Do-it-yourself summer baits for pike video

Summer zherlitsy, flyers - detailed description. How to make a slingshot. Equipment. Installation of a summer pole. Fishing tactics. Flyer in winter.

Catching pike on a girder is often the only chance of catching a large fish on this particular fishing trip. Why? If we talk about summer time, then quite often a predator refuses to take artificial baits, even the most expensive ones that move naturally in the water. Moreover, these can also be soft baits made of edible rubber, which pike usually take more willingly during periods of weak activity and lack of appetite. And such periods are usually associated with the so-called “wilderness,” when the heavy heat of mid-summer deprives fish of the desire to feed, including predators. And then the most active feeding trips of pike occur after sunset, at night and at dawn.

During such periods of low pike activity, girders, which are called flyer girders, are often the most catchy gear for river and lake predators. And this is no coincidence. No matter how high-quality and natural artificial baits are, they will never replace live fish, which, in addition to its live smell, also has natural frequency fluctuations that are detected by the lateral line of the predator. All the same, these vibrations cannot be compared even with the high-frequency vibrations of rotating spinners and rattlins. In addition, the appearance of a live fish and its color correspond to the usual type of prey of predators, including pike.

Summer girders, flyers

Live bait, as we have already found out, is a natural live bait for pike in any season, including open water in summer. Fishing with summer girders has, however, become not a frequent activity for modern fishermen, but there are still true lovers of this type of fishing, known since past centuries. Fishing with fliers was widely practiced by fishermen of the simple class, while gentlemen were already beginning to master the English fishing rod, as spinning in its most primitive form was then called. Catching pike on girders in those times of abundance of any fish, including predators, was the most productive. This was to the benefit of the working people, since they did not have the opportunity to sit for hours on the river with a fishing rod, like gentlemen. Gears were, and are to this day, self-catching gear for pike, capable of self-hooking prey. Therefore, to catch a pike, it is enough to set up several of these girders and you can leave the river to go about your business. The tackle will catch fish on its own, and the fisherman will only have to come to the reservoir in the morning and remove the catch. Fishermen, writers, and scientists of past centuries - Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov and Leonid Pavlovich Sabaneev - wrote with passion about such fishing. In their books, the flyer is mentioned as the most catchy tackle for pike.

Specifics of pike fishing on a summer girder

Fishing for girders in the warm season has its own nuances:

• It is passive, which means that the fisherman does not need to attract the fish himself.
• The manufacture of this gear does not require skills or complex tools.
• Often the moment of a bite is little noticeable to the fisherman.
• The structure can be left unattended for a long time.

How to make a slingshot

So, what is the above-mentioned zherlitsa and how to make it with your own hands? And this will have to be done in any case if there is a desire to catch pike with this tackle. Please note: in our fishing stores such gear is usually not sold, unlike winter girders, which are on sale, and often of a variety of designs. Catching pike with flags, also called winter fishing with girders, requires more complex gear, although fishermen also often make it with their own hands.

The production of the zherlitsa begins with its main part - the reel, which is a flyer-fork made of coastal bushes or a reel with two forks, cut out of plastic or organic glass. A plastic flyer will be more functional. The forks treated with fine sandpaper will be smoother than those on a flyer made from the fork of a coastal bush. And the fishing line should be thrown off the flyer without difficulty, so as not to alert the predator. In addition, a flyer made of plexiglass or vinyl plastic is heavier, which means it will sway less in the wind and “talk” the baitfish, which is also affected by the wave. Live bait lives much shorter under such unfavorable conditions. I often had to observe how a dried and very light girder made of coastal willow dangled from side to side under gusts of strong wind. Such looseness sometimes even leads to the overlap of the cord attaching the pole to the pole. But most of all, such jerks under the blows of the wind affect the fishing line, tugging it and the bait.

Fishing with blacks, made from Japan, is no less famous than Aksakova and Sabaneeva, and successfully catches in our modern technologies and dreams. Equally, slingshots are flyers with a not very wide opening so that the fishing line can be wound more freely. Cut, remove the bark and be sure to dry the flyers. At the top of the base there is a high-rise or survival hole into which a strong nylon cord is inserted and tied in a simple loop. You can cut a cord in this groove. What is this cord for? A loop of nylon cord is folded into the hand in the form of a blind loop, thrown over six people and tightened tightly.

Equipment

The rod to the fishing rod must be securely fastened.

