Regardless of the gear and bait, catching pike perch in winter begins with searching for it in the fishing spot. Knowing the basics of searching for pike perch in winter or its exit points is the key to successful fishing. We have repeatedly repeated the proverb known among fishermen specializing in pike-perch fishing: “pike-perch is easy to catch, but not easy to find.”
This is true, if a schooling pike perch is found, it is not at all difficult to catch it.
Winter fishing for pike perch in the “dead winter” may be of a different nature and may require skill, catchable winter bait for pike perch and well-functioning gear.
Advantages of catching pike perch in winter using lures
To successfully catch pike perch in winter using a spoon, you need to know how the behavior of the fanged predator has changed during this period of the year. This also applies to the time he goes out to feed and his food preferences. For promising trolling of pike perch in winter, it is worth using a light-colored bait with a narrow body. It works great on a predator, attracting its attention and provoking an instant capture. It is narrow baits that fit the narrow mouth of a fanged fish.
You can often catch the nocturnal inhabitant of reservoirs at the surface of the water. Pike perch, grouping in small schools, actively moves from one place to another. This behavior provides a dynamic approach to winter walleye fishing. Here you will need to drill holes a lot and fish them intensively.
Winter trolling of pike perch allows you to search in all places on the water surface. In open water, the fisherman does not have such an opportunity.
To make the hunt both exciting and effective, it is enough to choose a reliable fishing rod for pike perch and a dozen pike perch spinners.
Where to catch pike perch in January
There are some tips and tricks that will make finding pike perch easier in January:
- The thicker the ice, the less likely it is to find pike perch at serious depths. In January, the ice thickness reaches impressive sizes, so fishing must be done in shallow water of 1 - 2 meters.
- Try to fish for pike perch in clean water (bays, pools), where there is a sufficient concentration of oxygen. In areas with polluted water, it is very difficult to find pike perch.
- Interesting fact: pike perch do not sit on the bottom covered with vegetation, so searching in such areas should be limited.
- Pay attention to the ice, take a closer look at where there is a large concentration of fishermen, listen carefully to the fishermen, maybe someone is celebrating the catch of a pike perch, if there are such lucky ones, immediately lay out your gear next to them.
Spring. Features of catching pike perchDo-it-yourself fang spoon for pike perch
Choosing gear for lure fishing in winter
What kind of tackle is used for trolling pike perch?
Considering that the average size of prey is in the range of 3–5 kg, you need to choose gear following the following recommendations.
Rod and reel
To cast pike perch vertically in winter, you need a fishing rod with a strong and hard whip 40–50 cm long. The fanged predator has a strong palate, and you can “put” it on a hook only if you have a powerful fishing rod.
It is better to choose a reel model that is durable and comfortable, so that you can easily reel in and release line. It doesn’t matter which type of reel is preferred; both inertial and non-inertial versions have proven themselves to be excellent. But it is more effective to use a multiplier reel to catch pike perch. It is suitable for catching serious predators.
In terms of performance characteristics, such models greatly outperform simple meat grinders; their use affects the hunting process. Multipliers are distinguished by their versatility and power. Thick veins, oversized baits, and heavy-duty fishing rods are used here. The fisherman feels confident when fishing for trophy specimens; all his actions are clear and professional.
Nod and fishing line
When catching a fanged predator, a nod is not always given. They use a nod made of lavsan, a metal plate, its length is 4–6 cm. As a rule, it is used in winter together with light baits for pike perch, when the depth at the fishing point is shallow. The game of the spinner will be both as believable as possible and of high quality.
The choice of vein is often focused on the size of the trophy; its thickness is from 0.20 to 0.40 mm. It is better to select a thin thread, since the predator is more careful in winter, and an excessively thick cord can easily scare it away. It is more effective to choose a monofilament for pike perch, which is capable of absorbing its jerks during bites with its stretch. A leash is necessary if there is a pike in the pond.
