The grasshopper is an excellent bait for catching chub. Today it is a little forgotten, but remains relevant. Find out how to catch chub with a grasshopper so that your fishing results will be pleasing. The chub is a beautiful, strong fish that is always interesting to catch. For chub fishing, float rods, donkeys, spinning rods, and fly fishing are used.
Everyone chooses their own tackle and bait. There is also such an original fishing option as catching chub with a grasshopper. It is known that natural baits work best for this fish. Grasshopper as bait brings excellent chub catches. Let's consider the subtleties and nuances of such fishing.
Features of fishing with a grasshopper
Features of catching chub with a grasshopper
Chub are caught using grasshoppers throughout the summer, from June to August.
At this time, insects that fall into the water are one of the main “dishes” of fish. The chub eats grasshoppers especially readily. These large and rather fleshy insects are a valuable source of nutrients. In addition, due to their size, they are very visible on the surface of the water.
The grasshopper as an attachment has many advantages:
- In summer, many of these insects gather on the coastal grass. They often end up in the water. Thus, grasshoppers are both a very attractive and completely natural and familiar food for the chub.
- It’s also nice that medium-sized and large chubs respond well to such bait.
- Catching chub with a grasshopper occurs on the surface or, at least, in the upper layer of water. Consequently, it is very spectacular fishing. Typically, feeding fish are clearly visible on the surface of the water. Her bites are also visible. All this makes fishing exciting and interesting.
- Catching grasshoppers to use as bait is easy and is completely free. But this bait also has a number of disadvantages.
- The grasshopper is not suitable for catching very small chub. Therefore, if only such fish manifest themselves at the point chosen for fishing, it makes sense to try a different bait.
- Although catching grasshoppers is not difficult, it still takes time.
- The grasshopper is a disposable bait. It needs to be changed many times during fishing. Therefore, such a nozzle is needed in quite large quantities.
Reference. You can also find artificial grasshoppers on sale for catching chub and other fish.
There are many options; such baits are made of plastic, rubber or silicone. Also on the shelves of fishing stores are wobblers in the shape of grasshoppers with a classic design - with blades. Another option is flies that imitate these insects. Such artificial grasshoppers are inferior to natural ones in terms of catchability. But there is no need to collect grass smiths and bother with storing them.
Artificial grasshoppers
In addition to the chub, asp, ide, roach, rudd, perch, and other cyprinids respond to the grasshopper. Perch may also bite. All of these water inhabitants can be expected to be by-catch. But it is the chub that becomes the main trophy, at least in those reservoirs where it is found in decent quantities.
This fish regularly hunts near the surface in the summer and is very fond of insects. The chub has a large mouth, so swallowing a grasshopper is not a problem for it. But the asp, for example, is a more predatory fish; it hunts fry and usually avoids insects. The ide feeds mainly at the bottom, less often in the middle layers, and its mouth is not so large.
How to store a grasshopper?
As mentioned above, fishing will be more successful if you string live grasshoppers on the hook - this is the key to a good catch. To do this, they must be properly transported and stored. The best option would be an ordinary bottle, the lid of which you screw tightly, but at the same time make several holes for air flow. Before putting grasshoppers into a bottle, make sure it contains grass.
Storing grasshoppers in a bottle
To summarize, it is worth saying that fishing with a grasshopper in any case will turn out to be incredibly interesting and will allow any fisherman to gain experience and have a lot of fun. By following fairly simple fishing rules with this bait, you can catch large fish that will become the real pride of your collection.
Selection of tackle and accessories
The choice of gear for catching chub with a grasshopper is quite extensive, so everyone can choose something to suit their taste and situation.
Wire fishing rod
The most traditional gear for catching grasshoppers. Such a fishing rod consists of a long rod, 5-6 m or more, with guides, and an inertial or inertial-free reel. Bolognese tackle is ideal, as it is specifically designed for wire fishing and, as a bonus, allows you to make long casts. This allows you to reach fish standing further from the shore.
There are three main options for equipping such a fishing rod:
- float, weight and leash with hook - standard float installation, but the distance between the float and the hook should be as small as possible;
- also, at the end of the main line you can attach only a float and a leash with a hook so that the bait moves along the surface;
- Another option is to tie only a leash with a hook to the end of the main line, without a float and sinker.
To equip a wire fishing rod, it is best to use a 0.18-0.2 mm monofilament as the main fishing line. For a leash, monofilament or fluorocarbon with a breaking load of 20-25% less is suitable.
