How to properly catch pike with mugs

Catching pike with a jigging rod is one of the most effective ways to catch a predator in winter. You can fish on them around the clock, but most often they start fishing before dark, so that the holes are ready by dawn. The optimal number of girders per fisherman is 10 pieces. With so much gear you can handle it comfortably and there will be enough bites on favorable days.

Live bait is used as bait. This is why fishing with this tackle is so effective, because live bait is much better than its various imitations - spinners or balancers, no matter how high quality and expensive they are. In this article, the site ryba4ok.ru will tell you how to effectively catch pike with girders, what gear to use, how to choose a place and which live bait will bring the biggest catch. In general, everything that will help you successfully catch toothy fish in winter with this gear will be in our article below. You will also find several fascinating videos on this topic.

Which girder to choose

Firstly, due to the wide variety of girders, I would like to immediately discuss which one to choose for pike fishing. Because for a beginner this is really a very important question. In essence, a fishing line is a reel for laying fishing line with a stand for it and a flag - a bite alarm. They may differ, for example, in the method of installation on the hole. The base can be in the form of a round platform on which a rod is installed - a spool holder, or it can be a tripod.

In general, each of the elements of the girder has its own direct impact on the process and convenience of fishing. Therefore, when choosing gear, be sure to pay attention to each component. Of course, if you are fishing for the first time, it will be difficult to understand the principle of choice, but the experience gained from your own mistakes is the most valuable and will give the clearest idea of ​​possible problems. Still, so that you make fewer mistakes when choosing, let’s look at the important elements of the gear.

Base.

As mentioned above, girders come with a round base or a tripod. Here the site ryba4ok.ru clearly advises choosing tackle with a round base. At least for their first zherlitsa, that’s for sure. They are more stable on ice and cover the hole from daylight, which can scare away predators.

Also, it is very important that the base is made of plastic and not metal, otherwise the vent will be abundantly overgrown with ice, turning into a heavy blank. It is advisable to choose products from more durable and high-quality plastic so that it lasts a long time.

Bite alarm. The bite indicator is a flag. The main requirement for it is that it must be red or close to this color (for example, orange). It is the red color that is best visible against the background of snow, therefore, if the manufacturer decides to stand out with a flag of a different color, you should not trust it, it is better to take a proven girder with a red flag. It is also quite important that the flag is waterproof, otherwise it will simply freeze and break or simply not work.

Coil. The reel is a very important element of the tackle. The convenience and efficiency of fishing depends on its quality and design. It is important that the reel is plastic, does not jam when rotating freely, spins not too freely and, at the same time, not too tight. If the reel rotates too freely, this will contribute to the formation of beards from the fishing line when biting, which will lead to tangling and breakage of the tackle. Ideally, the tightness of the coil is adjustable.

It is also important that there are no gaps near the reel and on its mount, so that if the fishing line falls off, it does not fall into these gaps. The height of the sides of the reel should be at least 10-15 mm, and the diameter of the reel itself should be at least 50 mm, otherwise reeling in and winding the fishing line will not be very comfortable.

From the first time it is difficult to understand whether the reel will be good or not so good. But in almost all designs of the fishing rod, you can replace the reel, so this is not so critical, although, of course, I would like to immediately buy full-fledged fishing gear, completely ready for use.

Rigging for pike

To equip a pike girder, you will need to wind about 20 m of fishing line on a reel. Choose monofilament fishing line, that is, regular fishing line, not braided line. The fact is that the wicker freezes in the cold and can easily be damaged. In addition, catching fish by picking up the braid with your hands is very dangerous, as it can easily cause deep cuts. Therefore, only monofilament fishing line, always of good quality, so that when unwinding from the reel it does not twist and has minimal memory.

The diameter of the fishing line is selected depending on the approximate size of the predator being caught in the pond. If this is the standard - pike up to 3 kg, then a fishing line with a cross section of 0.3-0.35 mm is used. If there is a possibility of a larger predator biting, then it would be advisable to use a thicker fishing line - up to 0.5 mm.

