How to find grayling in winter?
Although grayling is caught quite well in winter, this fish is much less active in the winter than in spring, summer or autumn. In winter, grayling strives downstream in order to find food for itself, and then returns to its resting places.
It is worth noting that grayling is most attracted to the rocky bottom, covered in large quantities with pebbles and stones. For the most part, in winter it is worth looking for grayling in places where the depth is greater, at the entrances and exits to various pools and underwater holes.
The grayling tries to stay on the boundary between the slow and fast streams of the river flow, and may be located slightly to the side of the current itself. It is worth looking for grayling on the Yenisei in the mouths and tributaries flowing into this river. Tributaries bring food to the Yenisei, which grayling eats, and therefore this is a very attractive place for its appearance in winter.
Fishing on the Yenisei
What can compare with such a phenomenon as summer night fishing on the Yenisei? It is perhaps impossible to describe in words those sensations that are simply overwhelming. In order to experience indescribable emotions, you need to go fishing in person.
Undoubtedly, daytime fishing on the Yenisei 2021 will also be memorable for everyone, because there are many types of fish here, and no one will be left without a catch. If you think about the question of what kind of fish is found in the Yenisei, then the answer is simple:
But avid fishermen know that in order to get the desired catch, they must go for it at night. A little about the Yenisei The Yenisei is a river that is rightfully considered one of the largest rivers in the Russian Federation and Siberia. It stretches for 5 thousand kilometers.
Along the meridian, this river divides Russia conditionally into two parts. It is worth noting that this division is both cultural and geographical. People divide it in such a way that the right bank belongs to Siberia, and on the left side the European part begins smoothly.
In the ranking of rivers by length, the Yenisei is in second place in the Russian Federation. The river begins in the mountains, its flow in this area has incredible force, which makes it impossible to even approach the water. After this, the water flow follows along the West Siberian Lowland, which allows the flow speed to be significantly reduced. However, no matter what, the river is a type of treacherous river, and is also characterized by an increased danger for inexperienced fishermen.
What time to go fishing for grayling?
Many anglers note the fact that grayling can bite differently on different days. If fishing for grayling on the Yenisei River is carried out on clear and bright days in sunny weather, then it is better to catch grayling in the morning, and therefore it is better to come to the fishing site while it is still dark and start fishing for grayling at dawn. In the evening hours or during the day, the grayling bite becomes much worse.
If the weather is cloudier outside, and there is also a thaw, then grayling bites can be observed throughout the daylight hours. For fishermen, such weather in terms of catching grayling is simply a blessing, but to the great regret of fishermen, such weather is observed quite rarely.
Rich areas
Throughout the entire river there is a huge amount of fish. The Yenisei is the place where fishermen manage to catch truly trophy fish. But it is worth considering that the river is not the same throughout its entire territory, therefore the fish caught in different parts of it may also be different.
Before you start fishing, you need to study the river map in detail. So, in the upper part it is a mountain stream flowing among mountain rocks. Therefore, fishing here is almost impossible, since access to the shore is blocked almost everywhere. However, experienced fishermen have gotten used to it and know their “paths”. The situation is better in the middle part, where the river becomes wider. But the current here is less. In the middle part of the river, one bank is steep and steep, but the other is flat and quite suitable for fishing.
The Yenisei, as mentioned earlier, is home to a considerable amount of fish. These are crucian carp, pike, bream, perch and sorog. If you turn a little to the north, you can find taimen, grayling and lenok here. Despite the fact that in many parts of the river the water is very cold, carp and carp live here. Moreover, they are not caught by chance.
Carp
By the way, on the territory of Krasnoyarsk there is even a fishing club, whose members are aimed specifically at carp and carp. Large sizes of sorog, bream and crucian carp are also caught here. There are areas on the river where you can catch peaceful species directly from the shore. For these purposes, bottom-type gear is most often used. And much less often - ordinary float fishing rods.
Gear for catching winter grayling
Experienced fishermen say that for catching winter grayling, and not only on the Yenisei, but anywhere else, the dimensional parameters of the fishing rod and its shape do not play a special role. Each fisherman selects a fishing rod specifically for himself, which one he likes best and is more comfortable. Some anglers prefer the balalaika, while others prefer the filly.
