The fish called “ripus” belongs to the representatives of the salmon family (or more precisely, the subfamily of whitefish). Otherwise it is called “vendace”, as well as “Pereslavl herring”.
This schooling fish is an enlarged species of vendace, which prefers to spend its life at the bottom, is characterized by good fertility and smells like... cucumbers. We will talk about the appearance, behavioral characteristics, habitat of the ripus, as well as fishing for this fish and its beneficial properties in this article.
How to recognize ripus?
The length of the elongated and slender body of the ripus resembles the structure of a herring; it reaches 46 cm, with a maximum weight of 1.5 kg. In appearance it resembles a whitefish or vendace.
The back is dark gray with a bluish or greenish tint, the sides are cast in silver, the color becomes lighter towards the belly, and it becomes white. The scales do not fit tightly to the body and are easily peeled off. The caudal fin is dark gray. The pelvic, pectoral, dorsal and anal fins are translucent in gray-brown tones. Like all salmon, it has a small adipose fin.
Habitat
This active fish gathers in schools and prefers to live at a depth of three to five meters in cool and quiet water. Most often it swims in lakes and reservoirs located closer to northern latitudes.
Lakes Ladoga and Onega are considered its homeland, from where it moved to Lake Peipsi, Seliger and other lakes of Karelia. Later, it appeared in the Ural and Siberian reservoirs, where it was released in the 30s of the 20th century.
She prefers quiet coastal areas of reservoirs with a rocky bottom and clear water. Therefore, it does not live near large cities; people go after it away from “civilization.”
Spawning
Puberty in fish is later and occurs in the third or fourth year from birth. This is a very prolific species, the female ripus lays up to 3,000 eggs. Spawning begins at the end of November or beginning of December, when the water temperature drops to +4...+5 °C and lasts no more than 3-5 days.
For spawning, the fish moves to higher layers of water - to a depth of 1.5-3 meters, preferring areas with a sandy and pebble bottom. The caviar, which is small in size and yellow in color, does not bury in the ground. The eggs develop within 140-160 days, and the larvae hatch from them on average on the 15th day.
Salting in brine
Salt the peled in this way and get a special taste, since the fillet has time to soak in salt and spices. In the brine the dish will become very tender.
Ingredients needed to prepare the brine:
- · 4 tbsp. l. salt;
- · ¼ part tbsp. l. Sahara;
- · 10 black peppercorns;
- · 6 allspice peas;
- · 4 bay leaves;
- · 3 pcs. carnations;
- · 1 pinch of coriander and cumin;
- · 1 liter of water.
For this recipe, two kilograms of fish mass will be enough. The carcasses are not gutted, but only cleaned and washed. First prepare the brine. Water with spices is boiled for 20 minutes, after which it must be removed from the heat and cooled. Meanwhile, the peled is placed in a container prepared in advance. Fill with brine, seal and put in a cool place for two days. Salted fish will pleasantly surprise you with its rich taste.
Useful properties of ripus
Any fish is included in the menu of a proper and healthy diet. Ripus is no exception. This is a valuable type of fish, which is distinguished by its high fat content (up to 6.5%) and omega-3 fatty acids. The mineral composition does not disappoint either; it is rich in magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, fluorine, chlorine, nickel and others.
Of the vitamins, the largest share is niacin or vitamin PP. People who want to lose weight can safely include it in their diet, since 100 g contains only 75 kcal.
It has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the main systems of the body - cardiovascular, immune and nervous and internal organs. Fatty acids in tandem with phosphorus help the body better absorb calcium.
Use in cooking
Housewives love to cook this fish, and there is an explanation for this:
- it is easy to clean;
- there are few bones in it, about 10%;
- During heat treatment, fish retains all its beneficial properties.
It is delicious fried, boiled, or steamed. Ripus is an ideal filling for pies and dumplings. By the way, in Finland it is the main ingredient in Finnish pie, which is the national dish of this country. It is also smoked, salted, pickled and dried.
Its caviar is no less significant in cooking. It is also very tasty and healthy.
Lazy ripus pie
Fried fish, salted, lightly salted, it happens that all this becomes boring, sometimes you want something special, but there is not always enough time to create culinary masterpieces. One of the fairly quick recipes for making ripus is the so-called lazy pie. Rhipus pie is not only tasty, but also very healthy.
Before you start cooking, you need to prepare the ingredients. You will need: 1 kilogram of ripples and potatoes, several onions, salt, ground black pepper, dill and sour cream (can be replaced with low-calorie mayonnaise).
