Organization of rafting: what to consider when preparing and fishing

“A boat glides slowly down the river,
“The breeze blows on your face.
“The sun shines softly between the mountains,
“No worries, no cares, no worries.” ©

Someone likes raft fishing because of the beautiful scenic views from the boat, and someone, like me, just has to look for more “remote” places because of the ever-increasing pressure on the near approaches to the city. In addition, our Dnieper in the middle course is not particularly abundant with rolls and, as a rule, when fishing for chub or sturgeon, the main places of their habitat are concentrated under steep banks at the steep bends of the river.

In general, the process of rafting itself, of course, is nothing complicated – as they say, only have time to throw, but from how thorough was the preparation, in many ways and depends on the overall success of this event. That’s why in this article I will try to tell you about all my experience in route planning and possible nuances directly during the rafting itself.

Preparation

With the help of satellite maps you can make a detailed route

As a rule, preparation for any rafting trip begins with the study of the proposed fishing area. In today’s realities you can not even think about paper maps and the easiest thing to do is to resort to any of the available services with satellite images. In addition to access roads on them we can study the proposed rafting site in advance in detail and immediately make a further plan of action. And in case, for example, of such a service as Google Earth, we can familiarize ourselves not only with the current state of affairs, but even look a little into the history by viewing the images for the whole period of observation.

Since my partner and I simply cannot live without the “white predator”, we prefer to choose places based on these preferences. Basically, these are river sections with rather complicated winding riverbed or sections where the river is divided into several branches with a lot of small channels. As a rule, it is in such places after the spring flooding is formed quite interesting coastal relief with extended debris, in which, in fact, and hold fish. The same applies to various small islands in the middle of the river, where there is always a washed out section of the shore with snags, and a sandy spit with a pile to the depth at its end.

It is worth looking for places with interesting coastal relief

But for those cases when the weather forecast is not quite clear or there is no confidence in the “white” pecking when selecting a site, we try to provide for the presence of a couple of backwaters on the route, in which you can always take shelter from strong winds or distract yourself from catching pike and perch.

Of course, viewing maps and photos does not give a hundred percent guarantee, and in reality the selected river section may differ from what you see on the computer, but over time the percentage of errors tends to zero, and after all – there should be at least some element of surprise.

Going out on the water

Depending on the route, you can choose different options of starting point

To begin with, there are two options for choosing a starting point.

The first is the option when we with the boat remain in the place of descent, and the car under the control of our friend moves to the end point of the route, where he is waiting for us quite successfully catching a feeder.

The second option is that we initially go to the end point and from there we go up the river by boat to the intended starting point.

Why up, and not immediately rafting down, is explained very simply – any technique, no matter how reliable it is, has a tendency to break down. And so that in case of force-majeure situation with the motor we don’t have to return to the car on oars, and moreover against the current, we go up initially.

At the place of boat launching all procedures are quite standard – pumping the boat or dropping it from the carriage, loading all necessary things and equipment, and, of course, assembling those sets of gear that will be used directly during the rafting.

Rafting

Near the precipitous banks the main stream most often passes through

Finally, we finally got to the most interesting thing…..

As I have already written above, initially we direct the boat to the steep bank and try to stick to it throughout the route. It is in such places most often and passes the main stream, and because of the heterogeneity of the ground the shoreline is cut by various protrusions 및 small “backs”, near which our charges and prefer to wait for the gaping prey.

Directly on the catching itself we will not dwell in detail, as to each bait and each place it is necessary to pick up the individual “key”. But about further actions in the course of the day can and should be discussed. For a lunch stop most often we choose a section of the shore near a small roll, as there you can always without problems “pull” various little things for soup, and just to fish while the dinner is being prepared. By this time it also becomes clear what to do next and on catching what fish should be emphasized.If the activity of the gutter and chub leaves much to be desired, then after lunch you can always give a couple of hours to less fastidious companions in the form of perch or pike and only then to continue the journey. That’s why I mentioned in the beginning about the floods or “gills”, on the river itself, in which at such times and goes fishing.

If the activity of zherekh and chub is not very high, you can focus on catching other predators

For overnight stay, of course, if it is supposed, we choose places where you can expect pikeperch to come out in the evening and early morning. As a rule, it is the same coastal rolls or sandy spits with a sharp pile to the depth. And if in the evening you can still get carried away by sitting around the campfire, then before dawn to check how this fellow is doing, for me it’s just a matter of honor, because in my hierarchy it stands immediately after catching “white predators”.

After catching pikeperch and a dense breakfast with an obligatory cup of coffee in the same manner we pass the rest of the site. And then after arrival to the final point of the route comes my least favorite part – assembling the boat and the way home. It all happens, of course, very slowly, as the accumulated fatigue already makes itself felt.

For overnight stay you can choose a successful place for early pikeperch fishing

Upon arrival home, the rafting can officially be considered complete, but the next day everything starts again, and in the head again spinning maps, rivers and wild nibbles of beautiful and powerful fish …

작성자: 밥 너드 는 20년 이상의 경력을 가진 전문 낚시꾼으로 많은 대회에서 우승한 바 있습니다.