You should pay attention to the choice of fishing line. You should not take too thick versions of the fishing line so that it is not noticeable in the water. Many anglers speak well of fluorocarbon fishing line, which is approximately 0.12 millimeters in diameter. This line is quite suitable for catching grayling with weight parameters up to two kilograms.
Grayling is also caught on the Yenisei using bottom equipment; in this case, each angler again chooses the type of bottom equipment that is more familiar and convenient for him when fishing. Some fishermen use summer gear to catch winter grayling and catch perfectly.
Fishing in the Yenisei by season
The Yenisei River is the deepest and longest river in Russia. Fishing in the Yenisei is very interesting and catchy depending on the season. This majestic Siberian river stretches for a distance of more than 4000 km. This river is home to more than ten species of fish, and taking into account the subspecies, this number can be doubled. Some species of fish live throughout almost the entire water area of the Yenisei, while others are found only in the upper or lower reaches of the river. Still others are only in its middle reaches. Fishing on the Yenisei and its tributaries is very popular both among local residents and guests from all over Russia.
The sources of the Yenisei are located above sea level at an altitude of about 600 meters, and are located in the vicinity of the city of Kyzyl. In its upper reaches, the Yenisei has a mountainous character. The depths of the Yenisei in the upper reaches before the confluence with the Angara River, with rare exceptions, are no more than 12 meters. In this part of the river the banks are quite hilly and steep. There are very few good places for fishing from the shore. Therefore, mainly in the upper reaches, fishing on the Yenisei from a boat is the only possible option. However, the strong current in the upper reaches of the Yenisei makes fishing to some extent difficult even from a boat.
After merging with the Angara, the Yenisei becomes much wider, and its flow becomes moderate. After all, further the river bed passes through flat terrain. Significant changes are also occurring with the outlines of the coasts. The left bank is dominated by flat landscapes, while the right bank is characterized by the presence of hills. For fishermen, the left bank of the Yenisei is more preferable.
As noted above, about three dozen species and subspecies of fish live in the Yenisei. The upper reaches of the river and the middle reaches are inhabited by pike, sturgeon, ide, perch, sterlet and the legendary taimen, as well as a number of other fish.
In the lower reaches there is even richer species diversity. You can add nelma to the above species. Grayling, omul, muksun, peled, burbot, vendace. Due to the fact that fishing for taimen is prohibited, the most popular trophy among predatory fish is pike. At the same time, catching pike weighing 10-12 kg is quite common in the waters of the Yenisei.
Such tributaries of the Yenisei as the Konda are especially distinguished by their catchy fishing. Northern Sosva and Bedia.
As noted above, pike fishing in the Yenisei is especially popular. But in different parts of the reservoir, the toothy predator reacts differently to the bait. Local pike fishing enthusiasts recommend having a good arsenal of a wide variety of pike fishing lures. On the Yenisei, the most catchy baits for catching toothy predators are large spoons or streamers for catching salmon.
Perch in the Yenisei waters is perhaps the most common fish. It is recommended to catch trophy perch in tributaries. But fishing from the shore will not bring much success due to the weak bite of the striped predator. It must be caught from a boat or speedboat. It is best to catch trophy perch using spinning baits.
In addition to perch, there is a lot of burbot in the Yenisei. But this species, unlike the burbot that lives in the rivers of the European part of Russia, here reaches very large sizes. And catching an individual weighing 6-8 kg in the Yenisei is not considered a major success. However, the best time for catching burbot begins with the arrival of autumn.
Spring fishing in the Yenisei
When the Yenisei is completely free of ice, many species of fish prepare to spawn. There is one characteristic feature of this river: the melting of ice in the Yenisei waters does not occur simultaneously, but at different times. Almost all of March, all the tributaries of the Yenisei are still frozen and during this period only ruff and roach are caught. And in April, when the ice quickly thins out, it is better not to go fishing, especially since at this time there is a ban on ice fishing. Around mid-April, huge thawed areas appear off the coast, and many anglers begin to fish with summer gear from the shore. Mostly spring fishing on the Yenisei takes place for crucian carp, pike, bream, roach, and perch. With the arrival of May, spawning time begins for most fish species and a spawning ban on fishing comes into force; fishing is allowed only with fishing rods.
