Life under the ice of river and lake fish in difficult winter conditions

Wintering options

There are several ways in which freshwater fish adapt to winter cold. They depend on the depth of the reservoir, current or lack thereof, ambient temperature and type of fish.

Wintering pits

Cooling and freezing water affects each type of fish differently. Some of them are thermophilic:

• carp;
• bream;
• carp;
• line.

Since October they have been swimming in schools to greater depths. Such deep-sea areas are called wintering pits. Features of this wintering:

• At depth, the fish spend 3 months or more, huddled together closely and hardly moving. Often those on the bottom layer develop bedsores.
• Fish of the same species and age usually overwinter in small pits. This is explained by the fact that with less intense metabolic processes for a large number of specimens, the conditions are optimal.
• During wintering, fish secrete mucus. It does not allow the bodies to come into close contact with each other and serves as a kind of thermal cushion.
• Catfish spend the winter not in the pits themselves, but next to them. They cannot tolerate the deterioration of the oxygen regime, which necessarily occurs some time after the formation of the ice cover.

Complete passivity

This type of wintering is most often chosen by crucian carp. It simply freezes close to the bottom of the reservoir, completely stops moving and feeding, and in this position waits for spring. Metabolic processes in the body slow down greatly, which allows the fish to survive in cold and hungry times.

Burying in silt

This is a kind of complete passivity. It is suitable not only for crucian carp, but also for many other species.

The fish sink to the bottom, burrow deeper into the layer of silt and freeze. Immobility helps not to waste energy (which means there is no need to replenish it), the silt serves as a cushion that protects against freezing.

Migration

Some fish, such as salmon, go to the southern regions for the winter. Over the summer, they accumulate enough fat, grow, and with the approach of cold weather they move to warm seas, where they spend the winter closer to the bottom. This process is called "migration".

After the end of winter, fish that have fattened in sea water return to the rivers to spawn and continue their race.

Keeping active

Some species of fish, most often large ones, do not lose activity during cold weather. Constant movement provides their bodies with energy and warmth, and food becomes fed by small things that have not hibernated: roach, bleak, ruffs. Even your own fry can serve as food.

Spawning

A wintering type commonly used by burbots. In warm water, the fish feels depressed and goes into hibernation as soon as the temperature rises above 15-16° C. But winter is the most favorable time of the year.

With the onset of autumn cold weather, burbot actively fattens, and in winter begins to reproduce. It spawns in cold water under a thick layer of ice, laying eggs on the rocky bottom of the reservoir.

Freezing

Small bodies of standing water freeze to the very bottom in severe winters. Sometimes even the mud in which the fish are buried freezes. The inhabitants of ponds, lakes and swamps, in which there is no current, have adapted to this.

Fish that calmly endure the winter in complete passivity (for example, crucian carp and dalia) freeze into a layer of ice, falling into complete hibernation. When the ice thaws and the water gradually warms up, the fish wake up and begin an active life.

Only if the gills and fluid in the body of an underwater inhabitant freeze very much does it die. This rarely happens.

On small rivers in the pre-winter

Photo by the author

Pre-winter seems to be the most difficult period for fishing in open, but cold water that continues to cool. And this difficulty both for lovers of float fishing rods and for spinning anglers is due to the fact that everywhere different fish make a massive migration to their upcoming wintering places, densely accumulating in the deepest and calmest zones of reservoirs, where their energy expenditure on movement and obtaining food will be minimal . This often leads to the fact that in large reservoirs, lakes, quarries, as well as on large rivers, the fish of interest to the fisherman is too far from the shore - beyond the reach of light, sensitive gear, and on various coarse bottoms, feeders or heavy float equipment it is in the ice It is practically not caught in water.

In late autumn, especially on the eve of winter, when windy weather does not allow comfortable and effective fishing in deep water, both from the shore and from a boat, interesting fishing can happen on small rivers, intricately winding under the cover of high banks. Only here an angler with a compact fishing rod will have to do a lot of research in order to accurately determine the places where fish densely accumulate on the eve of winter. As a rule, it leaves river rapids and collects in areas of medium and maximum depths, where the current is slow or even turns in the opposite direction.

This is what whirlpools usually look like on small rivers, often appearing near steep and concave banks, where a stormy spring stream, unable to immediately “fit” into a turn, twists and turns debris and foam caps, gradually digging a whirlpool hole at the bottom of the river. Here, with the cooling of the water, in order to save energy, which is needed a lot in the current, different fish gather, but they are clearly distributed among the zones of the pool: gudgeon, dace, bleak, chub stay at the entrance to the pit, being the first to grab the food brought by the current. Less mobile roach, rudd, bream, and crucian carp feed in deep places with minimal flow, obtaining food in bottom sediments. And predators are somewhere nearby, but not in clean places, but in the area of ​​snags and rubble of fallen trees, where they can ambush.