The basis

The jig tackle itself is a base on which a fishing line is wound, then a sinker is attached, then a leash and a tee or double hook is attached to the swivel. The base can be cut out of plastic or plywood, a wooden fork or something similar can be fitted. If you cut a wooden spear right on the shore, then it must be trimmed with a knife and made as smooth as possible. Nothing should prevent the line from coming off. A line stopper must be provided. They can serve as a notch cut on a spear, a rubber ring, a metal bracket, and so on.

Zherlitsa

Sinker

The sinker should be positioned so as to hold the baitfish at the required distance and prevent it from burying itself in the ground. Its weight will depend on the current and depth. Therefore, it is best to take sinkers of different weights with you.

fishing line

Up to 10 meters of fishing line is wound around the base. The thickness of the fishing line also depends on the fish. If it is a large predator, then take a fishing line measuring 3.5 mm; if the fish is smaller, then the size can be 0.1 mm. It is also very good to use a nylon cord. The leash can be a fishing line folded in half or a metal wire.

Nozzle technique

The most difficult thing in this technology is to properly attach the live bait. From experience, it is better to catch it by the gills. You can also pass the leash through the entire fish. This way it will definitely not escape and will be swallowed well. But here it is very important not to overdo it, so that the baitfish does not fall asleep in the water, but is active and mobile. There is also a clinging technique - pass a thread through the gills and tie it to the girdle. Live bait should be 20 centimeters above the base of the bottom.

Gear equipment

Jerlits on the shield in the form of real flyers require a fairly thick fishing line. Please note that this requirement is not random. The fact is that as a result of an attack on a live pike, it unwinds the fishing line and goes into the grass to swallow the fish. The same goes for fishing on the shore or on a boat. A thick fishing line can withstand fish and food, allows you to literally “rip” fish out of the grass and does not cut your hands when fishing, like a thin monofilament fishing line or, worse, braided line. The food and vegetation around the girders, which absorb and force these efforts and sharp blows, helps to restrain the furious knights. This allows you to fish very successfully anywhere.

As mentioned above, the width of the forest should be quite thick, at least 0.5 mm, and better - 0.6 mm wide. In addition, it must be colored, for example, brown, green or rainbow-colored. Such colors and patterns to some extent conceal the thickness of the forest among the stems of water lilies and hornworts.

The carrying capacity is of an average size and no more than 8-10 g of weight, since the catches are high in depth, in grass and usually in standing water. This usually requires a half-water position. Why? After all, live bait is usually located at the bottom. But it often happens that he sleeps in the grass and is covered with moss, especially in forest peat lakes. Below the sinker is attached a helicopter with a hook, where a metal leash with a double, or better yet, with a so-called “Finnish hook” is fastened. This is the most ideal option for equipping a summer flyer. Additional information: The “Finnish hook” is a sharp tendril made of spring wire approximately 1.0 mm, extending back at an angle. These sharp stings are barbless. A relatively stiff metal leash, such as one of these, is passed through living creatures, and then brought out from under its wings and stares at the clasp with a loop at the end of the leash. And it really does resemble some kind of antennae. The short shank of the hook obtained from the seabi mustache should not be available in the stock of the standard factory double with a long shank. This could result in a very low lifespan.

Pike baiters with a Finnish hook never let go of their prey. After attacking a living creature, it turns into a mystery and is swallowed. Nazca hooks are located along the body of the baitfish and do not interfere with the predator’s swallowing of the fish. They return to the “deaf” space. She can jump while you don't have time to perform the famous "candle". It is at such moments that the spinners are transferred from the mouth of the pike. But here such a technique will not help with food and the “Finnish hook” carpet.

Postavushi

Simple

The most ancient of bottom fishing gear. Their manufacture requires a minimum amount of materials. Let us describe point by point the manufacture of the simplest modification of this gear.

1. A piece of fairly thick monofilament with a diameter of 0.4-0.6 millimeters is wound onto a reel made from any available material. We take the length of the fishing line to be twenty meters, so a hundred-meter unwinding is enough to make five sets.
2. At the end of the fishing line we tie some kind of weight of such weight that it is convenient to throw it by hand, but at the same time it holds the tackle.
3. 30-40 centimeters above the load we tie a leash woven from two or three veins of the same fishing line. If desired, we knit another one above the first leash.
4. We equip leashes with hooks.

Having attached live bait to the hooks, we throw the tackle into the water. We attach its free end to some running object: a tree, a bunch of reeds or cattails, a stone. If the coast is clear, you will have to hammer in a special peg to secure the gear.

When securing the fishing line, you need to use some trick. The fact is that if the pike feels resistance to the tackle at the first moment of the bite, it will spit out the bait and move to the side. Therefore, when fastening, be sure to make a loop of fishing line, one or two meters long, clamp it in some kind of cleft or fix it under an elastic band. Now, after the bite occurs, the loop will pop out of the pinching and free up as much fishing line for the predator as you spared for the loop.