Summer fishing on the Yenisei
At the beginning of summer, the fish become more active. Summer fishing on the Yenisei is characterized by solid catches. The most important thing is to be able to choose the right tackle and catchable baits for it. Bottom gear is most often used to catch white fish. Especially recently, feeder fishing has gained popularity. The main species caught are bream, ide, crucian carp, carp, sterlet, and chebak.
Active biting in summer gives prospects for good catches from the shore. However, many anglers use boats for summer fishing and prefer to fish at some distance from the shore. But catches from a boat are not much different from catches from the shore. Experienced fishermen look for places rich in food, where the chances of successful fishing will be much higher. You can count on good catches if you feed certain fishing points correctly and constantly.
Autumn, fishing on the Yenisei
In autumn, after heavy rains, the Yenisei becomes very full. Most fish will have a period of autumn feeding before the onset of winter cold. During this period, fish bite on a wide variety of baits. Autumn fishing on the Yenisei for predatory fish is especially promising. With the arrival of September, active fishing for grayling begins, and in October, burbot becomes more active. Most often, local fishermen catch both grayling and burbot using the “balda”.
Winter fishing on the Yenisei
What you can’t take away from Siberians is the desire to go fishing even in the harshest Siberian winters. Winter fishing on the Yenisei has its own characteristics:
1. For fishing, it is recommended to choose those areas on the river where the water is not covered with ice until January. In such places, the fish still lives in the autumn cycle and bites more actively;
2. The most active species of fish that are caught by anglers in the Yenisei are burbot, perch, roach and whitefish. Mostly small fish are caught;
3. The best gear for winter fishing is a winter fishing rod with a jig or spoon, as well as a girder;
Winter fishing on the Yenisei, like on any other body of water, requires caution and compliance with safety measures. Indeed, in some places the ice can be very thin due to strong currents or other reasons. If you are planning to fish on the Yenisei for the first time, then it is better to turn to the services of experienced guides. They will indicate a place where fishing is good, and tell you what gear and bait should be used for successful fishing.
What to use to catch grayling in winter?
Grayling can be caught quite well with all types of silicone baits. Moreover, in recent years, the fishing industry has begun to produce a wide variety of silicone baits for fishermen - these include fish, bugs, worms, all kinds of flies, and other types of insects.
It is quite popular to catch winter grayling using jigs and balancers. Fishermen note that when fishing with spinners, it is better to choose spinners with elongated shapes and oscillating type spinners. At the same time, many fishermen try to lure grayling by attaching a variety of colored beads to the bait.
Grayling bites well in the winter and on natural baits such as maggots, bloodworms, grasshoppers, larvae and worms. Some anglers catch winter grayling using live bait, which can be a variety of small fish. Among other things, it was noted that grayling likes the curd mass that is fed to it while fishing.
On the tributaries of the Yenisei
Photo: Evgeny Kuznetsov.
She felt cramped in her bed. The water rose, flooded the floodplain, and hid the coastal shallows. Only the islands revealed themselves as green caps of moving willow grass.
Shreds of whitish fog crawled along the dark spruce-fir slopes. There was a delicious smell of pine needles and rotten leaves.
The friends scattered along the shore and unsuccessfully whipped the water with spinning rods. Doesn't bite. We ventured into the Siberian wilderness for trophy fishing. Grayling, lenok, taimen, whitefish - these are exactly the trophies for which we made two flights, climbed up the Yenisei, and then along its tributaries to the treasured place.
Read the material “Golden rules of spring salmon fishing”
The night passed under the rustling rain, and at dawn we were already on the river. I didn’t take out my gear, but having picked up a camera, I tried to capture my first vivid impressions on camera. There's still a week of vacation ahead - I'll catch up.
Seeing the unsuccessful attempts of friends, the pattern of the upcoming fishing gradually takes shape. There are no fish in the main stream, the current is too strong, which means you need to look for it at the mouths of swollen streams and behind natural shelters.
