Techniques for catching pike on girders and preparing gear in winter and summer

Fishing with girders is one of the oldest methods of hunting for predatory fish, which was used by primitive fishermen. The tackle has reached our time as a more modernized fishing device, which, keeping pace with the advent of progressive modern materials, is still undergoing improvements and modifications today.

What is a zherlitsa

The essence of this gear is incredibly simple, and at first glance even primitive. A certain amount of thread equipped with a weight and a hook is wound on a base made of any available material. The bait on the hook is a live fish, which is preferred for consumption by the intended predator. A signal that the fish is interested in the device and pecked at the bait will be a change in the position of the thread. In most cases, this is its unwinding, which is visually noticed by the fisherman.

But as usually happens in life’s ups and downs, the initial primitiveness of a thing is brought by a person to the highest level of efficiency; only a lot of nuances are required to achieve success. It is from the nuances of experience accumulated over many centuries of using this gear that the skill and success of today’s fisherman is formed, and fishing with girders is an enjoyable and productive way of catching the vast majority of freshwater predators.

Live bait for fishing

Among the live baits used for catching pike on a girder, use juveniles of the following fish species:

• goldfish;
• perch;
• roach;
• rudd;
• gudgeon

Also, do not use prickly ruffe for girders, which pike, unlike pike perch, do not eat. Do not place small white breams and white breams with a wide body on pike baits as live bait.

Attach live bait in the following ways:

• carefully pierce the back of the bait fish with any of the double hooks just above the dorsal fin;
• pierce the upper lip of the live bait with a hook;
• pass the leash through the gills into the mouth of the bait fish, put a double hook on it, then pull the leash and fix the hook in the mouth of the fry.

Store live bait in bulk buckets or special buckets - cans. At high temperatures, change the water as often as possible and do not expose the container to direct sunlight.

Store live bait in bulk buckets or special buckets - cans

What types of vents are there?

We can safely say that few types of fishing tackle have such a huge variety in its manufacture. In our weather conditions and the sharp difference between the radically different seasons of open and closed water, it is reasonable to divide the gear into winter girders and use the term summer girder. This will make it easier, especially for a novice fisherman, to navigate all the technical diversity of the device.

Already based on the above-determined species series, it is possible to split the summer baits into pike on stationary poles, the so-called postavukhi, and into floating species, more familiar as circles. In winter, pike rigs are divided into above-ice options and under-ice rigs.

How to make a circle with your own hands

It is convenient to purchase this simple fishing tackle in specialized stores. But many people prefer to make it with their own hands; a homemade product works no worse than a factory-made analogue and is completely free - it is usually possible to select the material without difficulty. You can make just such a circle for a pike that will meet all the requirements - in color, size and shape. The creation process is as simple as possible:

• Cut a disk 2-3 cm thick and about 15-20 cm in diameter from foam plastic or cork.
• Make a small hole in the center.
• Prepare a piece of plastic or wooden cylinder of variable cross-section so that it fits the diameter of the hole. Make a small notch in the upper part, allowing you to fix the fishing line in it.
• Cut a recess of about 1 cm along the side edge for winding the fishing line. You can process it with a file or fine sandpaper to avoid burrs and irregularities.
• Paint one edge (top) white and the other (bottom) red.

To learn more:

Bite alarm with pager

Thanks to this coloring, you can always determine whether the circle has turned over, which means you will understand whether there was a bite.

How to make a summer zherlitsa

Making a girder with your own hands, having an understanding of the principle of its operation, is not such a difficult task for any hardworking fisherman, and to a greater extent this category of people is like that.

It is clear that a homemade girder will most scrupulously satisfy the requirements of its owner’s gear. The material for the device can be either an ordinary wooden flyer that is not subject to technical progress, or modern types of materials, in particular rubber hoses and polyethylene pipes. These materials are not subject to corrosion, drying out and rotting, a fishing line can be easily run along them, and they are increasingly used by craftsmen as an original option - a do-it-yourself girder.

A stationary pole for pike in the summer is attached to wooden poles, which the fisherman needs to either prepare in advance or acquire them directly at the fishing site, which must be taken into account in the fishing strategy. The poles are installed on the shore or shallows of a reservoir in promising places and homemade poles are attached directly to them.

A fishing line is wound onto a pre-prepared reel made from the material proposed above; from fishing practice, I can confidently say that this is the best option for tackle both in winter and summer. A length of ten to fifteen meters of fishing line with a thickness of 0.3 mm is quite enough for any type of gear.