However, in addition to the whirlpools, in the fall the fisherman should pay attention to areas on the river where a weak current remains, but the backwater from the dam built downstream is significantly evident. While there is no ice, various white and predatory fish feed here and only after freeze-up they move to a deep and almost flowing reach formed by the rise of water above the dam.

In these areas, fishing is not as simple as it might seem, since on the eve of winter the fish do not stand still, but day by day, depending on the weather and the proximity of winter, they move up and down the river, looking for the most comfortable living conditions. Therefore, a fisherman with a fishing rod must be prepared for the fact that where there was good fishing yesterday, today there will be no bite at all and the fish will have to be quickly looked for again, given the short time allotted for fishing on an autumn day. But in addition to this, you need to choose a position on the shore so that you don’t scare the fish, and it’s convenient to work with the gear; you also need to choose an effective attachment or bait and the trajectory of the equipment where the hook with bait will most often meet the fish.

Here it is imperative to take into account the decisive role of camouflage for the success of fishing not only with a fishing rod, but also with a spinning rod, since the water in rivers in the pre-winter period becomes very clear. For this reason, you should dress softly, discreetly, trying to blend in with the general coastal background.

The position on the shore should also be taken so that the sun, even if it is hidden by clouds, is directed in the face or from the side, and it is better to stand or sit against the backdrop of a thick bush behind your back or a thick tree trunk - this way the fish notices movement near the water less and not alarmed. At the same time, it is necessary to approach a promising fishing spot not along a convenient path near the water’s edge, but it is advisable to approach it at some distance from the river, under the cover of vegetation. By the way, what effect did or did not have the appearance of a fisherman on the shore can be reliably determined by high-quality polarized glasses, in which you will certainly be able to see the disturbance in the fish camp, and what size and type of fish are available in a particular pool, which will determine in the future fishing plan.

But noisy behavior on the bank of a narrow river and the hope that the fish can then be attracted with bait tested in warm water, often leads to a complete fiasco for the arrogant fisherman. The fact is that in clean and relatively fast rivers, and especially in ice-cold water, where fish are accustomed to natural live food, they lead a more “wild” lifestyle than in other bodies of water, and almost always respond negatively to any feeding, leaving bait coverage area.

A clean or mixed with soil bloodworm would probably help here, but it would be of little use if the fisherman immediately scared away all living things. Moreover, it is the large fish that moves away from external disturbance earlier and faster than others, as it has large eyes with a wide field of vision and a longer and more sensitive lateral sensory line that detects very weak vibrations of the coastal soil.

Now it is clear that the most effective baits for catching various fish on a fishing rod in a cold autumn river will be all those living creatures that have “ripened” in it on the eve of winter and have become familiar and accessible food. As a rule, these are various larvae, leeches of some species, amphipods, and after heavy rains, earthworms, which are also eaten by large river predators, for example, chub, pike, perch, burbot, and grayling. But relying only on bloodworms and maggots, which are taken ahead of time in the store, often leads only to frequent bites of small things, since bloodworms caught in another body of water may have a “non-native” smell, which is well sensed by large fish, and maggots generally smell unpleasant and even stronger. True, sometimes when fishing with a wire it is possible to “deceive” the fish with a yellow maggot, which, apparently, perfectly imitates a caddisfly.

However, for successful fishing, it is better to get the bait locally, which is not so difficult to do. To do this, you need to find a section of the river that is densely overgrown with algae in the summer, which have now fallen to the bottom. Here the vegetation must be quickly pulled out with a rake or a long stick with a spear at the end onto a clean “patch” off the shore and carefully disassembled by hand, putting any living creatures that come across into a box with a damp cloth. Usually, quite soon, it is possible to prepare a sufficient number of small dragonflies for fishing - “casars”, caddis flies in “houses”, various brownish leeches, amphipods, on which fish in icy water take, sometimes greedily, like a summer, sharply sinking the float.

But even with good bait and the right choice of place on the river, flaws in the float tackle can significantly reduce the results. And the most important thing here is not the design and sensitivity of the equipment, but its excess weight, which implies a bulky float and inevitable excessive noise with each next cast into the water. For short distances and shallow fishing depths, it is necessary to use extremely light equipment on a thin line with an elongated float, painted in the most modest, neutral tones. And even the color of the hook, not to mention its optimal size, sometimes has a noticeable significance - it is better to take thin hooks of black or red.

