Lodges for winter fishing: what they are and how they are used in practice

What is a gatehouse?

A nod-type guard is a tackle designed specifically for winter fishing. This device has a number of irreplaceable functions, the main of which are:

providing covert monitoring of the progress of the bite;
giving the fisherman a signal that a bite has begun;
providing a unique style of bait behavior in the water.

The guard can be made from a variety of materials, the main thing is that the tackle is not afraid of frost, that is, it does not freeze and does not lose its elastic properties and does not break due to frequent bending. Also, when selecting material for a nod, pay attention to the degree of rigidity of the material. Common materials for making gatehouses include:

film sheet lavsan (used to create low-hardness nods);
frost-resistant plastics;
boar bristles (six) from the withers;
thin elastic bamboo;

all kinds of strips of easily bendable metals, as well as metal springs of small cross-sectional diameter.

Fixed fishing for winter nod

It is impossible to say for sure which nod will be the best choice. Different types of fishing rods are used for different methods of winter fishing. In addition to the recorded bite and lightening the weight of the bait, during intensive jig fishing, the guard has a strong influence on the angler’s ability to carry out the correct game. An even more thorough selection is required for the rewinder. It all depends on the correct game - whether the fish will notice the bait if there is no bloodworm on the hook.

Here we will focus on winter fishing using a nod in a stationary position. Some fishermen choose the nod. If there is a guard on the fishing rod, this allows you to play with the tackle, tap the bottom with jigs or hooks, which, in turn, makes it easier to catch roach and crucian carp, as it attracts the fish to itself, allowing it to quickly identify the bait using the side line.

Types of nods

Gatehouses of this type are classified according to the degree of rigidity, and accordingly can be divided into the following groups:

Soft-type guards are suitable for bodies of water with no current, for example lakes, and are good for catching fish of any variety.
Planes of medium hardness - only slightly different from soft nods, can be used on quiet rivers.
Heavy guards are good for fishing on rivers with strong currents, or at times when a strong wind blows, playing with the nods of soft types.
Extra-heavy guards - practiced when fishing at great depths (5 meters or more) or in certain extreme conditions.

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Correct loading of the jig nod spring

Next we will talk about the correct loading of the nod, not only of a winter fishing rod, but of any fishing rod, since many fishermen fish with a jig in the summer.

The author of the site is a big fan of fishing with side bottoms from a boat, where nods are also placed on the fishing rods, and the corresponding correct load in the form of a bottom sinker or jig is also selected for the spring structure.

To begin with, let’s estimate how oscillatory processes will occur on a winter fishing rod, where a jig of sufficient weight in the water is tied as a nod load.

Judging by the picture, vibrations from the nod to the jig along the TENSIONED fishing line will be transmitted without distortion, which indicates that the nod of the winter fishing rod is correctly loaded UNDER THE SELECTED DIAMETER OF THE LINE OF THE TACKLE.

In this case, the vein, tracking the vibrations of the nod spring, will slide through the column of water only with its cross section, while experiencing the minimum of all possible values of water resistance.

Next, let us pay attention to another drawing drawn on this occasion, which shows the not entirely correct loading of the nod of a winter fishing rod with a jig, which is clearly insufficient IN WATER WEIGHT.

Insufficient loading of the jig nod

An example of loading the nod of a winter fishing rod with a jig of insufficient weight is given for inexperienced fishermen who like to fish with miniature baits. At the dawn of his foggy youth, he himself became interested in making tiny jigs.

If the winter fishing rod is not properly equipped, either with too thick and coarse fishing line, or with a jig of little weight in the water, incompletely stretched rings of residual deformation remain on the vein (see picture), acquired when winding the fishing line onto the spool of the winter fishing rod.

For this reason, the spring of the steel nod of a winter fishing rod becomes insufficiently loaded with the weight of the jig in the water, which is why the bait mutually loses the ability to be controlled by the nod of a winter fishing rod.

In addition, a fishing line that is not extended in a straight line experiences much greater resistance when moving vertically in the water.