Important! A sliding sinker is used as a load. In the form of an olive, the most preferable option. The weight of the load in the range of 6–20 grams will ensure that the tackle is equipped with any type of live bait. The larger the bait, the heavier the load.

Making the right choice of leash and hook

After the load is threaded onto the fishing line, a bead bead is installed, which serves as a damper against breaking the knot, with which a leash, which is necessarily equipped with a swivel, is tied to the fishing line. Leashes are used in various lengths and from various materials. Their use depends on the possible size of the trophy and its predicted activity. The lower the activity of the predator, the more inconspicuous and thinner the leashes are used. I recommend 20 cm as a universal leash length. At this length, any live bait feels completely free.

A tee, double or single hook is also the prerogative of fishing conditions. But quick-detachable doubles with sizes corresponding to the size of live bait are more practical. A slot is made on the reel or flyer for mounting a stretched so-called charged fishing line. In case of a bite, the fish should easily pull the fishing line out of the slot, and the supply of fishing line should calmly fall to the water. This condition of the gear is a failure.

Floating girders

The easiest way to properly make a floating girder for pike in the summer is from dense polystyrene foam, or, in common parlance, polystyrene foam. The so-called circles are cut from this material no thicker than 2.5 cm. The optimal diameter is 15–20 cm. In the resulting circle, a slot is made along its circumference for laying fishing line. A hole is made in the center of the circle for a wooden or plastic pin. On one side of the pin a slot is made for the fishing line. The slot should allow the line to fall out without any hindrance. The pin length of 15 cm will satisfy any fishing conditions.

Important! The mugs are painted, on the one hand, red, and on the other hand, it is advisable to leave them in white. This makes the bite more noticeable.

The equipment does not differ from the stationary type of summer girder for pike. The fishing line with the nozzle is charged through a pin with a slot. The general appearance of the circle will look like the sail of a boat. When biting, the circle will turn over and the red color of the tackle will change to white. In this case, experienced fishermen say that the circle has gone out, it’s time to check it. In addition, I would advise that a spacious canvas bag for girders will not be a superfluous accessory at any time of the year.

As can be seen from the methods presented above, making gear does not imply a high-tech product and requires materials that are quite common these days, desire and a little free time. The catchability of summer girders made with your own hands will be discussed in the next section.

What does a circle look like?

Externally, it is extremely simple - a round disk made of light, buoyant material. There is a small groove along the perimeter into which the wound fishing line is placed. A hole is made in the center of the disk into which a small pin is inserted - one end is thin, and the other is thicker and rounded. The two edges of the disk have different colors - this makes it easy to notice a bite even if fishing with a circle is carried out in low light conditions, for example, early in the morning or late in the evening. The rest of the equipment resembles a rig - a strong fishing line and a large hook, preferably an anchor, and in some cases also a weight. Experts divide them into two types - moored and drifting. The discs themselves are no different, but the equipment has slight differences.

Drifting

Better suited for fishing in the fall. Pike at this time is more passive - having gained enough fat, it calmly tolerates a drop in water temperature in anticipation of winter, leads a sedentary lifestyle and can stand in the depths for hours. Drifting mugs will be a good choice; they are not equipped with a load, and therefore live bait freely drags them from place to place. Consequently, the likelihood that he will be close to a pike or pike perch increases - predators will accurately react to the appearance of prey in their immediate vicinity. But it is not recommended to install several drifting gear on small ponds - they can get mixed up with each other.

To learn more:

Sbirulino float rod

Moored

In summer or on a small lake it is better to fish with stationary mugs. They differ from those described above only in the heavy load. It is installed on an additional leash so that it is 20-40 cm above the hook. In early and mid-summer, pike are very active; at dusk they swim around the pond, attacking any suitable prey. A large load prevents bait fish from dragging the tackle from place to place, therefore reducing the risk of entanglement - several circles can be installed on a small body of water, which will increase the likelihood of successful fishing. An additional plus is that even if the bait falls asleep, it will not float up with its belly, but will be kept at the required depth. Predators often happily peck at dead bait. Which option to choose for a particular fishing trip is up to you to decide, taking into account the time of year and the characteristics of a particular body of water.