For winter fishing for fanged fish, you can use a short telescope 50 cm long. The instrument is distinguished by sufficient strength, low weight, and ease of use.
Where to catch pike perch: promising places
Pike perch is a schooling predator. It does not move around the reservoir chaotically, but along a certain route that passes through all its favorite points. This route is cyclical, that is, roughly speaking, the predator walks in a closed circle, only it is not exactly a circle, but rather a curvilinear one, which ultimately returns to the place where it started.
Walking along this route, the pike perch quickly passes through areas of little interest to it and lingers in areas that are attractive to it for hunting. It is in such places that it is worth placing the girders. You can determine a promising location for their installation by finding the following areas:
- pits - pike perch in winter usually feeds at the exit of them;
- eyebrows;
- various bottom relief anomalies - tubercles, sharp changes in depth, etc.;
- various underwater shelters, such as snags or submerged objects.
The easiest way to find a promising place to install baits for pike perch is to study the depth using a regular sinker. When you come to the pond, don’t waste your time - drill holes and measure the depth by tying a sinker to the fishing line. When making holes about 5-10 meters apart, check the depth.
Measure the depth in the first hole and record this level on the fishing line. When the depth difference in one of the holes is at least 1 meter, you have found a promising place and here the probability of a pike perch biting will be higher than at other points of the reservoir with a flat bottom topography. Try to determine the direction of the edge, then, by placing the poles along it, you will have excellent makings for a good catch.
Winter fishing for pike perch with a spinner and the best fishing
Identifying the location of a predator in winter is not easy. Here you will need to examine many promising points and know the exit times.
When you arrive at the pond, find a working square and drill 10 holes. If one hole turns out to be productive, then drill more holes at intervals of 1–2 m; pike perch is a schooling fish. It is worth examining the points by hitting the bottom surface with bait to raise a cloud of turbidity and attract the attention of the fanged one. In addition, this is an excellent way to monitor differences and changes in the bottom topography. In addition to spinners, rattlins work even more effectively in winter for pike perch and it is better to have them in your kit too.
Spinner bait technique
The technique of catching pike perch using a spoon from ice involves using one of the following methods of playing with bait:
- For an active predator. First, immerse the bait in the water, hit it on the ground, wait a short pause, and raise it to a height of 30-40 cm. Then you need to smoothly raise the fishing rod up 35-40 cm and lower it sharply down. Pause for 5–15 seconds. It’s not worth staying on one hole for a long time; if no bites have occurred after 5–10 such cycles, then it makes sense to move on to the next hole.
- For passive fish. The second method is relevant during the dry winter period, when pike perch leads a sedentary lifestyle. All actions are similar to the previous method, the only difference is working with bait at a height of up to 5 cm.
It is extremely important to pause while trolling, since the moment the predator grabs the bait occurs precisely at this moment. To correctly calculate the amount of stoppage, you need to add a couple of seconds to the time the lure game completely stops. You can practice at home, in open water. The same technique is used when catching pike perch using a balance beam in winter.
The predator rarely lives at the very bottom; here it is better to fish at a height of two meters. But try at the bottom first. The bait is lifted up in steps, with a short pause after each throw. It is worth holding the spoon for a longer time only at the top point.
To be sure to catch pike perch in winter, determine which underwater inhabitants are most attractive to it. The first catch needs to be opened and the stomach checked. If there is a goby, or a gudgeon, or a ruff in it, then work the spoon more actively, hit the ground and raise a cloud of turbidity.
If the pike perch only has bleak in its stomach, then hitting the bottom with the bait is enough only at the initial stage of the game. In early spring, bleak is located in the upper horizons, therefore, it is worth looking for a predator there. During this period of the year you need to play with a spinner almost at the very edge of the ice.
On the first ice, the fanged predator bites sharply and noticeably. This is a strong blow, which can cause the fisherman’s fishing rod to fly out of his hands. Once the prey is hooked, it can hang on the lure like a stone. In the middle of winter, the predator hits the bait with its head, often with the gill cover, without opening its mouth. It feels like a “butting”, as if the fish is pushing the bait away.
