Winter fishing is a great way to spend time for lovers of active recreation. Many people believe that the under-ice season is the most interesting, because there are countless fishing methods in winter; one perch can be lured out in a dozen ways. Fishing with the Balda is as popular among fans of the “striped fish” as the jig. The bait has many names: witch, bomb, eggs, bold, etc. For winter fishing, standard fishing rods with a hard whip are used, at the end of which a nod is attached.
Design features
The appearance and play of the bully resemble a beetle swarming in the bottom, which attracts fish so much. A lead cone is used as a sinker. Since the purpose of fishing is perch, it makes no sense to use more expensive metals. At the top of the figure there is an eyelet through which a fishing line up to 0.2 mm thick is passed. Hooks are mounted on both sides; the fore-end should be long, making it easier to remove them from the fish’s mouth. Beads of any color must be attached to it, repeating the colors of various insects.
Small red balls are often used, imitating bloodworms - the main food supply of the striped predator. The sinker plays the main role in attracting it; it has an elongated shape with a flat bottom, but there are models similar to small spinners. As a rule, they are made by hand, at home. Standard bait can be bought at the store.
Features of fishing
Fishermen have been coming up with all kinds of baits lately. And all this in order to catch even in the most unfavorable conditions. This is especially true for winter fishing. In this article we will look at such an old tackle as the “balda” and tell you the features of catching various types of freshwater fish with it.
With the right approach, fishing with it can be quite successful.
The tactics of fishing with a spinner are a little reminiscent of the tactics of fishing with a spinner, because... this bait also requires an active search for fish, but still the tactics are different.
Of course, by talking about fishing tactics, I can get a lot of stones into my garden, but this is not a postulate or a dogma, but just observations from practice; whether to use it or not is up to you to decide.
Let's start with the river.
Sometimes, in search of fish, active fish, and this is what we are interested in when fishing for bullheads, I had to walk up to 7-10 km and drill up to 100-120 holes a day. It’s a very labor-intensive process, but when you come across an active perch, and that’s what I mainly catch on the balda, the fatigue goes away immediately.
And here's what you need to know: Fishing for crucian carp in the Leningrad region, photos, fishing with a rod and feeder
You can fish with the Balda both in still water and in the current. If fishing takes place on a river, you simply need to increase the weight of the sinker. As for choosing a specific point on a body of water, it is worth considering that the bulldozer is primarily gear for fishing from the bottom.
Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the nature of this very bottom first of all: a muddy bottom is best suited. When hitting it, the bulldozer easily knocks out an attractive cloud of turbidity. But even on a sandy bottom this bait doesn’t work much worse. Areas overgrown with algae are, of course, not suitable for fishing from the bottom.
However, you can successfully fish with the Balda from the bottom and in rocky areas. Also, many people practice fishing with it in the water column and even near the surface.
At what time of winter is the best time to catch perch on balda?
Since the bullhead has a fairly aggressive game, this bait works best during those periods of winter when the perch is most active. First of all, these are the first weeks after freeze-up and the last weeks of winter. However, it is worth noting that fishing for trout is often successful in December and January.
Since the balda is primarily a tackle for fishing from the bottom, the greatest success with it, as a rule, can be achieved on those days when the perch stays in the lower layers of the water.
Well-thought-out tactics for finding fish, as well as the ability to collect and hold it at the fishing point, will help you achieve success in perch fishing.
During fishing, the bait is lowered to the bottom, where, hitting it, it raises a cloud of turbidity. At this moment the hooks begin to go down. Equipping the tackle with cambric, beads and a fly on the hooks helps make its movements smooth.
The fish are attracted precisely by the turbidity that the tackle picks up from the bottom, so it is best to choose pike-perch fishing spots with a muddy bottom. In order to catch pike perch in winter, you need to make several holes, in each of which you need to try to catch it. The holes should be equidistant, and they should be located over deep places and ravines.