Underwater video: Pike grabs the bait

Installation, tactics and technique of fishing with a summer girder

Catching pike with a trap is a strategically interesting and exciting activity. Postavukhs are placed along the banks of the river in backwaters with a quiet current. It is preferable to place stakes or poles overhanging the algae thickets.

Important! Reliable fastening of the pole into the ground is one of the fundamental steps in installing gear.

Place baitfish at the border of clear water adjacent to vegetation. Place live bait no more than 40 cm from the bottom . When pike activity is low, live bait can be raised almost to the surface of the water. This method works especially well with the presence of wind ripples on the water surface.

Fishing for pike on girders in the fall becomes especially productive due to the greater activity of the fish, and during this period of the year mugs perform well. They can be launched either with the current and the wind, or installed in quiet places in the reservoir, sheltered from gusts of wind. A floating circle ensures that a large area of ​​the reservoir can be fished, which naturally increases the chances of catching fish.

Important! Fishing with mugs requires the presence of a floating device, which is not required when fishing for pike with summer girders in a stationary location.

When the device is triggered, no special rush or fuss of the fisherman is required to lift the gear. Pike need time to swallow live bait. After this, it self-notches. The only negative point may be that the caught fish disappears into snags or thickets of underwater vegetation. Such a development of events may threaten the loss of equipment, so vigilance must be adequate. There are frequent cases of loss of a floating circle from being pulled under water by a large fish in a similar scenario - into thickets or snags.

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.

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.

How to make a winter zherlitsa

Making a vent for the freeze-up period is also a very realistic idea. Winter homemade girders are no less diverse than their summer counterparts. Although initially I want to dwell on such a point as equipping a girder for pike in the winter.

Choosing fishing line in winter

Fundamentally, there will be no difference from the summer options both in terms of the volume of fishing line, and in terms of equipment with a load and selection of a leash. During this period of the year, I would only advise you to vary the color of the fishing line. After all, red wood on ice sprinkled with white snow is much more convenient to use than its colorless representative.

Read more about the nuances when choosing a winter fishing line. What you should pay attention to and what properties it should have.

What does the structure consist of?

The designs of over-ice stakes, which is what seasoned winter pikemen call them, can be divided into models with a platform and models without it. On a platform, most often made of plywood and painted with water-repellent paints, an ordinary fishing reel is mounted on a metal or plastic bracket. A slot is made in the platform to launch the fishing line into the hole.

One of the significant components of winter equipment is a bite alarm. It is a thin, rigid spring or elastic steel strip, with a fabric flag attached to the end. It is because of this striking feature that fishing in this way is often called using flags. The signaling device is attached to the platform or to the reel bracket in such a way that the design allows limiting the possibility of unwinding the reel with fishing line into the water from the force of the load and the live bait located on the equipment. But the force of restraining the reel should not interfere with a sharp pull-up, and therefore the fish’s bite, allowing the line to be safely dropped into the hole.

Important! The speed of rotation of the reel should not exceed the speed of dropping the line. Otherwise, the formation of overlaps in the loops of the fishing line will stall the reel and scare away the biting fish. For this case, a rubber casing is put on the axis of rotation of the reel or a counterweight is mounted on the handle of the reel and thus the movements of both elements are balanced.

In winter, it is convenient to fish on girders, especially on frosty days, with bets with a platform. This allows you to cover the holes not only from excessive light, but also to prevent them from freezing. But in a snowstorm and blizzard, betting on a high bracket without a platform looks preferable. She is less likely to be covered in snow, especially if it is a night trip, so in the morning it will take less time to find gear. But in order to completely avoid the possibility of the fishing line and platform freezing into the ice, fishermen developed an under-ice version of the bet. There was no need for much ingenuity here. The appearance of the summer representative of the tackle on a rubber hose is quite adaptable to an under-ice base.

Important! When installing a winter pole on a pike under the ice, mark the holes with poles.

Fishing with under-ice types of gear is less spectacular, but in terms of yield it is by no means inferior to fishing with flags.

How to equip vents and their types

A good girder should be light, small in size and easy to assemble. A good bite alarm is desirable - it will help you navigate through many attempts. The equipment consists of:

• grounds;
• coils;
• fishing lines;
• leash;
• hook;
• checkbox.

Often the tackle includes a swivel that allows the leash to rotate around its own axis. It is also possible to install an alarm bell. It is needed for bad weather conditions, or when you don’t want to keep an eye on the flags. Types of girders:

• one-legged;
• three-legged;
• on the platform.