With reel

For the same purpose, in our time they make sets with a reel. Essentially, this is a modification of winter gear.

Judge for yourself:

1. A stand with a reel and a flag is stuck into the bank.
2. The equipped equipment is thrown into the water.
3. The coil is charged with a flag.

When there is a bite, the reel rotates, releasing the flag, which signals the bite. Meanwhile, the pike calmly moves away with the live bait, unwinding the fishing line from the reel.

floating

The options discussed above are suitable for small currents; catching pike with girders in a still body of water in the summer will be difficult. The fact is that in the described designs the line goes into the water at a very small angle. In the river, the current pulls the line, and the baitfish behaves naturally.

When placing a fish on a pond, the fishing line will fall to the bottom, depriving the fry of all freedom, and on the grassy bottom it will completely hide in the thicket.

Therefore, it is desirable that the main line makes a large angle with the surface of the water. This is achieved either by raising the height of the attachment point of the tackle, or by using its floating modification.

This summer zherlitsa is made with your own hands in the following sequence:

1. A working line with equipment is attached to the float.
2. The second, transport, fishing line is also attached to it.
3. The working line is equipped with live bait and thrown into the water.
4. The float is pushed away from the shore to the required distance, after which the transport cord is secured to the shore.

You can use a plastic bottle, a piece of board, or a piece of foam plastic as a float. But it’s better to build a reed raft by tying a bunch of stems in two places. Under such natural cover, the pike will gladly take the bait.

It is interesting that some craftsmen also adapt winter girders on the platform as floating ones. There are many pictures of such structures on the Internet.

Installation of a summer pole

The installation of flyer girders usually takes place along the coastline or at a depth of no more than 1.5 m. Sometimes such girders are placed at a depth of 0.7-1 m. What kind of fish can catch in such shallows? In summer, on grassy reservoirs, especially on the shores of islands and islands of the Volga reservoir. And in forest peat lakes, which are usually shallow, pike weighing more than 10 kg are found near the grasses at a meter depth.

The pole is usually selected dry, strong, about 3.5-4 m long. It should be at an angle of 45 degrees next to the grass, in runs, in windows, in corridors between grasses, along the edges, in stripes of water lilies, but so that they could survive in grasses and forests. If you have a site deeper than 1.5m you will need a very long six year lifespan or it needs to be upright.

Device design

This tackle has an ancient history. Designed for catching predatory fish:

• pike perch;
• perch;
• pike;
• soma;
• chub;
• asp and other species.

Refers to the passive method of fishing. The bait is live bait carefully placed on a hook. Time of application – winter, summer, autumn.

An important advantage of using this gear is the ability to install it in difficult-to-pass areas of a reservoir or coastline.

By installing several summer girders, the fisherman does not need to constantly be near the gear. They can be placed late in the evening, and the catch can be checked in the morning.

If the tackle was correctly secured, then the fish will not escape from the hook.

The classic design of the device is simple. Consists of several elements:

• wooden slingshot;
• fishing line or cord;
• tee or double;
• stick or pipe.

The fishing line is wound crosswise around a slingshot, which is attached to a stick and stuck into the ground on the shore. A tee is knitted on the other edge of the fishing line and a sliding weight is placed. Live bait is put on the hook. The tackle is lowered into the water. If there is a bite, the pike swallows the bait. After which the summer zherlitsa itself is cut.

There are other improved gear options. We will look at their assembly features below.

Fishing tactics

Catching pike on girders in the summer in the garden, where pikes usually hunt by ambush. As a rule, there is everything you need for fishing with flyer baits. Usually during hot weather. Pike bites occur at night and early in the morning. Waves and high water temperature. Pike takes it and chooses the usual roach. In forest lakes, where there are often no other fish besides perch and pike, as in large perches, reaching a weight of 3 kg in such lakes.

What types of summer vents are there and how to make them yourself

During the development of its design, many different types of summer girders for pike fishing appeared.

Depending on the characteristics of the equipment and design, the following types of summer girders are distinguished:

• Postavushi.
• Hanging girders.
• Moored girders.

Summer girders of these types have differences not only in equipment, but also in installation methods . Let's take a closer look at each type with its varieties, installation and installation on a pond.