Of course, it is advisable to fish in a retrieve, at first noticing where bites most often occur, and then at this “point”, purposefully holding the course of the equipment with the rod - a technique called retrieving with braking, it usually leads to a more accurate grip of the fish and its reliable notch on the hook. However, wiring is not effective for every fish in icy water; sometimes you have to fish by adjusting the sensitive half-bottom when the nozzle lies motionless on the bottom. So, for example, you have to “hatch” crucian carp or burbot in the pre-winter period.

In addition, fishing on a small river presupposes the presence of escape routes to reserve “positions,” since after noisily fishing for a worthy trophy, the fish pool can be empty for a long time, and then there is no point in wasting time here. It is better to quickly move to previously tested places that gave a positive result and continue fishing there. Both the spinning rod fisherman and the predator hunter with live bait gear will have to organize their fishing according to the same principle - there are never too many predatory fish in a limited space, only sometimes it is possible to take a few perches from the “point”. But you always need to remember exactly or write down in a notebook the places where the bite happened - on a small river there are few good ambush sites for large fish, so after a few days a marked snag or a fallen tree can again give results.

As experience shows, the most effective spinning baits on the eve of winter are those that are distinguished by “lazy” action, hold the horizon well even with the slowest retrieval, and have discreet colors close to the usual food of the local predator. For this reason, various rotating spinners often fail, but light spinners made of uncleaned copper, brass or with a matte silver surface turn out to be quite functional. Also, wobblers with shallow depth, suitable for fishing conditions, have also proven themselves to be excellent - usually with a minnow-minnow body shape. It is much easier to fish with jig baits based on compact vibrating tails when moving them slowly straight at the bottom or in the water column - the main thing here is to choose an extremely light “eared” weight with a hinged mounting or find a very light jig head, but with a hook worthy of a weighty trophy.

As for the technique of fishing with a spinning rod, on the bank of the river, first of all, there is no need to make hasty actions, so that by immediately “planting” the bait in the snag, you do not spoil the fishing in a promising place. You should evaluate the trajectory of the bait near the intended fish stop and, for this, choose a position and outline the direction of casting. It is better to place the bait on the water so that, using its own dynamic qualities and the force of the current, move it along a trajectory that leads around the fish so that it remains in the field of view of the predator for as long as possible - this is the so-called drift fishing. It is ideal when the bait, having completed its move in an arc, seems to stop and freeze at a “dead” point opposite the fish in order to begin a direct movement towards the fisherman - a predator in an ambush usually cannot withstand this and makes an instant grab.

And, by the way, you shouldn’t follow the popular opinion that on small rivers you should definitely use light or even ultra-light class rods. Short in length - yes. But still, in order not to prolong the fight against the very likely loss of the trophy in snags, it is much more effective to fish with spinning rods of medium or hard action. This is also necessary because long casting is not required, but such “sticks” ensure good accuracy in the best possible way.

Anatoly Mailkov November 8, 2013 at 00:00

How to help fish in a pond survive the winter?

Many fishermen are directly involved in organizing wintering for fish. Especially when it comes to small ponds with stagnant water or homemade reservoirs stocked with fish on their own.

You can provide pond residents with a comfortable winter in the following ways:

• After the thickness of the ice on the water reaches several centimeters, drill a small hole in it. Using a pump, pump out a layer of water about 15 cm through the resulting hole. The oxygen that has entered the resulting space is enough for wintering fish.
• When the water begins to freeze, place tufts of straw on the surface, pointing up. Its tubular stems will provide oxygen access under the water when there is ice.
• Make several depressions in the bottom of the pond that will serve as wintering pits. The fish will be able to “lie down” in them to wait out the winter calmly.

Please note that the fish must go to winter healthy, without injuries or parasites. The pond should also be cleaned, without abundant thickets and food residues. All these shortcomings make wintering difficult.

Looking for fish in melting snow

Photo: Andrey Yanshevsky.
Melt water itself is not necessarily highly saturated with oxygen.

The amount of oxygen supplied with it may be sufficient to attract fish only in reservoirs where the “killing” has begun or is beginning.

Where the situation is not so critical, melt water may or may not attract fish.

The flow of water washes some food out of the ground, but the amount washed out of the frozen ground is very small to interest the fish.

She visits such places, but in such a way that there is a constant accumulation of fish at the mouth of the stream - this is not the case.

Even the gudgeon does not move from its deep sites towards the mouth of the flowing stream and prefers to stay at medium depths.

In the trickle of melt water, it is most likely to find small perch and periodically suitable roach. The same applies to pike, which can visit such a place, but will lie in ambush here later.

If the turbidity of the stream flowing from the field is too great or the water carries substances and substances that are unpleasant for fish, then there is no point in wasting time exploring such a place.

Read the material “Puppet Lake”

First of all, fish do not rush to the first melt water from the shore, but to the upper layers of water, under the ice. On some flowing ponds and lakes, by this time carp and crucian carp rise from the bottom and stand right under the ice. The crucian carp even enter the holes.