A popular option is tripod girders. The line moves freely, but due to its low weight it can be blown away by the wind. The platform is a classic option, universal, but not without its drawbacks. The platform has a hole for fishing line, so the base can be covered with snow or covered with ice, which will not affect it in any way.

Balance and stability do not allow the rod to sway in the wind, which means that the gear will need to be paid less attention while fishing.

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How to assemble the girders:

1. Wind the line onto the reel. A base of 0.4-0.5 mm is suitable. It is advisable to imagine in advance how the coil will stand on the base in order to avoid errors when winding. Take the length of the fishing line with a reserve. For example, when fishing at 5 m depth, some anglers use 10–15 m line.
2. Put on the sliding weight. It is worth adding a small bead, this will make the connection with the leash more adequate. All this should move freely along the line, without interference. The load should not be light. It is recommended to use several small weights at once for more precise adjustment.
3. Attach the leash to the fishing line. You can tie a fishing line to the swivel.
4. Tie a hook. The optimal size is 10–12 according to the global standard. You should choose based on your own experience and the live bait used. The type of hook will depend on the mounting option; you will need a single, double or triple.
5. Wind the line to the highest position and make a mark. It makes it easier to track the position of the hook.
6. Attach a signal flag. Usually the base is equipped with special slots, so there will be no problems. Add alarm bells if desired.

Now the bait is ready to start fishing.

Winter pike fishing in zherlitsa

Catching pike with girders in winter is the most spectacular type of predator fishing and it’s quite difficult to disagree with this. The sight of a burning flag evokes a lot of positive, albeit exciting, emotions. But for the flag to work, you need to understand the moments of a predator’s life in the conditions of the sub-ice period on a reservoir.

Subtleties of fishing at different times of winter

Pike are especially good at catching on rigs on the first ice. The oxygen regime changes over time and the longer the ice sits and its thickness increases, the less active the fish becomes. Based on these considerations, at the beginning of freeze-up, the predator stays aground near the thickets, and subsequently goes to depths where the water is more saturated with oxygen. The essence of winter strategies is that fishing with a zherlitsa will shift from shallows to depths throughout the winter.

When the ice melts, the situation with the search for catfish changes radically. Now she again begins to go out to open areas of the reservoir, and often these are shallows, and feed there. It’s worth experimenting with setting live bait according to the depth parameter. There are days when pike pick up live bait almost from the hole. Sometimes only with installation a couple of tens of centimeters from the bottom. Consequently, using a dozen bets, some of them are placed at the bottom, and some in the water column and near the ice. At what level the bite is more confident and more frequent, and often simply exists at all, it’s worth adjusting to that level of bait bait installation.

Fishing in the summer

In the summer heat, pike have little interest in bait. But this does not mean that she stops eating and becomes a diet addict. It’s just that the methods of catching pike in summer are different than in spring, autumn, and winter. In summer it is better to fish early in the morning; in the heat of the day the bite stops. After 8 o'clock in the morning in summer it is worse to catch pike. Closer to noon, its activity decreases, and the transparency of the water decreases. Fishing stops.

In the summer, it is better to catch pike with live bait and cast this live bait with a spinning rod, preferably in one place several times. Then the toothy one is more likely to take your bait. You can also try artificial bait.

Spinning on a lure

In the hot summer, pike fishing is done with smaller lures. If you fish with a spinning rod using a spoon, then try small spoons. If slow retrieval is required in the autumn, then in the summer it is advisable to play with the bait briskly, actively, to wake up the sleepy fish. In nature, fry frolic in shallow water in the summer, so you can try looking for pike in a shallower place. With a spinning rod you can catch pike almost right off the coast. It must be remembered that pike loves silence. If there are many other fishermen on the pond, or you yourself are not careful, then fishing is unlikely to be successful and you will return home with the catch.

I suggest you see how lure fishing goes:

To the zherlitsa

You can catch pike in the summer using girders or live bait. And this is due to the fact that she stands in the grass, where she can find coolness. The best option would be if you catch live bait in the same body of water as the pike. It is more pleasant for her to eat “native” live bait. Live bait can be caught using a small jig with maggots or bloodworms. It is better to place several zherlits, but at a distance from each other, if space allows. As a butt, stakes 1-1.5 meters long are used. The stakes are stuck as deep into the ground as possible, at an angle. The angle is needed so that the bait does not tangle the fishing line, and a decent digging depth is needed so that the predator does not drag them away. The girders themselves are attached to these stakes.

