Proper fishing for crucian bait. Anton Shaganov - Karas

Carp does not like open areas of the reservoir. The fact is that crucian carp have many natural enemies, but even in conditions when there is no obvious enemy of crucian carp in the pond, he constantly adheres to his shelters. This suggests that he has a highly developed instinct for self-preservation.

In fact, the crucian carp has enough enemies, and a person can be attributed to their number.

On any reservoir, crucian carp can be:

• In areas of aquatic vegetation or in their immediate vicinity.
• In places of the water area where trees or bushes are thrown into the water.
• In the windows of clear water, surrounded by aquatic vegetation.
• In pits, on dumps or tables and other areas with depth differences.

Small and medium-sized specimens prefer to stay close to the shore, while larger individuals try to be at depth and only occasionally come to the shore to feed or take sunbaths. But the main condition of his location is the opportunity to hide.

Crucian carp is a very shy fish and at the slightest extraneous noise it leaves the parking lot. The most effective tackle for catching crucian carp is considered a float fishing rod. On it you can catch crucian carp the whole season of open water.

Fishing for carp has several ways, such as:

1. Flywheel when using a regular float rod with a blind rig. As a rule, the fishing line is used quite thin with a float up to 1 gram. The length of the fishing line is chosen equal to the length of the rod or with a slight excess. With the help of such a rod, you can catch crucian carp at a distance of 12 meters from the shore. This method of fishing is more suitable for fishing in calm waters and in the presence of light winds.
2. Plug when a special pole rod is used, consisting of a large number of knees. When fishing for crucian carp, a thin fishing line with a float of 2 grams or more is also used. The length of the fishing line does not exceed the length of the upper knee. This method allows you to feed crucian carp very accurately and catch it at a distance of up to 20 meters. The rod and equipment can be used in any fishing conditions.
3. match when a rod is used, up to 4.5 meters long, equipped with guides. On such rods are installed spinning coils, with a sufficient supply of fishing line. Such equipment is intended for catching fish at long distances, using floats of the "Wagner" type. A match rod can also be used effectively in any conditions.
4. Bolognese more similar to match, although there are not big differences. A telescopic rod is used here, and the method is more suitable for fishing in the current.

In ponds of artificial origin, crucian always appears first. This is due to the fact that it is quite tenacious and can exist in conditions where any other fish simply cannot survive. Therefore, sooner or later, in any pit with water, crucian carp will definitely appear.

In the newly appeared ponds, where the food base has not yet been formed, the crucian carp moves along the water area in a school, comes close enough to the shore and pecks at any bait that is offered to it.

In such reservoirs, crucian carp are successfully caught on any tackle, regardless of what leashes are and how thick the main line is. Biting crucian carp can only interfere with the weather, which always makes its own adjustments to the fishing process.

In the ponds that have already taken place, after some time, other types of fish appear, both peaceful and predatory. Under such conditions, crucian carp have to decide on their permanent and temporary camping sites. Therefore, in such ponds, crucian carp will have to be sought or attracted to the place of fishing with the help of bait.

A bait is when a place of future fishing is fed for several days in a row. If the food is sprinkled regularly, then crucian carp will come to this place on the day of fishing. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to use this method. It is more suitable for local fishermen who can feed the place at any time.

If this method is not possible, then you can resort to electronic means of determining the location of the fish. In such cases, it is preferable to use an echo sounder.

In any case, crucian requires a lot of bait, otherwise fishing may not take place. All bait, which is planned to attract crucian carp, must be divided into three parts. One of these parts must be rolled into balls the size of an orange and thrown into the water. Basically, they make a dotted bait spot, although there are times when it turns out good results with a spaced feeding method, when bait is distributed over a large part of the water area.

The second part of the prepared bait will have to be abandoned, somewhere in an hour, if there are no bites. In case of bites, the place needs to be fed before each cast.

On the river

Here there are completely different fishing conditions and they are associated with the presence of a current that washes away the bait from the place of feeding. Therefore, here it makes sense to add bait every 15-20 minutes.

Float gear is the type of gear where it is absolutely impossible to come up with something of your own. In stores there are any items, and they are not at all expensive.