Surprisingly, the first landing on the shore pleased me with a bite in just five minutes. A large two-part wobbler attacked an equally large, approximately eight hundred gram grayling.
In the foothill sections of Siberian rivers, most often young grayling and whitefish are the main food item for predators. And it’s not surprising that a silver wobbler with a black back turned out to be so popular.
I bet on a medium-sized silver-colored oscillating spoon, believing that it would be the one that would be able to break through the current and reach the bottom, where behind or in front of the boulders there could be a more substantial trophy in the form of taimen or lenok. But casting across the river did not bring results.
In the rising waters, the fish changed their traditional stopping places, so the main task was to find these places. Small bushes and thickets of grass hung over the steep banks; the gently sloping banks were flooded with water so that one had to walk knee-deep or chest-deep in water. Waders and wading boots were the limits of our capabilities.
Wiring over the grass, in the “returns”, at the border of clear water and current did not bring results. I tried to walk along the steep bank and in one place I felt a slight blow. A second attempt in the same direction resulted in a confident bite and the heavy fish began to cut the water with a fishing line up and downstream.
The difficulty of the struggle was that it was necessary to climb through the hard brush of low-growing bushes, stepping on wet stones and large winding rhizomes in the grass. Once you get excited, a cool bath is guaranteed.
Read the material “Hunting Dawns with Oddities”
A few minutes later, the crimson side of a gorgeous lenok appeared, weighing about two kilograms. A few more minutes of struggle and the trophy is already on the shore. New casts did not produce results; apparently, the active struggle scared away the remaining inhabitants of the coastal pit.
After a few steps, just below the shore, I saw flooded hummocks of sedge, between which dark gaps could be seen - an ideal place for an ambush and an attack from below. Posting an oscillating spoon was not successful; it caught the strands of sedge with its tee and rather frightened the fish than seduced it. I put Mepps long No. 3 in silver with scarlet dots, but even here it turns out that not everything is so simple.
When fishing with the current, the petal sticks and the hook catches the sedge; when fishing against the current, the water jet pushes the bait to the surface. I’m trying to catch vertically with a rotating spoon, especially since in winter I was able to catch grayling from under the ice in a similar way.
The current slowly rotates the petal, and the spoon plunges into darkness. Immediately the spinning rod bent into an arc, a huge grayling with a beautiful sail instantly hit the bait and disappeared into the depths with a turn. There is a beginning.
Almost every bump was followed by a bite. Some graylings attacked greedily, others, opening a sail with fluorescent stripes and dots, seemed to sniff the lure. But as soon as you pulled the bait up, a lightning attack followed.
The fish hasn't been washed away, it's here. I just changed parking spots. Time flies unnoticed, only a signal from the boat forced me to interrupt such fishing. It's time to go to a new interesting place. As it turned out, many expedition members had not yet left zero.
The new place turned out to be flooded with water, only rare larch and aspen trees stuck out above the shallow water. At this time the sun came out, it immediately became warmer and “Siberian happiness” in the form of mosquitoes, midges and midges took to the wing, trying to get into the eyes, get into the nose and ears.
The river immediately came to life. The previously smooth surface was covered with dozens of saucers from feeding grayling. At the far steep bank, several solid splashes were heard - this was the owner of the Taimen River - shepherding his herd.
Read the material “Blood, sweat and Capricorns”
The fly fishermen immediately loosened the tight loops of bright cords, and the spinners moved closer to the bushes so as not to disturb the former.
Despite the active feeding, only small grayling up to two hundred grams were tempted by dry flies. More respectable individuals stood lower and most often attacked heavy “turntables” equipped with a front sight.
My ten-gram Myran Mira spinner with a black petal turned out to be one of the most popular. Long casting and a deeper fishing horizon made it possible to catch cautious, fat fish over and over again. But the intensity of the bite on it noticeably decreased immediately after the motley feather was lost after one unsuccessful removal of the tee from the mouth. A trifle, but very offensive.
But it was here that everyone’s fishing passion was satisfied. Moreover, the lenok also pecked regularly. The day was a success. In the evening, we were treated to a fragrant, rich fish soup and delicious fried grayling.