A leash for pike rigs is a mandatory element of the gear. Pike has very sharp teeth that can cut fishing line instantly. Metal leashes are mainly used, but the problem is that a metal leash leads to a reduction in bites, as it alerts the predator. The optimal solution is fluorocarbon leaders. Fluorocarbon is sold like fishing line and looks the same, which means it is minimally alarming to a spotted predator.

For a leash, choose fluorocarbon with a diameter of 0.55 mm - such a leash is very rarely cut off by pike, and the predator must be of decent size in order to cut a leash of such thickness. If you are purposefully catching a really large pike, then it is better to use a metal leash. If you catch a toothy one up to 3-4 kg, then a fluorocarbon leash will contribute to a greater number of bites, and the predator will not be able to cut such a leash with its teeth. The website ryba4ok.ru recommends watching the video below about how an experienced angler makes a leash for a fluorocarbon rod.

Hook . For catching pike on girders, tees No. 6-7 according to domestic numbering are mainly used. Some anglers use doubles. Each of these hooks has its own pros and cons, so here everyone chooses for themselves. Both options are good and have the right to life.

When fishing with small live bait, it is better to use special live bait doubles, where one hook is smaller than the second. A small hook is used to catch live bait on the fin, while a large hook is intended for pike. The fact that live bait clings to a thinner and smaller hook allows it to remain active longer and attract a predator for a longer time.

But one thing should be said in favor of the tee - when biting on the tee, the pike sits better and has less chance of getting off the hook. And there are fewer idle bites on the tee. Since a girder is a piece of equipment that is designed to ensure that the fish will catch itself when biting, you must carefully monitor the condition of the hooks - they must be very sharp and fit perfectly into the fish’s mouth. If the hook is blunt, even a double, even a tee, there will be a lot of idle bites.

Jerky tricks

There is an opinion that winter fishing is a primitive form of fishing. In my opinion, this is a fairly fair remark, but only if you take the matter too simply and formally. A creative approach to girders and a tireless search make this type of ice fishing very exciting and even sporting. Behind the apparent simplicity lies many nuances.

In some places, even the species composition of trophies can be surprising. Last winter, within 24 hours in one place, the girders brought me several pikes, humpback perch, burbot and taimen. The latter caught on the very edge of the mouth and was safely released, which can be seen on my channel “Master of the River” on the YouTube video hosting site.

Having experience of fishing with winter lures for a quarter of a century, I can share something with “colleagues” who share my passion for breathing fresh air on the ice of reservoirs. At the same time, I tirelessly continue to learn and try out new techniques in practice.

Device

The design of the vent is very important. This, of course, will not affect the activity of the inhabitants of the reservoir, but it will affect the comfort of fishing, and the bite/trophy ratio too.

Reels with nodding or hanging reels instead of reels with fishing line, or on various legs without a platform covering the hole, are applicable in certain conditions. For example, when it’s warm and there’s no snow.

What kind of equipment can you safely use to fish in a wide variety of conditions? Firstly, it must have a base larger than the size of the hole. This provides protection against rapid freezing, allowing the platform to be covered with snow.

At the base you need a slot for the fishing line from the edge of the circle to its center. A spool of monofilament is attached to a leg. It is preferable that it moves away from the edge of the circle. In some plants with a leg in the very center, offensive mishaps are possible. They occur at the moment the vent is triggered. The loop of fishing line is thrown over the leg, and the unwinding of the monofilament is roughly slowed down. The predator, which did not have time to completely swallow the bait, leaves.

The use of bells as additional signaling devices to flags, according to my experience, is not justified. When the girder is triggered, the “bell” creates strong vibrations, which are immediately picked up by cautious fish. As a result, she often abandons live bait.

Ariadne's thread

A lot depends on the fishing line. Attempts to set braided lines sooner or later end with cut fingers, palms, or tackle tightly frozen into the ice. The fishing line for winter fishing should be very strong, have low memory and not remain rings in the working condition of the gear.

I recommend using monofilament with a diameter of 0.4-0.6 mm. If you take it thinner, there will be a risk of losing an enviable trophy. Several years ago, in the north of the Tomsk region, a lake pike left me no chance, cutting a 0.35 mm fishing line on the lower edge of the hole. Despite the fact that I carefully “milked” the monofilament between my fingertips without much excitement and without forcing events.