Postavushi

These girders are designed for fishing in bodies of water with current . Depending on the design and method of attachment to the shore, the following types of postavush are distinguished:

• Simple - the equipment of such a rig consists of 5-6 meters of fishing line with a cross-section of 0.5-0.6 mm, at the end of which a sinker weighing 30-50 grams is attached. Above the sinker, two loops for leashes are made on the fishing line in increments of 0.5 meters. The length of the leashes is on average 40-45 cm, they are made from the same fishing line as the main equipment. The leashes are tied to the main line using the “loop-to-loop” method - for this, strong double loops are made at the ends of the leashes. Leashes are equipped with double or triple hooks. The resulting equipment is wound onto a reel or plastic reel from under the fishing line. When installing on hooks, bait small fish, unwind the required amount of fishing line, and lower the baited equipment into the water. The reel or bobbin is attached to a branch or bush hanging over the water using the remnants of the fishing line.

• With reel – is structurally the same winter vent. To make it, a spring with a flag made of bright red or light green fabric is screwed to the top of a long stick using self-tapping screws, and a bracket with a coil is attached just below. The end of the stick is sharpened. The equipment used is the same as in the previous design, with the difference that the amount of main fishing line can be increased to 10-15 meters. They fish with this tackle in the following way: bait the fry on the hooks, throw the equipment into the water from the hand, using the donkey principle; the vent is stuck with its sharp end into the soil of the bank; The reel is used to tension the fishing line. The spring with the flag is inserted into the groove of the coil. When a bite occurs, the reel rotates and the spring, when released, straightens, signaling to the angler that a predator has captured it.

• Floating - assembled from a large foam or cork float to a ring, in the body of which the main equipment with a sinker and two leashes, as well as a cord for casting the tackle, is attached. They throw the baited bait with a cord from the shore or bring it in by boat. The cord is tied to a tree or a peg driven into the bank.

Video: pike on rigs or summer baits

Hanging

These are classic Sabaneev zherlitsy. Depending on the design there are:

• Simple - a figure of eight 12-15 meters of monofilament fishing line with a cross-section of 0.3-0.4 mm is wound on a cut-out wooden slingshot, a sliding “olive” sinker weighing from 5 to 15 grams is put on, and fixed on both sides with silicone stoppers. A metal tungsten leash up to 30 cm long with a double or triple hook at the end is tied to the end of the main fishing line. The girder obtained in this way is attached to a tree or thick bush, or a stake driven into the bank, using a nylon cord. A fry is baited onto the hook and, after releasing the required amount of fishing line, it is fixed in a split at the end of one of the branches of the slingshot.
• With a shock absorber - the equipment of such a summer pike rig is assembled in the same way as the previous one. The difference lies in the presence of a rubber shock absorber attached parallel to the line in a ratio of 4:1 (line: shock absorber), and the absence of a reel - all equipment is attached to the top of the pole. When biting, the shock absorber very well softens the jerks of the fish and contributes to better and more reliable self-hooking.

Video: installing a summer girder from the shore

Moored

This zherlitsa is a circle with equipment from the postavushi. They make a similar tackle (jet) for pike with their own hands as follows:

1. From the selected floating material, a circle with a diameter of 12-13 cm and a thickness of 2.5-3 cm is cut out with a jigsaw.
2. A hole is made in the center of the circle and a stick with a cutout in the upper part is inserted into it.
3. A groove is cut out along the rim of the circle.
4. The equipment is wound into the groove.
5. The upper part of the circle is covered with red waterproof paint, and the lower part with white.
6. Slots are made along the rim of the circle on two opposite sides for attaching fishing line.

When installing such a girder, the required amount of fishing line, slightly larger than the depth at the fishing site, is unwound, it is alternately attached in the slots on the rim of the circle, in the slot in the end of the antenna tip.

When biting, the pike pulls the rig and the circle turns over under the force of the antenna lever, notifying the fisherman about the bite.

Flyer in winter

Summer slingshot jerlitsa are an ancient and very catchy Samovo catch even in our time, often caught with a spinning rod. No less reliable equipment is the winter girder. Fishing in winter also sometimes produces huge fish, especially when the fish are not active and they only weigh 2-3 kg. Winter hunters hunt underwater predators in the ice period.

You can talk about how it can be about becoming someone else, and someone else. Sometimes it happens that you need to fish at night, and when you need to spend the night, and fish at night in the warm land on the Volga island. To return home one day and return to new supplies of food and bait. This happens during a pike feast that coincides with a vacation or simply free time. Get lost for a few days and you might not forget about it. It’s not often that you successfully catch a predator. The extreme pike emergence in the spring before spawning is especially short-lived. And especially active. This means that it is impossible to achieve success within a few weeks, especially in the so-called “wilderness”.