When the first fishing excitement is satisfied, you always want to catch either something new or a trophy. Therefore, everyone switched to more solid baits. Spinners relied on thundering Sebile onduspoon spinners, large wobblers with two or three joints and poppers, light Williams whitefish and wabler spinners when fishing in riffles, and heavy copper Krokodile oscillating spinners when fishing in pits.
Fly fishermen have placed their bets on streamers and mouse imitations. One of the features was that each time the fishing was carried out in a new place, which means that the ability to read the river comes to the fore.
Not everyone can see the failure of the jets, the pitfall, the failure of the jets, the clamps, the beginning and the end of the hole, those who first went on such fishing. In one place we found ourselves in “pike paradise”.
A small bay with good depth and slow “return” has formed between the island and the confluence of the stream. We moved to the far edge of the spit at the mouth of the flowing stream. An unexpected powerful bite almost knocked the spinning rod out of the hands of a strong fisherman. I turned sideways once and twice, but the wide strip of grass on the flooded edge did not allow me to force events. There was no landing net at hand and the faithful “ten” left along with the wobbler.
No one expected to meet such a “crocodile” here, so there was no leash in front of the bait. A few minutes later I got a bite, and the faithful Williams left with the “submarine” without even appearing from the water. While I was tying the leash to my friend, there was a bite again, and the six-kilogram predator ended up on the shore.
Several more qualifying tails were caught here, but we wanted to catch a solid taimen, so we took off and rafted further.
Read the material “Preparing motor boats for operation”
At one of the sites, a joyful cry filled the taiga. Fly fisherman Pavel, who had been unwinding his line for several days to no avail, finally caught his taimen on a mouse.
Fly fishing, during the day. Moreover, he fished almost at the very side of the boat, standing chest-deep in the water. The entire expedition gathered at the end of the battle. The trophy was solemnly weighed and released. Before this, a fairly large mouse equipped with a solid hook caught grayling and lenok, and now, finally, the scoring point.
Everyone caught their time, and more than one. But the solid one, weighing over ten kilograms, was not caught. It is difficult to find the owner of the river in high water.
And then the last day came. Departure to a distant threshold. Nobody throws bait randomly towards the water anymore, choosing only promising places - experience is gained. And suddenly an unexpected cry, drowning out the roar of rushing water. The owner of the river, according to the law of the genre, chose the youngest and most inexperienced.
The line instantly flew off the spool. The fish rushed first upstream, and then just as quickly downstream, dragging the confused fisherman along with it through the birch snout. Now help has arrived.
The king fish, weighing at least fifteen kilograms, tiredly approached the steep bank, barely fell on its side, examining the assembled spectators. The silvery Sebile could barely hold on to the edge of its huge mouth with one hook.
The volunteer's hand tried to grab the tail to push the fish towards the shore. The final fountain of spray, and in the last jerk the owner of the roll gains freedom.
It was a great fishing trip.
Evgeny Kuznetsov June 26, 2021 at 02:11 pm
Main types of fish
Several dozen species of fish live in the Yenisei. In the upper part of the river you can find the following species: perch, ruff, pike, ide, minnow, sturgeon, sterlet, taimen. In the lower reaches the species composition expands . There you can also catch grayling, nelma, muksun, burbot, peled, vendace and omul. The most popular among fishermen is pike. Some fishermen managed to catch individuals weighing more than 12 kilograms. Such a catch is guaranteed in the tributaries of the river:
- Northern Sosva.
- Conda.
- Bedia.
It is known that pike react differently to bait throughout the entire length of the river. That is why fishermen advise taking several types of bait with them at once. So, most often pike bite on salmon streamers and large-sized spoons.
Perch lives almost the entire length of the river. Large-sized individuals are found in the tributaries. The main difficulty when catching this species is that the bite from the shore is very weak. This is why most fishermen use boats and boats. Large specimens are well caught using spinning rods.
Burbot and omul are considered very valuable species. It is for them that fishermen come from central Russia. However, not all fishermen are lucky. A good bite of these species can only be observed in autumn.