Sometimes it seems to me that the light itself from the holes begins to attract and awaken fish from winter “hibernation”.

One way or another, the accumulation of fish near the coastal zone is observed more and more often. The behavior of pike is interesting. While the sun has not yet risen high, or if the day is cloudy, she hunts along a steeper, wooded bank. This often happens before twelve o'clock.

Then the predator moves to deep places and, with the decline of the sun, again goes to the shore. If a steep bank blocks the ice from the sun throughout the day, then pike hunt here continuously. Apparently this is due to the fact that in the shade, peaceful fish are less active and provide convenient prey for predators.

It can be stated that in well-lit places, fish move more in search of food, but rarely stay in one place. This is especially clearly seen in the example of roach.

The roach not only moves along the shore, but also constantly changes horizons. She pays less and less attention to the bait, or rather, the bait holds the roach less and less. Perch, on the contrary, can literally follow the shadow on the ice, leaving highly lit areas.

This behavior of perch can be seen very well on rivers, especially small and shallow ones. When the sun is at its zenith, even in the deepest holes, in pools and barrels, the perch stops responding to bait. At the same time, it is excellently caught in the shade of bushes near the shore.

It can be difficult to make a correct guess in advance about where to look for active fish now. Personally, I start fishing near a gently sloping open bank, or near islands of vegetation in the middle of the reservoir. Here there is good lighting and melt water appears earlier.

Around ten o'clock the fish either move to deeper places or become more cautious. At the same time, the fish standing at depth are activated.

Read the material “About the wintering of woodcocks in 2021”

The interesting thing is that there can be a lot of fish near the wooded shore, but only a few holes are open. I attribute this to the fact that there are fixed specific parking lots here.

Near the gently sloping shore on the side of the field, as a rule, there are no, or very few, places that stand out in terms of relief, and the fish’s food is not tied to them.

Another thing, near the forest. Here at the bottom there are a lot of twigs and branches, and even tree trunks. This means that there are excellent living conditions for larvae, worms, and mollusks. All these living creatures wake up when a certain light level is reached, and the fish become active at the same time.

If the bite in open areas is fleeting, then near the forest and near steep banks it continues almost all day. At the same time, the fish have been actively searching near the shore since the very morning. Roaches often bite from a depth of 20-30 cm in holes located a meter from the shore.

After some time, the biting points shift to depths of one and a half to two meters, and by the middle of the day depths of 3-5 meters are promising.

If at the bottom, at a depth of one and a half to two meters, there is a submerged tree or large stones, or underwater vegetation, then roach, and even more so perch, stop here.

From about four o'clock in the afternoon, roach and perch begin to return to the shore and bites begin again at a depth of a meter, then half a meter.

Based on the fact that the fish constantly moves throughout the day, you need to change your fishing tactics. On the lake, I start by preparing holes above depths of 2-4 meters, then immediately conduct an intensive search along the shore crack.

Read the material “The hunt in a strong snowstorm was a success”

At about eleven o'clock I move to the prepared “deep” holes. The preparation of these holes consists only in the fact that I find an underwater edge, make several holes above it and throw ten bloodworms into them. With a return to deep holes, as a rule, there is no point in throwing any more bait into them.

If the depth is less than four to five meters, then a noticeable amount of any bait usually leads to a complete cessation of biting. If active biting begins at three o'clock, then only then is it worth feeding a little.

As a rule, bloodworms lowered into the holes using a feeder begin to “work” in the evening. As the fish moves along the shore in the middle of the day, it encounters bloodworms at the bottom and returns to this place in the evening. That's when the bite begins.

There is no need to talk about baiting in the usual sense, since the total amount of bait is no more than fifty grams per two dozen holes.

Until the ice breaks away from the shore and floats up, the main thing is not melt water, but the depth under the shore and illumination. An increase in overall daylight “pushes” fish from the depths to the shore, to shallower places. But, at the same time, excessive illumination and shallow depth make peaceful fish more cautious and mobile.

Based on this, I advise you to immediately prepare yourself for the fact that during the day you will have to move a lot and constantly change your fishing technique.

If you plan to fish with a float rig, then you need to know exactly the time and place that the roach, bream or gudgeon will visit. Prepare accordingly and wait.

With a jig, you need to be prepared for the fact that during the day you will change at least three or four places, and you also need to leave an hour of time so that by the evening you can return to the place from which you started successfully fishing today.

Read the material “Winter on Vaga”

If, leaving the morning holes near the shore, you threw some bloodworms into them, then it is very likely to catch several significant specimens from them in the evening.

I had several cases when immediately after sunset a large perch began to take fish from a depth of half a meter. The bite was very short, but the catches were significantly higher than the daily ones.