If you intend to catch fish with such bait as the Balda, you need to know some points about where to look for the coveted trophy and at what time to fish.
Fishing technique and tactics
Fishing on the Balda in winter repeats the art of trolling. Plumb fishing involves characteristic swings of the rod with a short pause. Unlike a spinner, which floats in the water column, a bulldozer catches fish from the bottom. It received its name in honor of the blacksmith's hammer. The impact with the bottom and the billowing cloud of turbidity are reminiscent of the actions of a craftsman. To understand how to fish with a balda, you should make a series of holes every 3-5 m, and then check the holes for the presence of fish. There is no point in lingering at one point for a long time, since the active perch manifests itself on the first three trips.
To learn more:
How to catch perch with live bait: equipment and technique
After the bait hits the bottom, the line should remain in tension. Hooks floating along the ring of the fishing line need time to sink to the sinker. All bites occur at this moment. When the perch is found, it is necessary to drill 4 more holes around the catch hole, thus creating the famous fishing envelope. To attract trophies from the nearest water area and keep them at the fishing point, bloodworms are used as feeding. It should be lowered into the hole manually, without special feeders, because fishing is carried out at shallow depths.
What is a fishing rod
Balda is an artificial bait used to catch predatory fish from the bottom. The only thing that fundamentally differs from it in the method of fishing is a kind of microbald. The gear is similar, but also works in the water column, like a “jellyfish”.
Representing a hybrid of a spinner with a jig, the bullda consists of the following elements:
- Sinkers - the body of the bait, which strikes the bottom during play and raises mud that attracts a predator;
- Movable hooks located on the line loop on the sides of the sinker and with their stings facing outward relative to it;
- Swivels with a clasp are elements necessary to prevent the main line from twisting.
To increase the attractiveness of the bait, the underhangs of the hooks are decorated with beads, silicone cambrics, and insulation from the wire cores. In this case, “decorations” of red, yellow, white, and black colors are used.
On a note! To increase the catchability of the bait, its body is sometimes made hollow by placing special noise balls there. Thanks to them, when playing, characteristic sounds appear that help attract a predator from a greater distance.
Varieties of bullda
Depending on the shape of the sinker, the weight of the material, and the method of attaching the hooks, there are several varieties of this bait.
According to the shape of the body (sinker) they can be:
- Cylindrical;
- teardrop-shaped;
- In the form of a bullet;
- Ovoid;
- Cone-shaped;
With a body shaped to imitate an insect (an example is such a popular bait as the bully beetle).
Based on the weight of the sinker, the bulldozer comes in the following varieties:
- Light (3-6 grams) - this type of balda is used for catching perch in winter in stagnant reservoirs with depths of no more than 4 meters;
- Medium (8-10 grams) - used for winter and summer fishing in conditions of standing water, weak currents, depths from 4 to 5-6 meters;
- Heavy (over 10 grams) - used when fishing for pike perch and pike in deep river holes.
We recommend reading: How to make winter lures for perch at home
Based on the types of materials used, such baits can be:
- Lead;
- Brass;
- Copper;
- Tungsten.
Lead and tungsten varieties are made by casting, brass and copper are most often turned from rods. Less common is a variety made of bronze.
According to the method of fastening the hooks relative to the body, the bulldozer can belong to one of the following varieties:
- With movable hooks located on the fishing line loop;
- With semi-rigid fastening of hooks - in such baits the hooks are attached to rings soldered into the upper part of the body.
Baldas with movable hooks are more common due to their low cost and ease of manufacture.
What kind of fish is this bait used for?
Balda fishing tackle was invented for catching mainly predatory fish, such as:
- Perch (medium, large);
- Pike (“grass”, medium size);
- Pike perch (medium size);
- Grayling.
Less commonly caught on this tackle are ide, chub, as well as peaceful fish species such as roach and silver bream. These types of predatory fish are caught with it all year round. This gear is most productive for winter fishing on the first and last ice and in late autumn. But you can effectively catch perch with it even in the dead of winter.
