Description
Palia, mallard, palga, nerius, palia - salmon fish, belongs to the loaches.
Like most loaches, the palia has an elongated, tall body, a large head, and slightly smaller scales than other salmonids. The front part of the lower fins of the palli is milky white. The jaw is pointed below, compressed from the sides towards the end. In the reservoirs of our country, two types of palya are distinguished - red (ludozhnaya) and pit (ridge). The first is larger, specimens up to 9 kg are known, has a dark green back, white and orange dots on the sides and a dark orange belly. Coloring may vary and depends on water, nutrition, etc. The second is smaller - up to 4 kg, gray, without orange spots, dark back.
Paglia grows quite slowly; at 6 years old she weighs no more than a kilogram. It lives for a relatively long time; according to some reports, specimens have been caught that have reached almost 40 years. On average, the age of the palia is 20 years, and the maximum length is 75 cm.
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Palia is another representative of salmon fish, lives in the clean, deep waters of Lakes Ladoga and Onega. This fish belongs to the genus of loaches (not to be confused with the mustachioed loach from the loach family). Species of this genus, the systematic relationships of which are very complex and not yet fully understood, are distributed in many cold-water lakes of Europe, Asia and North America; There are also migratory char that feed in the sea and go to spawn in rivers that flow into the seas of the Arctic and Pacific oceans. Loaches are very variable in structure, color and biology. Palii belong to the group of Arctic char and are currently considered together with them as different forms of the same species. Lakes Ladoga and Onega are the southernmost bodies of water in the European part of the USSR where palia live, but even here this fish lives only in their northern and middle parts and is almost never found in the south. Lake palia are relics of glacial times.
This typical cold-loving fish breeds in the fall. Palia spawns in September - October on rocky shallows - luds in an open lake near islands at a depth of 1 to 20 m. Palia eggs are large, 4-5 mm in diameter, light orange in color. The development of eggs lasts four to five months. Burbot, whitefish, especially Valaam whitefish, ruff, and minnow love to eat it. By spring, of the eggs laid by each female, often only a few remain.
There are two forms of palia: the usual one - ludozhnaya, or red, and pit, or ridge. The first one lives at shallower depths from 20 to 70 m, has a darker color, its back is dark green, sometimes with a bluish tint, the sides are lighter, the belly and throat are orange, there are numerous small white spots on the body, the paired fins are yellow , unpaired - gray. The anterior rays of the pectoral, abdominal, anal and lower rays of the caudal fins are milky white. During spawning, the color becomes especially bright, and the main body color becomes red-orange. Males are brighter than females. Ludozhna paliya can weigh up to 6-7 kg, usually less, the largest known specimen caught in Ladoga is 9.5 kg. Palia grows very slowly: at 19 years old, the fish weighs just over 5 kg, but palia lives for a long time; fish over forty years old have been caught in northern lakes.
The ridged palia constantly lives in the deepest parts of the lake (70-150 m), only during spawning it rises briefly to shallow places. This palia is a uniform gray color without orange spots, although the white coloring of the fin rays is clearly visible. It usually weighs no more than 2 kg, rarely up to 4-5 kg. The number of this palia is less than that of the Ludozhnaya.
Palii are predators, feeding mainly on fish: smelt, vendace, stickleback and others; various crustaceans, especially amphipods, are also common in their diet.
In Ladoga and Onega, palia is a commercial fish, but its stocks are currently very low, and therefore there is a ban on its catch. This fish deserves the most careful treatment.
Palia is one of the first fish that began to be artificially bred to increase its numbers in a natural reservoir. In 1898, in “Bulletin of the Fishery Industry” No. 10, a note was published that palia had been bred on the island of Valaam since 1886. Every year 100 thousand fry of this fish were released into Ladoga. Eggs were obtained from individuals caught on the ludas closest to the islands, and they were fertilized using the dry Russian method by V.P. Vrassky and incubated in clay boxes with a glass grid under tap water. The young hatched in December and were fed cottage cheese and beef liver until May.