For this reason, it is impossible to swing a reelless jig with a nod of any system, including my vaunted one, to high-frequency oscillations.

If the nod of a winter fishing rod is not sufficiently loaded, even the sweeping vibrations of the steel nod spring will be neutralized by the half-sagging fishing line already at a shallow fishing depth. The jig simply stops responding to them.

Therefore, to properly set up the tackle as a whole, we either replace the line on the winter fishing rod with a vein of smaller diameter, or increase the weight of the jig in the water by replacing the bait. Then we adjust the nod spring.

There is no other alternative here. If the nod spring is loaded incorrectly on a winter or summer fishing rod, the jig becomes poorly controlled.

Homemade lodge for winter fishing Shcherbakova

This is a very sensitive side nod, widespread when fishing for such cautious types of fish as, for example, carp. Here is the technology for its manufacture:

A small bearing must be placed on the rod of the fishing rod; subsequently this design will become the main one for the future nod.
Next, you need to solder a metal arrow to the fishing rod (to its working part).
The arrow on both sides must be equipped with a weight - a balancer; its weight should depend on the properties of the bait that the fisherman is going to use. Also, the arrow at the tip must be equipped with a loop.
We pass the fishing line through the loop, and the nod is made.

Criteria for selecting nods

Nods for winter fishing are selected for each type of fish separately. You shouldn’t think that with a limited choice of fish active in winter, you have to catch whatever you can. For example, catching bream requires a fishing rod with a long nod, up to 15–20 centimeters, made in the shape of a cone. Also perfect for this kind of fishing is not a pure steel one, but one made of metal and two lavsan springs, allowing the use of heavy bait. In this version, the winter nod provides a soft swing and absolute control over the game at great depths.

Long nods to the bream

The proposed nods of this kind are varied and have a wide range of rigidity indicators, which determines their versatility. This makes it possible to use them in conditions where it is difficult to determine what type of fish you need to target, which canals and rivers you plan to fish on. A wide variety of fish can be hooked: perch and dace, roach and silver bream, ide and chub. Sometimes tench “falls for the bait.” This forces you to take into account what type of body of water you choose for fishing, and choose a nod accordingly. After all, if you have to fish on water where there is a current, then the nod must have additional rigidity, elasticity, and sometimes good visibility will not hurt (this means inactive fishing, when the fishing rod is placed above the hole and fishing is done with stationary jigs). In this case, you can place several rods at once at some distance from each other, and then the “productivity” will be higher. This is where sufficient visibility of the nod is required.

Noticeable gatehouse

When carrying out active fishing, it is necessary to select such nods, the color of which would not irritate the eyes, but at the same time allow you to notice the minimum deviation of the signal guards.

It is also accepted that the choice of a nod for a winter fishing rod should be based on an “unshakable” rule: the one that is good is one that can bend by 25–30 degrees under the influence of the weight of the prepared jig. For a simple check, you can attach the bait to the tip of the guard and look at the resulting deflection angle. If you want to be guided by this “postulate,” that’s up to you.

Some people prefer gatehouses that have a smaller deflection angle. At the same time, many who use mothless nods believe that they should choose a Mylar nod no more than 5 centimeters long. Even special processing of the nod plane with sandpaper is carried out to achieve the greatest possible softness. Such guards perfectly draw a “Christmas tree” even with the smallest jigs and ensure a high frequency of play with a small amplitude.

Nod angle

For some, an established habit is of great importance in choosing a lodge. Having learned to fish in their own way, without looking at generally accepted rules, and having developed their own style, many fishermen are in no hurry to give it up for the sake of some “norms”. There are those who like to lift the fishing rod up and swing the bait, simulating its tossing due to the bent nod. Among the fishermen of the old school, sometimes there are real unique ones. There is such a way: using a nod made of bristles, the bait unwinds in one place, which is very similar to stirring sugar in a glass of tea. And if this wiring method is convenient for you, then it has the right to life. It should be noted that in this case, the choice of nod is of no small importance: the bristles, round in cross-section, allow for circular rotation. A flat nod does not have this capability.