Purchased tackle

Almost all the elements of equipment for crucian carp will have to be purchased at the store: this is the blank of the rod, and the main fishing line, fishing line for leashes, sinkers and hooks. To make any rod at home, especially a modern one, is a very difficult task. The only thing you can make yourself is a goose feather float. By the way, it is considered the most sensitive float, although for long-range casting not suitable due to very low weight.

Homemade

Theoretically, you can make a rod by cutting it out of hazel. Firstly, it needs to be dried well, and secondly, this is already the past, since it is not very convenient to transport a long rod. It will not work to make it telescopic, but it is possible to make it folding, but such a rod will be characterized by poor reliability.

As for the float, it can also be made from other materials, such as wine cork, plastic tube, penoplex and others.

With the advent of spring, crucian carp prefer places where the water warms up very quickly. As a rule, these are shallow waters, as well as areas with a slow current, on the border of open water and last year's vegetation.

With the onset of summer, crucian carp can be found:

• In the windows of clear water, where there is aquatic vegetation
• On the border of clean water and aquatic vegetation
• In areas with varying depths.

Crucian carp begins to actively behave when the water temperature rises to + 10 ° C, and already at a temperature of + 15 ° C, it begins to actively peck.

Crucian feels great in conditions when the water temperature is in the range of + 18-23 ° C. It is these indicators that need to be taken into account when organizing fishing.

In spring and autumn, you should also focus on water temperature indicators. As a rule, during these periods, he begins to be interested in bait at 10-11 o'clock and until 16-17 o'clock. In summer, the crucian begins to peck even before sunrise, and in the evening active biting begins only after 17 hours.

But even these terms are considered very conditional, since the mode of biting crucian carp is not the same, even if the reservoirs are located nearby. This is due both to the presence of a forage base, and to the size and depth of the pond.

In ponds where there is a scarce food supply, crucian carp may be interested in bait throughout the daylight hours.

How to catch crucian on a bait in the summer?

Fishing always begins with the determination of fish parking spots. In addition, you should ask the following questions:

• Is there a large carp in the pond?
• Where do anglers catch it, in what parts of the water area?
• What kind of bait does he take?
• When exactly does a large crucian start pecking?

Knowing the answers to such questions, you can navigate and correctly determine the gear and nozzles.

Crucian is a shy fish and any extra fuss on the shore will not lead to the desired result. The fishing site should be well equipped, clearing it of excess vegetation and debris. If the ground is soft, then it is better to put several boards knocked into one structure in this place.

Rod stands should be set up so that multiple rods can be handled without sacrificing comfort.

The cage and landing net, in case of catching a large specimen, is located so that they are nearby, and you can reach them without any problems.

We should not forget about the baits that should be at hand.

Bait

Carp is an omnivorous fish, therefore it can peck both on baits of plant origin and on baits of animal origin. This is especially true for large individuals, for which it is very difficult to pick up bait. If crucian carp regularly feeds on coastal worms, then catching crucian carp on such baits is not realistic. As for the bloodworm, it is good to use it when fishing with an ordinary fly rod, but it is not suitable for long-distance casts - it is too gentle.

Maggot is also a very effective bait. At the same time, it is not as gentle as a bloodworm and can be cast using a match rod. But literally all the fish love the maggot and can simply drive the crucian away from the place of fishing. In addition, there are reservoirs where crucian peck at only one type of bait.

The worm is the most common and most affordable bait for crucian carp, especially in spring and autumn. In the summer, crucian carp may abandon the worm in favor of vegetable baits.

The most suitable bait for crucian carp is red dung worm.

nozzles

The baits include baits of plant origin. As a rule, they are used only in the summer. Very rarely, but it happens when crucian pecks at plant baits in the spring.

Pearl barley is very popular, which is suitable for any fishing conditions. To make barley more attractive to crucian carp, before casting it is dipped in breadcrumbs or in a flavor that has the smell of strawberries or bloodworms.

No less popular nozzle is canned corn. It mainly catches large carp. Corn holds well on the hook, therefore, it can be used both on standing water, as well as in the course.

Interesting results can be obtained when applying the test. It is especially effective in conditions when crucian carp refuses any other bait.

At the same time, the dough is not suitable for fishing on long distances, but on short ones it works very effectively.

Bait for carp

Without bait, crucian carp is caught very rarely and in conditions when there are no other fish in the reservoir. If the conditions go beyond the conditions described above, then crucian carp will have to be attracted with the help of bait.