Finding perch in winter
The first ice is considered the most productive time of the cold season. Several weeks after the water becomes solid are characterized by an excellent fish bite. Perch can be caught equally with both a jig and a balda. The search should be carried out immediately upon entering the ice surface.
The predator lives in shallow water, where there is a good food supply in the form of fry and other small underwater inhabitants. You can catch a fish from the very first hole. As a rule, small individuals bite near the reeds, and a little deeper you can find a worthy rival.
In the dead of winter, catching perch on a balda is not so effective, and the master has to work hard to find a trophy. Constant search is the right tactic that bears fruit. Coastal edges, reed edges, fallen vegetation, snags - these places require careful study. Interesting fishing also occurs during the thaw and at the end of February, when the ice begins to melt, triggering natural biological processes. Catching fish on a bulldozer is a simple and exciting activity.
Fishing with a "balda"
Bottom fishing is a popular type of fishing. Requires active search for active fish. Periodically you need to change the weight and shape of the weight, the color and sequence of cambrics or beads.
To successfully catch the most common objects, the requirements are as follows:
- catching bream - you need to know where the fish stay. The main combination of cambrics is red and yellow. The body of the tackle is red and white, often with a rounded lower part. Requires feeding with bloodworms. Slow, smooth wiring. Most often, bites occur when the bait lies on the bottom. The fishing line used is 0.22-0.25, hooks No. 8-14;
- Perch fishing requires constant searching. Beads and cambrics on the hook in the following sequence - white, red, black. The body of the tackle is black or brown, 1-3 cm. Cambrics and beads of white, red, yellow, brown and green colors strung in different orders are also used. Line 0.18-0.2. Fishing is very good in November in open water;
- catching pike perch - a larger, elongated body of the bait than for perch. Tap the bottom. Raise it by 30-40 cm. Pause. Lower. The technique of fishing with a balancer works well, but don’t forget to tap the bottom. Bites often occur at the moment of descent. It is good to combine with fishing with a pike-perch spoon. Line 0.2-0.3.
When fishing for bream and perch, in order to keep the fish under the hole, it can be useful to throw small bloodworms, jigs, or chopped worms into the hole.
“Balda” is something between a jig and a spinner; the type of game is very similar to a balance beam, if you exclude tapping on the bottom. The tackle itself is cheap and easy to use. The catchability of this gear, and you can catch almost any fish, often surprises even experts, but, like any gear, it requires mastering and acquiring skills.
Fishing in summer
The equipment and fishing principle do not differ significantly from winter gear. Using a boat, you can successfully use the boom in open water. Shore fishing requires a long rod, no shorter than 5 m. The diameter of the fishing line is taken a little larger, since the summer predator is more active and provides decent resistance. A lateral nod serves as a bite signal. The fisherman methodically fishes the coastal waters, moving from point to point. With appropriate experience, the amount of prey caught is not inferior to the winter catch.
A characteristic feature of the bulldozer is the decent size of the trophies. For catching small perch, a jig is more effective, because a large bait attracts a heavy predator, which is less abundant in the reservoir.
Fishing with a jig with a bite alarm
Let's change the rod on a fishing rod with a vertical rig to a jig with a nozzle. Here, in summer fishing conditions from the bank of a small river, a miniature bite alarm, which will track any movements of a hooked fish, will also come in handy.
A side nod on a long fishing rod will be able to respond to a fish bite much later than a bite alarm placed low on the tackle due to the large transfer length of the elastic fishing line of the equipment, which can also be strongly bent by the wind.
The same bite alarm, thanks to its small windage, can become a fisherman’s ally when fishing with a jig with a nozzle in windy weather, causing the bait to oscillate rather than remain passive. Moreover, without the help of a fisherman.
And the most important thing is that your neck does not get tired when tracking fish bites in the summer on the nod of the equipment raised high on a summer fishing rod. Just as you won’t have to answer the questions of wise men passing by every now and then: “I wonder why you’re always looking in the sky when you’re fishing?”
