Is The Saying About Crayfish Right?

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

Who does not know this favorite fishing proverb: "There is fish for fish without fish". Although, of course, how else to look at it! After all, cancer has many of the characteristics inherent in fish: it lives in water, breathes with gills, reproduces with the help of caviar, knows how to swim, eats the same food as many fish. In addition, crayfish, like fish, can be caught with a fishing rod.

True, outwardly, cancer is not at all like most of our fish. Judge for yourself: a wedge-shaped, shell-covered head, tiny protruding eyes, a small mouth with very strong lips, two long mustaches. On the sides of the shell-protected body there are four pairs of limbs, with the help of which the cancer moves along the bottom. The color of the cancer depends on the background of the bottom in the place where it lives. It ranges from dark gray to black-green.

Cancers are very demanding about their environment. About a reservoir in which there are many crayfish, we can say for sure that the water in it is clean and rich in oxygen. For this reason, crayfish are more common in rivers than in lakes. They prefer rocky bottoms where shelter can be found easily, as well as a bottom suitable for burrowing. Crayfish avoid shallow waters with a flat sandy bottom and muddy bottoms of ponds and oxbow lakes.

I have heard statements from fishermen that crayfish, they say, are up to 20 centimeters long. I suppose this is a common fishing exaggeration. Because I have never seen cancer more than ten centimeters in anyone.

By way of life, cancer can be said to be a recluse: each of these amazing creatures has its own individual living "corner". This can be a gully under a stone, a sunken driftwood or the trunk of a fallen tree. But most often the dwelling of the crayfish is a burrow dug in a steep bank or in the bottom soil. It can be up to a meter long.

Cancer feeds mainly at night. He is an omnivore. The basis of his diet is plant food, but he also eats insect larvae, other aquatic inhabitants, and hunts his relatives.

Crayfish are harvested in different ways … As a child, I, like my peers, caught crayfish with my hands and, naturally, had the opportunity to observe them. And I saw a lot of interesting things. Let's start with the well-known assertion that cancer only moves backwards. In fact, nothing like that!

Cancer moves excellently along the bottom in any direction: left, right, down, up, or, slightly moving its claws, goes, as everyone walks, straight ahead. In a word, as he pleases.

And he's a great swimmer. I have seen how a crayfish calmly walking along the bottom suddenly, without the slightest visible effort, without any movement of its claws or tail, swiftly floated up a meter, one and a half, and almost upright rushed half-water against a strong current.

Much later, swimming in a mask and with a snorkel, I could watch the crayfish steal from the fisherman … Approaching on his feet, like any pedestrian, to the bait that the fisherman had planted on the hook of his fishing rod, the crayfish slowly pulled it off the hook with its claw. The float of the fishing rod, of course, signals a bite, and the angler hooks up and snatches the rod out of the water, and there - nothing! After all, the cancer, while being dragged, manages to unclench the claw and, having sunk to the bottom, continues the hike, interrupted by an unsuccessful attempt to eat.

Very rarely it is possible to pick up and throw a crayfish ashore. This only happens with a very skilled angler and with a significant miss of the crayfish.

And if you are going to catch crayfish with a fishing rod, then you need special, so-called "crayfish" fishing rods. This tackle is the simplest: a fishing line or cord is tied to a stick with a pointed butt (for sticking into the ground), and a bait is tied to its lower end (see Fig. 1). It is best to use a cut (to make it smell stronger) small fish or frog wrapped in an old nylon stocking for this purpose. You can also put a pinch of bloodworms there.

Attracted by the bait, the crayfish clings to it with its claws and holds on until it is dragged out of the water. But this should be done very skillfully. Fishing for crayfish differs from fishing for crayfish in that it is conducted without a hook, and the catch can unhook at any time.

When fishing far from the shore, the fishing line is not tied to a rod, but to a float-buoy. Together with the bait, a load is placed in the stocking (see Fig. 2).

Much more effective catching crayfish traps - crayfish (crustaceans). They are of several types. Simple: 3-4 pieces of a thin nylon cord 70-80 centimeters long are attached to a wire rim with a diameter of about half a meter at the same distance from each other. The upper ends of these segments, in order to avoid distortions, are connected by a common knot and a more durable cord is attached to it. The rim is covered with a fine mesh net like a net.

The fishing technique is simple: a bait is attached in the center of the crayfish. Then the tackle is lowered to the bottom. After 3-4 minutes, the crayfish is removed from the water. This should be done quickly so that the cancer that has seized the bait does not have time to get out of the trap.

Another option for rakolovka: when the rim is attached not to the cord, but to a long pointed pole passed through the middle of the net (see Fig. 3). While sailing on a boat, the pole is stuck into the ground and periodically checked.

Recently, for catching crayfish, a variety of crayfish from two hoops (rims) have been used. Figure 4 shows one of the options for such a tackle. Two hoops are taken from steel wire with a cross section of 4-5 millimeters, 30 and 50 centimeters in diameter, fastened together by three rods 15-20 centimeters long, from the same wire.

The entire structure, except for the neck (small ring), is covered with a mesh with a fine mesh. Cords are tied to a small ring in three places, which are connected together about a meter from the crayfish. Here a thicker main cord is attached to them. It is advisable to tie a piece of foam to its end, on which it is convenient to wind the cord and which helps to keep it on the water, depending on the depth of the reservoir.

The bait should be placed or tied to the bottom of the crayfish. The crayfish easily fall into the trap along the tilted net. However, they cannot get back - they are looking for an exit from below, and there is a "canopy" from an inclined grid. For more successful fishing, along with the bait, you can put a little dill in a mesh bag, a piece of cake and a slice of rye bread, the crust of which is rubbed with garlic. It is also desirable for them to rub all the metal parts of the rakolovka.

The best time to catch crayfish is the first half of the night. Sometimes they actively feed at dawn.