What to use to catch crucian carp in a river: tips for beginners

What does it take better: animal or plant types?

Beginners wonder what is the best bait.
What kind of secret nozzle is this, the only working one? The answer is simple: it doesn't exist. It is impossible to single out 1 or 2 of them by saying that crucian carp will take them at any time of the day or night. Everything is very simple. All nozzles are divided into 2 types:

• Animals
• Vegetable

Depending on the conditions and time of year, one or another is selected, working today. There is a general rule: in the cold season the animal type is used, in the warm season the plant type is used. This does not mean that they cannot be used out of season, this is absolutely not the case.

The rule means that the fish focuses on worms, maggots, beetles or algae, peas, pearl barley. But he does not completely refuse other foods. If you don’t bite pearl barley in the summer, then you need to try a worm and vice versa. Now let's look at the main delicacies of crucian carp.

Autumn preferences of crucian carp

With the onset of cold weather, the taste preferences of fish change. Crucian carp in the fall practically does not react to plant baits, which worked great in the summer months.

There is a deficiency of protein in the natural food supply, which is found in abundance in a variety of baits. They need to be fished for. First of all, these are bloodworms, maggots and worms. It is advisable to have all three types of bait available, as crucian carp become more finicky as winter approaches. It may well happen that today he only bites on a worm, but yesterday he took exclusively on bloodworms. Therefore, having only one bait, you can be left without a catch.

Often it is more effective to use sandwiches. In addition to bloodworms, maggots, and worms, its components should also include plant ingredients such as pearl barley and corn. In this case, one of the components must be bait.

It should be noted that large crucian carp continues to respond to plant baits in the fall. In this connection, fishing with sandwiches consisting of animal bait and plant bait can be very successful. Standard-sized crucian carp will also bite on them, and in addition there is a possibility of catching a trophy specimen.

• Wobblers for chub: secrets of selection and 10 best
• Choosing a vibrating tail for pike perch
• What to catch catfish with
• Salapinskaya porridge

What animal baits are considered the best for crucian carp

Let's look at the main ones that you can buy or find yourself. Choose any of the above, they all do their job perfectly. Only some may be difficult. Some are assembled with your own hands, the rest is sold in the store.

Dung worm

Use specimens 5-7 cm, undamaged. It is important that they move on the hook and attract attention. Do not hang a dead, immobilized one, this will significantly reduce bites. You shouldn’t take ones that are too big, they simply won’t be able to swallow them. The color is preferably red, but not everyone has this advantage.

Where to find:

1. Large and thick worms live in compost pits.
2. Dung heaps.
3. Where the ground is constantly damp.

Questions often arise about how to properly attach a worm to a hook. There are several methods, see for yourself which one to choose. These methods are simple and hold the bit perfectly. At the same time, it plays well and lives for a long time, or exudes an attractive aroma.

Plant them in several ways:

1. Two punctures. Pass the hook in any 2 places so that the tip is open.
2. In pieces. After the previous method, cut the worm in half. This way you will get 4 moving ends that perfectly attract crucian carp with a fresh smell.
3. Stocking. We insert the sting into the side of the worm and begin to thread it, then be sure to release the tip of the hook. Remember, always let the sting out!

Slug

No matter how strange it may seem, this mollusk is included in the diet of fish. It gets into the water after heavy rains, washing off the banks of small rivers. They don't sell them in stores, so you just have to look for them yourself.

Where to find slugs:

1. In a greenhouse on cucumber leaves
2. On cabbage
3. strawberries
4. Early morning on leaves with dew
5. In the meadow and field in wet grass

Use only fresh slugs, they do not live long. Ideally, collect them early in the morning, before fishing. If this is not possible, then wet the gauze, place the shellfish there and put it in the refrigerator. Hooks are used with numbers 3-5; cut especially large specimens in half.

Disadvantages of use:

• Comes off the hook easily
• Difficult to find (not buy)
• Doesn't last long (20-30 minutes after attachment)

Various types of beetles

Finding such bait is even more difficult than the previous one. There is also a time limitation, because it will not be possible to collect them all year round. Even during the summer there are bursts of breeding activity, which then fade away.

Common types:

1. May
2. Dung
3. Colorado

Large specimens are aimed at catching large crucian carp, while small ones are suitable for all sizes. Let's talk about where to get them, which is the hardest part.