Purchased bait

Sometimes criticized purchased bait, due to the fact that they do not attract fish. In fact, almost all manufacturers test their product in real conditions before offering it to the buyer.

Each producer is fluent in information on the topic of behavior and feeding habits. Unfortunately, baits are produced without taking into account the nature of a particular reservoir, which is actually unrealistic. Therefore, any dry mix can be considered as the basis of bait, to which filler must be added, depending on the real preferences of crucian carp, with regards to a particular reservoir. As a filler, for example, steamed millet is suitable, and as a baking powder, soil from molehills. And, of course, flavoring in the form of crushed bloodworms or worms, as well as hemp.

It is advisable to buy a mixture of well-known manufacturers, marked "ling-carp" or "universal".

Homemade groundbait

In this case, it is possible to choose a recipe, taking into account the nature of the reservoir and the food preferences of the crucian. Moreover, the effect can be achieved with the help of the simplest ingredients, such as rye bread, barley or wheat, mixed with molehill soil.

On the river, crucian carp may be interested in steamed millet, combined with hemp seeds. At the same time, it is possible to conduct any kind of experiment, with the addition of various components.

Crucian carp can respond positively to various baits, which include bird food, if there is a poultry farm nearby.

Equipping a float fishing rod for crucian carp

The equipment depends on how you plan to catch crucian carp:

1. Main line:
   • Flywheel or plug fishing - diameter up to 0.16 mm.
   • Match or Bologna fishing - diameter up to 0.25 mm.
2. Float capacity up to 1 gram:
   • When fishing on still water - with a short keel.
   • When fishing on the current - with a long keel.
3. Shot sinker. One shot, if required fast dive baits and a few pellets if the crucian is in the water column, and not at the bottom.
4. Leash from fluorocarbon with a diameter of 0.12-0.14 mm and a length of 15 to 30 cm.
5. Hook No. 8.. No. 12 according to the European classification. The size and color of the hook should match the nature of the bait.

To catch carp, you need a fairly sensitive float. The load is carried out at the base of the antenna so that the body of the float is in the water. This will fix the most subtle types of bites.

The float for the match rod sinks even more, leaving only a thickening on the surface, located at the top of the antenna.

Efficient float fishing technique

The fishing technique is chosen depending on the nature of the reservoir. If this is a pond without a current, then here you need to throw tackle into the water and expect a bite.

When fishing in the current, the task becomes more complicated. Several approaches are possible here. The first option is catching carp in wiring. To do this, you need to set a certain depth and throw the tackle into the water. Under the action of the current, the bait will move in the water column at a certain depth.

When fishing on a weak current, it may be more effective to use a hold, just like when fishing for roach.

Carp is familiar to many anglers since childhood. This is a capricious fish that is found in almost all water bodies. For him, the main condition is the presence of water, and he can always adapt. Moreover, on different reservoirs it behaves differently. In order to successfully catch crucian carp, you need to study the features of its behavior in a single reservoir. What is included in this information:

• Parts of the water area where crucian prefers to spend their time.
• Periods when crucian is busy feeding.
• His diet.

Based on this information, you can always choose the right tackle, bait and nozzles. In any case, information can be obtained from experienced anglers if they regularly fish in the pond. Only after careful preparation can you count on the catch.

In most cases, pond carp are inferior to river and lake ones both in size and in the strength that fish show, trying to free themselves from the net. Therefore, for catching them, they use single-walled fixed nets with a mesh of 40 mm, woven from a thin monofilament - 0.15-0.17 mm (provided that the monofilament is of high quality).

The landing coefficient along the length is applied 1x2, that is, from a “doll” of 60 m, a standard thirty-meter network is obtained. It makes no sense to use nets or orders of nets with a length of more than 30 m on ponds, on the contrary, shorter nets should be installed on small reservoirs. The height of the network is also in most cases enough for the standard one - 1.5–1.8 m.

The mesh size of 40 mm allows you to securely bind crucian carp weighing from 200 to 700 g, and fish of large sizes are rarely caught in pond fishing.

On lakes where carp are usually larger, or if specimens weighing more than 1 kg are often found in the pond, a three-wall or frame net should be used.