To place summer girders under the ice, it is necessary to use relatively heavy and massive girders, the flyers of which were cut out of organic glass or vinyl plastic. Other materials and plastics that have weight and strength can also be used. What is it for? The vent must be immersed in water. And even if the surface of the hole is still covered with a crust of ice, despite the fact that the hole was tightly closed and covered with snow, the tackle will still work and catch fish. And then it’s much easier to break off a nylon cord with an ice pick without loss than a fishing line frozen in ice. Worst case scenario, you can replace the damaged cord.

Just like in the summer on the sixth, when there is water, and it draws in, and the water goes away so that the water goes under water. To do this, the crossbar stick must be pressed into the snow. There is no need to change anything in the equipment.

This is such a universal tackle - a flier.

Pike rigs for summer

The main thing in any girder is versatility and reliability in fixing live bait, so that it does not make a false alarm and does not run away to hide in the grass at the bottom. At the same time, the pike should immediately unwind when it strikes. If the fixation is strengthened too much, it’s bad again; without unwinding, the pike will immediately spit out the bait. Basics, of course, but this is the thought of any really working zherlitsa.

Option 1.

More than 10 years ago I spotted an original circuit in a magazine, tried it, and it worked. I made some additions and changes, which are discussed below. My maximum for this girder is 8.45 kg, our friend Misha “copied” the diagram and took it to 10.5 kg on the lake in the maintenance area near “Kurkul” (he gave the “Hammer” to the good man Igor an ugly nickname!)

This is how it looks assembled and in the stowed position (the appearance is working, sorry). It’s convenient that everything is placed inside the bottle; I only remove the tee so that it doesn’t get stuck on the load.

Original diagram from a 2006 magazine.

Generally speaking, everything drawn here is 97% correct, but I consider my 3% to be extremely important, I reached them with practice...

I use iced tea bottles because... The neck is wide and in the middle there seems to be a special place for fishing line. It’s better to take a “Hungarian” rubber band for the bottle and make rings out of it yourself.

The whole trick is in the cork and in fixing the fishing line with an elastic band along the pin (see the diagram very carefully again!).

I seal the antennae inside the plug with any plumbing sealant.

The elastic band should be selected from the densest rubber possible; micro-flogging will not work. Drill a hole in the rubber band exactly the diameter of the pin on the plug. The shape of the elastic does not have to be a cylinder, it can also be a cube. At worst, an eraser will do (it will be less durable), but you need to take the hardest possible one.

You can make a hole in it with a hand drill; the diameter should be smaller than that of the pin, because The eraser is easy to wear out. But cutting the eraser is very simple.

I reel in 6-8 meters of fishing line, because... My depths for setting the vents are usually 1.5 - 3.5 m, I use 0.6-0.8 mm. I don’t recommend the cord, it collects all sorts of dirt in the water and braids itself.

The latest tricks. The weights were cast by myself, of decent weight and so that they would fit into the neck of the bottle.

The stopper is made not only at the bottom (60 centimeters from the load), but also at the top (30 centimeters from the water surface). The pellets will not work; they are either dislodged by the live bait or they injure the fishing line. I haphazardly wound an elastic band for money or a piece of twine with several knots,

You can also attach a piece of elastic here.

Before installing the girder, I pour 100 grams of water into the bottle for better stability. In the working position, when positioned correctly, the bottle stands vertically; after a pike grip, the bottle lies on its side and spins from the winding of the fishing line. I tell you the spectacle! If you can’t place it vertically, it doesn’t matter, everything works the same way in a lying position, only less clear. It's a matter of skill.

This girder is good for calm water: lakes, creeks, channels, kuryi, zakoska. A large pike will certainly drag the cylinder away from the installation site, but not very far. I cover half of the balloon with bright paint to make it easier to find. There were cases where it got caught in snags, and sometimes it was torn off (maybe wound around the teeth). There are no losses when fishing, no regrets.

Option 2

Suitable for cases where trees overhang the water. There are more than such places on the lakes in TO. This winter vent, I call it “grandfather’s” or “submersible”.

It is tied by a rope to a branch; the spool, unlike in winter, hangs above the water. Everything is very simple and reliable. A crossbar tube is not needed in summer.

To make it easier to find the girder, you should tie something bright to a branch - it’s easier to see from the water.

It’s better not to place this girder in a strong snag; you can’t take a pike, it will get tangled. When there are no overhanging trees, you can attach it to a pole, as long as the spool hangs freely and does not touch the pole.

PS Both options are for installation from a boat. How to catch pike from the shore is well described in the book by Leonid Sabaneev.

Good luck on the water and bright emotions!

How to catch pike with a girder?