First, you need to clean the fish from scales and entrails, remove all the bones (small and large) so that only the fish fillet remains. Peel the potatoes and cut into slices, and the onion into half rings. Grease a baking dish for fish pie with butter, lay out the pie in layers: put potatoes in the first layer, then chopped onions. After this, sprinkle a little salt, pepper and finely chopped dill. Then add the ripus fillet, and then again the potatoes, salt, pepper and dill. Grease the top of the pie with sour cream or mayonnaise. Place in the oven for about an hour and you are ready to serve.
Fishing
When going fishing for ripus, you should remember:
- A more active bite is observed in the dark, since at this time the fish prefer to go in search of food.
- You need to catch it in quiet places in lakes with sandy and rocky shallows, as well as at depth.
- The most successful fishing is observed when the first solid ice is established, which continues until the spring floods. In lakes with cold water it can be caught all year round.
- When winter fishing, you should not make several holes side by side to prevent the lines of two fishing rods from tangling, otherwise the angler (or anglers) will spend a lot of time untangling the gear.
Since the ripus lives in a flock, if you get on it, you can get a good catch in 2-3 hours. It usually bites on the “rise”, that is, it takes food from the bottom and begins to rise without resisting at all. But if you sit too long and don’t hook in a timely manner, the fish will make a “farewell gesture” with its tail, safely leaving the hook.
Fishing begins at maximum depth, gradually decreases it, and “probes” the entire thickness of the water, since the ripus can rise even higher in search of food.
Equipment for winter fishing for ripus
Many fishermen, going for ripus in winter, take a tent with them. Of course, it won’t add much warmth, but it will protect you from the wind. Before you start fishing, you need to make a hole, so a drill forgotten at home can put an end to the whole event.
According to experienced fishermen, for successful fishing it is necessary to illuminate the holes, then the ripus will bite better, so such experts must take illumination, preferably LED. She is lowered under the ice. The light attracts plankton, which it hunts for.
Please note: it is prohibited to fish using the backlight, so what experienced fishermen recommend is not always legal. Whether to break the law or not is your choice. We recommend following government guidelines.
In ice fishing areas, a whole tent city appears on the lake. Each tent has its own light source. Therefore, when choosing a place for fishing, you should move away from your neighbors, and especially not settle in the center. The more light, the more the fish are dispersed throughout the lake, which negatively affects the bite. Therefore, it is better to settle down a little further away from others.
Anyone who decides to fish all night should buy a gas stove to avoid freezing. But it is worth considering that the heat begins to melt the ice, so you should only fish on solid ice and put a rubber mat or a layer of straw under your feet. This will protect your shoes from getting wet. And also for convenience, purchase a chair or high chair.
Remember, fishing is prohibited during spawning.
Choosing gear
For fishing, a regular small winter fishing rod with a hard tip is suitable. Since fish swim at different depths, they catch them “vertically” and one jig (a hook soldered into a pellet made of lead or tin) is not enough here. They are knitted several at a time onto a fishing line (fishermen attach up to 10 pieces at once), making a distance of 60-100 cm between them.
The fishing line is chosen to be long and quite rigid so that it does not twist. Its optimal thickness is 0.25. Since the fish does not grab the bait, but sucks it in along with the water, it is better to choose thin and light hooks, the optimal size is No. 10 and No. 12. The line must be lowered very slowly; this is achieved thanks to the light weight of the sinker (up to 1.5 g), and the nod, equipped with a feather, helps to catch the weakest bite.
What to catch ripus with?
This predatory fish bites well on bloodworms, insect larvae - bark beetles or burdock flies. Some anglers catch it well using small pieces of lard. Therefore, it is better to take several types of bait and find out experimentally what the fish prefer to “bite” on now. When setting the bait, the hook tip is left open. Vegetable baits are not used.
Before starting fishing, the fish are well fed; the best bait is considered to be boiled mormysh (freshwater amphipod crustacean), which is crushed and mixed with sand. When the bait settles to the bottom, several feeders filled with crustaceans are then lowered. Each of which opens at a different depth and forms a column of bait.
After feeding, the fish begins to react. But you need to feed it without fanaticism, because after eating, the rhipus ceases to be interested in food, no matter how tempting it may be. It is also easy to attract with a crochet hook with beads without an attachment.