Andrey Yanshevsky March 26, 2021 at 1:36 pm

How do peaceful fish winter?

The difference between peaceful fish and predators is that the former are more thermophilic. Their usual state in winter is to retreat to depths and become almost completely passive.

Wintering features:

• Since autumn, peaceful fish species begin preparing for winter - they switch from plant foods to a protein diet in order to replenish energy reserves and gain fat. This also helps them secrete a characteristic mucus that provides thermoregulation and protection from predators. Its smell disgusts predators, and they do not touch the peaceful inhabitants of reservoirs frozen in wintering pits. Otherwise, the entire population of these species would be destroyed.
• When frost sets in and water bodies become covered with ice, peaceful fish sink to the bottom. Without moving, it remains in wintering pits until spring. Sometimes thousands of fish of different species and ages gather there.
• When thaws occur or stable sunny weather sets in, some individuals rise to the surface to take a sip of oxygen or find food. These are usually small or medium sized fish. Large ones can remain dormant all winter thanks to accumulated fat.

Fish behavior in winter

• Facebook
• VK

With the arrival of winter, many changes occur in the life of fish, and the main one is a change in food preferences. Most of the fish that can be caught in winter spawn in the spring, so it is during this cold period that they hatch. Naturally, for the formation of eggs, the fish must eat. But in winter there are no insects, larvae are few in number and not always available, there is not enough sunlight, oxygen and various substances for the growth of phyto and zooplankton.

Fortunately, fish are cold-blooded and their metabolism is very slow in winter, which greatly reduces their need for food. But the fish still needs to eat, and it eats all phyto and zooplankton, mollusks, aquatic worms, nymphs and fry of fish of all types. Phytoplankton are accumulations of microscopic plants, and it is this that is at the base of the feeding pyramid in winter. These plants form the basis of the diet of various fry. If there is enough sunlight (periods of first and last ice), plankton develops and is actively eaten by fry and microscopic animals that make up zooplankton, and the latter is also eaten by fry.

Feeding on plankton, the fry grow up, and their size and quantity are already enough for large predatory fish to feed on the fry. Also in winter, crustaceans and snails, as well as the larvae of some insects, may be available.

LOCATION AND BEHAVIOR OF FISH IN WINTER DEPENDING ON THE AVAILABILITY OF FOOD

In winter, the fish feed on what is available and do not overeat, therefore, they will be located where this available food is located. For example, a pike perch that feeds on a school of small white fish may be in the water column in an open place. Whereas pike perch feeding on juvenile perch will visit places with thin algae or deep places with a hard bottom. In this case, a perch that feeds on plankton can be on shallows with aquatic vegetation or stand in mid-water in an open area, and a perch that prefers bloodworms will feed at the bottom, and the bottom will be muddy.

FISH ACTIVITY UNDER THE ICE

Water temperature is important for fish, especially in winter when it is coldest. The temperature of winter water does not change very much from 0°C immediately under the ice to +4°C at the very bottom of the reservoir. The colder the water, the less the fish need for food and oxygen. But there is another need for fish that does not depend on the season: safety. It is these three factors that determine the location and behavior of fish under the ice. The fish must look for a place where they will be safe, where they can find food and where there is enough oxygen in the water.

These three factors directly depend on the size of the reservoir, the structure of the bottom, the diversity of depths and species of living organisms represented, the presence of current, water transparency, etc. Taking all this into account, the fish is looking for a place that best meets its requirements.

SMALL AND SHALLOW LAKES In early winter, as soon as there is ice, fish can be found at almost any depth, but still the fish tend to stay in the deepest places, where the water is warmer and has a stable chemical composition. In midwinter, when the ice layer thickens and becomes covered with snow, sunlight is limited, causing plants to produce much less oxygen. This forces the fish to go to deeper places in search of oxygen. But at the same time, she leaves the place where she was safe and closer to the food. Because of this, the fish begins to eat less.

When the ice becomes as thick as possible and is covered with a large layer of snow, light access to the plants is almost completely blocked. They stop producing oxygen, die and can no longer serve as a shelter or feeding area for the fish, and the fish leaves these places, completely concentrating their energies on survival, during this period they no longer have time to eat. Fishing at this time is extremely difficult. If this situation persists long enough, it can lead to massive fish deaths in the pond.

LARGE, DEEP LAKES On the first ice, fish can be found in holes and at medium depths, on shallows with vegetation. Warm water in deep holes usually holds more fish. In the middle of winter, the same thing happens as in shallow reservoirs, that is, due to limited access to light, plants produce less oxygen. But in a large body of water there is more oxygen and the fish are more dependent on the water temperature. Therefore, in such reservoirs, fish can roll into holes, but they can also stand in half-water.