If the equipment was made correctly, there should be no problems with catching pikes. Winter and summer fishing for pike with a zherlitsa is slightly different. In winter, you need to drill holes in the ice in the areas where fish are expected to be found. In summer, gear has to be installed near the shore at shallow depths. In the warm season, pike actively feeds and can most often be found near thickets of reeds, bushes, etc.

Gutters should not be installed to the maximum depth. It is better to set the sinker at half water or a little lower. In this case, the pike will see the bait faster, because its gaze is always directed forward and slightly upward. If the bait is near the bottom, the predator may simply not notice it.

Particular attention should be paid to the bait. Live bait should be small . The maximum size of the fry is 10 cm. Before attaching to the hook, cut off its tail fin. This will significantly limit its mobility and eliminate false alarms.

Live bait should be hooked to the dorsal fin. Be careful not to damage the fish's spine, otherwise it will die quickly and will not be of any use.

After installing the gear, you just need to watch it and wait for the signal “flag” to appear. Do not rush to run to the tackle after it appears and make a hook . Let the predator play with the live bait and swallow the bait deeper. Allow the line to unwind completely. In this case, the extraction will definitely not be lost.

If everything is done correctly, it will be impossible to return home without loot.

Catching pike-perch on girders

On large reservoirs one has to make long journeys.
Photo: Sergey Smirnov. First of all, you need to decide what a pike perch zherlitsa is and how it differs from other zherlitsa.

Without going into details, I can say that what distinguishes it from other fishing rods is the ability to fine-tune and adjust the locking plate depending on the size and weight of the live bait.

To this we can add that the force at which the girder is triggered should always be comparable to the weight of the bait.

If the proportion is off, a capricious pike perch will almost certainly abandon the fish immediately after catching it.

And the success of fishing depends on the correct settings of the girders.

Usually, a sluggish pike perch, when approaching a girder, does not immediately swallow the bait, but only squeezes it with its jaws.

A sharp lift of the flag plate pulls the roach out of the predator's mouth, and this will continue until you adjust the lock plate.

The actuation force of the plate is adjusted by bending it in the area of ​​the flag, changing its length and precisely selecting the rigidity of the plate material.

GEAR AND ITS SETTING

From a large number of vents, I would single out two designs: on a single stand and on a load-bearing (plastic) base. Both are classics of the genre and popular among anglers.

The most versatile hole is on a single stand using a thermal cover for the hole. For this design, snow drifts and water on the ice are not a hindrance. In severe frost, you can always increase the height of the stand, put a thermal cover on the hole and fill it with snow up to the coil. To ensure smooth unwinding of the fishing line, the diameter of the reel must be at least 55–60 mm.

A worthy result of patiently waiting for a bite. Photo: Sergey Smirnov.

As a rule, pike perch are caught either in snags or next to them, so it is important to prevent the pike perch that grabs the bait from escaping into the rubble. Typically, when fishing at a depth of 10 m, the length of the fishing line should be no more than 17–18 m.

The free movement reserve of 7–8 m is small, but it is enough for the fish to have time to swallow the bait and be hooked. It is likely that with a limited supply of fishing line, self-hooking will occur.

We must understand that by increasing the length of the fishing line when fishing in snags, we reduce our chances of success. You always have to look for a middle ground. A large supply of fishing line (20–25 m) can only be used if the fishing location is well known to you and the direction of the pike perch’s movement is predictable.

Read the material “Gun for the Outback”

I use a line with a diameter of 0.35 mm, a leash of the same line 35–40 cm long and a sliding weight - an olive weighing 12 g. Why do I use a leader with a diameter of 0.35 mm? Because, despite all the efforts of the fisherman, the pike perch often has to be released from the snag, and this is impossible to do with a fishing line of a smaller diameter.

A fluorocarbon leader is not used in equipment, since its increased rigidity and tendency to twist become a hindrance when catching fish.

I use only a single hook, from No. 6 to No. 2. It all depends on the size of the bait fish the predator prefers. Why not a tee? Even a small tee alarms the pike perch at the initial moment of its grasp, while the fish practically does not notice a single hook.

If fishing is “catch and release”, a single hook is much easier to pull out of the predator’s mouth.

In order for the pike perch to be reliably detected, the bait must be small. Photo: Sergey Smirnov.

When fishing in snags, a quick hook after five or six turns of the reel is a necessary measure; the angler simply has no other choice. If the rigs are placed in a clean, free place, you should hook only after at least 2/3 of the fishing line has come off the reel.

