Gillies. Aastaajad. Esimene osa

Quiet summer morning, somewhere nearby on the branches birds chirping merrily and water gurgling affectionately, rolling over the rocks … And then quite suddenly this idyll is broken by a deafening blow – the minnow flies in different directions, as if thrown up by an unknown force, and the silvery monster, flashing goodbye dorsal fin, immediately disappears into the depths.

I think that this picture is familiar to many who have at least once met the dawn on the river bank or purposefully hunting for stud on a regular basis. Catching this beautiful and strong fish really reminds me most of hunting, as the sheresper constantly likes to change his preferences both to baits and to the places of his habitat. So you have to constantly think, change something, pick up. And this is not to mention that camouflage during his fishing is not in the last place.

Since we have a ban in Belarus in spring, limiting the use of boats, we have to catch corsair in this period only from the shore. Fortunately, the behavior of the stud at this time quite often allows you to fully enjoy catching “in short”, using small baits and their corresponding set of gear. And as you have probably already guessed, this is the kind of fishing we will talk about today.

Koht

As a rule, after a short time after the ice melts, the stud begins to gather near the places of future spawning, so it is easiest to find it there. Most often these are stony rolls or, for lack of them, just areas with a hard bottom and a fairly fast current. There are no priorities and time bindings at the moment, and the stud is caught more or less evenly throughout the daylight hours.

Having finished with the business of procreation, our hero for some time “comes to his senses” and begins to actively feed to restore all the spent forces. Most often during this period it can be found near “backwaters”, where young fish like to rest from the strong spring current and near sandy spits near the shore or behind islands, where the same young fish like to gather due to faster warming of water. There is also another type of places where corsairs like to feast at this time – these are places where small rivulets and streams or just coming off the floodplain melt water. Various white fish stick to such places and actively feed on washed insects and their larvae, well, and they, in turn, are already fed by various predators, including our hero.

With the beginning of summer, the rivers return to their usual state and enter the banks, the stud gradually occupies its usual summer stands on the rolls, baffle streams and their border with the zone of reverse flow. In terms of time, he begins to gravitate more and more to the evening and morning dawns, making during the day only short forays on the roll with a certain cyclicality.

The tackle

Here, probably, it will be very difficult to advise something specific … Since the choice of spinning – a matter of purely personal and depends largely on the tasks and specific conditions. In my case, it is mainly spinning designed for catching salmon 2 – 2.3 meters long and with an upper test maximum of grams to twelve. As a rule, they have a complex structure – a thin and elastic top allows you to animate even small baits, but when a big fish bites, a slightly more powerful bob comes into play and the spinning works jerks all the blank, helping to tire the fish faster.

Here is a small list of what I catch or caught myself, well, and a couple of models, which, in my opinion, also perfectly suitable for these tasks:

I do not make any special requirements to the reel – the main thing is that there was a good laying of the cord and well working friction brake. The only thing, since the fishing is conducted on a fairly fast current, and the size of the fish is still happy, I prefer reels in the size 2500 (by SHIMANO) or 2506/2508 (the old gradation from DAIWA).

Näiteks:

And here to the choice of braided cord should be approached more responsibly … Since this element of the tackle is quite important, its correct selection can greatly simplify “life” during spring fishing. Due to the fact that in this period in the water is a lot of different suspended particles and debris, I prefer four-core cords because of their greater resistance to abrasive. Since you have to catch in tight and difficult conditions and often force the fishing, I do not get shallow and put the cord in the size of #0.8 or even #1 (this is if you have to catch literally between the flooded bushes).

From the last one, what I liked:

Lures

Perhaps, someone will say that in spring the sheresper is absolutely not picky to baits and even will be right, but on my reservoirs there is a special subspecies – capricious stud. I do not know what it is connected with, but during the day his preferences can change several times – then in the morning he wants baits at least 70 (mm.), and in an hour he reacts only to something no more than 50 (mm.). In general, do not fixate on something specific, and should constantly experiment, changing the size of the bait and the degree of its depth. For a fast spring current when catching studs, I mainly use sinking models, as they are best suited for these conditions. There are several reasons for this, but the most important is that they are not knocked down from the game, during the wiring of the current does not take them to the top. In addition, they due to their mass and fly a little better than their floating brothers.

From the classics:

Also in this period work well and narrow oscillating blades. The only thing is that they are not quite suitable for catching the stream itself, as they are carried upstairs, and if weighted, they already “fall out” of the test spinning. Therefore, I use them usually when catching the coastal zone or on the border of backwaters.

Lemmikud:

Juhtimine

Or even truer wiring, since after wintering and spawning stud is still far from its best form, and a special desire to chase too active prey he has no. Therefore, the basic wiring in this period for me is the usual “even” with a small speed and without sharp movements of the bait. Naturally, it can and should be diluted with pauses or a couple of short pulls, but, again, I repeat – all movements of the bait should be smooth. Probably, in other regions everything is completely different and the stud reacts to aggressive and high-speed variants of wires in spring, but at us this period comes a little later – approximately by the end of May-beginning of June.

Epiloog

In conclusion, I would like to say that if your first or even second trip in spring was not quite successful, you should not be upset. It’s just not time yet, perhaps after a couple of days the result will be much better, because in spring the fish does not stand still and is in constant motion. And it is possible that the place is not quite the same, because among the two rolls next to the stud will prefer the one where the bottom is more solid and there are more of all sorts of local irregularities, which are so fond of both the stud and his prey. So everything is in your hands – only the one who does nothing is not mistaken…