The success of fishing directly depends on the speed of identifying promising points, which dictates serious requirements for lures, their design, and shape. It is not rational to use gliding baits against the background of an active search for a predator. It is more effective to use falling vertical spinners.
First ice
When there is first ice, pike perch can be found in the deepest part of the reservoir. This is the riverbed itself and the so-called irrigation (photo 1). Even in open water, pike perch chases large schools of all kinds of white fish that come here for the winter. Thanks to favorable water temperatures, good oxygen conditions and a relatively good food supply, the first ice in deep places creates the most favorable and comfortable conditions for both the forage fish and the pike perch itself.
Photo 1
And if in open water pike perch mainly attacks the bait only in small areas in the channel and next to it, where there is a hard bottom (pebble, shell rock or rocky-sandy bottom), then at the very beginning of winter the pike perch can already be found almost throughout the entire channel. And its bites occur both on hard and silty bottoms. Therefore, sometimes it is enough to cover an area of several hundred meters with a series of holes to get the coveted bite of a large pike perch.
But it’s not enough to have information about the whereabouts of winter pike perch in a particular reservoir; the fisherman must also have extraordinary diligence and patience, and it’s not bad if luck and luck accompany him. In general, I consider trolling a fanged one of the most difficult methods of ice fishing.
Quite often, a large predator avoids the fuss that numerous fish make in the very bed of the reservoir, and settles in deep-water irrigation next to the gutter. This is where his “apartments” are located, where he rests after a successful hunt. But at a certain time, under favorable conditions, isolated flocks of “squirrels” come out to the riverbed areas. And then the predator eats, practically without leaving the house. Also, along with acceptable and comfortable conditions, these places attract fanged fish due to their more heterogeneous bottom composition compared to the riverbed.
Separately, I would like to say about channel edges and slopes. Of greatest interest to us are smooth exits from the riverbed. Favorite places for large fanged fish are also rises from the deep-sea trench in the form of small ledges. Thanks to such uneven terrain, the predator often ambushes numerous “belly” here.
As a rule, smaller zander are found on sharper and steeper edges. Larger pike perch are, as it were, passable in such places. Quite often, the active predator cannot be detected either in the bed of the reservoir or in its irrigation areas. And only on some local section of the gentle channel edge can you see that very bite of the coveted trophy.
To confirm this, I will give an example. About two weeks after the freeze-up, I made an outing to the Minsk Sea with the goal of catching pike perch with lures. I've been on the ice since ten in the morning. For three hours I checked promising points in the riverbed itself - only one bite from a young-of-the-year fangfish. Further trolling on riverbed irrigation also brought little. I knew a few more attractive places on the gentle edges, but at that moment they were occupied by the girders.
I checked the deep-sea area until the evening - to no avail. By 16.00 the reservoir was empty - the giraffes went home without seeing a single bite during the entire daylight hours. I immediately moved to the vacated exit from the riverbed. Having covered the promising area with a series of thirty holes, I began fishing. Already on the second hole, on the very first swing, there was a powerful blow from a predator on the spoon. He didn’t miss the hook, forcefully fished it out - and ten seconds later the two-kilo pike perch ended up on the ice. In the evening twilight I got two bites from well-fed perches. And already in the dark the spoon was attacked by another large pike perch. This is such a test trip.
At the beginning of winter, deep-sea snag is also important (photo 2). And the more abundantly and higher it rises above the bottom, the greater the chances of seeing a bite from a large, and sometimes even trophy, pike perch. The attractiveness of such places is added by the heterogeneous composition of the bottom and abundant colonies of shells. Dreissena, which densely covers the branches and trunks of flooded trees and shrubs, is an excellent natural filter.