Fishing rod with bombard
A fishing rod with a bombard is a very good choice for catching chub using a grasshopper. It allows you to make long casts with such a light bait and perform retrieving in any horizon. There are special bombard rods on sale. But few people have this in stock, and not everyone will buy it specifically for catching chub with a grasshopper. Therefore, for fishing with a bombard, you can use the tackle that you have at hand - Bolognese, match or spinning.
The equipment is usual - main line, bombard float, leash, hook or artificial bait. The length of the leash is from 1 m to 3 m. The hook should be used numbers from 5 to 7 according to the Russian classification.
Spinning
In addition to the fact that spinning can be used for fishing with a bombard rig, it will also be a good choice if artificial grasshoppers are used as bait. An ultralight or light class rod is suitable, with which you can confidently cast such light baits. The best line option is thin braid, but you can also use monofilament.
Fly fishing gear
Fly fishing gear is perfect for catching chub with a grasshopper-shaped fly. They are not used often, but fly fishing is both quite interesting and quite rewarding. For catching chub using a grasshopper imitation, a class 3-7 rod (depending on the size of the fish) with a floating line is well suited.
This video shows how to make tackle for catching chub using a grasshopper using available materials:
How to catch grasshoppers
The best time to catch grasshoppers is at night. At this time they hardly jump, so they can be easily collected by hand. In addition, grasshoppers chirp in the evenings and at night, and by the sound it is not difficult to detect them in the grass. You just need to arm yourself with a good flashlight and go to the meadow, where these insects are found in large numbers. Since dew settles on the grass at night, grasshoppers rise higher and sit on the very tops of the blades of grass. This also simplifies the task of finding and collecting them.
You can also collect grasshoppers in the evening or in the morning, but this is a little more difficult. It's even harder to catch them during the day. At this time, they are active and easily run away by jumping from anyone who approaches them. To collect enough insects in such conditions, you will need a net or something that can fulfill its role - for example, a hat.
How to catch grasshoppers is shown in this video:
How to Preserve Grasshoppers for Fishing
After the grasshoppers are collected, you can keep them in a plastic bottle . The main thing is that there is at least minimal ventilation, and fresh air gets inside. To do this, you need to make holes in the bottle itself and in the lid. You can also use any other suitable container that is available. Before putting insects in it, you need to throw some grass inside.
But the advantage of a plastic bottle is that it has a rather narrow neck, from which the grasshoppers, if you unscrew the cap, crawl out one at a time. This creates a convenient “dispenser” with which you can remove insects from the jar to place them on a hook.
About the grasshopper for fishing
I’ll say right away that you can catch both peaceful fish and predatory fish with a grasshopper. As for catching a grasshopper, there should not be any difficulties, since this can be done either by hand (which is difficult) or with the help of a net in the morning, when the grasshoppers are not yet so active. I prefer to use grasshoppers for fishing, whose length does not exceed 2-3 centimeters, although there have been cases when I caught chub using larger specimens.
When to catch chub with a grasshopper
The best time to catch chub with a grasshopper is the middle of the day, as well as morning and evening, when the fish walks near the surface, picking up fallen insects. Traces of its activity can be seen by carefully looking at the water.
Fishing with this bait brings good results on fine days. At this time, insects - both flying and those living in the coastal grass - are as active as possible. In cloudy weather, in bad weather, they become more passive and show little of themselves, and the chub goes to the bottom.
Fishing for chub using a grasshopper begins in June. In July, as a rule, it becomes even more catchy, and ends in August. As the air and water get colder, the chub switches to autumn mode - it stops feeding at the surface and goes deeper.
Extraction methods
You need to catch grasshoppers for bait, and this fishing in itself is exciting and very exciting. Of course, the easiest way to catch grasshoppers is with a special net. But who takes such a net for fishing? You have to use your hands, which you always have with you. Areas with mown grass are the most convenient places for this hunt. It is most productive to catch grasshoppers in the morning, before the morning dew disappears, and in the evening, when fog is already rising from the water, creeping into the coastal meadows. At this time of day, when their wings become damp, the grasshoppers are inactive and slowly move from blade to blade of grass or make very short jumps.
Having seen a suitable grasshopper, they simply cover it with their palm. By the way, medium-sized grasshoppers, especially brown or gray in color, are best suited for fishing. As practice shows, for some reason they are the most catchy. But when there is nothing to choose from, any grasshopper will do. If you come across a large green filly, you need to treat it with respect: it bites quite painfully. It is more difficult to catch grasshoppers in tall grass. Here the experience of catching flies will come in handy: a grasshopper sitting on a grass stem is brushed away with the palm of your hand.