Ruff, verkhovka, bleak, roach, gudgeon, small bream (50–70 g) can attract the attention of a predator. But in the middle of winter, roach becomes the number one baitfish. It is clearly visible, holds depth well and does not overlap the leash with the main line as often as bream or bleak.

In the middle of winter, the weight of the average live bait for fishing at a depth of 7–8 m does not exceed 10–15 g. But fishing conditions vary. In order for live bait to play and simply become noticeable at a depth of more than 10 m, its length must be at least 12–15 cm and weight 15–30 g.

A pike perch weighing less than one kilogram is capable of swallowing live bait of such dimensions.

TROPHY FISHING ON THE FIRST ICE

By the time the first ice formed, the pike perch had long since moved to the deep parts of the reservoir, occupying snags and pre-channel edges. It would seem that discovering and catching it would no longer be a problem, especially since the classic sites of the predator have long been known. It’s not difficult to spot pike perch, but not everyone succeeds in catching it.

There is even a fishing story that after freeze-up, pike perch gets used to the new realities of its existence and temporarily stops feeding.

It is convenient to arrange gear by transporting it across the ice in a special plastic trough. Photo: Sergey Smirnov.

In fact, pike perch begins to actively feed even before freeze-up, and by the time the reservoir finally freezes, it begins to eat, and its favorite food is not roach or bleak, but its closest neighbors - silver bream, bream and ruffe.

Read the material “Ruff of double meaning”

There are no problems with the ruff: it can always be replaced with a gudgeon. But in the first weeks of freeze-up, pike perch has a special passion for bream. However, the difficulty lies in the fact that it is rarely possible to catch a sufficient number of bream or silver bream weighing 30–50 g. Usually you come across fish weighing 70–120 g; it is extremely difficult to use such live bait in a classic bait rig.

But with an increase in the weight of the sliding weight and the diameter of the fishing line, fishing from the bottom becomes possible. Bottom equipment with large live bait for pike perch is optimal. The ideal fishing place in this case would be a channel or a pre-channel dump, that is, a place where there is a current. And this will not be ordinary fishing, but a hunt for trophy predators.

IN THE DEEP WINTER

In the reservoirs of the Moscow region, the location of forage fish above the predator’s sites in some places resembles a layer cake “eat it, but I don’t want it.” In the dead of winter, pike perch does not pursue or guard anyone: perch, ruff, bream, and roach are very close by. It is enough for him to break away from the bottom so as not to remain hungry.

And yet, from time to time, the pike perch, having emerged from its hiding place, makes forays into the territory adjacent to the snag, cruising along a certain route. Actually, at this moment a grip may follow. But it's not that simple.

Short-term activity (exit of a predator) can be observed once every two to three days, and only with a combination of favorable weather factors.

The fisherman must either be very lucky, or he himself must provoke the pike perch to bite. To do this, you need to temporarily switch to vertical lure.

The spoons used are large and easily visible from a great distance. They lure at two levels: 1.5 and 2 m from the bottom from top to bottom and from bottom to top. Double reset, but always from the top level.

Read the material “How depth maps were taken before”

The spoon should move with a large amplitude and plan well when released. The cycle of flashing is classic: rise - pause - reset - long pause.

Before installing the vent, you should carefully measure the depth. PHOTO SHUTTERSTOCK

If the lures are silent and there is no grip, before moving to the next hole the spoon is allowed to calm down and left to hang motionless for 10–15 seconds. Next, the spoon is smoothly moved up or down without resetting.

Lures for attracting pike perch to the fishing site can be different, but the general requirement is one: in their game there must be at least something reminiscent of a living analogue. The predator, of course, perfectly senses the catch and does not perceive the spoon as a live fish, but the spoon clearly arouses increased interest in him and pushes him to take active action.

It has been noticed that a spinner that attracts a predator from a great distance, as a rule, does not do this due to the noise chamber in the design. She should play with a large amplitude, move freely and plan after the reset.

There are many techniques that attract predatory fish from a long distance, but the most effective of them, which brings the pike perch out of its sleepy stupor, is several prolonged drops of a vertical spoon from a height of at least 4–5 m.

In some cases, pike perch, which have long been uninterested in natural food, can suddenly attack a vertical spoon or balance beam. But most often he begins to pay attention to live bait, which he had not noticed before.

It is useless to constantly flash pike perch while being close to the girders. It is necessary to shine only in cases where the angler at least approximately knows the time of the predator’s exit. And to prevent the exit from being disrupted, the pike perch should be additionally stimulated by the game of several spinners. This technique often works, and several walleyes can attack the bait almost simultaneously.

The holes for trolling the predator are prepared in advance, covered with foam covers and sprinkled with snow in cold weather.

