Peculiarities of the bearing's behavior
In the Azov and Black Seas in March, pelengas leave their wintering grounds and disperse along the coast at a distance of 50 m. As the water warms up, sexually mature individuals move to the coastal zone and approach spawning grounds: shallow bays, bays and estuaries. In large estuaries, for example in Khadzhibeevsky, pelengas live constantly.
It should be taken into account that during the spawning period there are restrictions on catching pelengas. In any case, before going fishing, you should familiarize yourself with the local legislation on the ban on fishing of aquatic biological resources.
After completion of spawning, pelengas return to their usual habitats and are successfully caught in the seas, estuaries and the Don River until late autumn throughout the day.
Baits for bearing
The safest option is the Nereis worm, but it is not easy to get. You need to know where to look for it, for this you will need to “flounder” in the silt, knee-deep in water. Therefore, many fishermen prefer not to bother and buy it on the market.
- sea worms;
- worm "Nereis";
- sandworm;
- shrimp;
- larvae of various insects.
. Time and place of fishing
Catching pelengas is not an easy process that requires skill, because this fish is very finicky. It will be best to catch it early in the morning, but there is also a small chance of catching it in the afternoon and evening. This trophy can often be found in the Sea of Azov.
The best period of the year to hunt for this fish is from mid-May to late autumn. As for weather conditions, the chance of catching will increase after storms, with warming waters. Fishing for pelengas in winter is not common, since in cold times these fish go to the bottom and hide in the depths.
Tackle
The pelengas fish is loved by many anglers because it can be caught both from a boat and from the shore. The most popular and easiest way among anglers is fishing from the shore.
For fishing from the shore you will need:
Rod , test range from 100 to 200 gr., length should be about 3.5 meters, because you will have to cast into the distance over huge distances.
Stand - used to fix the fishing rod and also applies to gear for direction finding.
Reel , its spools must be at least 5000, fishing line 300 m, size 0.35 - 0.45 mm.
line , about a hundred meters, so that the fastening of the equipment is reliable, you need to use shock - leader gear, for them you need to take a fishing line of 0.5 - 0.6 mm, no less than three times longer than the rod.
a sinker in the shape of a rocket, such a load comes off the bottom easier, the weight depends on the casting distance and weather conditions.
Pelengas is a desirable trophy for fishermen, because this fish is incredibly tasty and healthy, moreover, it is not so easy to catch, and this causes excitement among lovers of quiet hunting. These tips will help you choose the right bait and tackle to catch these beautiful fish.
Share “Tackle and bait for bearings”
Where to look for pelengas
When purposefully catching pelengas, it is important to correctly determine the place where it is caught. It’s easier to do this on a familiar river. It is enough to find a “habitable” place. On the seas, estuaries and an unfamiliar river, the task becomes more complicated.
When choosing a promising area for fishing for pelengas, you should pay attention to deserted places, away from noisy operating enterprises. Especially if the noise is periodic. Pelengas is a cautious fish, and when extraneous sounds occur, it stops pecking.
Schools of sawfish can be seen visually by the seething pit. This usually happens during a calm period after a storm. This is the best sign of the presence of fish. Seagulls circling over one area is also a good sign. But seagulls can also circle over schools of small fish of other species.
A good sign of a fishing spot is a gently sloping sandy shore, a slope with a slight slope (shallow water) for tens of meters, a deepening, and then a decrease in depth.
When to catch pelengas
Fishing for pelengas works best in the morning, but this is not an axiom; it can also bite successfully both during the day and in the evening. As for the time of year, for catching pelengas in the Krasnodar Territory on the Azov and Black Seas, the best period is considered to be from mid-May to late autumn. As soon as the water temperature drops significantly, the pelengas go to depths where they can only be reached with seines.
Weather conditions play an important role in catching pelengas. Fishing for pelengas in Crimea, on the Azov coast, is best in the summer after storms, when spawning has ended and the water is sufficiently warm. The bite also becomes more active when the wind is south and west. But it is worth remembering that pelengas are a very shy fish and will quickly swim away at the slightest danger, so if you are fishing from a boat, you should be quiet.
Bearing gear
Fishing for pelengas is carried out with bottom gear:
- Donka with a long-range rod;
- Classic feeder;
- Float gear equipped for fishing from the bottom.
Donka on the bearing. A rod is selected that allows you to cast over a distance of 100 meters or more. The best option is a super-heavy class feeder rod with a test weight of more than 100 grams. Length – 4.5-4.8 m.
A powerful coil is installed. The volume of the spool should ensure that the fishing line of the required length is laid. The reel is used when fishing for fiercely resisting bearings, so it must be of high quality. It is better to use reel models equipped with a baitrunner.
What does the pelengas bite on?
There is no need to guess what the pelengas are biting on on the day of fishing. The main bait is Nereis. This worm is also called the estuary or sea worm. You can experiment with its silicone analogues, shrimp, regular worms, maggots, pieces of fish, mussels or bloodworms. It happens that experiments end in bites. But, practice shows that when fishing in the Azov and Black Seas, in estuaries and the Don River, the best bait for pelengas is nereis.
The situation is different in the Far East. Due to the lack of Nereis, catching the Far Eastern mullet is quite difficult. Cotton wool, etc. are used as bait.
Interesting fact! In the Far East, the homeland of the pelengas, only a few enthusiastic fishermen engage in targeted fishing for it with amateur gear. Typically caught as bycatch in this region.
Where to catch pelengas
The Arbat Strelka is the best place for catching pelengas on the Sea of Azov. You need to choose more deserted places, where there are sandbanks far from the coast, at a distance of about 40 to 120 m. Ideal fishing spots are considered to be small bays where flocks of pelengas come, which are very difficult not to notice, in this place the sea is literally boiling, it is in this place that you need to throw the tackle.
