Catching crucian carp from a boat with a fishing rod
The famous Russian naturalist Sabaneev did not speak very flatteringly about crucian carp fishing. He considered such fishing a boring activity. They say that it is not difficult to catch this fish, it bites rather sluggishly, and weakly resists when fished. No excitement!
Perhaps many will agree, but there is another category of fishermen for whom crucian carp is almost the only object of fishing. They claim that crucian carp fishing is a whole science. In order not to be left without a catch, you need to know:
- in what places to look for the silver beauty,
- what to offer him
- what gear to use,
- it is necessary to master the technique of casting, retrieving,
- be ready for constant experimentation.
Read also: About catching crucian carp in summer
It would also be nice to have a boat, since crucian carp trails mostly run away from the shore.
Best time to go fishing from a boat
You can use the boat for crucian carp fishing for almost the entire open water season. But there are periods when boat fishing is more or less effective. Let's start with spring. At this time, the awakened crucian carp strives for shallow water, where it can not only bask in warmer water, but also find food for itself. Then the fish begins to spawn, and it also lives near the shore. Therefore, spring fishing from a boat is not in great demand.
It is effective to use a boat to catch crucian carp in the warm season, when it lives far from the shore
In June and July the situation changes. Catching crucian carp from a boat often gives good results. The fact is that in the coastal part there is less oxygen and the fish go deeper. Of course, you can successfully fish from the shore using long-distance casting gear. But it’s easier to feed crucian carp from a boat and there is always the opportunity to fish in small creeks, swampy areas or places covered with dense vegetation.
At the end of summer and autumn, a boat is indispensable when catching large crucian carp.
If in June and July it still often feeds near the shore, then from the end of August you have to look for it in holes and dumps, in snags and reeds. Naturally, you can’t do without a boat. In addition, in many reservoirs, predatory fish become active at this time, and crucian carp hides in places where it is simply impossible to catch it without a watercraft.
The boat allows you to fish in hard-to-reach places
Which boat to use when fishing for crucian carp
The boat allows you to get to those parts of the reservoir where there is every chance of catching a lot of crucian carp, and among them there will be trophy specimens. However, not every watercraft is suitable for such fishing.
Crucian carp is a cautious and timid fish. Even the slightest sound will send him running, let alone sustained noise. That is why rigid metal boats are completely unsuitable for such fishing.
It is enough to place a jar of worms on the aluminum floor or accidentally hook the rod with the side so that the fish hears the “clap of thunder.” Another thing is PVC boats. They are lightweight, easy to operate and virtually silent. It is better to give preference to a two-seater product that allows you to sit comfortably and lay out your gear conveniently.
It is important not to forget about a reliable anchor, otherwise, instead of your favorite activity, you will have to fight with poor stability. If you don’t want to carry a few extra kilos with you, then you can take a fine-mesh vegetable net, fill it with stones collected on the shore and use it as an anchor. Fishermen have been using this “technology” for a long time and are quite satisfied with it.
Dispersal field
Active crucian carp are constantly moving. Having fed in one place, the flock moves on; if it was not possible to detain it with porridge, the bite abruptly stops. To enjoy fishing without interruption, you should prepare several promising points at once, marking them with buoys made of empty plastic bottles. If you stop biting on one, swim to another and continue to fish for fish after fish.
Where to catch crucian carp from a boat
As a rule, crucian carp stay in silty areas with a lot of algae and plant debris. Fishing for crucian carp in the reeds from a boat is fraught with regular snags, but the problem can be eliminated by clearing the bottom with a rake.
If the depth is large, then the magazine handle on this tool will have to be replaced with a collapsible two- or even three-knee wooden stick. The diameter of the snout for each fishing rod is approximately 1 meter. It is clear that such actions will create a little noise and, of course, will scare away the crucian carp, but attractive zooplankton raised from the bottom will quickly bring it back.
Fishing for crucian carp in the reeds
Catching crucian carp from a boat in the reeds has a number of features, knowledge of which will help you spend your time fishing not only with pleasure, but also with benefit. The features are:
- In reeds, the likelihood of fishing line snags increases. Hence the first conclusion - you need a good supply of fishing line with you.
- Secondly, it is useful to clear the bottom of a reed pool with a rake. You may have to extend the rake handle. After all, the depth in water with reeds can be significant.
Catching crucian carp from reed thickets is a special type of fishing skill. The main thing here is a thorough approach at the preparation stage and not being afraid to act on the ground.
Float rods for catching crucian carp from a boat
It is best to catch crucian carp from a boat with flexible and lightweight telescopic fishing rods 4-5 meters long. Long casting is not needed here, so you can do without a reel. It is advisable to use a transparent fishing line or match it to the color of the bottom, and its diameter should correspond to the size of the fish (just like hooks). The weight of the sinker depends on the strength of the current, if there is one.