Choosing a place to catch chub using a grasshopper
Choosing a suitable site on a river, lake or reservoir for catching chub with a grasshopper is usually not so difficult. Reservoirs are quite easy to read in summer. Based on the nature of the shore and the signs that are visible on the surface of the water, you can determine with a high degree of probability where the chub feeds.
Interesting fishing spots will be:
- rifts, as well as areas above and below them;
- boundaries of fast and slow, forward and reverse flow;
- areas under high steep banks on which grass grows.
If a chub feeds by collecting insects from the surface, this is quite clearly visible even from afar. Circles appear on the water, splashes are visible and heard, and sometimes the fish even jumps into the air. It is in such a place that you need to throw the grasshopper so that the chub will take it. You can take binoculars with you when fishing, which will help you quickly navigate the pond and look for interesting points.
Attention! It often happens that no traces of the presence of fish are noticeable on the surface of the water. There is an interesting technique that allows you to find a chub on the river in such conditions, which is ready to feed near the surface, including pecking at a grasshopper.
You need to take crusts of bread with you when fishing. When you approach an interesting point, you need to throw them into the water so that the current carries them down. If there is an active chub somewhere here, it will definitely show itself and start collecting bread. In this case, it will be possible to throw a rig with a grasshopper on the hook to the point where the fish appeared. If there are no chubs, you need to move on in search of the next promising place.
Catching chub with a grasshopper is, as a rule, not stationary fishing. It involves constantly moving along the river and checking one interesting point after another.
Catching fish with a grasshopper
Most often (including in the fall) I fish from above, but in a special way. The main feature is hidden in the feeding of the insect to the fish. The line from the tip of the rod is usually quite long, at least 15 m; a large, cautious fish will not allow any closer, especially a respectable chub; this fellow immediately goes into the mud, bushes, grass, or into his “den”, which he digs out on the sandy bottom. Therefore, only a sufficiently long retrieve is required even when fishing in a wade, not to mention fishing from the shore. But a very long line is not suitable either - the greater the distance, the more difficult it is to complete the plan, because fishing for a grasshopper is not ordinary fishing for a worm.
One of the most efficient wiring options
From the float to the hook with the insect there are 60-70 centimeters, there is no weight. I float the grasshopper to the expected place where the fish is staying, above an interesting point with the movement of the rod I snatch the float out of the water, at this moment it flies up about one and a half to two meters and falls on the water, with a short pull I move the bait to the place where the float falls, and take a short pause. This is one cycle of the game; it is constantly repeated throughout the wiring. If a compact place is especially interesting, I know for sure that there is a good fish, then I can play almost on the spot, tossing the float over and over again, patting it on the water. When searching for fish sites, I lower it lower and lower, patting the float in new places. The dependence here is direct: the further the float is from the rod, the more difficult it is to make a high-quality retrieve, which I try to control throughout, which is why I don’t let it go far, because it’s easier to go downstream and pat it short. By feeding a grasshopper to a fish in this way, you can reasonably count on exciting fishing, but I’ll warn you right away - it’s not easy, you can’t master it right away.
It is very important to know a few fundamental points
The fall should be free, easy, natural; the float should fall onto the water like a feather; therefore, it should not be loaded. I experimented a lot with the sound of the float falling, trying to ensure that there was no splash - a gurgle, the sound should be as if some living bug had fallen from a tree into the water. Currently I’m fishing with a homemade float made of very light foam plastic, one and a half centimeters in diameter, 2-2.5 cm in length, ground into a cone. Through the axial hole I insert a short rook feather, it is better than a regular goose feather - dark and very light.
The length of the rod is also important when casting
I have a six-meter carbon fiber fishing rod, with this it’s easier to throw a float, but it’s more difficult to squeeze through the coastal bushes than with a 5-meter rod; it’s problematic to fish with this style with a shorter one. The reel is spinning-free, its spool has one hundred meters of 0.18 mm fishing line on it, I don’t use leashes.
Fishing technique
While floating the float, I open the reel handle, the line comes off in rings, and I hold it slightly with my fingers so that there is not much slack. While throwing the float, the line handler is closed or the line is simply held with the left hand, while the right hand works with the rod. The wind, with such fishing, can become both an enemy and a helper, because the equipment is very light. On a small winding river it is easier to take the necessary position, ideally when the wind blows with the current, then when throwing the float the leash with the grasshopper is straightened and lies perfectly on the water.
In principle, the float acts as an obstacle to the bait, it slightly prevents the grasshopper from falling beautifully and naturally into the water, but in most cases it is difficult to do without a float, because you need to somehow deliver the bait to the fish and see a careful bite. In addition, the float can scare away cautious large fish. Or vice versa - it is unnecessary to attract small change. Lately I’ve been fishing with a float painted with waterproof markers to look like a butterfly, and it used to happen that the chub didn’t grab the grasshopper, but rather the float itself, then I just waited for it to spit it out. It would be possible to glue a hook into the float for such curious cases, but a fish caught in this way will not please me - how is it to catch “on a float”!?