I like to use two colors of line, one fluorescent and the other dark. This is very convenient at dusk. Such colors do not scare fish and are clearly visible in the snow even in minimal light. And fluorescent areas are clearly visible on a dark surface.

For a long time I fished with black monofilament with yellow luminous stripes. Its thickness was 0.45 mm, and the declared breaking load was 18 kg. Durable, very soft, stretches perfectly.

With one caveat. On some Siberian and Far Eastern lakes and rivers, the recommended monofilament diameter is only suitable for close-up fishing. At night, in places where pike weighing 10 kilograms or more are often caught, it is worth leaving fishing rods equipped with fishing line 0.6 mm or thicker or a nylon cord. Otherwise, we risk losing an enviable trophy.

How much does it weigh in grams?

When a pike or perch takes what is called a “fool,” the size of the sinker, as well as other “sentiments,” do not matter. It is more important to lower the live bait under the ice in time, and a heavy sinker helps with this. But outright zhoring of pike happens much less frequently than its inactive state.

An excessively heavy sinker hinders the movement of live bait and helps it fall asleep faster. Therefore, a balanced approach is needed here. The size of the sinker should be the minimum that ensures comfort and speed of descent of the live bait and resistance to the current (when there is any). If it is not there, then at a depth of up to 5 meters with a fishing line of 0.4-0.45 mm, four grams is enough.

Do not attach the sinker tightly. As well as making him walk completely freely along the line, resting against the leash. It should only move up easily. At the bottom, the sinker should be fixed with a silicone movable stopper at the required distance from the leash. This parameter can be adjusted to suit different fishing conditions.

All other things being equal, the farther the sinker is from the live bait, the better. There are several reasons for this.

Firstly, the amplitude of the live bait’s movement increases, and it better attracts a predator. Secondly, the further the sinker, the less wary the fish is. Thirdly, live bait remains active longer. Fourthly, a sinker located close to the hook can fall onto the predator’s back after a bite, which sometimes leads to a derailment. Agree, good reasons.

A second silicone stopper located above the sinker is useful. It is designed to save a lot of time. Once you have set the desired depth for lowering the bait, move the stopper along the line just below the water level in the hole.

Then you will no longer be distracted by this task. After checking or triggering the girder, you will immediately install live bait at the same depth. Or you can change it exactly as much as you intended.

He who seeks will achieve

What fish should I use as live bait? The question is not trivial and does not have a universal answer. Even if we talk only about pike, then in some reservoirs it prefers roach or spruce, in others it prefers perch, in others it prefers crucian carp or minnow.

In some conditions, the toothy predator does not disdain dead fish. And sometimes you need exceptionally active live bait. Size matters too. Sometimes, even on neighboring lakes, the tastes of pike can differ. On one body of water, give her the smallest perch or roach, on another - only large bait.

A universal recommendation is to find the key to each body of water, communicate with local fishermen and try, try, try.

Your exit, comrade pike!

The predator's bite is very variable during the day. Sometimes during the day there are only 1-2 so-called exits lasting from 5 to 30 minutes. In my practice, there have often been 2-3 flags that “lit up” almost simultaneously. Oversleeping them and fiddling with them for a long time to fish them out, and then in case of deep swallowing, scratching the hooks out of the toothy mouth with bare hands or improvised means is criminal negligence!

You need to have all the necessary special equipment on hand. First of all, a comfortable, reliable boot. The yawner and extractor are no less important: they save time and protect your hands. And, of course, a supply of ready-made leashes and hooks to replace those that were deep-throated.

You also need to remember about the sharpness of the hooks. They should be checked every time before installing the gutter. Hence the need to have a small, convenient bar in your pocket for adjusting hooks.

Hooks for striped fish

In many girder fishing places, one of the enviable trophies of fishing is large perch. It can bite both on small roach, crucian carp, minnow, and on its small brother. In some places, “sailor” bites occur no less often, and sometimes more often than pike.

Moreover, it is on the girders that record-breaking specimens for a given reservoir can most often be caught. Not only because of the greater caution of large fish and their expressed interest in the predatory spectrum of the diet. There is also another factor.