Summarizing the above, we should conclude that depending on your wiring style, you should choose the type of nod.

Homemade lodge for winter fishing from a twisted spring

This is a very common type of nod, here are the instructions for making it:

A workpiece is cut from the main spring using strong scissors, as in the case of a clock spring, 15 cm after, the edge of the cut spring wire should be thoroughly cleaned with sandpaper.
Next, a wire loop is made.
Soldering the loop. During this process, a small ball of solder should come out of the solder at the place of soldering, so the loop will hold tighter to the spring.
If necessary, after soldering, the part should be sanded again, and the upper part should preferably be painted in bright light, also using a waterproof varnish.
The resulting guard is attached to the rod using cambrics up to 1 cm wide.

When making a nod from a coiled spring, you should take into account the fact that the rigidity of the guard will have to correspond to the mass of the bait that will be used when fishing. To adjust the parameters during manufacturing, you need to slightly change the length of the workpiece.

Happy and fruitful fishing!

Homemade mothless gatehouses

Most nozzle-free operators make their own nods for the rewinder. Suitable store-bought options are expensive, but cheap ones are not suitable. The advantage of such a homemade nod for a reelless fish is that it is initially made by the fisherman “for himself,” taking into account all the requirements and habits in the game. Manufacturing materials:

Sheet plastics - vinyl, polycarbonate, lavsan, caprolavsan, astralon, bottle scraps. Any PET and its thermoplastic derivatives (polyethylene glycol terephthalate).
X-ray film.
Boar bristles.
Clock spring.
Carbon from a fishing rod (with skill and patience).

To make it you will need a metal ruler and a stationery knife (scalpel) for cutting, an awl, needles, cambrics and wire insulation, needle files and sandpaper. The principle is the same - a blank (and springs) of the required length and shape are cut out of the material, then the workpiece is adjusted using sandpaper and a file to match the weight of the rewinder. For a moth-eater, “nodding search” is a normal phenomenon. Before finding out and defining that very treasured gatehouse for yourself, you have to try dozens of different design options and materials.

The most popular material is lavsan of various thicknesses. Depending on the selection of the thickness of the lavsan and the length of the form, different rigidity is obtained. Sanding to a cone (one or two) will give the desired properties. It didn’t work out - we try again, make the length with a margin - you can always trim off the excess. The main form can be sprung with additional strips (if desired, make a soft tip with a hard butt). After turning the blank, all that remains is to punch holes, paint it, and attach it to the fishing rod with a connector (cambrics).

From a plastic bottle

Plastic bottle nods are made using the same principle. Before the result is achieved, a lot of material will most likely be spoiled. However, with due patience, it turns out to be an excellent guardhouse for the mothless moth. For a guard made from a plastic bottle, any water, beer or lemonade container with smooth sides is suitable. The cut out part of the bottle is straightened by heating it with an iron through a rag.

To make a homemade nod for a winter fishing rod, a form of the required length is cut out of a bottle using the standard method (with a ruler and a knife) and processed. This option is suitable for bloodworm fishing. For rewinding, bottle plastic is subjected to heat treatment - only then is the necessary elasticity achieved. To do this, the workpiece is heated over a heat source (stove, gas) and slightly stretched to the sides with two pliers. This is a delicate point - the plastic must not be overheated, otherwise it will curl. At the same time, you cannot overtighten the workpiece. Stretching is carried out approximately by one-fifth of the length of the workpiece. This skill will come after several spoiled blanks. After stretching, the form is removed from the heat and held in the same position for some time (until it cools). Then - further according to the scheme, sanding and equipment for the rewinder. This type of guard works better in the long version for heavy moths.