Separately, it is worth mentioning in more detail about the float. Today the choice of floats is huge, but in this case it is recommended to use a sliding tubular version. It has high sensitivity, thanks to which bites are visible even on a strong wave. By the way, it will be useful for beginners to know that the longer the float, the higher its sensitivity. In addition, such a float does not affect the casting accuracy and comes out vertically from the water, which eliminates snags.
Read also: How to equip a float rod for crucian carp
Boats for catching crucian carp
When you plan to fish for crucian carp with a fishing rod from a boat, you need to choose the right watercraft. Indeed, in the case of hunting fish of this breed, a boat is not only a means of transportation on water, but also a tactical tool. It is important not to make a mistake here.
So, we choose a boat for catching crucian carp. The tips are as follows:
- A rigid, bulky boat will be noisy. And crucian carp is a fish sensitive to any noise. So, a frame boat can scare away crucian carp. Conclusion - you need to use a PVC boat. It is the PVC boat that will allow you to get far from the shore, and will not scare away the fish. You could say it's an ideal option.
- You should not purchase or rent a very large watercraft. This displacement is not suitable for the expanses of water in which crucian carp live, and will significantly impact the budget. The size must be selected individually. Here it would be a good idea to seek the help of professionals.
The situation with organizational issues in crucian carp fishing shows that it is often necessary to first study the theoretical basis. And only then move on to practice. This saves you from unnecessary spending.
Nozzle and bait
The ever-hungry crucian carp loves everything. He does not refuse either living creatures or plant foods. But this gourmet is unpredictable: yesterday he willingly took a worm or maggot, and today give him pearl barley, dough or semolina mastyrka. Since it is quite difficult to guess his momentary desire, it is better to take several proven baits to the pond, and during the fishing process, select the most catchy one experimentally.
Porridge for crucian carp when fishing from a boat
Proper feeding is the key to a good catch. Without a mixture of groundbait you can’t hope for successful fishing. What should you feed the crucian carp so that it doesn’t think about looking for food elsewhere? Each fisherman has his own secret bait, “polished” over the years. Well, for those who don’t bother too much, a store-bought crucian carp mixture or a simple recipe from the following ingredients will do:
- millet;
- some sunflower and flax seeds (for flavor);
- breadcrumbs.
How to cook? You need to cook millet porridge from millet, lightly fry sunflower and flax seeds, and then wait until it all cools down. Now all that remains is to grind the seeds and mix the fragrant additive with the base. That is, millet. It is important to include breadcrumbs in the composition. This ingredient creates a cloudy cloud that attracts crucian carp no worse than the smell of sunflower and flax.
Groundbait and bait
Crucian carp is a very voracious fish. And, in principle, she is ready to grab various types of food. But still, for catching crucian carp from a boat to be successful, you need to choose the right bait and groundbait.
As for the bait, it’s difficult to guess. Crucian carp is almost omnivorous, but with a changeable character and preferences. Give him bait of animal origin, or of plant origin. Plus bait. Crucian carp responds well to a mixture of millet, sunflower seeds and crackers.
Do you want to fish for crucian carp from a boat and get a guaranteed good catch? Then the Sazanya Bay fishing base is waiting for you to visit. “Sazanya Bay” is located in the Astrakhan lower reaches of the Volga. You can cook crucian carp caught from a boat right here. There are all conditions for this.
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Famous Russian naturalist L.P. Sabaneev considered fishing for crucian carp a rather boring activity. They say it’s easy to catch, it bites sluggishly and hardly resists. Perhaps experienced fishermen share the point of view of Leonid Pavlovich, but for those who do not know where and how to catch crucian carp , this is a whole science.
You shouldn't hope for a big catch at first. Learn to find “fishing spots”, prepare the area and work the fishing rod correctly. Leave improvisation for later, when you can easily calculate the feeding places of crucian carp and gain experience in casting tackle and landing fish.
Preparing for fishing for crucian carp
A good catch is preceded by careful preparation. Extra things will only get in the way, and the lack of necessary accessories creates discomfort and forces the fisherman to make unnecessary movements.
Boat
The watercraft provides more opportunities for catching large specimens and allows access to areas inaccessible from the shore. It’s good if it’s an inflatable boat, since the rigid hull easily propagates any sounds through the water. A fish bait jar accidentally dropped to the bottom will sound like a clap of thunder.
When choosing a PVC boat, it is better to opt for the double version. The fact is that it is not very easy to fit comfortably with all the equipment in a boat designed for one person. And even more so, it’s normal to fish in it.