If there are none at hand, low (0.6–0.8 m high) single-walled nets, the so-called spawning nets, with a mesh of 40 mm can help. Small crucian carp are wrapped in them in the usual way, and for large fish, the net works like a ram net: a net pocket is formed between the upper and lower pickup, in which large crucian carp get entangled. The disadvantage of such fishing is that even three or four entangled kilogram fish can make the net completely unsuitable for further fishing: the cargo and floating cords are twisted into a bundle along the entire length of the net. Therefore, low nets are more applicable where there are not too many large crucian carp, or tackle needs to be checked quite often, once an hour, which is not always convenient.

This inconvenience is partly avoided by the uneven, “trapezoidal” landing of single-walled nets, carried out as follows: a sixty-meter “doll” of standard height is planted on an upper cord 20 m long and a lower cord 30 m long. A big difference in the length of the upper and lower cords leads to the fact that Bottom part the network has the effect of "pleating", that is, it consists of many vertical pockets. In terms of catchability, the net is comparable to a “tangled net”, but frees from the main problem of a three-walled net: from difficulties with entanglement of fish. And in such a net carp are caught much larger than in the usual one wall.

One of the main conditions for successful carp fishing: the net must have minimal negative buoyancy, and the floats must be used with a minimum carrying capacity. There are no currents in the ponds, and the only purpose of the floats and weights is to stretch the net in the water.

The size of the float is selected as follows: a load is tied to the float and lowered into a bucket of water. The PG system (float-sinker) should sink in water very slowly and reach the bottom of the bucket within 8-10 seconds. If necessary, the size of the float is increased or decreased, then the rest of the floats are made according to the resulting template and attached to the cord of the already planted network in increments of 1 m, that is, less often than on the network intended for river fishing.

Below, opposite each float, sinkers are tied. If the net is planted in the manner described above, with different lengths of cords, then, accordingly, the distance between the loads should be 1.5 m. entangled in deli.

Since it is very often necessary to catch crucian carp in heavily silted water bodies, it is better to make sinkers in the form of wire rings (the diameter of the wire used is -2 mm), such rings do not go deep into the silt. The diameter of the ring usually exceeds the network mesh by 3–3.5 times. If possible, the material for the rings is used that is not subject to corrosion, otherwise the rings are covered with cambric or painted with waterproof paint, regularly renewing it.

It is also very convenient to use cargo cords with lead sinkers woven inside and floating cords with foam plastic woven inside; in this case, buoyancy is adjusted by tying together the bays of the cargo and floating cords and lowering them into a suitable container filled with water, if necessary, add hanging floats or sinkers.

A similar method of planting crucian nets is used by Siberian fishermen, in whom large Amur crucian carp have become last years a very coveted trophy. This is how they describe their nets for lake carp fishing.

“Firstly, the length of one upper landing is determined by the sum of four mesh sizes (we call it “the length of five knots”). For example, you plant a net with a mesh size of 30 mm, which means that the size of the top landing will be 30 mm x 4 = 120 mm.

Secondly, five cells are recruited for one upper landing and made double or triple knot planting thread.

Thirdly, two cells are recruited for one lower landing, and the size of the landing should be two times smaller than in the upper one, that is, 60 mm.

This method of landing provides good catchability of the net, the elongated rhombus of the mesh at the top and the pleating of the net at the bottom do not allow the caught fish to pull off the net and make it inoperable.

In a net with such a landing, more than a bucket of crucian carp came across in one night.

If for some reason there were no suitable frame nets or three-walls at hand and there is no way to make a specially planted crucian net yourself using the methods described above, you can catch large crucian carp using the “hammock” method described above.

Nets for catching crucian carp in stagnant waters, in most cases, are set up at night along the coast, so as to block the approaches to feeding places for crucians. Best Places- along reed or cattail thickets, along the edge of coastal vegetation, along floating shores on swampy reservoirs. Only in the spring, when aquatic plants have not yet risen, flocks of crucian carp in search of food swim rather haphazardly throughout the reservoir, and then the largest catch is brought by nets that go from the shore into the depths. At the same time (at the end of April and in May), crucian carp are very successfully caught in “paths” - small nets with rubber shock absorber thrown from the shore. The “track” is an active tackle that requires the presence of a fisherman, otherwise even one large crucian carp is able, entangled, to roll the net left on the “samolov” into a tourniquet. (See the chapter of the same name for more information about catching the “path”.)

