For Burbot - Into The Night

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

Fishing Academy

There is impenetrable darkness over the river. The vast majority of fish become lethargic in winter and settle in wintering pits. But just don't burbot. It is in cold, rainy weather that he is especially active. Getting out of their shelter: from under the snags, boulders, burbot begins to feed. Moreover, he does not hide in ambush like a pike, does not pursue prey like a perch or pike perch, but, while prowling, literally "crawls" along the bottom.

It is believed that burbot is omnivorous, but it eats exclusively animal food, excluding vegetarian food. This predator eats various small fish: bleak, smelt, smelt, roach, and its fellows. He easily swallows the most prickly fish: perch, ruff, stickleback. He will also not give up on cancer, worms, lamprey larvae, molluscs, frogs. But a real delicacy for burbot is fish roe, including valuable species - salmon, whitefish, trout, grayling.

Usually tackle for catching burbot is very simple, but always only bottom. This method is often used. In winter, on the river, where burbots are found, holes are drilled in the evening, in which they put poles in an inclined position, reaching the bottom. And on each of them, at a height of 15-20 centimeters from the lower end, a long leash with a baited hook is fixed (see Fig. 1). Unlike pike, burbot tackle is made without a line supply. This is due to the fact that the burbot takes the bait greedily and immediately swallows it. Moreover, it never goes far.

It is very important to find a burbot "path". To do this, bottom gear is placed in the drilled holes across the river at night and checked in the morning. And if there are bites on the bottom of the left bank, and in other places the bait has remained intact, then this is a sure sign that a burbot "trail" passes along this bank. All the gear should be transferred there.

You can do otherwise. In the holes in which you fished with float rods for perches, roach, ruff during the day, lower the donks with a fish attached to a hook at night. Indeed, in the day's catch, there will certainly be a trifle. It should only be remembered that contrary to the frequent assertion that burbot willingly pecks on both dead and frozen fish, this is not at all the case. Burbot really takes on such a bait, but much worse than on live. He grabs a dead bait only during a strong zhora and only when it is very close to him. It is extremely rare for burbot to be interested in stale, stale meat.

The best bait is quite rightly considered a gudgeon and a ruff. Especially the ruff. However, it is not always possible to get a ruff quickly. And if there is a similar difficulty, you can try this option. A small hook with a bloodworm is tied to a large burbot hook on a short leash. This tackle is lowered into the hole. The ubiquitous ruff, having swallowed bloodworms, will stand still. Burbot, which has a good sense of smell, will surely stumble upon a ruff, grab it and, together with it, pull a large hook into its mouth. This tackle is best set at night.

They catch burbot in the winter with spoons. It is only necessary to take into account one circumstance: if the burbot takes sluggishly on the pond or it is not enough in a given place, then flashing without attaching a fish or at least its parts to a hook is a useless exercise. The spoon itself is slowly carried along the bottom, while making half-minute delays. Trolling is best at the exits of pits, deep pools, taking into account the fact that, getting out of them, the burbot will invariably move towards the current. Experienced, successful anglers claim that silver-colored baubles are desirable. The burbot takes such a playing spoon for a fry and therefore willingly rushes at it from below.

However, winter fishing for burbot with a jig is more catchy. The jigs for this fish are the same as for other fish, only larger and heavier. The simplest one can be used - no more than half a meter long. The fishing line with a diameter of 0.4-0.5 millimeters must be strong and not twist. Single hook # 12-14 - very sharp.

Of course, there are many ways to play the jig when catching burbot. In each case, its individual selection is required.

The burbot's bite is different. Often, grabbing the bait, he stands still and sucks it in for a long time. And sometimes the predator simply hangs on the jig, and then the complete impression is created that it is caught on something at the bottom. Or the fish starts to pull and push the bait. In these cases, it is difficult to determine the timing of the sweep: it is done purely intuitively. It also happens that a strong jerk is transmitted to the hand or even the rod flies out of the hands. With such bites, the hooking is performed immediately. If for some reason it was not possible to spot the burbot, then you should definitely continue playing the jig. The burbot will certainly look for prey that has escaped from its mouth.

It is not known why, but burbot biting at night is rather uneven. After it gets dark, he is very active and for about 1.5-2 hours he grabs everything. Then the bite, as if on command, freezes and resumes no earlier than two or three hours later, or even later. In this interval, and with burbot - at night it is useless to drill new holes and change the nozzles. The result is almost always zero. But with the first, barely noticeable glimpse of the morning, very often the activity of burbot sharply increases and usually continues until full dawn.

By the way, locals in the reservoirs of our region, especially on Ladoga, use a rather curious method of catching burbot on the donks. They leave these baited gear in the holes overnight or even for several days. But since the holes often freeze, then when checking the angler next to the old one drills a new one. In it, he pushes an arcuate wire, the curved end of which picks up the line of the bottom. Then she, together with the fish, pulls out onto the ice.

Instead of wire, you can use a very effective fixture of two wooden planks. To a long wooden plank up to a meter long, another is attached to a hinge - a short one, at the end of which a hook or a simple bent nail is fixed. A short bar lowered under the ice floats up, takes a horizontal position and, when turning, clings to the fishing line (see Fig. 2). When lifting, it rests on the lower edge of the hole, straightens in one line with the long bar and, dragging the fishing line along with it, easily leaves the hole.

Needless to say, night burbot fishing is a rather specific activity. On the one hand, it is not very pleasant to sit by the holes in the winter cold, but on the other hand, such fishing is quite often reckless and successful.