On one of the lakes on the right bank of the Ket River in the Tomsk region, fishermen showed me a perch that had just been caught on a girder, clearly weighing over three kilograms. It was a day off, and a lot of people gathered at the lake. Mostly everyone used small spoons and large jigs with animal baits.

The catches were dominated by large perch weighing up to half a kilogram. Did the bigger “sailors” peck that day? Yes, but not all the gear held up. The humpback salmon caught with live bait had lips “pierced” from spinners, which attracted it. But the fishing lines couldn’t cope with the load. “The pike cut off!” - probably sighed the next fisherman who tempted the perch to bite.

What do you need to consider to have a better chance of catching a striped robber? There are no differences in installation locations and design of the vent. The hook is important. To increase the number of perch caught on a jig, give up tees. Use doubles or single hooks.

Due to my inexperience on pike-perch lakes, I quite often had cases of complete unwinding of the fishing line with the live bait torn off or remaining and only slightly dented, without the characteristic cuts from pike teeth. Over time, I noticed that this only happens on vents equipped with tees.

As soon as they were replaced everywhere with doubles, the number of idle perch bites was reduced to a minimum. And the ratio of caught humpback whales to toothy competitors has increased many times over.

The striped robber takes the bait greedily and does not let go, swallowing it deeply, rather quickly moving away from the hole along the full length of the fishing line. The only thing that makes a perch throw or pick off a bait fish is a tee that does not fit into its small mouth.

Escape is impossible

There are a lot of ways to attach live bait. There is no reason to say unequivocally that one of them is better than all the others. Attaching a live bait with a hook to the back is probably the most common method.

At the same time, it happens that after a long silence of the girder, a bare hook can be discovered. The lively roach or perch refused to sacrifice themselves to catch a natural enemy and ran away...

There are also many types of hooks used. Singles, doubles, tees of all sizes are common. Up to grooveless and hooks.

At the same time, there is one trick to avoid losing nimble baitfish - dace or perch. You need a piece of rubber in the shape of a square with a side of 3-5 mm. You can, for example, cut it from a failed bicycle tube or find another suitable source material.

With this addition, it will be easier to attach a live bait behind the back to a hook with a groove. After baiting the fish, the rubber band is pierced. It wraps around the groove, securely holding the baitfish and without injuring it.

And so that the pecked perch does not run away, equip the girder with a double or single hook. As I already mentioned, the tee often does not fit into the small mouth of the striped fish, and you observe a complete unwinding of the bait and abandoned or torn bait.

Keeping snow clean is not the key to success

If the fishing conditions include powdered ice, significant frost, and you plan to fish all day or plan to charge your supplies for the night, then do not rush to grab a shovel and start a big cleanup. There is no need to clear the area of ​​snow.

I’m unlikely to be mistaken if I say that every experienced garrison has in his memory cases when toothy, fanged and striped ones took live bait, and then threw it away because the fishing line was frozen in the ice.

A large predator would rather spit out a bait that has no free movement than fight for every centimeter that would have to be pulled through the frozen top of the hole. The only exception is the burbot; it is less likely to be embarrassed by such difficulties.

And, of course, every zherlichnik is familiar with the melody of a frosty morning, when the blows of knives and scoops are heard on the areas cleared of snow. This frees fishing lines and tackle that are frozen into the ice and left overnight.

So what to do if there are snowdrifts on the ice and very cold weather is expected? You can use snow to protect the hole. We do not trample on the chosen place for installing the vent and do not destroy the existing cover.

We drill a hole, making a neat well above it in the snow blanket of ice. The walls will quickly harden from the wet ice chips pulled out with the auger. We install the zherlitsa on top and additionally sprinkle the circle of the zherlitsa with snow.

In this case, our tackle easily tolerates significant cold without freezing the hole. Another advantage is the higher position of the stand, convenient for controlling bites.

The fish is looking... where it’s smaller!

If you are going to catch a predator with girders in winter, then it is not necessary to check places with great depths. Yes, in open water large fish really try to avoid shallows and visit them mainly at night. In summer, the predator hides in the depths, from where it makes forays for fry and young inhabitants of the reservoir.