In some cases, I remove the float, only the hook with the grasshopper remains on the rig, the fishing line is equal to the length of a six-meter fishing rod. This is an old-fashioned way of fishing “with the wind” when it blows fairly at your back. In this case, you don’t even need to wave the rod - I just move the rig forward, the wind itself throws the bait, and it very softly, naturally falls on the water on the opposite shore, next to the coastal bushes leaning over the water. In a strong wind, such fishing can be successful near high meadow banks, from which many different living creatures are blown into the water; here the fish mostly stay near the leeward shore, constantly jumping up, grabbing insects blown away by strong gusts of wind. I have to lower the grasshopper almost under my feet, fortunately the high bank and tall grass camouflage me well.
How to hook a grasshopper
It is preferable to put this bait on carefully so that it remains alive. A grasshopper fluttering on the surface of the water and moving its legs will be a much more attractive bait for a chub.
To put on this bait, you need:
- insert the hook into the back;
- insert it shallowly into the grasshopper, drag it through and bring the sting out closer to the back.
Before inserting a hook into a grasshopper, you need to try it on the insect's body to determine where it should enter and exit. It just takes a little practice and you won't have any problems fitting it.
Before putting an insect on a hook, you can tear off its long hind legs. In this case, it will be much easier for the chub to swallow the bait, which means the percentage of bites sold will increase.
Options for attaching a grasshopper to a hook
This video clearly shows how to properly place a grasshopper on a hook:
Harvesting and methods of bait placement
It is not difficult to catch grasshoppers using a special net. During catching, insects are sorted:
- large individuals are used for bait, with particular preference given to locusts,
- small ones are used as animal inclusions in bait mixtures.
You can store caught insects in five-liter plastic bottles with holes made for air intake.
There are several ways to hook a grasshopper:
- for the lower abdomen,
- below the head along the back to the lower paws,
- between the wings from the head to the abdomen.
A grasshopper hooked on the upper back remains an active and attractive bait for quite a long time.
This method of pinning an insect is suitable for fishing with a wire without a float and long casting. There should be no problems with stringing an insect onto a hook; the main thing is not to affect vital organs so that the bait continues to move in the water.
In August, the chub reacts better to small grasshoppers, dressed in a couple of pieces by the abdomen on a small hook.
Fishing technique and tactics
The chub is caught using a grasshopper in the wire. The equipment is thrown into the water, and then the current is allowed to carry it down. Sometimes you can hold it so that the grasshopper stops in the water column. Using this technique often allows you to increase the number of bites. In this way, chub can be caught using a wire rod, a tackle with a bombard, and fly fishing.
If the length of the fishing line allows, the equipment can be released at a distance of up to 50-70 m. This must be done in such a way that it passes through the most interesting places. For example, you can cast before a riffle, then allow the rig to pass through it and below, in calm water. Thus, in one wiring it will be possible to check both the roll itself and the areas above and below it.
Chub bites are determined either by a float or by observing a grasshopper on the surface of the water - if it is visible, then the moment when a breaker appears on the surface of the water and the bait disappears is clearly visible. Also, bites are transmitted quite well to the hand, especially if braid is used as the main fishing line.
In this way, they usually move with the gear from one point to another and check them sequentially. Grasshopper fishing is very interesting and will bring excellent catches if you approach the matter correctly. Therefore, every avid fisherman should try this kind of fishing at least once in his life.
Methods of mounting a grasshopper
Often, when baiting a grasshopper, I remove the long limbs of the grasshopper, sometimes tear off part of the wing, although, to be honest, lately I have been doing this less and less, because I think that the natural appearance of the bait is more attractive to the fish. It's a matter of choice and your preferences.
From head through body
I always hook the grasshopper from the head, sometimes I pass the hook through the whole body, sometimes I just take it out immediately, piercing the head (it holds worse this way).
For the legs or paws
I tried to impale a live grasshopper on its fleshy legs: the method is quite good, because... The grasshopper makes movements in the water, which attracts the fish, but with this method it quickly breaks off the hook, and “idle” bites are observed. The main thing is that the grasshopper attached to the hook is on the surface of the water. This is especially true when fishing for chub. Instead of tearing off the grasshopper's limbs, you can break them slightly, which is what I do.
Hook through belly
The grasshopper holds very well on the hook if the hook is passed through the abdomen and brought out from the back.
