Rotan - Amur Newcomer In Our Reservoirs

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Fishing Academy

Recently, more and more often and in an increasing number of reservoirs in our region (and within the city too), fishermen come across a hitherto unseen fish …

A thick, rounded body 8-12 centimeters long, two dorsal fins and a huge, almost a third of the body, slightly flattened head. Large disproportionate mouth, dotted with small sharp teeth, protruding lower jaw. Blackish-green, olive, and sometimes gray-brown coloration of the back merges with yellowish sides covered with dark spots and stripes, forming an indefinite blurred pattern. All this camouflage indicates that we have an excellent concealer.

A wide shovel-like tail, powerful pectoral fins clearly confirm that a predator can make its way through any underwater thickets in order to suddenly attack its prey from an ambush.

Most anglers, having caught such a fish, were at a loss: what kind of miracle Yudo is this? And their trophy was the Far Eastern guest of our reservoirs - rotan, or firebrand. True, very soon this guest turned into a sovereign host. The fish fully justifies both names … Excessively large mouth (hence the rotan). The second name - firebrand - is given for the fact that during the spawning period, males are painted in a very dark, almost black color.

From the Amur basin, this fish first entered the water bodies of the Moscow region, and from there began to actively settle in the European part of Russia. She got to our edges. For the first time, for example, I heard about it a few years ago, when a fisherman friend explained to me that fish, unusual for our waters, appeared in some reservoirs of Petrodvorets. It turned out that this is the rotan - a firebrand.

Rotan quickly acclimatized in our conditions and is now successfully mastering more and more water bodies. Moreover, the Amur sleeper migrants are now much larger in size than their Far Eastern relatives of the same age. The main reasons for this are the extensive food supply and the exceptional adaptability of this fish to local conditions.

Rotan eats any animal food. It eats daphnia, crustaceans, tadpoles, small frogs, various molluscs, plankton, insect larvae. And yet the greatest delicacy for firebrands is caviar and fish fry (including those of their fellows). Thus, rotan causes significant harm to fish stock.

Especially slow fish such as crucian carp, carp, bream get from it. Rotan is their worst enemy. True, where pike, pike perch, burbot are found, the firebrand itself becomes an object of hunting, and therefore it tries to avoid open places, as well as reservoirs with the current, preferring abundantly overgrown stagnant pools and pools to them. Rotan is so tenacious that it can exist in conditions in which other fish cannot survive. It is undemanding to the purity of the water and the oxygen content in it. For example, in a dry swamp or pond, it buries itself in silt and can live until the next flood. He also comes to life, extracted from the ice.

Despite the fact that many anglers despise this fish for its exceptional aggressiveness and harm that it causes to valuable species, in the fishing sense, the firebrand is not inferior to most of the fish we are used to, and often surpasses them. Since it bites not only all year round, but also in any weather and in all seasons, not paying any attention either to rain or snowfall, or to changes in the direction of the winds, or at the time of day, or to a decrease in atmospheric pressure. It actively takes rotan in intense heat and bitter frost. In short, this fish can be caught all year round. It is easy to catch rotan. Since he is very gluttonous, he without any caution grabs any animal attachment that is within reach. The firebrand actively bites on fry, worms, amphipods, tadpoles, pieces of fish and any meat. He is very attracted to the bloodworm. I have seen how on one or two such larvae anglers managed to pull out several rotans.

What tempts him most is the moving bait. Therefore, he is especially willing to take when the bait gently sways up and down or from side to side.

Tackle for catching rotan is not particularly intricate … Two hooks No. 4-6 are tied to a fishing line with a diameter of 0.15-0.25 mm, preferably with a long forearm (it is easier to put baits on it and fish is better spotted) on short leashes at 15-20 cm from each other and 30-40 cm from the jig, which is located at the end of the line. The float is small, and even better, put a nod on the tip of the fishing rod.

In winter, rotan is caught both with a float rod and tackle with a jig. For some reason he especially likes tungsten jigs and perch spoons. The principle of fishing is the same as in the summer: slow posting of the jig or spinner with a smooth game of the bait.

The sizes and weights of rotans vary in different water bodies … And although experienced anglers swear by oath that they often come across specimens up to half a kilogram, and one fisherman swore that he once caught a firebrand weighing 700 grams, I have not seen a single specimen weighing more than 300 grams in the catches of fishermen. Rotan has delicious white meat without bones, reminiscent of chicken. It is very good in the ear (no worse than a ruff), fried and dried. It is also an excellent filling for pies. So catch rotan - and you won't regret it.