Catching zander from a boat
The right time for such an action is autumn. As you know, pike perch begins to actively peck when it gets colder. An interesting way to catch it is fishing with a bullhead. When the water cools, fishermen set out on boats in search of the “fanged one.” The gear must be set up in advance so as not to waste precious time. For vertical fishing you will need a side rod up to a meter long. As a guard, a nod is mounted on the end of the whip. The pike perch bait differs from the perch model. The metal for the sinker must be heavier in order to give a ringing blow. Tungsten is better suited for these purposes, whose only drawback is the price.
To learn more:
Fishing line net: fine for violating the law
You can fish both in still waters and on the current. The method is popular on large rivers - Don, Ural or Volga. In small rivers of Bashkiria it is also used for grayling. Along with vertical lures, catching pike perch or pike perch on a pole from a boat brings good results. It is more specialized, so other fish are rarely present in the bycatch. Single catches may include pike, and peaceful ones may include roach.
Microbalda
In recent winter seasons, I have never ceased to be amazed by the so-called microbalds. This is a special variety of the usual Balda, their body is similar to the now popular reelless jigs and is supplemented with two hooks. The fishing line for fishing with a microbald is quite thin - 0.1 - 0.13 mm, suitable hooks - Nos. 18 - 14. “Pendants” in the form of cambrics, beads, etc. in this case I don’t use (photo 11) - the bait works fine anyway. To convey the most accurate bite, I select a nod from lavsan, depending on the weight of the bait.
Microbalds seduce all fish without exception. Especially during the period of their greatest activity, observed along the first and last ice. They manifest themselves most effectively at shallow and medium depths in coastal waters. After all, it is there, in the grass, that the vast majority of aquatic invertebrates live, to which the miniature bait resembles even more than the large one. Especially with its active wiring.
The principle of operation of such miniature Baldas corresponds to the principles of working with jigs. You can start wiring from the hole itself. Lower to the bottom with periodic pauses and stops, during which the hooks and legs are in motion. If there are no bites, and the microbald has reached the bottom, tap it several times on the ground. After this, you can begin a slow ascent (up to the edge of the ice), alternating with stops. The hook is done immediately with any movement of the nod (photo 12). If it turns out to be single, you should lower the microbald to the cool horizon and try to repeat the vibrations.
I noticed that it is useful to use a microbalda to check holes in which there had not previously been a bite on jigs and other baits, including large Baldas. I believe the answer here lies in the appearance of a non-standard bait in front of the fish, most similar to representatives of the benthos. In general, small forms of Balda are interesting for experiments.
Well, I would like to complete the topic by mentioning that Balda is not only a winter bait for vertical fishing. You can successfully fish with it even from the shore, bridges and piers in open water, wading, and also from a boat. Moreover, fishing the water area both vertically (plumb) and horizontally (from the splashdown site to the shore). But these, as they say, are completely different stories, simply proving how diverse Balda is.
Vladimir Klen
Making a do-it-yourself bulldozer
Store-bought baits are made according to manufacturers' standards. However, they are not always as catchy as their homemade counterparts. The fisherman who produces winter lures puts not only skill, but also experience and soul into them.
Balda for perch
The shape and size of the sinker are set individually by each master. Lead is most often used for casting because it is cheap and has a low melting point. For production you will need:
- Shape: aluminum or alabaster.
- Hooks number 5-6. The model should have a long shank, the beard should be ground off halfway so that the beads fit correctly and do not get stuck.
- Lead. The metal is melted in a special vessel or spoon.
- Cambrics. Secure the beads to the hook and prevent them from slipping off. Winding a thin wire will also work.
- Beads of different colors.
The color of the sinker does not matter, since it attracts fish by hitting the bottom, and not by external parameters. The center of the predator's attack should be on the hook, which is equipped with colored beads to be visible and resemble a larva.