Palia can be caught well with a spinner on the track and with a spinning rod, with a vertical spinner and with a special tackle with dead fish.
Palia is sensitive to water quality and does not tolerate any pollution. It has a negative effect on the spread and introduction of fish that are not native to this body of water.
Palia has excellent quality meat, but everywhere it is caught in small quantities. Restrictions on fishing for palia and measures for artificial reproduction will increase the number of this beautiful fish.
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Habitats
These loaches live in the cold northern lakes of Finland, Norway, and Sweden. In Russia, they live in the lakes of North Karelia, Ladoga, Onega and large lakes of the Kola Peninsula. Interestingly, in Lakes Ladoga and Onega, palia tries to stay on the north side.
In general, the palya is a purely lake dweller and rarely enters rivers.
There is also the American palia, which lives in the lakes of North America. Loves clean, cold water, does not tolerate pollution well, prefers reservoirs with a rocky bottom. Palia is an ancient fish and belongs to the relics of the Ice Age.
Features of fish
Palia belongs to the salmon family, which is easy to guess just by looking at it. It has an elongated body flattened laterally, a relatively small head and small dense scales. Palia is a fish, photos of which give an idea of its unusual color: the belly always has a pink tint, and the back can be gray or bluish. This depends on many factors: habitat, diet, temperature. The color of the meat of these fish caught in different places also differs. It can be from rich red to pale salmon.
As a rule, headless frozen palia ends up on store shelves. This fish is similar to trout and salmon, it can only be distinguished by its darker skin color and the presence of small round spots on the sides.
Fishing methods
Palia is a predator that stays mainly at great depths, so it is often caught either by trolling (using deep-sea wobblers and heavy spoons) or by vertical lures in winter. You can also fish with a spinning rod, a heavy jig, or a rig with live bait. The baits that are used are: wobblers, spinners, balancers, large jigs.
For successful winter fishing for this predator, fry or pieces of any fish are placed on the hook of the spoon, because... She rarely takes an empty spoon.
Palia is a good fighter and can bring many wonderful sensations to lovers of both summer and winter fishing.
In conclusion, I recommend watching the video: catching Palia by trolling (fishing in Karelia).
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Fishing for palia
When fishing for palia in Karelia, it should be taken into account that at a bottom water temperature of 11-12°C, isolated cases of palia getting caught on a hook were observed. Massive catches occurred in layers of water that had a temperature of 8 to 10°C. At the beginning of July, such a temperature is typical for a depth of 10-12 meters, by the end of this month - for a depth of 15-20 meters, and in mid-August, when the deepest heating of the water column is observed, for a depth of 20 to 30 meters. Spinning fishermen have noticed that on Lakes Ladoga and Onega the best fishing time is August, on Kovdozero - from late May to mid-June. Palia of the Kola lakes hides in depressions all summer. Only in the last days of August, shortly before spawning, does it enter the deep lips, where on quiet nights it is caught from a boat using a jig. It is curious that in some Kola lakes the char looks similar to the palia, and even experienced fishermen cannot always figure out which one fate has given them. A single feature helps to distinguish these fish: the palia has a white border on the ventral and anal fins. In addition, in calm weather, char feed sluggishly, and in windy conditions they bite well near the shore.
Palia in the lakes of Russia. Fishing and methods of catching palia
The range of palia, which belongs to the genus of loaches (the mustachioed loach from loaches has no relation to this fish), is Lakes Onega and Ladoga, cold and clear depths. This genus of fish lives in the cold waters of lakes in North America, Asia and Europe; in addition, loaches are anadromous. These go to spawn from the Arctic and Pacific oceans into the rivers of their basins.
Loaches are very different, not only in color, but also in structure and biological characteristics. Palii are Arctic char. The two above-mentioned lakes are the southern habitats of palia, and these fish live in them in the middle and north of the lakes. They are relics of the Ice Age.