Small net screens for catching carp are used much less frequently. But in some cases (on heavily overgrown reservoirs), only they can be successfully used in small "windows" of clean water. It is necessary to attach places intended for catching with screens.

Generally speaking, the importance of bait and bait when fishing with nets is greatly underestimated, while skillfully applied bait can significantly increase the catches of fish such as crucian carp and carp. It is especially necessary on artificial (digged) reservoirs, vast and, moreover, shallow (1.5–2 m), with a monotonous underwater relief. The vegetation on such ponds and quarries is not concentrated in the coastal strip, but rather randomly scattered around the reservoir, and crucians just randomly roam in search of food - single fish can get entangled in randomly set nets, and only sometimes, when a flock approaches, decent catches occur. . For regular successful fishing, it is necessary to attach several places (preferably from a boat, in an area inaccessible to coastal anglers). The same vegetable baits are used as in angling, with the addition of aromatic substances.

Riding nets (not sinking to the bottom, but floating on the surface) are almost never used for catching crucian carp. But sometimes it happens that on a hot summer night, crucian carp move to places of fattening on top, 40-50 cm from the surface of the water. In this case, noticing that the fish gets confused only in the upper rows of cells, it is necessary to rearrange the nets to a shallower depth so that the floats remain on the surface. Although, of course, an asymmetric net oriented towards bottom fishing for crucian carp will work much worse for riding fish.

Thirty years ago, no one remembered about the ice fishing of carp with nets: it was believed that the crucian spends the cold months in hibernation, often digging into the silt, and begins to move along the reservoir and get caught in the net only after the ice melts and the water warms up.

But modern crucians for some reason have changed their habits, described by the classics. It must be assumed that not only global warming is the reason for this: the water temperature in winter in the reservoir remains unchanged, regardless of what air temperature the thermometer shows: -5 ° C or -35 ° C. Although it is impossible to deny the fact that frequent winter thaws should contribute to the activation of crucian carp - melt water enters the reservoirs, improving the oxygen regime.

It is possible that the general belief in the hibernation of crucian carp that existed in the 19th and 20th centuries was erroneous, because both Bram and Sabaneev wrote about winter fishing for crucian carp in Yakutia, and Yakut winters are not without reason considered the most severe in Eurasia.

Be that as it may, now crucian carp are actively caught in winter in most regions, both with fishing rods and nets (at least in fairly large reservoirs, in small ponds, it makes no sense to catch crucian carp with a net in winter). Fishing is especially successful at the beginning of winter, in the first ice, when flocks of crucian carp actively move, continuing to feed. Small, up to the size of a palm, crucians rise at this time into the upper layers of the water (perhaps in search of amphipods and other food), and through thin transparent ice you can often see flocks of crucians swimming away from the fisherman; large specimens always stay at the bottom. Methods for installing nets under ice are described in detail in the Fixed Nets section.

Places for fishing are chosen a little differently than in summer: aquatic vegetation falls off, and crucian carp prefer to get food from silt in deeper places - there, on the muddy bottom, it is necessary to install nets.

In the middle of winter, the activity of crucians decreases, and with it the catches. In convenient places (for example, in narrow silty backwaters of rivers), they can be increased by using fish surge into the net.

By last ice crucian carp are activated again, but they are already caught in the nets in other parts of the reservoir: near the shore, near polynyas and ice holes, and in those places where keys are beaten from the bottom or a stream flows into a pond or lake - that is, the movement of fish is associated with the search for food, but more comfortable, oxygen-rich water.

It happened to me at the end of February and March to catch very large crucian carp, exposing nets in actually open water in winter, along the edges of a large, 3 x 10 m, hole made for "walruses". The crucian carp also came across in low "spawning" nets stretched at shallow depths along the coast, but medium-sized fish prevailed in the catches there.

Next chapter

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Net for catching carp - which one to choose?

The fact that fishing with a rod for many is an exciting hobby that they enjoy is clear to everyone. But fishing with nets is no less exciting. In addition, for catching fish on a large scale (for example, for sale), the net is the only way at all.

The fishing net is a net cloth with cells of a certain size. Actually, based on the size of the cells, each fishing net is aimed at catching a certain fish, more precisely, the size. Among network professionals, sometimes they are divided by the names of fish:

• bream network,
• smelt net
• salmon network, and so on.