X-ray film

For light mothless insects, a nod made of X-ray film is suitable. You can simply cut it out of film in one layer - suitable for light rewinders at shallow depths. A more universal option is a nod made of X-ray film with stiffeners. To do this, when cutting the workpiece, the width of the material for these ribs is also taken into account. The folds are made using a fountain pen with pressure. When cutting and punching, the taper is taken into account. After cutting, the stiffeners are folded inward and the workpiece is aligned with the nail. It turns out to be a fast-moving guardhouse. Next - according to the diagram. Instead of stiffeners, you can make springs from the same film. You will get a spring nod - it’s easier for everyone.

Homemade metal gatehouse

How to make a nod from a watch spring? On the same principle as plastic gatehouses. The required length of the spring of a men's wristwatch is cut off (on women's the strip is too narrow), and then ground down onto a cone evenly on all sides. This is the main difficulty - excess metal cannot be easily removed, like from lavsan. The nod blank from the clock spring must be clamped in a vice and ground down with a file (diamond whetstone). At the same time, it is important not to sand off excess. You need to sweat, but the result will be a beautiful do-it-yourself watch spring nod. Further according to the plan - fastenings, cambrics, rings, finishing under the weight of the jig. Instead of a clock spring, you can experiment with a tape measure.

Bite alarm for onboard fishing rod

Catching bream near the shore is almost a lost cause; you need a boat.
You can choose bodies of water with different flow speeds; this will require different preparation, equipment and dexterity. For fishing from board, you can use different types of fishing rods, including regular float fishing rods, fishing rods with a reel, or bottom fishing rods. But we’ll talk about fishing rods with bite alarms.

You often have to fish in poor visibility or in the rain; in rough weather it is difficult to follow the movements of the float. A fishing rod with a guard comes to the rescue - its movements remain almost invisible to the fish, which gives the necessary seconds for hooking.

Equipment

The fishing rod should be small, reliable and have positive buoyancy, the rod should be 1.5–2 meters.
To make the bite more noticeable, a large boss (for example, a colored foam ball) is installed at the end of the nod.
The nod should be rigid, withstand the tension of the fishing line and not create false bites.
In addition, the nod should be sufficiently springy and not deform after hooking.
The length of the nod can be from 8 to 20 centimeters. The longer it is, the more time it will take to complete the hook.
For a length of 12 centimeters or more, an additional passage ring will be required.
The nod should change in length in the working part.
Any material: lavsan, metal, polymer.

Reference! For catching bream, it is best to use a fishing line with a diameter of about 0.2 millimeters. A good option is braided cord.

Location of the bite alarm on the side fishing rod

It all depends on the current. If the current is slow or completely absent, you can place the nod on the side - this will make it more convenient to observe it. If the current is fast, it is better to place it straight so that it is more sensitive to bites.

Which bite alarm should I use?

The stores offer a large selection of lodges. The main thing is to focus on the appropriate load capacity and size.

You can use a crossbow nod, which makes the bait imperceptible to the fish and is highly sensitive.

You can make a gatehouse yourself

Flat springs from watches or telephones will be used. Such guards will have a ring at the end; the other side is secured to the top of the fishing rod whip. To make the ring more noticeable, you can place a bright ball next to it. Wire with a cross section of 0.5–0.8 millimeters is also suitable.

In addition to metal, you can use plastic bottles cut into strips. It’s better to take a colored bottle or paint it with nail polish or a construction marker.

How to attach a nod to a side fishing rod?

If you made the nod yourself, you can attach it to the whip using rubber tubes.
Also on the whip behind the ring you can glue and wrap a thread around a flat tube (for example, a piece of insulation heated over a fire and flattened) into which the end of the nod will fit.

A bite alarm purchased in a store will be equipped with special adapters with which it is attached to the fishing rod.

Technique for catching bream with a side rod with a guard

Feed the area a couple of days before fishing and half an hour before casting the bait.
Position the nod in relation to the whip at an angle of 45 0.
Hold the fishing rod in your hands while fishing.
As soon as the nod gives the signal, immediately carry out the hook, but do not make sudden movements.
Fishing for bream should be done carefully, keeping the line tight.
Bring the bream to the surface of the water, after a breath of air it becomes calm - you can pick it up with a net.
Do not make any noise when fishing.