April Fishing Quirks

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

Fishing Academy

April in the conditions of the North-West, one might say, is a month of mixed fishing: in the first decade - from the ice, at the end of the month - in open water. This is a month of intense arrival of spring. This means that winter fishing turns into a very risky activity, since the ice from the water melts both from above and from below, and therefore becomes extremely unreliable.

Spring ice is very dangerous on the shoals, in the current, near thickets of reeds, cattails, near snags, stones and flooded trees. Ice-holes and lanes made by fishermen for launching and pulling seines and nets, which do not immediately freeze and are often masked by falling snow, are dangerous. Ice in such places often does not withstand the load of the angler's weight and collapses suddenly, without cracking. Therefore, it is not for nothing that folk wisdom says: "If you take an hour, you will live a century."

In the Leningrad Region, April fishing from ice is relatively safe in the northern regions and on the Karelian Isthmus, mainly in closed bodies of water - lakes, oxbows and reservoirs. At this time, ruff, perch, roach, bream, rudd and other fish are caught on a jig with bloodworms, and sometimes without a nozzle at all. And in Lake Ladoga - whitefish and palia.

Pike and perch bite well on lures at the edges and grassy shallows, in pits and on flooded river beds - pike perch. For live bait (roach, perch and especially ruff) pike, large perch and burbot are taken. And in some reservoirs, predators are willingly caught on minnows. Float rods for bloodworms successfully catch ruff, silver bream, bream, rudd, roach, perch. Chub and ide are rarely seen.

If the spring is friendly, in small rivers the flood passes quickly, the water clears up, and already in the third decade of April, you can fish in them for bloodworms and worms in the wiring of roach, gudgeon, dace and ide. In turbid water, especially when the rivers have not yet entered the banks, burbot is well caught with bottom fishing rods for crawling out and with a brush of dung worms. The best time is cool, moonless twilight with wind.

Perch fry are actively grabbing. Some angler fishers have adapted to catch large perch with float rods with two jigs: the upper, which is smaller, is nailed by burdock or pieces of bacon from the subcutaneous layer of a boiled ham, the lower - by bloodworms. In shallow areas heated by the sun in ponds and small lakes, even before the appearance of aquatic vegetation, you can catch goldfish with a float rod.

At this time, extreme caution is required from the angler: not completely dry shores, especially clay ones, are only covered with a crust on top, under which the ground is very slippery. It is easy to slide down the river slope into the water and very difficult to get ashore. But how can these and similar minor troubles make a true fisherman sit around? He will show wonders of resourcefulness to find the opportunity to fish even in extreme conditions. I also want to tell you about one such fishing fan.

In mid-April, when the ice on the lake, although it was holding, was so thin that even crows, loudly croaking on the coastal trees, would not have dared to step on it, a middle-aged man still managed to fish! True, he was fishing from the shore … In his hands he had a rod four meters long, and the line was a little shorter. A tiny brush was baited onto the hook.

The fisherman threw live bait in the direction of one of the many holes left over from winter. And at first he sent it a little further, and then gradually pulled it to the hole. When the ruff was at the bottom, the angler pulled the tackle, giving it a peculiar game. And although the fisherman's trophies were three small pikes, which he demonstrated with undisguised pride, further conversation revealed that this method of fishing is fraught with significant problems.

For example, the fishing line is frayed quite quickly. Often, when playing, the hook clings to the lower edge of the ice. In addition, live bait (especially roach, rudd), when cast, hitting the ice, quickly become unsuitable for fishing. And one more thing: such fishing requires an accurate eye, a sense of distance: try to get into the right hole from five meters!

In addition, it is necessary to be able to play the bait correctly in order to attract fish. In a word, such fishing with many nuances is not within the power of every angler. Therefore, you have to be very enthusiastic to fish this way.

I came across a description of another method of fishing on half-melted spring ice in a fishing magazine. This tackle resembles a well crane - a cross between fishing on a girder and a plumb line (see fig.). On the shore, a flyer-stand 1.2-1.5 meters long is stuck into the ground, on which a rod with a length of 4-5 meters is installed so that its butt part is located behind the stand by about a third of its entire length.

A fishing line with a diameter of 0.3-0.5 millimeters with a leash and a sinker is attached to it on one side. A tee with live bait is on a leash. On the base and on the butt of the rod, a rubber shock absorber is fixed in such a way that it balances both parts of the rod on the base. In addition, the shock absorber dampens the jerks of large fish and with its help the exact release of live bait from the bottom is established.

Live bait is lowered into promising holes known since winter on the coastal shallow. For burbot and pike perch, the bait must be lowered to the bottom, for asp and pike - in half water.

Can any angler use one of these methods if they wish? I do not know. Two options are possible here … Follow the biblical commandment: “Seek and find,” that is, seek and find (in our case, fish). Or remember the centuries-old proverb: "The game is not worth the candle." And the choice, of course, remains with the angler.