By design features there are several types of nets, but everywhere, even in industrial fishing, a simple single-walled net is used - the net cloth is located between the rebounds (cords), to which floats are attached from above, and sinkers below. This design allows you to keep the network in one place for a long time despite the current - such networks are called "fixed".

In water bodies where fish like crucian rarely exceed 1 kg, you can use a fixed single-walled fishing net. At the same time, its meshes can be 40 mm, and the network itself is made of high-quality monofilament with a diameter of 0.17 mm. In length, the net, as a rule, is no more than 30 m (made from a standard 60-meter “doll”), and 1.8 m is enough in height. Such a net is capable of holding fish weighing about 500–700 g. For comparison, for catching less fish than crucian carp, nets with meshes up to 20 mm are used (smelt, vendace).

Places for the installation of fishing nets are chosen based on the lifestyle of the fish. In the warm season, crucian feeds in coastal thickets of aquatic plants, so nets for catching crucian carp are often placed along the coast at night. When the vegetation does not attract crucian carp (in autumn and winter), nets can also be placed at a depth - during this period, the muddy bottom becomes a feeding trough for crucian. To increase the catch of crucian carp, it is highly recommended to feed the place of fishing, especially in small and shallow water bodies without pronounced thickets.

In reservoirs where large fish predominate, it is better to use more complex designs of fishing nets:

The principle of operation of the frame network is that its sections (frames) have less web tension, due to which the fish are better entangled. Three-walled fishing net is designed for big fish and consists of three canvases: passing the first with large meshes, the fish comes across a netting fabric with the “necessary” mesh and, dragging it through the third large canvas, closes itself in a mesh bag. More complex networks are more perceptible, but they are also somewhat more difficult to work with.

Often in practice, when catching crucian carp with a net, a “trapezoidal” single-walled fishing net is used, in which the upper and lower cords are of different lengths. Due to this, small pockets are formed in the lower part of the web - as a result, the catch is larger and there are no great difficulties with disentangling the fish (as is the case with a three-walled net). Often in large scale fishing use combined nets.

In addition to the fact that the net should be made of a strong and inconspicuous thread, of a neutral color - more often it grey colour. The net must have a minimum buoyancy, and the floats must be with a small carrying capacity. In reservoirs where there is no current, sinkers and floats are needed only to stretch the net fabric. For such conditions, the size of the floats must be selected based on the time for which it will sink together with the sinker - 10 seconds. If there is a muddy bottom in the reservoir, then it is better to use ring-shaped weights - those having this shape are not loaded into the silt. Nets that do not sink to the depth, but float on the surface (riding nets) are practically not used when catching crucian carp.

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Net fishing in the open water season