Reproduction begins in the fall, in September - October, on rocky coastal shallows, near islets, up to 20 meters in depth. The egg is quite large, 4–5 mm, light orange in color. It develops in about 5 months, and many fish like to eat it, such as minnows, whitefish, ruffs, and burbot. Of the total number of one female, a few pieces will remain.
There are two types of palia: regular, or red, puddle and kryazhe, or pit. The red one lives closer to the surface of the water, in layers from 20 to 70 meters, dark, the back is dark green, may have a bluish tint, the sides are lighter, and the bottom of the body is orange, with small white spots scattered throughout the body. The paired fins are yellow. Which are unpaired - gray. The pectoral, ventral, and anal fins have milky white anterior rays, and the lower ray of the caudal fin is of the same color.
During spawning, the fish turns red-orange, with females being much paler than males. The weight of the ludozhnaya paliya reaches 6 – 7 kg, but, as a rule, less. The record is 9.5 kg. She grows very slowly, reaching five kilograms only by the age of 19. It lives a long time and specimens that are even 40 years old have been caught.
The loggerhead lives in depths from 7 to 150 meters. It goes into shallower waters to spawn. Its color is gray, there are no orange spots, the rays of the fins are also white and clearly visible. It is not large, weighs about 2 kg, although it can grow up to 4 - 5. Its population is smaller than that of the Ludozhnaya.
Type of food - predators, they eat small fish - smelt, stickleback, vendace. They will not refuse crustaceans; amphipods are preferred. On the lakes near St. Petersburg this is a commercial fish, however, its population has sharply decreased and fishing is currently prohibited.
The first, artificially bred fish. Even “Bulletin of the Fishery Industry” in No. 10 of 1898 wrote that on Valaam the breeding of palya began in 1886. Individuals were caught near the islands, fertilized manually using the Vrassky method, and then placed in clay boxes under a glass grid in tap water. The fry appeared in December, but were fattened until May. Beef liver and cottage cheese were the main diet of the fry.
This fish does not tolerate water pollution, and even reacts to fish that are not typical for this habitat, but are introduced there. Its meat is of very good quality, however, little production was carried out. Now artificial assistance is being carried out to increase reproduction, which will increase the number of tasty fish.
Typically, palya fishing takes place at a fairly large depth, over 15 - 20 meters, a deep-sea track is used, a reel with fishing line about 0.5 mm in diameter is attached to it, a sinker needs about 50 grams, it is attached with a separate leash through a triple carabiner. For a leash, take a thinner line, 0.35 - 0.45 mm, one and a half meters long. The bait is a dead small fish sitting on a baitfish with a propeller at its head. They catch palya in summer and winter using vertical lures. Nickel-plated jigs and spinners are better. You need bait, the naked lure of the palia does not take well. It is better to fish from a moving boat, the techniques are the same as when catching perch in winter.
Biological description
Palia is a typical representative of the genus of loaches, although even among scientists there are often disputes about the exact classification of its individual subspecies and the biological characteristics of this fish, which even today is clearly insufficiently studied. Most often, two forms of palia are distinguished, one of which is called ordinary (red or puddle), the second - ridge (or pit). As the name suggests, the permanent habitat of the pit fish is the deepest parts of the reservoir, and there are known cases of discovering this fish at depths reaching 150 meters. For spawning, the fish goes where it is smaller, and at this time it is easy to distinguish it from ordinary palya by its uniform silver body color, without orange spots. The average weight of a mature individual does not exceed 2 kg, although there are known cases of catching fish weighing 5 kilograms or even more.
Red palia is found in large quantities and lives at shallow depths, often choosing for hunting places in reservoirs where the water layer does not even reach a meter. The fish is very beautiful and has a dark color with a greenish and sometimes bluish tint on the back. The sides are silvery, and the ventral part is painted bright orange, and numerous small white spots resembling pearls are scattered throughout the body. The color of the common falcon becomes especially bright during spawning, which is why the fish received the name red. Ludozhnaya paliya is larger than kryazhevy, and individual specimens reach a weight of almost 10 kg.