Extraction methods:

• Pick potato tops with your hands (Colorado)
• Search in a dung heap (dung beetle)
• Walk along the forest or meadow with a large net

If there is no point in dwelling on the first two methods, then we will analyze the last one in a little more detail. Take a long handle like a braid. A metal hoop made of strong but flexible wire is mounted to it. Gauze is pulled over it. Next, pass the net over any grass, periodically checking the contents.

Bloodworm

One of the best options, because it is catchy and affordable. There is no need to personally collect it, just go to the store and purchase it in any quantity. The only inconvenience is putting it on the hook, but this problem can be solved. Buy a bunch tie - a device that allows you to attach a bunch of bloodworms to any hook. Thanks to the elastic band, they hold perfectly and move actively, because you do not pierce them. Hooks numbers 2.5-3.5.

Maggot

Third most popular bait. It has all the advantages of a bloodworm, plus it is easy to attach to a hook, without the use of additional devices. Affordable and durable, easily stored in the refrigerator.

Nozzle methods:

1. For the top
2. Bundle of 3
3. By threading the hook through the body (you need a large maggot)
4. Having planted 2 pieces

It is divided into 2 types: feeding and attachment. The first has a modest size and is used to add to bait. The second type is noticeably larger, easier to attach to the hook and looks much more attractive.

Crucian carp and carp in autumn

Photo by Anatoly Mailkov

It is known that in some reservoirs crucian carp and crucian carp are caught not only in the fall, but also from the ice. The reason for this behavior may be a lack of food. Two important conclusions for the fisherman follow from this fact. Firstly, crucian carp and crucian carp can be effectively caught in the fall. Secondly, in order to realize this opportunity, you need to know those bodies of water in which this fish is active at low temperatures.

To be fair, it should be noted that it is possible to catch crucian carp, even large ones, right up to freezing even in the feeding reservoir itself. It’s difficult, but if you set yourself this goal, it’s possible. But if you rely on the information that is available on the Internet, then it is unlikely that you will be able to choose a reservoir with active fish. For myself, I realized a long time ago that I needed to find such a body of water and points on it myself. The fact is that you can get into a reservoir with active fish, but if you don’t know the points where the fish are concentrated at a given time, then there will be no success.

Crucian carp bite best in those reservoirs where no other fish, except for carp, live. Where roach, perch or bream are adjacent, crucian carp are caught much worse and at certain hours, despite the fact that their concentration can be quite decent.

As the water gets colder, crucian carp, like any other carp fish, with the possible exception of gudgeon, occupies certain places, narrows the area for searching for food and moves less. Therefore, there is no need to rely on the action of bait; you need to look for active fish.

You can start searching in “summer” places, that is, in close proximity to vegetation or near a depression at the bottom. Since all the depressions in “crucian carp” reservoirs are usually filled with silt, only a relatively heavy depth gauge, with which it is easy to “tap” the bottom, can help in their search.

In autumn, large crucian carp very rarely go into shallow water between the vegetation and the shore or into the “windows” of vegetation. The colder the water becomes, the more likely it is to find both crucian carp and crucian carp in the deepest places of the reservoir. There is no point in looking for fish just before the freeze-up; you just need to know where they are concentrated now. The most likely concentration of fish is directly at the dam, that is, in the deepest place.

In shallow water bodies that are heavily overgrown with grass, crucian carp leave the overgrown areas and move into snags. It is worth paying attention to the places where the vegetation ends and open water begins.

If you know several suitable places on a given body of water, then when choosing one of them, be sure to pay attention to the direction, wind strength and air temperature.

The best days for biting are when the wind is warm and does not change direction. It is very good if it rains warmly, but then the crucian carp can rise to half-water. Not quite at half-water, but approximately 20-50 centimeters above the bottom at a depth of two meters. It is interesting that at such moments the crucian carp is active, it feeds, and the probability of a bite is very high. Unfortunately, such moments are extremely rare. If calm weather continues until frost, then the bite continues until ice edges appear.

The lower the water temperature, the worse the crucian carp reacts to bait, which cannot be said about carp. However, in any case, the amount of bait, and most importantly, the concentration of edible components should be small. That is, any standard bait must be diluted with earth, sand or peat.