Read the material “Predators in the wilderness: let’s stay with the catch”

Of course, each reservoir has its own fishing specifics and its own release schedule, but usually in February - March, individual outbreaks of activity are observed from 5:00 to 7:00, from 9:00 to 11:00 and from 16:30 to 19:30 and may last only a few minutes throughout the entire body of water.

FISHING DEPTH

When installing girders, you need to determine as quickly as possible what the maximum depth is for live bait in the selected location. To do this, it is necessary to sacrifice one or two live bait, lowering them to the maximum possible depth.

In a hungry winter, a dog will not refuse a fish treat. PHOTO SHUTTERSTOCK

If the live bait has not lost any signs of vital activity within 30–40 minutes and has not caught the line trying to go up, you can start fishing. It is necessary to find the maximum permissible depth for live bait, since this is where trophy fanged fish stay.

Read the material “Labor Elk”

When installing vents, we often encounter a situation in which places with an acceptable depth border on sharp drops into the pit. Nothing wrong with that. Once on a dump or in a hole, you simply lift the bait up 1–3 m, that is, to the depth permissible for it, and continue placing the bait further. Sometimes the bite is only on live bait installed in the water column.

The success of fishing directly depends on how correctly you guessed the direction of movement of the pike perch before and after the bite. You need to know exactly from which side the bite can occur and in which direction the pike perch will move next. Therefore, when installing a girder, the reel should always be located in the direction of movement of the predator. Only in this case does the girder operate without failure, unwinding occurs smoothly, providing minimal resistance to the outgoing fish, the line does not touch or cling to the sides of the reel, and the reel does not stop.

The pike perch, feeling no resistance, freely swallows the bait and moves on. Without guessing the direction of movement of the pike perch, it is impossible to catch it, and a large number of empty rises will be the result of incorrect placement of the girders. In order not to make a mistake with the movement of the predator, you need to know the bottom topography and the boundaries of the snag.

LOOK FOR BLEAK - YOU WILL FIND PANDER

As the bleak flocks into large flocks at the end of winter and beginning of spring, it is closely followed by pike perch. It is always located nearby, but significantly below the horizon in which the main school is located. There are not many such places on reservoirs, and they serve as a reliable reference point for finding pike perch.

The best live bait during this period is a large spawned bleak, set at half-water, but always slightly below the main flock.

They try to place the baitfish not in the center of the bleak accumulation, but along its perimeter: in these places the baitfish will be more noticeable and more likely to attract a predator.

To avoid constant overlap of the leash and fishing line, part of the caudal fin of the live bait is cut off obliquely.

Read the material “Advice from an Experienced Zherlichnik”

However, there are usually no pike perch even in promising places if there is an invasion of migrating bream or an accumulation of perch. The pike perch will definitely not appear here anytime soon!

Sergey Smirnov February 12, 2021 at 05:51

What are girders?

Pike is a desirable catch for any fisherman. In summer it can be caught using any tackle ; in winter it is best to catch pike with a girder. In fact, only it allows you to achieve maximum results.

A zherlitsa is a piece of equipment that allows you to catch pike with live bait. There are a lot of varieties of this equipment. There are options for both the cold season and summer girders.

This tackle is sold in any store. Experienced fishermen prefer to make a pike girder with their own hands. They rightly believe that they know better how to fish more efficiently.

The classic winter vent has a simple design . It consists of the following elements:

• fishing line - must be strong enough to withstand the jerks of a large fish. Experienced fishermen recommend not to waste time on trifles and use a fishing line with a thickness of at least 0.3 mm. It will hold the predator and give you the opportunity to play with the bait. The fishing line must be elastic and frost-resistant;
• hook - it should be sufficient in size and quality;
• sinkers – for the girder, oval sinkers weighing 10-15 g are used. When fishing is carried out at great depths, you can use sinkers weighing up to 20 g;
• leash - pike are much more willing to take live bait on a leash from a fishing line. Leashes are made of metal, but pike ignore them in winter;
• reels - the optimal internal diameter is 15 cm. This will prevent the line from sagging in the cold and the fisherman will easily see the bite. The height of the sides of the reel should not be less than 1.5 cm. Otherwise, there is a chance that the line will overlap the drum.

When buying ready-made tackle in a store, you need to pay attention to the following points:

• the coil must be plastic;
• its movement should be slightly difficult - it will avoid tangling of the fishing line;
• the bite alarm must be metal and have a bright flag;
• the length of the alarm should not exceed 50 cm;
• it must be flexible and durable enough not to react to the movements of live bait.