Breeding and growing ripus
Over the past few decades, the ripus population has decreased significantly, this is due to environmental deterioration, uncontrolled fishing, poaching, and this species is considered endemic, as it occupies a limited range.
During spawning, fishing with ripus is prohibited. Therefore, ripus is the object of artificial fish breeding and acclimatization. It is acclimatized, for example, in the reservoirs of the Urals, where it feels good there. What’s interesting is that among Ural ripus, puberty occurs earlier, in the second year of life.
Under artificial conditions it is grown in ponds. The planting material is caviar at the last stage of development; it is delivered from fish factories and placed in baskets. They are placed in the pond at a depth of 1.5-2 meters, and the distance between them is 50 cm.
Next, the eggs are further incubated. Clean fine gravel or small stones are poured into the bottom of the baskets, and the top is covered to prevent other fish from getting into it. After some time, larvae hatch from the eggs. They leave the baskets and go to live freely in the pond. The area should be free of vegetation and away from drains.
When artificially reared, ripus from eggs grows up to 60 g in one summer. To obtain a commercial stock per 1 hectare of reservoir, the following is required:
- larvae in the amount of 3 thousand pieces;
- 1500 fry;
- fingerlings, that is, young animals of the current year, 200 pieces.
If the fingerlings are left for the second summer to feed, then for the winter they are transferred to wintering ponds, where they coexist with the carp fingerlings.
Lightly salted rhipus, salted rhipus
Before you start salting, you need to know how to salt ripus fish correctly.
To make the ripus lightly salted, it is best to fill it with brine. First you need to clean the fish from scales and entrails. Sprinkle the finished carcasses with a special seasoning for cooking fish or coriander (optional). Then give the pulp time to soak.
Now you need to prepare the brine. You immediately need to decide what level of salinity you want to get the fish. Here you will need a chicken egg (raw). Wash it thoroughly with soda. Place the egg in 1.5 liters of water and add 2 tablespoons of salt. It is the egg that will indicate the salinity of the brine. If you cook lightly salted fish, then only the tip of the egg will float to the surface; if you need saltier fish, then you need to add salt until half of the egg begins to peek out of the water. Once the desired result is achieved, the egg must be removed.
After all this, the ripus (fish) is placed in a jar or other container, allspice, bay leaf, cloves (optional) are added and filled with prepared brine.
You should leave it to salt for a couple of days, adding vegetable oil and chopped onion into half rings.
Interesting Facts
There are certain facts about ripus fish that are useful to know:
- Freshly caught ripus smells like a fresh cucumber, just like smelt. The usual fishy smell appears after 2-3 hours.
- This fish spoils very quickly, its maximum shelf life is only 1 day.
- Why is ripus called the “royal” fish? Previously, there was a lot of fish in Lake Pleshcheyevo, on the shore of which stands the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky, which previously belonged to the reigning family. Fish from this lake could only be caught for the royal Lenten table; the rest of the people were forbidden to engage in fishing. If this law was violated, the person was deprived of life. Hence its nickname “royal fish”.
- By the way, the coat of arms of the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky still depicts vendace, a close relative of the ripus.
- It is very popular in Finland. It is the main ingredient for many national Finnish dishes.
- Rhipus feeds on chebak, so where it is found, there is most likely a rhipus there.
So, the importance of ripus fish is clearly underestimated. Residents of Russia are wary of unfamiliar types of fish, but in the Urals, for example, it is very popular, it is healthy and has the most tender meat. And winter fishing for ripus is an activity that many experienced fishermen enjoy.
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Ripus Pie
Rhipus is a delicious fish, and the pie made from it turns out simply delicious.
To prepare a ripus pie, you need to take half a kilo of fish, three eggs, two onions, a little butter, half a glass of rice, salt and pepper, and 400 grams of ready-made yeast dough.
The fish must be thoroughly cleaned of scales and bones, leaving only the fillets. Boil the rice until half cooked, hard-boil the eggs. Next, you need to roll out half the dough, sprinkle it lightly with flour and place salted boiled rice in the center. Fish is laid out on the cereal, then finely chopped onions and eggs, you can add pepper and salt on top. The pie is covered with the remaining dough, the edges are sealed.
Brush the top of the pie with beaten egg and place the resulting creation in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for one hour.
Ripus is tasty and easy to prepare. Fish, the recipes for which are very simple, is also notable for the fact that it does not require many ingredients and time. Depending on personal taste preferences, you can replace certain products with others, and you can also experiment, creating your own amazing, tasty dishes from the most delicate ripus meat.
