Πιάνοντας λευκό αρπακτικό στο Oka

Types of predatory fish and fishing methods

Under the Oka white predator should be understood three main species – stud, chub and, of course, yazya. Many people catch yazya purposefully on the natural bait with a float rod or feeder. Golavl is an infrequent guest on such tackle, and jherekh is even rarer. Spinning allows you to boast a catch of each of these species. It is enough to understand the behavior and habits of fish, places, time of catching and the most catchable baits.

Habitats and habits

The main places of possible catching are no secret:

• zherekh likes extensive sandbanks with a lot of fry and occasionally hunts on the swale;
• chub likes to stand under overhanging bushes, waiting for some insect to fall into the water;
• the yazi prefers to dwell in muddy pools or coastal holes.

These are the most popular criteria when searching for a white predator on most bodies of water in our large country, and not for nothing. Starting from this, almost everywhere you can find a white predator, but the size of the fish and its number can be very scarce. For successful fishing, it is necessary to understand the peculiarities of each particular body of water. It is possible that such “local” habits of fish will be far from the most popular and will allow to increase the quantity and quality of the catch many times. This is what happens on the Oka River.

If on the Oka River to look for gerich on sandy spits or chub under the overhanging bushes above the water, it will succeed, and the size can be quite decent, but on such fishing will have to spend a lot of time, perhaps not even one day to get a few nibbles.

“The zest” of the Oka white predator is that both stud, and chub and yazem can be successfully caught in one place, and regardless of the time of day. Golavl usually is not characterized by night activity, I have not caught the roach at night on other rivers at all. But on the Oka it is all real, and this very “zest” can be called in one word – roll. I do not mean sandy spits, but stony, ideally clay-stony rolls, with a powerful main stream. A big plus is the presence of a breakaway jet, which intersects with the main accelerated stream. In this place will definitely stand predator. In the most interesting places on the main stream goes like a small dumps, about which just happens to be the intersection of streams, the main and bounce, the place is a hundred percent.

Another option, not that the roll, local elongated stony runs with a small depth, literally within one meter and with an increased difference in the height of the bottom above sea level, resulting in such a section of the stream gains a decent speed. Just in this stream predator and hunts. However, you should be careful, in such a place you can already meet a spotty hunter – pike.

Δολώματα

With some exceptions when hunting for white predator baits coincide. The main bait are crankbaits, different colors, shapes and depths. A big bonus will be the presence of a wobbler system of long-range throwing and good aerodynamic characteristics. It happened that in windy weather, and on the Oka many places are perfectly blown, even in the most interesting places I stayed without a catch until I put the bait, which could throw an order of magnitude further than the previous and, as it turned out, it was there that the fish and stood. I also do not recommend the use of crankbaits, the weak point of which is the overlap, because when fishing on the stream fishing will turn into a headache, when 2 throws of 3 end up unwinding the braid from the hooks. In this case, of course, you could put a leash of thin string, but as practice shows, even a leash of five centimeters scares off the fish, reducing the number of nibbles. Not for nothing all these fish are known for increased caution.

Since the catch occurs at shallow depths, the crankbaits are required in the depth of SR or SSR. Specific deepening is selected on the spot, it happens that today the fish feeds near the surface, and tomorrow crankbait with deepening SSR in full ignore, as the fish is closer to the bottom. In this case, the bait, which goes at a depth of 0.5-0.7 meters – what you need.

Five years in a row I tried different variants of wobblers, but all the time in the leaders were ZipBaits Rigge 35F and Jackall Chubby, rarely in the lead broke out Yo-Zuri L-Minnow 44, when the fish stood on the throw. Last year I tried a new krenk Golden Mean Hellion SSR 40F, after which I added this wobbler in different colors and different depths. After such acquaintance other wobblers began to leave the box very rarely.

Of course, it is impossible not to mention the catching of studs on pilkers, but in such conditions it is not very popular, when studs do not want to come close at all. Which in principle is typical for him, but usually on the rolls he often behaves less cautiously and can bite at a distance of 10-20 meters. For example, in 2018, the pilkers outplayed the crankbaits only a couple times. Blades I use Renegade Iron Minnow in different weights and colors, colors I pick up to my taste, but I always have different ones on hand.

Fishing tackle for the Oka predator

A rod of medium length is required, as you sometimes have to catch in not the most convenient places. Moderately powerful, but light, because the weight of baits rarely exceeds 5-6 gr, occasionally pilkers up to 12 gr, but very rarely. I use Fast line, because all the same baits may need different, and I do not like to use regular on the stream. The stiffness of the blank is better to choose medium, soft rod will roll, excessively rigid on the contrary, sometimes tear through the bait or throw out the crankbait on the surface against a good current. At the moment my choice is Hearty Rise 732LL up to 14g.

Braided cord I use the minimum possible – 0.6 PE, because the strikes are often very powerful, especially in the opposite direction on the current, that it seems to be time to say goodbye to the rod. Therefore, cords of low quality will not be suitable, I opted for a braid with a real good breaking load – Varivas Super Trout Advance Max Power. Since the beginning of last season I’ve been testing the Stinger Aggregate SF 2010 reel with this set, so far without any complaints.

Casting and wiring

Throwing is quite simple and monotonous, you need to throw upstream, across the stream on the drift, so that the bait rafted down the stream, approaching the angler, passing through the most interesting places of relief and crossing streams. On the rolls it is read visually. Often plays a role changing the speed of wiring. Can take on the super slow, with freezing the bait in place, and after an hour already strikes occur, if only to hold the bait quickly, on the verge of throwing the wobbler on the surface.

Some raft krenk on the stream at 50-100m and slowly begin to wind up against the current. I tried, but such fishing is boring, monotonous and brings results much less than the classic catching zabros.

In general

On the Oka, of course, you can find white predators in traditional ways, but crankbaits and rolls will bring more decent catches. I have never once gone without a nibble in such cases, even in the driest of times.