But during the cold season the picture changes dramatically. In winter, trophy specimens are often stranded. They are comfortable resting at a depth of 20-40 cm under the ice, controlling the space around them and feeding on small fish. In such conditions, it is difficult to catch a large predator using vertical lures and other methods. But the girder helps out.

One day I took advantage of a friend’s invitation and went fishing with him on the taiga lake on the right bank of Keti, in the Tomsk region. Depth up to 2.5 meters, the bottom is clean, sandy, without sharp edges and without snags.

Each of us had 7 zherlits. I placed mine in an area where there was 30-50 cm under the ice. My partner placed the gear above the deeper places. As a result, he got no bites. I have several hefty pike and two humpback perch.

There are exceptions, of course. First of all, these are lakes with heavily overgrown shallow water, where it is almost impossible to fish at a depth of less than one and a half to two meters.

In our hobby, it is important not to be bogged down by dogma. Including my “postulate” that it is absolutely necessary to fish in shallow waters.

Be more active and move away from stereotypes

The idea of ​​fishing with winter lures as a passive way of catching pike and other predators is shattered by practice. Yes, if you set 20-30 flags and wait for bites, then, perhaps, this cannot be called active fishing. But you don’t have to sit idly by, but take action.

If there are no bites for more than two hours, then I move the “cooling off” girders. I rearrange them closer to those that work. I’m checking new spots and fishing conditions. How many supplies can be in circulation during active fishing? No more than 5-7 pieces.

When you fish on an unfamiliar body of water, try not to rely on your ideas about the best biting places on other rivers, ponds and lakes. Try placing it in different conditions.

Regularly assess the condition of live bait fish. In addition to timely replacement of a fallen or picked fish, sometimes checking provokes an attack from a passive predator. Before you have time to move away from the pole, you can hear the sound of the flag spring playing.

Experiment! Sometimes even a difference of 50 cm in the depth of lowering the live bait, or a few meters from the first place where the tackle was installed, gives results.

As you can see, fishing with girders includes many nuances. And by practicing it, you will definitely discover something of your own.

In addition, the use of rigs is an excellent option for winter fishing with children. Multi-kilometer hikes along river banks in the process of fishing or long-term teasing of the inhabitants of reservoirs with a mothless reel are not suitable for every young “penguin”. Girders with flags are another matter - this is an element of the game!

Alexey Toropov , Biysk. Photo by the author

Where to catch pike on girders

It is very important to find pike in a pond, then there will be more bites.
If the place is chosen correctly, then the predator will fall on most of the installed girders. And if the gear is installed in the wrong places, bites may not happen at all. Over time, if you regularly fish in one body of water, you will find so-called pike trails - these are areas where toothy fish regularly pass and where at certain times a very active bite can be observed. Such places will be promising all winter and even next year will most likely bring fishing success.

Of course, it is difficult to detect such places right away, the first time. But if you install the girders in promising places, then the probability of a bite will be very high and in the end you will find several very good pike places.

It is worth placing girders in the following areas of the reservoir:

• near the boundary of reeds and open water;
• near snags and other shelters for predators;
• in areas with differences in depth;
• in the pits;
• on channel edges;
• on steep banks;
• On rivers, pike loves deep bays and whirlpools.

How to install girders

Installation is quite simple, but it will take some time. It is necessary to drill holes, exactly as many as you plan to install gear, and then equip each girder with live bait and install it.

You should set the bait so that the bait is approximately 15 cm above the bottom. To do this, when installing, lower the sinker to the bottom, and when you feel that the weight has touched it, make about 5 turns with the reel to slightly raise the bait above the bottom.

The arrangement of gear itself also has its own characteristics. It is best to install them in a small arc at a distance of about 10 meters from each other. Installation not in a straight line, but in an arc, will allow you to clearly see each flag if, after installation, you take a place near the first installed girder. This trick is used exclusively for a good and convenient overview and observation of gear.

If there is no bite for a long time, there may be several reasons - unfavorable weather for fishing or the wrong place. The fisherman is unable to do anything about the weather, but it’s definitely worth changing the place in order to still find and catch a toothy one. If within an hour there was no bite on any of the rods, you can already think about changing the place. If no one is biting on the pond, then changing the location is unlikely to help, so it won’t hurt to ask the fishermen’s success in other parts of the reservoir.