To calmly catch crucian carp in one place, you should anchor securely. You can make it yourself or buy two factory-made anchors. But if you don’t know how much weight your boat will need or the extra kilos complicate transportation, then instead of anchors you can use fine-mesh vegetable mesh bags (stones collected on the shore of the reservoir are poured into them).
Buoys
Usually during the day the wind direction changes, and the angler is forced to move the boat so that the wind blows at his back. Therefore, it is advisable to mark the casting sector with the help of buoys made of plastic bottles. It's also a good idea to have a couple of alternate fishing spots nearby, marked with buoys. It happens that the crucian bite may suddenly be interrupted and it will be useful to give this place a “rest” by moving to another point to fish.
Rake
In the reservoirs favored by crucian carp, the bottom is muddy with algae, branches and other plant debris. It needs to be cleared at least a little, since you have to catch crucian carp mainly from the bottom, and constant snags are an unpleasant event. For this purpose, you need to stock up on small, lightweight rakes with a collapsible two-meter handle. A suitable tool is commercially available. Or you can make your own rake using a dismountable bamboo stick as a handle.
There is no need to clear a large area where tackle and bait will be thrown; 1 m² will be enough. The created short-term noise does not scare away the crucian carp for a long time, and the cloud of silt raised from the bottom with vegetation, zooplankton and various larvae only arouses its interest. It is important not to make noise during the fishing process itself.
Preparing the fishing spot
When catching crucian carp from a boat in the reeds, it is best that the float is not near the reeds, but among them. In order to throw the tackle into such a place and at the same time avoid as much as possible the risk of it getting caught or breaking, you need to select a small window. If you can’t find anything like this, you’ll have to prepare it yourself, weeding the plants over an area of about half a meter. You can also make a small passage to the window to make casting easier. It is more convenient to do this from a boat. Thus, the underwater part of the reeds will be minimally impacted.
In the area for the planned window, plants need to be uprooted, pulling them out with your hands or using a rake. For the corridor, only those parts of the plants that are above the water are cut. This can be done using pruning shears. It is better to put all cut vegetation in a boat and take it ashore to prevent clogging of reservoirs, decomposition of plants and the appearance of an odor that repels fish.
According to most anglers, after preparing the fishing spot, it is necessary to let it rest for one or two days so that the fish have time to get used to it a little. However, in practice, there have been quite a few cases when I started fishing for crucian carp in the reeds from a boat almost immediately after mowing and the crucian carp bit well.
Float
When catching crucian carp with a float rod, you should pay special attention to the choice of float. It is difficult to unequivocally answer the question of which float is better, since it depends on the conditions:
- If you fish from a boat in a body of standing water, you can get by with a light float. There is no need to make a long cast here, because you can swim close to the thickets of vegetation, but the bite will be clearly visible. When splashing down, a light two-gram float will not scare away the fish.
- For fishing in windy weather, choose a float with a low antenna.
- When fishing from the shore, a sliding float is most often used; its weight is chosen so that the tackle can be thrown to a promising point without any problems. To catch crucian carp from the shore, use 5-gram floats.
Particular attention is paid to loading the float.
To catch crucian carp, only the upper part of the antenna should remain above the water; it is also called the working part. It can be identified by its bright color. Only the tip of the antenna, painted in a contrasting color, should protrude from the water.
Usually there are numbers on the float that can easily be used to determine what weight the load should be. If two values are specified, then the first number indicates the weight of the float, and the second - the weight of the sinker. This is what we need to build on.
Another modern piece of equipment is a self-loading float with adjustable weight. There are washers on the keel of such a float, which are removed as needed.
Rod for catching crucian carp with a float rod
Any float rod is suitable for catching crucian carp. His choice largely depends on the fishing conditions.
Advice
In backwaters covered with vegetation, it is more convenient to fish with a plug rod, since in this case there will be fewer inaccurate casts, and the bait can be delivered precisely to the windows.
Most anglers, when fishing for crucian carp, make do with fly rods and Bolognese rods and still achieve good results.
Using a fly rod, the tackle can be easily cast at a distance of up to 15 meters. Usually no more is required. This tackle and equipment for catching crucian carp is familiar to many from childhood, but using new items can also be useful.
A modern rubber shock absorber makes it easier to catch large crucian carp and prevents the tackle from breaking.
The Bolognese fishing rod allows you to make long casts. Unlike a fly fishing rod for crucian carp, the Bologna rig is more delicate. The fishing line used here is thinner, which prevents its use in places with abundant vegetation. When crossing such places, a break in the gear is almost guaranteed. The Bolognese fishing rod can be used both from the shore and from a boat.