Nowadays, it is better to feed crucian carp, like carp, in such a way as to immediately use almost the entire prepared dose. The fact is that after additional feeding, the fish usually becomes wary and stops feeding for a long time.

You can decide on additional feeding only when the biting that has begun begins not only to subside, but to stop. You need to supplement the feeding with very small balls, but even in this case, the bite can resume only after some time. Most often, the bite does not resume.

A very effective bait in the cold autumn season is large bloodworms mixed with soil. Moreover, the bloodworm in the bait can be only fifty to one hundred grams.

If the fishing depth does not exceed two meters, then I prefer to feed with clean bloodworms, which must first be soaked in water and even crush the larvae with your fingers. However, the use of bloodworms as bait and bait is not possible in all reservoirs. In some crucian carp reservoirs there are a lot of verkhovka, bitterling and gudgeon, and in well-flowing ones there are also a lot of minnows, which destroy the bloodworms instantly. Even rotan is not as “terrible” as verkhovka. In this case, I use regular steamed fresh cake in the amount of two handfuls.

It is not so easy to choose an effective bait. In autumn, crucian carp and crucian carp do not refuse bloodworms and maggots or a piece of worm, although there are often cases when they actively peck on pearl barley or “chatter”. Often all sorts of “sandwiches” help out, that is, combinations of a piece of a worm with a bloodworm, a pearl barley grain with a bloodworm or a worm’s tail, a worm with maggot.

For large crucian carp and crucian carp, often the best bait is, as in the spring, an ordinary earthworm, always taken near a reservoir, for example, under the roots of nettle or willow. When biting very carefully, as when catching roach, one bloodworm larva or the smallest pearl barley grain can save the situation.

In calm weather, it is worth using light and thin equipment. I have often encountered cases where crucian carp bites became visible only when using equipment weighing no more than 0.4 g on a line with a diameter of 0.08 mm. With carp it is worth trying rigs on a fishing line of 0.145 and even 0.125 mm.

I choose a float with a fairly heavy keel, that is, as stable as possible, so that it immediately takes a vertical position in the water. This is very convenient, because if the bait is light, then a sinker is placed on the rig, but if the bait is heavy, then the sinker does not need to be installed. When fishing in calm weather, when crucian carp can rise to mid-water, I use thin and long needle-type floats, since with their help it is easiest to determine the fishing horizon on which crucian carp is now feeding.

The fishing technique is to silently lower the bait to the selected point, wait a few seconds and also quietly move the equipment a little to the side. This fishing technique is justified when crucian carp is active. If the bites are rare and cautious, it makes sense to lower the bait to the bottom and hold it in place until the bite occurs.

If crucian carp or carp bite on a worm, then it is better to put the bait and bait on the bottom and adjust the descent and position of the bait so that the equipment is not blown away by wind and waves. In this case, the bite can be so accurate that it seems as if it is not the fish touching it, but a worm crawling along the bottom and pulling the equipment along with it.

Fishing with a fly rod in cold autumn water, when crucian carp bites at the point, is technically very difficult. The slightest breath of wind causes the equipment to move away from the bite point. Overcasting may alert the fish. There is a constant loss of time waiting for the fish to calm down. That's why I use a pole or tackle for long casting. A regular sliding float with a load capacity of 3 plus 5 or 4 plus 6 g on a fishing line with a diameter of 0.18 mm. A leash 15-20 cm long made of 0.12-0.14 mm fishing line. The grate is selected in such a way as to hold the moored equipment. It is almost always better to use a large bloodworm on a hook No. 16-18 or a worm as bait.

The interesting thing is that when catching crucian carp or crucian carp in the pit itself, bait may not be needed at all. In general, catching crucian carp in the fall is very similar to catching roach, when the school occupies some place that you need to know. You can activate the fish with bait and present it with the right bait at the right time on a thin rig.

Despite all the apparent difficulties of such fishing, if you manage to do everything correctly, then fishing will take place. With the appearance of the first ice edges, the time will come to hunt for large, and often record-breaking, crucian carp. After the ice forms, the crucian carp can leave the hole and go into snags or areas with hard ground. The carp will not leave the pit and will remain there until March.

Andrey Yanshevsky October 24, 2021 at 02:42 pm

Plant baits that crucian carp love

For warm water, plant types are most often used. In summer, crucian carp prefer bread, corn, peas and other ingredients. All of them are easy to prepare and find in the refrigerator. However, some are truly among the best.