In most cases, pond carp are inferior to river and lake ones, both in size and in the strength that fish show, trying to free themselves from the net. Therefore, for catching them, single-walled fixed nets with a cell of 40 mm are used, woven from a thin monofilament - 0.15-0.17 mm (provided that the monofilament is of high quality). The landing coefficient along the length is applied 1x2, that is, from a “doll” of 60 meters, a standard thirty-meter network is obtained. It makes no sense to use nets or orders of nets longer than 30 meters on ponds, on the contrary, shorter nets should be used on small reservoirs. The height of the net is also in most cases sufficient for the standard one, 1.5-1.8 m. A 40 mm mesh allows you to securely bundle crucian carp weighing from 200 to 700 grams, and large fish are rarely caught in pond fishing. On lakes where carp are usually larger, or if specimens weighing more than a kilogram are often found in the pond, a three-wall or frame net should be used. If there are none at hand, low (0.6-0.8 meters high) single-walled nets, the so-called spawning nets, with a mesh of 40 mm can help. Small crucian carp are bundled in them in the usual way, and for large fish the net works like a ram net: a net "pocket" is formed between the upper and lower pick-up, in which large crucian carp get entangled. The disadvantage of such fishing is that even three or four entangled kilogram fish can make the net completely unsuitable for further fishing: the cargo and floating cords are twisted into a bundle along the entire length of the net. Therefore, low nets are more applicable where there are not too many large crucian carp, or tackle needs to be checked quite often, once an hour, which is not always convenient. This inconvenience is partly avoided by the uneven, “trapezoidal” landing of single-walled nets, carried out as follows: a 60-meter “doll” of standard height is planted on an upper cord 20 m long and a lower cord 30 m long. A large difference in the length of the upper and lower cords leads to that the lower part of the network has the effect of "pleating", that is, it consists of many vertical pockets. In terms of catchability, the net is comparable to a “tangled net”, but frees from the main problem of a three-walled net: from difficulties with entanglement of fish. And in such a net, crucian carp are caught much larger than in an ordinary single-walled one. One of the main conditions for successful carp fishing: the net must have minimal negative buoyancy, and the floats must be used with a minimum carrying capacity. There are no currents in the ponds, and the only purpose of the floats and weights is to stretch the net in the water. The size of the float is selected as follows: a load is tied to the float and lowered into a bucket of water. The PG system (float-sinker) should sink in water very slowly and reach the bottom of the bucket within 8-10 seconds. If necessary, the size of the float is increased or decreased, then the rest of the floats are made according to the resulting template and attached to the cord of the already planted net in increments of 1 meter, that is, less often than on a net intended for river fishing. Below, opposite each float, sinkers are tied. If the net is planted in the manner described above, with different lengths of cords, then, accordingly, the distance between the loads should be 1.5 m. The net planted in this way has a minimum tension in the water, and when a large carp gets into folds and starts to rush about, it quickly becomes entangled . Since it is very often necessary to catch crucian carp in heavily silted water bodies, it is better to make sinkers in the form of wire rings (the diameter of the wire used is 2 mm), such rings do not go deep into the silt. The diameter of the ring usually exceeds the network mesh by 3-3.5 times. If possible, the material for the rings is used that is not subject to corrosion, otherwise the rings are covered with cambric or painted with waterproof paint, regularly renewing it. It is also very convenient to use cargo cords with lead sinkers woven inside and floating cords with foam plastic woven inside; in this case, buoyancy is adjusted by tying together the bays of the cargo and floating cords, and lowering them into a suitable container filled with water, and, if necessary, add hanging floats or sinkers. //-- * * * --// A similar method of planting crucian nets is used by Siberian fishermen, whose large Amur carp has become a very enviable trophy in recent years. This is how they describe their nets for lake fishing for carp: “Firstly, the length of one upper landing is determined by the sum of 4 mesh sizes (we call it the length of five knots). For example, you plant a net with a mesh size of 30 mm, so the size of the top landing will be 30 mm * 4 = 120 mm. Secondly, 5 cells are recruited for one upper landing and a double or triple knot is made with a landing thread. Thirdly, two cells are recruited for the lower one settlement, and the size of the settlement should be two times smaller than in the upper one, i.e. 60 mm. This method of landing provides good catchability of the net, because. the elongated rhombus of the mesh at the top and the pleating of the net at the bottom do not allow the caught fish to pull off the web of the net and make it inoperable. In a net with such a landing, more than a bucket of crucian carp came across in one night. //-- * * * --// If for some reason there were no suitable frame nets or three-walls at hand, and there is no way to make a specially planted crucian net using the methods described above, you can catch large crucians with a "hammock". "Hammock" is not some special tackle, it's just a certain method of fishing used in waters without a current, where large cyprinids with a wide body are found. Fine-mesh gill nets (made of monofilament) are usually exposed along the coast, and always at a depth less than the height of the net, so that the floats remain on the surface of the water. Fishing requires the indispensable presence of a fisherman - having put up the last net, he sails on a boat to inspect the first one. The main objects of fishing are carp and large crucian carp. Having rested in their course towards the shore in a net cloth, unable to hook on the gills due to the smallness of the cells, these fish continue to stubbornly swim forward, shifting the net in the direction of movement. Seeing that the floating cord has moved to the shore, the fisherman swims closer, trying not to make noise, and takes out this section of the net in a special way: three meters from the fish, he raises the cargo cord to the surface, gently, without jerking, reaching it through the cells of the net. Then he raises the section of the net through which the fish tries to pass, pulling it to the boat, again by the cargo cord. At the same time, the floating cord is held with the other hand - so that it is near the surface parallel to the cargo cord, at a distance of half a meter. A crucian or carp pulled out of the water lies on the net, not entangled in it, as if in a deep hammock. By-catch - perch, roach and other small fish caught in the net cells - are taken out without fuss, immediately swimming to the place where it got tangled (in this case, the floating cord does not go to the side, but twitches in place with more or less force). When fishing with a “hammock” with a net with a mesh of 27 mm, it is possible to catch crucian carp weighing 1.5 and even 2 kilograms, which, under normal fishing methods, would never get tangled in it. Cautious bream "hammock" is rarely caught - hitting the net, the fish turns around and leaves. If a tench is found in a reservoir together with a large crucian carp, it also rarely gets into the "hammock". In my opinion, this apathetic fish, having rested against an obstacle, stupidly stands next to it - and it comes across by chance if a crucian carp nearby starts ramming the net with the tenacity of a tractor driven by a drunken tractor driver. //-- * * * --// In most cases, nets for catching carp in stagnant waters are set up at night along the coast, so as to block the approaches to feeding places for crucian carp. The best places are along the thickets of reeds or cattail, along the edge of coastal vegetation, along the floating banks in wetlands. Only in the spring, when aquatic plants have not yet risen, flocks of crucian carp in search of food swim rather haphazardly throughout the reservoir, and then the largest catch is brought by nets that go from the shore into the depths. At the same time (at the end of April and in May), the so-called crucians are very successfully caught. "paths" - small nets with a rubber shock absorber, thrown from the shore. The “track” is an active tackle that requires the presence of a fisherman, otherwise even one large crucian carp is able, entangled, to roll the net left on the “samolov” into a tourniquet. (For more information about catching the “track”, see the book “ Fishing nets and screens.”) Small net screens for catching crucian carp are used much less frequently. But in some cases (on heavily overgrown reservoirs), only they can be successfully used in small "windows" of clean water. It is necessary to attach places intended for catching with screens. Generally speaking, the importance of bait and bait when fishing with nets is greatly underestimated, while skillfully applied bait can significantly increase the catches of fish such as crucian carp and carp. It is especially necessary on artificial (digged) reservoirs, vast and, moreover, shallow (1.5-2 m), with a monotonous underwater relief. The vegetation on such ponds and quarries is not concentrated in the coastal strip, but rather randomly scattered around the reservoir, and carp also randomly roam in search of food - single fish can get entangled in randomly set nets, and only sometimes, when a flock approaches, decent catches occur. For regular successful fishing, it is necessary to attach several places (preferably from a boat, in an area inaccessible to coastal anglers). The same vegetable baits are used as in angling, with the addition of aromatic substances. Riding nets (that is, not sinking to the bottom, but floating on the surface) are almost never used for catching crucian carp. But sometimes it happens that on a hot summer night, crucian carp move to places of fattening on top, 40-50 cm from the surface of the water. In this case, noticing that the fish gets confused only in the upper rows of cells, it is necessary to rearrange the nets to a shallower depth, so that the floats remain on the surface. Although, of course, an asymmetric net oriented towards bottom fishing for crucian carp will work much worse for riding fish.