When there is a thick layer of ice, sunlight stops reaching under the ice, but since there is enough oxygen in a large body of water, the fish can move freely in it, and their location is again dictated by safety, water temperature and the availability of food.

SEASONAL MOVEMENTS IN SMALL AND SHALLOW LAKES

Early winter. Ice forms mainly on cold nights, but if there is a thaw during the day, the ice may melt. At this time, the fish can be in any layer of water, but most of it goes to depths where the water is warmer.

Midwinter . The deeper you go, the less light and less oxygen. Decaying plants and animals consume oxygen, and fish will be forced to move to the still oxygen-rich shallows.

Late winter. There is less and less oxygen and only the very top layers of water contain it in sufficient quantities. If oxygen does not begin to enter the pond with melt water, the fish will begin to suffocate and die. Light-sensitive fish, such as walleye, often move around a body of water based on sunlight penetration. In deep lakes with clear water, where there is enough sunlight, pike perch prefers to hunt in the depths during the day and in the shallows in the evening. If ice and snow provide shade, the pike perch may move to even shallower areas or will only feed during the day, depending on the availability of food and cover. In shallow lakes with turbid water, access to light is limited, and in such reservoirs, pike perch are more inclined to feed in the morning and before noon.

WEATHER Most anglers understand that the effects of weather on fish in winter and summer are very similar. On a clear day with high pressure, fish are less likely to feed than on a cloudy day with low pressure.

BOTTOM RELIEF In lakes with a semicircular bottom shape and small obstacles at the bottom, fish will stay in specific places characteristic of this reservoir. Lakes, the bottom of which is dotted with numerous irregularities, holes, and hills, provide fish with a greater choice of places where there is a lot of oxygen, shelter, and food. And the more such irregularities on the bottom, the more fish there are in this place.

OBSTACLES ON THE BOTTOM Obstacles on the bottom in the form of vegetation, snags, stones, and artificial structures always attract fish. After all, they provide shelter for forage fish and an ambush for predators. An area in which such underwater obstacles are present, especially if it is sufficiently saturated with oxygen, will be the most productive, especially under suitable weather conditions.

CURRENT Another important factor for ice fishing. If a reservoir has a tributary, it carries with it water saturated with oxygen, which attracts both fish and their food items. Currents in places with shallow depths wash away ice and slow down its growth, so sunlight penetrates well through a thin layer of ice. In such places, the vegetation on the bottom lives much longer, providing fish with a place to hide and saturating the water with oxygen.

DAILY MOVEMENTS OF FISH

Serious winter fishermen spend a lot of time on the ice, studying the reservoir, its bottom topography, and currents. When a body of water has been studied, they begin to consider how various factors—weather, the degree of illumination—affect the behavior of fish, and try to determine the place and time of day that are best suited for catching a particular type of fish. Such fishermen know that under similar weather conditions, every day fish visit the same places as the day before. For example, pike perch is very sensitive to light, so it prefers dimly lit places and hunts during periods of low light when other fish are no longer hunting, so pike perch has no competitors.

Pike and perch tend to stay in depth or in shelters at the height of the day and prefer to hunt during the daytime, even in absolutely clear water and in good light. Perhaps because at this time their main competitor, pike perch, is not active, and pike and perch get the prey.

Fish can move daily from deep to shallow water and vice versa. Typically, fish come out to shallow water when they are active and move to deeper water when their activity decreases. The fish does not go very far into the depths, as it prefers to be close to shallow water shelters, where there is a lot of food. Therefore, you should not look for the deepest place in the hole; it is enough to find the place where the shallow turns into a dump. Some fish species feed at night directly under the ice.

Knowing when fish are active is good, but not enough for a rich catch. To be completely happy, you need to know where and when. And this “where” depends on the characteristics of the reservoir.

NATURAL LAKES To successfully fish on natural lakes, you need to thoroughly study many of their qualities. Each of the characteristics can help unlock the secrets of the winter lake. With this in mind, winter fishermen carefully study its depth, bottom topography, water transparency, its oxygen saturation, and the fish inhabiting the reservoir.

QUARRIES AND PONDS A very large number of fishermen spend their time on such reservoirs. In large ponds and quarries with depths of 4.5–6 m, at least in a fourth of their parts the composition of the water is quite stable and they rarely freeze. In smaller and smaller bodies of water there must be an influx of water so that the water is enriched with oxygen. The warmest bodies of water are characterized by active growth of vegetation, in which there are quite a lot of perch and various peaceful fish. Deep, cold bodies of water also contain a lot of oxygen, although there is less vegetation and fish can come in a wide variety of species and quantities.

Quarries are usually characterized by a sharp increase in depth near the shore, and by the middle it can be very large. The bottom is usually sandy or gravel, so the water in these reservoirs is highly transparent. The quarries are usually dominated by perch, various types of peaceful fish, and pike is less common.