Design of the vent

The zherlitsa is a spear on which the main cord with a sinker is wound. This cord is attached to a notch at the beginning of the vent. A leash with a hook and live bait is attached to the main cord through a carabiner. The leash of the girder must be metal so that the pike does not bite through it. The weight is needed to hold the bait at a certain height. Making a simple girder will not take much time and can be done on the shore using available materials.

Zherlitsa made from improvised means

Baiting live bait requires some skill. The fisherman’s task is to keep the baitfish from falling asleep in the water and to be active. It is hooked onto the fin with a treble hook. Another way to attach a live bait is to thread a thin thread through the anus and mouth and hook it to this thread.

We do it ourselves

At home, making a girder can be done in various ways. For example, like this: A base in the form of a house is cut out of plexiglass, plastic, polystyrene, plywood. Particular attention should be paid to the edges, making them smooth, without jagged edges, so that the fishing line does not get caught. A round hole is made at the base, through which the girder will be tied to a stake or butt. A piece of elastic cut from a bicycle inner tube is placed on the side recesses. This is the main line (cord) lock. After the main line has been tied, a colored piece is tied 30 centimeters below - a bite alarm. A sliding sinker is attached to the main line. Then, using a carabiner, attach a metal leash on which there is a double or triple hook. The hole in the middle of the vent is needed to attach the cargo during transportation, for convenience, but it doesn’t have to be made. The lines are wound a lot, about 10 meters, so that when a pike bites, it can easily unwind the length, hide in a shelter and swallow the prey there.

Homemade summer zherlitsa

Pike on the bald

Pike bite not only on branded baits, but also on simple, self-made baits. Making such a bait is quite simple. A pear-shaped lead or tungsten body is taken, at the base of which there is a through hole. A fishing line is threaded into this hole and hooks are tied on both sides with the tip facing outward. Multi-colored cambrics or beads cling to the hooks. On the bulldozer they catch it in a plumb line. Sinking to the bottom, the ballad raises a cloud of turbidity. The technique of fishing on the bullhead is to create as much of this turbidity as possible. You also need to be careful when fishing for balda. To prevent the fish from noticing you, you can even squat down.

Fish bite not only on the bottom. During lowering, the side hooks imitating the beetle's legs move, so if there is an active fish nearby, it will attack this bait immediately, without waiting for it to lower. The main disadvantage of fishing on a bulldozer is that there will be a lot of snags on a snagged bottom.

Folk sign: If there are flooded bushes on the shore, trees leaning low to the water, or snags, look for predatory fish here!

Gear equipment

Gear equipment
Any girder must be equipped with equipment. The main thing is the fishing line. There is no point in using expensive fishing line options for girders; it is enough to purchase an average-priced one. The diameter of the fishing line ranges from 0.2 to 0.35 mm. It all depends on the size of the expected fish caught. It is necessary to wind the fishing line with a reserve on the reel or reel. I lay about 20-25 meters. The reserve is needed so that the pike has time to swallow the bait while moving. Instead of a steel leash, I use fluorocarbon, it is very convenient to use. In addition, you can make the required length yourself. Fluorocarbon is strong enough for pike to bite through. I choose a fluorocarbon cross-section from 0.25 to 0.35 millimeters (depending on the expected fish caught).

The sinker needs to be selected depending on the live bait. If the live bait is small (20-50 grams), then a weight of 10-15 grams is sufficient. If we use larger live bait when fishing, then we will need a heavier load. This is due to the fact that the live bait is mainly trying to float up under the ice, and is not at the depth we need.

The hook must match the intended bait. So, for example, I never use a single hook on pike; it’s mostly a double or treble hook. For winter fishing, smaller hooks can be used than when catching a predator in the fall. This is due to the fact that fish are less active in winter. The water in the reservoir settles and becomes very clear, and this unmasks the hook.

What else can you do

Therefore, I perform the following operation: I move the girder to the side and, holding the main line, very slowly begin to select it until I feel a fish at the other end. Then I make a slight pull on the line so that the fish feels the escaping prey and makes an attempt to keep the bait in its mouth.

Usually, after pulling the fishing line, the fish jerks, so here you need to release the fishing line from your hands in time, otherwise the fish will disappear.
And this can be done several times with one fish until enough time has passed and the required amount of fishing line has been wound, i.e. the time has come to hook. Share on social networks: