been biting well on poppers, walkers, and light spinning spoons. The wiring must be done over the algae. 2. In autumn after algae decline occurs. The predator gathers in flocks that chase small things throughout the pond. The fish readily bites on any bait.
In order not to be left without a catch on overgrown ponds at other times, you need to check all the windows and corridors formed among the water thickets. If the reservoir is not covered with vegetation, you should look for fishing areas:
— on the edges near flooded riverbeds; - where river tributaries are located; - in small bays; - in holes, on shallows; — in snarled areas; - on the islands; - where the bottom topography changes.
Where to look for a predator in the fall
October 7, 2013 11:58
Autumn is one of the most catchy periods for any spinner. Unlike warm summer weather, when the predator disperses throughout the reservoir in search of food, in the fall it begins to gravitate more and more to deep areas, near pits and dumps, closer to the places where it will “winter.” Of course, these changes in the predator’s habits begin to occur gradually, along with a decrease in the temperature of the air and water in the river or lake. Also, much will depend on the specific location - on small rivers or lakes, fish will change their habitat faster, up to complete migration to another, deeper body of water. That is why (especially in an unfamiliar place) it is recommended to start fishing from deep zones, closer to the places where the river flows into the lake, near holes or deep drops.
A good guide when choosing a place will be the fry playing on the surface, which with the onset of autumn will also begin to concentrate only in certain places in the reservoir. The predator will definitely be close to such a school of “food”. In the case when the fry does not play, you will have to look for the most promising places on your own, and it is better to do this on a boat. Do not forget that autumn is the most catchy time when fishing on the “track”. At the same time, you not only pass the bait along the desired water horizon, but also immediately scout out new “points” and select the most catchy colors in a given reservoir. Of course, the autumn predator can also be caught from the shore in shallow areas, but this will happen sporadically and strictly depends on the location of the fry there. Many experienced spinning anglers know well how effective it is to catch seasoned pike by casting in late autumn, when they make “raids” to the reeds in order to eat to their fill before wintering.
In terms of activity level, the autumn biting of predatory fish during the day also differs from the summer “schedule”. It is better to be at the reservoir around 9:00, when the sun has already risen and has had time to warm up the air a little. After 2-3 hours, the bite, as a rule, begins to subside and resumes after 15.00. You can fish for a few more hours until dusk; in the evening the bite usually stops completely.
Following the new behavior of the predator, the change in the place and time of fishing, it is necessary to adjust the set of autumn baits. wobblers come first
, they are much easier to achieve the desired depth, often up to 5 meters or more.
The jig with its vertical “stepped” wiring is excellent for catching a deep predator, even if it is standing at half-water. Despite the obvious advantages of jig baits, many spinning anglers completely switch to fishing with wobblers in the fall. If in summer the usual size of a wobbler is 55-70mm, in the fall you should use larger models, often up to 130mm and even longer. Most often, the most popular “autumn” wobblers are models with a length of 90-100mm. They can be grabbed by absolutely any predator, including a medium-sized perch. Unlike the summer, when bright and even “acid” colors worked especially well, more and more people are starting to bite on wobblers
of calm colors - with a black back and a white belly “like a roach,” light brown, greenish-brown, etc. It is not for nothing that it has been noted that the lighter and cooler the water, the more natural and calm the color of the wobbler should be. Although there are no hard and fast rules here, it also happens that you have already tried all the “suitable” colors, out of desperation you put in a “parrot” - and that’s it!
During autumn fishing, be sure to remember the places where the predator pecked.
“Location to the area” will be observed throughout the fall, and when you arrive at the reservoir again, you will begin fishing from the catch point. Liked? Share with your friends!
Selection of spinning rod and equipment
You need to choose a spinning rod for fishing on a pond, taking into account the characteristics of the reservoir and fishing technique. Fishing rods are divided by length, action, material of manufacture, range of tests. If the pond is surrounded by trees, bushes, or overgrown with reeds, it will not be possible to make long casts. In this case, rigid forms with a fast action are suitable. For open water, you can use models up to 2.7 meters long with a slow or medium action.
Now spinning rods are made from:
- - fiberglass;
- — composites;
- - carbon fiber.
The first option is the cheapest, heaviest, and most durable. But such forms have a low degree of elasticity, and their sensitivity is lower. The composite material consists of varying percentages of glass and carbon fiber. Models made from it are low cost and have medium hardness. The most expensive among such fishing rods are spinning rods made of carbon fiber. These are lightweight rods with high elasticity, excellent porosity, and excellent rigidity. However, they cannot withstand strong impacts and therefore require careful handling. If you have little experience working with spinning rods, it is better to first take a model made of composites. Fiberglass blanks will not allow you to practice your casting technique. They quickly tire your hands.
The rod test is determined by the type of fish you plan to hunt. For fishing on a pond, baits weighing from 2 grams to 40 grams are sufficient. When purchasing a form, you need to pay attention to the quality of the assembly, rings, and reel seat. For ponds, it is advisable to buy light or medium class models. Forms from the heavy category are not needed on such reservoirs.
How to catch pike on a pond with a spinning rod
Pike is one of the most common predatory fish in Russia. Adults feed on fry, frogs, and waterfowl. In recent years, pike have begun to be artificially grown in paid ponds. Among fishermen, such trophies are considered valuable, since catching them requires dexterity and strength.
Where to look for pike on a pond
On ponds, pike choose:
- - snags;
- — areas with differences in depth;
- — edges near the shore;
- - thickets of aquatic vegetation.
The predator begins to be caught from the upper reaches of the pond at shallow depths. There are plenty of hiding places and plenty of fish here. In summer, you need to come to the pond early in the morning before sunrise. The most effective pike fishing technique in this case is a jig with a smooth retrieve. Pike does not react to sudden jumps of the bait along the bottom. When the sun starts to rise, you can switch to wobblers, and after the air warms up well, to poppers.
Side-scanning echo sounder help when catching a predator
Here the side-scanning echo sounder comes into full play. It allows us to cover a large area of water with our beams, clearly reach the largest food supply in the area and determine the presence of a predator. With the help of an echo sounder, we significantly reduce the search time in the area, we can draw more accurate conclusions from what we see and quite accurately position ourselves on the water according to a landmark.
In the absence of my own screenshot, I’m inserting a screenshot I made a long time ago with a Humminbird Helix 12 echo sounder, sensor - xhs 9 hdsi 180 t, Chirp. A classic of the genre - a gathered flock of small whitefish, with several shepherds nearby (rounded silhouettes in the flock - whitefish, probably bream, longitudinal silhouettes at a short distance - a predator). They stand under a transverse dune - a slight difference in depth. A transverse stripe on top - a failure with a sharp drop in speed.
Forage fish appear as more rounded spots on the echo sounder display. Predatory fish (under the arrow) appear as longitudinal silhouettes. The sizes are determined experimentally, using passes over different fish. To determine the size of the fish, you should also take into account the depths at which it stands. I will say, since this will still be useful for someone - it is hardly possible to determine the weight of a fish from the display, even with an error of a couple of kilograms. But, you can almost always focus on larger fish and distinguish a specimen of 1-3 kg from 7-12 kg.
In our country, at the moment, a huge amount of fish stands on the riverbed dump, at a depth of 8-10 meters, but is not caught from these depths. With several passes through the area, we mark the site of a large whitefish where the predator is standing, in an area with a moderately weak current at a depth of 4-6 meters. We understand that these days the fish are sensitive to motors and run away after each pass on it or in its vicinity. We cannot position ourselves normally for the fish and decide to simply stand at the depth it is currently holding and wait.
Sooner or later, channel fish will come out to this calm area and eat.
The presence of a suitable food supply and a large predator on the echo sounder display does not mean that fishing will be successful.