Photo 2
It is thanks to this that an acceptable oxygen regime is formed in the snags both for the ubiquitous roach and perch, and for their hunter - pike perch. But I will objectively note that on the reservoirs where I practice winter trolling, these places are of interest only in the first two to four weeks after freeze-up (depending on weather conditions). And later, due to the weak flow of the reservoirs known to me and the further decomposition of woody remains, oxygen starvation occurs here.
Well, pike perch, as one of the most demanding freshwater inhabitants in terms of oxygen content in water, leaves the snowy water area. Only small fangs remain here, preferring to stay higher from the bottom. The spinner should also keep in mind that fishing in snags is associated with frequent hooks and breakage of baits, so he should always have a cutter and a breaker in his arsenal.
How to choose a winter lure for pike perch
There are many options for catching a predator from the ice, but not all show results. To choose the right winter lures for pike perch, familiarize yourself with the basic parameters of such baits.
Spinner and hook size
The optimal size of a pike perch spoon, if fishing is aimed at large specimens, is about 10 cm. To catch medium-sized specimens, baits 5 cm long are sufficient. If hunting is planned at a depth of over 5 meters, then the size of the bait should be within 8 cm. Such versions able to quickly reach the desired horizon.
To catch winter pike perch, the weight of the spoon should not exceed 25 g. If there is a strong current in the fishing area, then you should choose appropriate, heavier baits.
For confident hooking and successful fishing, use triple hooks. When fishing with a single hook, predator attacks are often observed. The size of the hook should correspond to the size of the spoon. The forend must be sharp, and the hook itself must be reliable. It’s better to make sure of the quality in the store; there are many hooks on the market made of fragile material.
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Spoon shape and material
For fanged predators, it is preferable to use narrow-bodied baits, long and fast. Wide spoons are more suitable for hunting pike. Sometimes an ordinary shiny rectangular metal plate equipped with a hook works. Here you should not be afraid to experiment.
Lures for pike perch are made from:
- copper;
- brass;
- cupronickel
There are artificial baits on sale, made from one or two metal plates securely joined together. The free space is often filled with lead to weigh it down. This technique is more effective than soldering from the outside. Due to the softness of lead, after several tests with the teeth of a predator, the spoon loses its attractiveness.
Spoon color
In order for pike perch to notice the bait in the water column, you need to choose the right color. You can use any options, but colors such as:
- silver;
- white;
- golden;
- yellow.
For night hunting, it is worth choosing baits of bright or acidic colors; in the daytime, pike perch are better off using a duller version.
Zherlitsa for pike perch: the right equipment
The girder itself can be of different designs: vertical, horizontal, on a leg, upside down and others. A classic and very practical one is a hole on a horizontal platform, which, in addition to working well for fishing and being conveniently installed even in high snow, also protects the hole from freezing.
The main parameters of the fishing rod for pike perch should be such that its reel can accommodate a fishing line 5-8 meters more than the depth at the intended fishing point. Since few people can immediately say at what depth they will fish, a universal option is a reel on which at least 30 meters of 0.35 mm fishing line is wound.
It is also important that the coil is located quite high above the hole. It is optimal when the distance from the vent platform to the coil is 10-15 cm or more. Then it will be less susceptible to freezing and will signal a bite in time.
A fishing line for pike perch is suitable with a diameter of 0.3-0.4 mm. The leash is used 0.05 mm thinner than the main fishing line, made from monofilament fishing line of a smaller diameter, or from braided line. A metal leash is not required, since pike perch are not able to cut regular fishing line with their teeth. A leash is placed only if a pike can also bite at the same level as the pike perch. And then, it’s better to use a nylon leash rather than a metal one. In any case, with a leash that is more elastic than the fishing line, the number of fanged bites can be significantly reduced.
The hook can be used single or double. A tee can only be installed when using spiny fish species as live bait - perch, ruff. Otherwise, the tee will scare away and alert the pike perch, as a result of which fishing efficiency may decrease. Hook sizes: for single hooks - No. 9-12; double or tee - No. 6-7. It is optimal to use a double, then the number of bites will not be reduced, and there will be no more idle bites.