Advice from the site ryba4ok.ru - you should not install more than 10 girders. When the bite is good, you won’t be able to keep up with every tackle, and the fish also need to be given a chance to dodge the tackle. And if the bite is bad, then increasing the number of gear has little chance of solving the problem. But after an unsuccessful fishing trip, collecting a large number of girders, you will be completely out of mood and this process will seem like an eternity to you.

How to fish with mugs

Before starting fishing, they study the bottom topography of the water area, identifying promising points where there is a high probability of fish parking. It is imperative to take into account the direction and strength of the wind on the day of fishing to understand in which direction and how quickly the circles will move.

The fishing scheme is as follows:

1. The fisherman places the circles on the same line, maintaining a distance of 5–25 meters between them.
2. Having arranged all the gear, you need to position yourself behind them so that it is convenient to control each live bait.
3. As the circles move, the boat also moves.

We recommend reading: Catching pike perch using a balance beam in winter

After passing a given area, the live bait is removed. The fisherman either installs them again or changes the location if there are no bites.

Installation of equipment for fishing conditions

Various factors influence the equipment of a circle for specific fishing conditions:

• the presence of a current and its strength;
• the potential size of pike that can attack the bait;
• aquatic vegetation and its density;
• depths at the fishing site;
• relief and nature of the bottom;
• the presence of snags.

As the main fishing line, it is enough to take about 20 meters of monofilament with a thickness of 0.4–0.5 mm with a breaking load of 7–8 kg. The leash is made of fluor or a special soft woven material that is resistant to abrasion. It is tied through a swivel, clasp or winding ring.

Sinkers are used in different shapes and types. For standard gear, it is enough to have ordinary “olives” of suitable weight and small pellets. For stationary circles, a variety of loads can be used, sometimes even a banal brick is used.

The hook can be single, double or triple. Its size depends on the potential weight of the predator and the live bait used. It must be durable and withstand powerful jerks of the pike when fishing. Be sure to keep an eye on its sharpness!

Selection of live bait and methods of baiting them

To successfully catch pike, you must use fresh bait. The best live bait is juvenile fish caught right on the pond where you plan to hunt for the toothy beast. They represent its natural food supply and will not arouse suspicion.

Of the fish species used for pike fishing, it is better to focus on:

• crucian carp;
• tench;
• rudd;
• perch;
• roach;
• guster.

On a note! When fishing with mugs, pike rarely pay attention to the color and body shape of live bait, so their vitality comes first.

Most often, the fish is hooked by hooking it behind the back. There are options for fixing the bait by the lips or through the gills.

How to place mugs correctly

Arranging circles on a pond will not cause difficulties even for novice pike fishermen. The angler needs to move the boat consistently. You cannot rush around the water area chaotically, scattering gear everywhere. Initially, promising points located close to each other are selected.

Tip: The minimum distance between circles is 3 meters. Otherwise they can easily get mixed up.

When fishing with standard circles in a water area without a current, it is better to place the gear in one line. Then they will move evenly under the influence of the wind, will not get tangled, and will be comfortable to follow and respond to pike bites.

Features of fishing in different seasons

Each season leaves its mark on the behavior of pike. It changes activity, locations, and nutritional preferences. In cold water the predator gravitates towards the bottom horizon, in warm water it rises higher. It is also affected by the direction and strength of the wind, air temperature, precipitation, and the phase of the moon.

Recommended reading: How to fish with microjig

in spring

In the spring, they begin to hunt in circles after the spawning ban is lifted. Pike are searched for in flooded shallow areas up to 2 meters deep. Peak activity of the predator is in the first half of the day. There are still almost no fish found in the current.

In summer

From June to August, the spotted beast feeds in the upper and middle layers of water. Prefers various oxbow lakes and backwaters. It stands near the coastal strip of algae, on the edges, in the return paths and pits. Large individuals occupy channel slopes, holes, and rifts. Peak activity is early morning and evening.

in autumn

From the second half of September, pike begin to experience a real autumn feast, which continues until mid-November with short-term declines. The predator moves away from the shore, occupying edges, dumps, single snags, and pits. Feeds all day. Closer to winter, its activity shifts to midday.