Pros:

1. They are not exotic (always on the home or store shelf).
2. They retain the smell for a long time.
3. Easy to prepare.
4. A huge number of recipes and mixes.
5. Speed ​​of creation.
6. Low cost.

White and black bread

The most accessible and cheapest nozzle. This is especially relevant in hot weather, when crucian carp may not eat anything other than crumbs. Always have a few pieces of black and white bread with you. This way you will be prepared for the finicky fish.

What kind of bread to use:

• Rye (black). It has its own unique and attractive aroma. Less effective on muddy bottoms and currents due to its invisibility.
• Rich white bread (loaf, sweet buns). Visible in any water, contrasts with the dark bottom.
• Bread for sandwiches. Square shape, long shelf life. We maintain our elasticity and freshness for a long time. Few people know, but all this is thanks to the addition of special oil to the composition, which slows down staling. An excellent choice for catching crucian carp.

The hook is attached in one of 2 ways:

1. Rolling a pea-sized ball
2. Cutting into small slices

To increase the effect, use flavorings: garlic, anise, honey, hemp, dill. Use them if you don’t want to eat plain bread. It will be enough to spray 1-2 times with a spray or dip 1 time into the composition.

Corn and peas

Canned peas and corn are a common and favorite bait. When you open them while fishing, do not throw out the water - it allows you to preserve the alluring smell longer. The attachments have no disadvantages.

They have a lot of advantages:

1. Fish like the smell and taste
2. Excellent hold on the hook
3. Available
4. Cheap

Hooks with a short shank are used. It is important to pull the sting out. It happens that there are large crucian carp in the fishing area, but now the small ones are bothering you. Use a bunch of 2-3 peas or corn.

Potato

Boil it in salted water without removing the peel. During cooking, make sure that the potatoes remain undercooked and damp. Check the condition with a toothpick; it should go in with a little effort. Otherwise, having received a completely finished product, it will not stay on the hook. Do not use old, frozen potatoes: they have already lost their smell.

Next, there are 3 options:

1. Cut into 1-3 cm cubes and fish on them, without using flavorings.
2. Treat the cubes with garlic, anise or honey.
3. Additionally, fry them in unrefined oil on each side. This will add additional attractiveness and smell. Store with the lid tightly closed.

We recommend dividing the boiled potatoes into 3 parts and processing each part differently. Thus, from 1 material you get three baits that differ in taste and smell.

Homemade porridge

Homemade porridges are more often used as groundbait rather than bait. It is important not to overcook the grains, otherwise they will absolutely not stay on the hook. Therefore, the bait requires a certain skill and experience; it may not work right away.

1. Cook over low heat.
2. Any grains can be used.
3. Keep on fire until half cooked.
4. Turn off and let cool.
5. Roll into small balls and place on the hook.

We advise you to carry out all these actions right on the shore. This way you will preserve the aroma, and the excess can be used as bait.

Fishing for large crucian carp

The main secret to catching big crucian carp is the right place and good bait. If the fish does not go to spawn, then it can be found in secluded, muddy pools. In a certain body of water, large individuals behave differently, so before starting fishing it is better to observe the behavior of your prey.

In warm water with a weak current, the crucian carp remains in the reeds and comes out only when necessary, so you need to lure it out of there. Don't forget about the fisherman's appearance. Fish's vision reacts to frightening bright colors even from the shore or boat, so you need to wear regular camouflage or clothing in earth tones.

Good to know! Large crucian carp are much more careful and timid than small ones, so even talking on the phone can scare them. It is worth maintaining silence and patience. If fishing is planned to take place on a boat, then the size of the fishing rod should not exceed 6 meters with a strong and rigid base. For a large trophy, it is recommended to choose light-sized fishing rods so that you don’t get tired while waiting for the catch.

How to choose a fishing spot?

Crucian carp does not like noisy places, so the place should be located away from the road and populated areas. Fresh and deep reservoirs with tall and dense vegetation are best suited: reeds, algae, willows.

Crucian carp likes to hide in thickets and sandy bottoms, so a muddy pond will be good. It is worth remembering this and choosing more inconspicuous and inconvenient places. In order for a large individual to actively come out to bite, three days of complementary feeding can be carried out.