RESERVOIRS Artificial seas are formed when a river is blocked by a dam. Each of these bodies of water may have its own unique characteristics. Since all these reservoirs are created on rivers, they have a current. The river flow brings oxygenated water into the reservoir. But constant changes in water level can disrupt the condition of the ice. Like natural lakes, reservoirs can differ in size, depth, bottom topography, water transparency, etc.

LARGE RIVERS Due to the constant flow, the channel sections of many rivers may not be covered with permanent ice, so ice fishing in such places is not always possible. However, in areas located away from the main channel, where ice fishing is still possible, catches can be very good. In such places, fishing for pike perch, perch and pike is effective, especially closer to the last ice, when the fish begin to move upstream to the spawning grounds.

On large rivers, such as the Dnieper, some large, deep, slow-flowing areas and holes near dams can be inhabited by pike perch. However, constant changes in the strength of the current and water level make fishing on such rivers unsafe. The ice condition can change almost daily. The ice, which seemed so reliable just yesterday, can break and turn into slush the very next day due to rising water levels and currents.

S. Gorobey

Related articles:

Fish cutting

Caspian Sea

The influence of the moon on fish biting

Echo sounder: questions and answers

Features of wintering of predatory fish

Predators, distinguished by their large size, slow down their vital activity only during the most severe frosts, and the rest of the time they are active. The fact is that these types of fish prefer twilight, and the ice on the surface of the water creates such twilight.

Large predatory fish have enough food in the form of small things that have not yet sunk to the bottom. Therefore, fishermen know: the most successful fishing occurs at the beginning and end of winter. Only perch is well caught throughout the cold season - it survives due to the fat accumulated in large quantities.

Unlike other predators, catfish prefer to spend the winter passively, lying just above deep holes. To do this, they gather in groups, although at other times of the year they prefer to live in secluded places.

Fish have managed to adapt to living in any climatic conditions, including cold winters. Beginner fishermen will need knowledge of how underwater inhabitants winter, so that the catch is successful even in the cold season.

0

0

Copy link

How and where to look for fish?

This is the most important point in ice fishing. In the summer, everything is simple - we look into the water through polarized glasses, note the circles in the water, pay attention to the splashes or splashes of fish running away from a predator. In winter, these telltale signs are absent. And fish are mainly concentrated in the lower layers of water.

Above, I have already made it clear to the reader that reconnaissance in force is our everything. But it will be much more effective if you know how the fish change their camp sites throughout the winter.

First ice

In late autumn, the ichthyofauna becomes cautious - and for good reason. Fish are poikilothermic creatures, their temperature depends on the ambient temperature. At the same time, the lower it is, the slower the metabolism goes, and therefore the muscles do not work as quickly as in the summer. In autumn, when the water is cold, fish become more vulnerable to attacks from predators, both aquatic and land-based. And the water itself is crystal clear - organic and other suspended matter disappears from it, which is an unmasking factor for the ichthyofauna. The fish moves away from the shores - to the very depths, occupying flooded channels.

But now the reservoir is covered with ice. With each snowfall, more and more snow is poured on it - the illumination decreases under water. For fish this is a signal. Now it is completely hidden from land predators.

The fish leaves their former shelters and strives closer to the shores - to shallow depths and shallow waters. The very first species to arrive there are those active during the day - perch and roach (perch can approach the shore itself and stand where the depth does not exceed a couple of tens of centimeters). After some time (when the layer of snow reaches sufficient thickness and twilight reigns under the ice), the bream will also appear; it should be looked for at depths of 2-3 m. Predators relentlessly follow the peaceful fish.

First ice is the most pleasant time in winter fishing. After all, the thickness of the ice is still small - you won’t be very tired of drilling it, but the fish are active. The timing of the first ice season is ambiguous. It all depends on when the weather becomes stable below zero and the first light frosts begin. In our area, this usually happens in the second ten days of November. But it happens that you have to wait until the first days of December. And in other years, ice appears early - at the end of October. Early ice is remarkable in that it can completely melt after the first impatient winter fishermen have appeared on it.

The beginning of the first ice is not observed everywhere. As you know, the smallest lakes and ponds freeze first, while in medium and large reservoirs the water area is not yet completely covered with ice, or there are no waves at all. When strong ice appears there, small and medium-sized rivers with a quiet flow freeze at about the same moment. On large rivers the first ice comes last. Depending on the weather, the entire period of first ice on different reservoirs and rivers can last for a month, or even a month and a half.

Mid season

As the layer of snow on the ice grows, sunlight penetrates under the water in less and less quantities. Pond vegetation dies and begins to rot. This process consumes dissolved oxygen, and swamp gases are also released into the water in excess. This all scares the fish away from shallow waters, forcing them to go back to deeper places.