To find a pelengas, you need to move around a lot in search of fish. During the winter period, the fish are constantly migrating, or accumulate in holes, and it is almost impossible to put them on point, unlike other fish. You can try to set a fishing point in the summer, when the school of pelengas breaks up into small flocks. If you fish from a pier or from a boat vertically with float gear, then some fishermen sometimes use well-crushed sprat with bread and sand as bait.
Recently, pelengas are increasingly entering the fresh waters of rivers that flow into the sea. You can successfully catch pelengas on the Don using both bottom tackle and a float rod. Installation of the tackle is no different from the tackle for sea fishing; the weight of the sinker can only change downward. The same Liman worm Nereis is used as bait, but there have been cases when it pecked at a bunch of maggots or an earthworm, but this is more the exception than the rule.
Nereis storage
Nereis, removed from its habitat, loses its attractiveness to fish within a day. It is useful to know how to organize the storage of nereis caught in reserve or left over from fishing.
You need to take a container of suitable size with a lid, place Nereis in it and fill it with vodka. “Drunk” Nereis can be stored in the freezer for a long time. It becomes more elastic and slightly increases in size.
For long-term storage, Nereis is filled with pure medical alcohol. Liman worm preserved in alcohol can be stored in the refrigerator for more than a year.
There is one peculiarity. Nereis extracted from alcohol retains the ethyl smell, and pelengas often refuses it. Although other marine fish species readily take such bait.
To catch pelengas and nereis, you must first soak them for 2-4 hours. It will become softer, and the Far Eastern mullet will bite on it.
Techniques for catching pelengas
The optimal number of gear is 3. In a promising area for fishing, cast with a fan. The rods are mounted on high stands at an angle of 70-80 degrees. When installing rods at a lower angle, you should provide for their fastening or turn on a baitrunner on the reel. Such measures are necessary to prevent the tackle from breaking after a powerful bite.
Pelengas is a strong fish, and when fished, it offers decent resistance. It is important to control the tension of the fishing line. A pull-up is performed with a rod, and during preparation for the next pull-up, the fishing line is wound onto the reel in a timely manner. You can get fish onto a flat bank without a landing net. But when you feel a trophy bearing on the hook, and there is a depression in the coastal zone, then it is better to use a landing net to bring the fish ashore.
It should be noted that if you successfully determine the place to catch Far Eastern mullet, you won’t be bored while fishing.
Fishing for pelengas on the Don: tackle, places, bait
A fish that is quite similar to the Far Eastern mullet, which lives in the seas and fresh water bodies, is pelengas (pilengas, pelingas, belingas). It belongs to the mullet family, its locations are the areas of the Sea of Japan, as well as the Black and Azov Seas, and numerous fresh water bodies located in Europe and Russia.
The fish is very powerful, fishing lovers do not refuse to catch this amazing beauty once again. There are many ways to take possession of such a trophy, one of them is catching pelengas on the Don. Fishing is first a state of mind of a person, and then a sporting passion.
Fishing spots
Pelengas is a very capricious fish. What is clear is that you need to catch it in those places where it actually exists. This can be determined by splashes of water.
It may not bite right away; sometimes it takes three or four hours until the first bite begins. In shallow water, where the fish splashes, it does not take bait.
You need to catch it in those places where the drop begins, where the pelengas feed, and there can be an excellent bite.
You need to have an idea of how to catch this powerful fish on the Don. Every fisherman must correctly assemble a kit with which he can go fishing without shame.
Experienced people in this matter can easily choose gear for catching pelengas on the Don. We must proceed from the fact that no one will catch it in places with a depth of more than 10 meters.
In our areas it is no more than 2 meters, and maybe less. In this case, you will need the following gear for catching pelengas on the Don:
• Regular bottom. • Transparent fishing line with a diameter of 0.35 mm. • Leashes – 30-50 cm. • Sinkers – on average 100 g.
• Hooks number 6-10 with long shanks, or number 14-20.
a feature that is added to the hooks is a float made of foam. It should be round in shape with a diameter of 1-1.5 cm.
Its color ranges from light yellow-green or pink to brown. It imitates the color of algae. The float is pierced in the center with a hook, to the eye of which a leash is knitted.
At this time, the float is pulled back, hiding the eye. It should be firmly attached to the hook.
Best bait
Most of all, this fish loves to eat a furry sea worm called Nereis. When choosing bait, you should take this fact into account and stock up on the necessary bait in advance. There is a worm in the mud near the shore. It does not stay on the hook well and will have to be replaced frequently. Nowadays you can buy silicone Nereis, no worse than the real thing.
Various crustaceans are used as bait, they are planted one at a time and changed after each new cast. This fish has no teeth, including pharyngeal teeth. For this reason, catching pelengas on the Don with shrimp will be ineffective. He cannot cut through chitin. Exceptional cases have been observed when fish pecked at a bunch of maggots and earthworms.
There were attempts to get a good catch using the bait as a bloodworm and crawls, but for unknown reasons this did not lead to anything.
Fishing for pelengas in Rostov-on-Don, as well as in other places, is that you can catch it both with a float rod and with bottom tackle. You just have to change the weights up or down.
Nipple for catching pelengas
There is also a tackle called a “nipple”. This is a simple thing; there are many designs that fundamentally do not differ much. Fishing for bearings on the Don will be successful depending on what you put into such equipment. It would be good if it was minced meat made from bread, anchovy and the remains of a sea worm.
You can purchase ready-made “nipple feeders” of a semi-aerodynamic shape in the store. Thick gray plastic is used to make it. The “covers” are equipped with all the necessary holes provided by the technology, and are also loaded with lead. Their weight is 40 grams.