How to catch a big crucian carp and scare away the small ones?

Crucian carp do not live in schools, so small individuals lose their vigilance when moving. To catch a large individual, it is enough to use bait that is suitable for the season (maggots, bloodworms, etc.).

Small crucian carp do not bite on the food that adult crucian carp eat; they are more attracted to bread crumbs and porridge mash. Also, small ones go into shallow waters where large individuals do not live. “Trifle” is afraid of the boat and does not take bulk bait, which is also worth taking into account.

Effective artificial baits

The most affordable and simplest of artificial baits is ordinary foam. It perfectly attracts not only crucian carp, but also other cyprinids. Below we will look at its advantages, as well as options for home preparation.

What are the advantages of polystyrene foam:

1. Sold in any fishing stores
2. Weight sizes
3. A huge number of smells
4. Variety of colors
5. The ability to cook it yourself

The easiest option today is to buy it by weight. Foam granules are used in the production of floor ottomans. They are all one size, smooth, round in shape. Additionally, by treating the ball with one of the attractants, you will create an excellent attachment for the feeder and float.

How to make good bait yourself

The most difficult thing about preparing it yourself is maintaining the consistency. If the mixture is too wet, it will not sit tightly on the hook. The same applies to dry bait: due to the lack of plasticity, it will not roll well.

Cornmeal hominy

We described in detail the method of preparing hominy for fishing. It is used in almost all open water: from spring to autumn. Simple and easy to prepare, does not require much time. The plastic mass holds well on the hook.

Recipe:

1. Take 3 tablespoons of corn flour.
2. Mix them with 1 tablespoon of wheat flour.
3. Gradually add warm water, remembering to stir constantly. The goal is to get a thick dough.
4. Transfer to cling film and place in boiling water for 30 minutes.
5. After removing, leave in film until completely dry.

Mastyrka from peas

Peas are one of crucian carp’s favorite delicacies. It is widely used in any capacity, including as bait. The rolled balls are threaded in such a way that the tip is open. It is possible to add a garlic spray, which will only enhance the effect. It is particularly effective in cold water: in autumn and winter.

How to make it yourself:

1. Pour boiling water over 2 tablespoons of peas and leave for 4 hours.
2. Add 1 tablespoon of oatmeal and cook for 10 minutes.
3. Fry the porridge in a frying pan with sunflower oil for 3 minutes.
4. We put everything in the refrigerator.
5. Ready.

Various mixtures

Simple and unpretentious recipes are great for attracting crucian carp. The basis is based on available ingredients. Using the knowledge we give you, you can come up with your own mixes.

One of the simplest:

1. Take 150 grams of black bread.
2. Mix it with boiled potatoes (1 piece).
3. Add 1 teaspoon of honey.
4. Mix thoroughly.
5. Ready.

The recipe uses only the crumb, no crusts. The latter are good for bait, as they impart a special, rye smell. But they will interfere with obtaining the desired consistency. Before casting, we pinch off a small piece and knead it with our fingers until we get “plasticine”.

Sandwich of several baits

This method is used when the fish refuses to take anything else. The idea is that two different types of bait are placed on the hook at the same time. These can be mixtures of plant and animal bait, or of the same type. For example, peas with maggots, worms with hominy, corn with pearl barley, and so on.

Features of catching large crucian carp

When catching heavy specimens, you need to choose the right place for fishing. You need to select tackle, bait and groundbait.

How to choose a fishing spot

The most suitable reservoirs for catching trophy crucian carp are:

• Medium-sized flowing and stagnant lakes;
• Bays and oxbows of rivers;
• Large reservoirs;
• Cascades of small marshy lakes;
• Peat digs;
• Stakes and large ponds.

On a note! Large specimens of crucian carp are practically never found in reservoirs with a weak food supply, a hard sandy or clay bottom, and a large number of predators - perch, pike.

Tackle and bait

Weighty specimens bite on baits of both animal and plant origin.

For bait, large fish prefer dung worms, a bunch of bloodworms, white maggots, and shitik. In bodies of water near which there are meadows, it even catches a grasshopper quite well.

Among the variety of plant baits, large specimens are more willing to bite on:

• Dough made from wheat or corn flour;
• Pea porridge “Mastyrka”;
• Barley;
• Undercooked potatoes"
• Corn.

Somewhat less often, large fish take semolina and crumbs of white or black bread.

It is best to catch large crucian carp using the following gear:

Tackle with long rods is used on large bodies of water. Short and less long-range - on medium-sized bays, lakes and ponds.

Lure

When catching weighty specimens, both purchased specialized crucian carp baits, for example, from RS, Traper, Sensas, Vabik, Dunaev, and homemade mixtures are used as bait.

Homemade groundbait is prepared by mixing breadcrumbs, cake, boiled barley, steamed peas, and millet in equal quantities. In spring and autumn, cut worms and crushed bloodworms are added to the bait mixture. Maggots are not added to the bait, since the motile larvae accumulate at the bottom of the container in which the mixture is prepared and very rarely end up in the feeding balls. Clay and soil from molehills are used as ballast for bait used when fishing with float gear.

Crushed garlic, ginger, honey, and heart drops (Corvalol, Valocordin, Valerian) are used as flavorings added to plant baits and bait.

If you still cannot get rid of small fish biting, you can solve the problem by changing the casting range of the bait . In this case, you should definitely use the following rule: large fish live only at maximum depth and distance from the shore. However, when fishing with float gear, this will not be possible, so in this case it is recommended to change the fishing location.

What to use as bait

We have a full-fledged article on the topic of bait for crucian carp, which is made by hand. There you will find all the subtleties and secrets that will ensure your catch. The main mistake beginners make is using it incorrectly.

The correct bait should consist of:

1. Large faction
2. Dusty component
3. Connecting part
4. Weights if necessary
5. Animal supplements
6. Flavors

The most common mistake beginners make is the lack of large fractions in the bait. The mixture may have an amazing aroma that perfectly attracts crucian carp, but it will not increase the catch. This is because the fish will not find anything to eat by approaching the smell point. She won't get enough of breadcrumbs or powdered milk alone.

To do this, be sure to use porridge: pearl barley, millet, barley. They are mixed with crackers, grated cookies (biscuit), and maggots or chopped worms are added. This is how, element by element, a working bait is created.

How to catch large crucian carp

If you catch large crucian carp, you must comply with the following conditions:

But the main condition is that you need to study in advance the fishing location, habits and taste preferences of large crucian carp. Because more capricious and cautious fish do not exist in nature. Unless a large tench can compete for this title.

Catching large crucian carp can hardly be called a simple task. But professionals catch this fish from a boat, from ice and from the shore, with a float and bottom, using plant, animal and artificial bait. You can learn everything if you are attentive and diligent. But to do this, you will have to understand how large crucian carp behave in a particular body of water.

It is better to prepare bait for large individuals at home, this guarantees the quality of the bite.

What gear is easiest to catch?

• On a float rod. Without a doubt, this method is the easiest to equip, unpretentious in gear and ideal for beginners. A regular 5-6 meter telescope and any coil will do. This will be enough to comfortably fish from the shore. If you have a boat, you should choose a smaller rod. We reviewed all the baits above. In 30 minutes, feed the area with 6-8 balls of bait and wait for bites.
• On the feeder. This gear is much more complicated. Requires more advanced gear and the ability to choose a promising fishing spot. First, using a marker weight, the bottom topography is checked, the task is to find holes. After finding the point, she is fed with 6-8 large feeders. Then you can start fishing. The main thing is to cast to one place so that the crucian carp does not wander off.
• Classic donka. Any rod can be used. With this method, the bottom is not analyzed; it is cast by eye. The simplest donka is not even equipped with a feeder. It has only one goal: to deliver the bait to the bottom. With this method, they take not by quality, but by quantity, throwing 3-5 donks at once.

How and what to catch carp in summer

Carp habitat: this fish is found in deep places and fairly cold water. To understand where the depression is located in the reservoir, you need to look at the surface of the water in calm weather; the darkened areas are those same depressions.

Bait for carp fishing. The ideal bait for carp would be maggots, worms, corn, and carp boilies.

Tackle for carp fishing. Rod with feeder. Do not forget that carp is a fairly large fish, so special attention should be paid to the strength of the rod itself. When choosing gear, you should pay attention to the mast rod, despite the fact that it is quite heavy, it has a very sensitive upper part, which makes it easy to see how the fish begin to bite. The length of the mast rod reaches three meters, which will allow you to cast bait quite far.