This observation was made back when I was just starting to fish in the winter. In November - on the first ice - in a small bay of one medium-sized village pond that overgrows in the summer, perch was biting well. About two months later I had the opportunity to fish in the same place again. Imagine my surprise when a swamp stench came from the drilled hole; the water in it was not clear, but some kind of cloudy greenish. It is clear that fishing here was pointless - we had to go to the middle of the reservoir - to the water area along which the flooded river bed stretched, where the bulk of the fish were caught during that fishing trip.

But the fish does not immediately strive to occupy the greatest depths. She still walks where there is no grass.

Glukhozimye

It begins around January: closer to the third decade, the fish bite noticeably worsens. Now she reluctantly walks around the pond and occupies the best places in terms of oxygen conditions. Flooded main channel - especially closer to the upper reaches, areas of water near the mouths of tributaries, “magic” places with underwater springs at the bottom. If a reservoir is used as a cooler for a power plant, then the fish will stay in that part of it where warm water is discharged and there is an ice-free water area.

On Lake Isetskoe, warm water is discharged in its northern part. The village of Murzinka is also located on the shore. Usually in the area of ​​this village there is always a mirror of open water in winter, but in especially frosty winters it freezes about half - then you can fish there. Several years ago, in the month of February, when there was no bite at all in other reservoirs, two of our companions dropped into Murzinka and had a good time (which eloquently shows that in this place the oxygen regime was all right and there was no deep winter). You can read the report from this fishing trip here.

Do not forget that ice near warm discharges is treacherous and can change its thickness unpredictably, including dynamically during the day, which makes fishing in such places dangerous. It’s better to play it safe and not get closer than half a kilometer to the edge of the ice-free mirror, or even better, a kilometer.

But let’s return to ordinary bodies of water - where there are no power plants on the shore. There, the dead winter will last until spring, and the closer the moment comes - when spring outweighs winter, when frosts suddenly give way to thaws and the sun begins to heat so much that streams flow - the more strongly the lack of bite will manifest itself. And it often happens like this: a fisherman finds a place where a fish is standing, begins to slip it different baits, changes the game, etc., but there is no effect.

When fishing from ice during the deep winter, the size of the bait is critical. The smaller the jig and the smaller the bait, the greater the chance that a sluggish fish will stoop to bite.

They also say that the fish can be “stirred up” by throwing a handful (1 package) of hydroperite tablets into the hole - which, when dissolved, will begin to release oxygen and supposedly have a positive effect on the fish. We have a separate article devoted to this topic.

End of the season

Spring comes in different ways during winter fishing. It all depends on how drastic the change in weather will be. Or more precisely, on how intensively the reservoir will be saturated with melt water.

In long springs, the snow melts slowly - the ichthyofauna gradually moves away from the deep winter. It looks something like this: the fish are acting sluggishly, but today the bite was a little better than yesterday. Tomorrow a few more fish will be caught.

However, it also happens that cold spring weather gives way to sudden warming. In the morning it was cloudy, snow was falling and a chilly north wind was blowing, but by lunchtime the clouds disappeared, the sun came out, and the wind changed from north to south. The snow on the ice melts quickly, and after some time the fish began to actively bite. An example of such a weather phenomenon is described here.

Where to look for fish at the end of the freeze-up? While meltwater enters the reservoir in small quantities and there is still plenty of snow on the ice, the fish are actually standing in the same place as in the dead of winter. But as soon as intensive melting begins, it disperses throughout the entire water area (and throughout the entire water column) and again visits shallow waters. Particular attention should be paid to those places where streams from the banks flow into the reservoir.

The last ice

After the reservoir is saturated with melt water (usually by this time the snow on the ice has completely disappeared), the oxygen regime returns to normal and the fish begin to actively eat off before spawning. This is the most interesting moment in ice fishing, but at the same time, the most risky.

Ice melts quickly from the heat of the sun's rays. In some places, edges appear along the banks - narrow areas of open water. Holes drilled in the morning double in diameter by evening. The ice thickness becomes spongy - the water has made thin passages in it. The ice is like a mosaic - it has gone “into a tube” or “into a needle,” as fishermen say. It is still thick enough, but fragile - and it is not known what it should be - to support the weight of a person. And, unlike autumn ice, it does not warn with a crash.

But fishermen are stubborn people. Boards are placed on top of the edges, or they even use an inflatable boat as an improvised “ferry”. Those who want to catch spring fish climb onto the ice in crowds, like madmen - not paying attention to warning signs. But as soon as someone “swims”, the fishermen are blown away by the wind. That's it, the ice fishing season is closed until the fall.