Which live bait is better

Firstly, what I would like to say is that live bait caught in the same body of water where the predator will be caught will be more effective than live bait caught in another body of water. Purchased live bait cannot at all compete with live bait that is familiar to pike in appearance, smell and behavior. This may not be noticeable when the pike is actively biting, but if it is not actively biting, then live bait can play a decisive role.

In general, the following are excellent as live bait for pike:

• gudgeon;
• perch;
• rudd;
• roach;
• crucian carp;
• rotan;
• bleak.

The toothy one attacks these live bait with great pleasure, but in each body of water it may have its own favorite food. You can find out what the pike likes best by selecting live bait, or when you catch at least one individual, you can rip open its belly and see what kind of fish it ate. The pike almost always has recently eaten fish in its belly. We recommend that you read more about fishing for pike with live bait.

How to attach live bait to a baitfish hook

There are many ways to put live bait on a hook, be it a double or a treble. But I would advise you to use the dorsal fin method. The fact is that the pike always, or almost always, grabs its prey across the body and only then, after swimming with it for some distance and holding it in its mouth, it turns it along the throat and swallows.

Thus, the greatest probability of getting caught by a pike will be if the hook is somewhere in the center of the fish. But if your live bait is baited by the lip or nostril, then the number of idle bites may increase.

Of course, when fishing in a strong current, it is advisable to bait the bait by the lip so that it looks and moves more naturally, but if the current is weak or the fishing takes place in still water, then you should certainly bait the bait by the dorsal fin. The main thing is not to catch the backbone of the fish, otherwise it will quickly become dead.

What is a pike fishing circle?

A circle for pike is a live bait tackle for open water. Consists of simple elements:

• Directly the tackle is in the shape of a puck. Made of dense floating material - wood, foam.
• Main line with a breaking load of at least 5 kg. Wraps around a circle.
• Equipment. It includes a fluorocarbon or soft leader material, a weight and a hook.

An important element of the circle itself is the mast. Its length is approximately equal to the diameter of the circumference of the tackle body. At one end there is a spherical head on it, which ensures that the tackle turns over when a predator bites.

Note! As a rule, the circle is painted in a bright color, which makes the bite visible from a great distance.

Sometimes plastic bottles, cylinders and other available materials are used as the body of the circles. This has almost no effect on the effectiveness of fishing, although it makes the process less comfortable, limiting it in the fishing area due to the worse visibility of the gear.

How do mugs work for pike?

The fisherman places the bait on the tee and places the loaded gear around the water area. The line is fixed so that live bait cannot reel it in. An inverted circle moving to the side signals that a pike bite has taken place.

The mugs are placed from the boat. The fisherman places them so that they are constantly under his visual control and, in the event of a bite, he can quickly get to the gear, hook and land the prey.

Is it allowed to fish (prohibitions, restrictions)

The circle is a legal tackle, no different from the usual live baits, baits, fishing rods and spinning rods. You can fish with it in all regions in different bodies of water, where not only pike is found, but also large perch, pike perch, burbot, catfish and asp.

Depending on the region, the allowed number of mugs is 5–10 pieces per angler. Wherein:

• you can equip the circle with one double, tee or regular hook;
• Fish listed in the Red Book as an endangered species cannot be used as live bait;
• It is forbidden to leave placed gear unattended.

We recommend reading: Winter fishing for bream on a float

Naturally, fishing with mugs is strictly prohibited during the spawning period, which occurs in the second half of March to mid-May.

Varieties of circles for flow and still water

Fishing gear:

• standard (moving);
• stationary (equipped with an anchor).

The first ones are relevant in still water. These are lakes, fronds, quarries, ponds, oxbow lakes and backwaters. The latter are used on rivers where there is a current, less often when fishing in windows of aquatic vegetation.

Standard

Freely moving mugs are the basic gear with which it is recommended to master this direction of fishing for spotted beasts in still water. Their device looks like this:

• circle;
• main line;
• leash;
• sinker;
• hook.

The fisherman needs to equip the tackle, attach the bait and send it to a given point. In this case, the circle will constantly move around the water area due to the wave, or the live bait itself can swim to the side with it.

A standard circle allows you to quickly explore a location for the presence of active pike. It is easy to install it from a boat at a given point, check and change the bait for fresh one, fish out a predator that has sat on the hook, and remove it at the end of fishing.

Stationary

To fish in a current, the circle needs to be anchored, otherwise the water flow will quickly carry the gear away from the promising area, making it impossible to properly monitor it. The fishing efficiency in this case will be almost zero.

The most common type of flow mug is equipped as follows:

1. A triple swivel is tied to the main thread.
2. We attach a fluorocarbon or monofilament fishing line to the bottom loop. Its length can be 0.5–1.2 meters.
3. We tie a weight to the free end of the leash so that the equipment is held at a given point and is not carried away by the stream.
4. All that remains is to attach a fluorocarbon bend with a hook to the middle loop of the swivel.

The proposed installation is suitable for weak and moderate currents. In medium and strong flows, it is recommended to equip pike fishing circles with the so-called “machine”. The circle, mounted as a standard one, is tied to a piece of floating wood, which is fixed to the bottom using a lead weight or brick. This solution ensures a stable position of the gear. It can be safely installed on channel rifts and dumps, in holes and long ditches, in the area of ​​snags and deep rubble.

When is the best time to catch pike on girders: best fishing time

You can start fishing for pike on the first ice as soon as it reaches a safe thickness of at least 10 cm. Some fishermen take risks and go out onto five-centimeter ice. Yes, such ice will support the weight of a person, but you need to understand that the ice across the water area of ​​the reservoir has an uneven thickness and in some places it can be 5 cm, and in others - 2 cm. That is why, go out on the ice before its thickness reaches 10 see, very dangerous.

Depending on the time of day, the vents are installed as soon as it begins to get light. Usually, fishermen arrive at the reservoir while it is still dark and begin preparing for the arrangement, so that by the time it gets light, the gear is in full combat readiness.

With the onset of darkness, the pike bite stops, but if you want to continue fishing, you can switch to catching the night predator - pike perch. Only for catching pike perch, it is better to use a rig without a leash, because when catching fangs, a leash is not needed at all. The pike perch is unable to cut the fishing line, and a rig with a leash will once again alert the nocturnal predator.

Also, if you don’t want to end up completely without a bite, you better make sure that the weather is favorable for fishing. To do this, you can look at the forecast to see if there have been any sharp pressure surges, although there are quite a few weather factors influencing fish activity, so it is better to focus not on one indicator, but at least on several.

Fishing on the current

If a fisherman wants to use this gear on the river, he must first choose a promising place. Positioned at its upper edge, he places the circles in a line perpendicular to the flow with a distance of at least 5 meters.

He goes back a short distance. Then it is rafted together with the supplied gear. At this time, he must carefully observe each circle. If he sees a bite, he must hook the fish.

This fishing method allows the fisherman to be close to the gear all the time, spending minimal effort on movement. In this way you can fish a large area.

Fishing on the river is convenient because it has a relatively constant bottom topography. This allows you to use the mugs without fear of unexpected surprises.

Fishing with mugs from the shore - equipment option:

An important point when fishing for pike on girders

There is one important point that you should definitely know! Some inexperienced fishermen often step on such rakes. Well, how could it be otherwise? After all, what should you do when a fish bites? That's right, hook! But when fishing for pike with girders, this is not entirely true.

The fact is that the pike needs a certain time to swallow its prey. If you immediately make a hook, then simply pull the bait out of its mouth. Be careful! After the bite, the flag goes off, but you need to wait 20-30 seconds before hooking. First, the pike grabs the prey crosswise, then turns it around and swallows it, after which it rushes for cover. It is at this moment that the hook should follow, and just after 20-30 seconds this moment comes.

This is how simple fishing turns out. Pike is a truly worthwhile and pleasant trophy, and a pike is an excellent tackle for catching it. The website ryba4ok.ru shared its fishing experience with you. As a token of gratitude, you can leave your comment on the article, the author will be very pleased! No tail, no scales!