Thirty years ago, no one remembered about the ice fishing of carp with nets: it was believed that the crucian spends the cold months in hibernation, often digging into the silt, and begins to move along the reservoir and get caught in the net only after the ice melts and the water warms up. But modern crucians for some reason have changed their habits, described by the classics. It must be assumed that not only global warming is the reason for this: the water temperature in the winter in the reservoir remains unchanged, regardless of what air temperature the thermometer shows: minus five or minus thirty-five degrees. Although it is impossible to deny the fact that frequent winter thaws should contribute to the activation of crucian carp - melt water enters the reservoirs, improving the oxygen regime. It is possible that the general belief in the hibernation of crucian carp that existed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was erroneous - after all, both Brem and Sabaneev wrote about winter fishing for crucian carp in Yakutia, and the Yakut winters are not without reason considered the most severe in Eurasia. Be that as it may, now crucian carp are actively caught in winter in most regions, both with fishing rods and nets (at least in fairly large reservoirs, in small ponds, it makes no sense to catch crucian carp with a net in winter). Fishing is especially successful at the beginning of winter, in the first ice, when flocks of crucian carp actively move, continuing to feed. Small, up to the size of a palm, crucians rise at this time into the upper layers of the water (perhaps in search of amphipods and other food), and through thin transparent ice you can often see flocks of crucians swimming away from the fisherman; large specimens always stay at the bottom. Methods for setting nets under ice are described in detail in the book of the same series, Fishing Nets and Screens. Places for fishing are chosen a little differently than in summer: aquatic vegetation falls off, and crucian carp prefer to get food from silt in deeper places - there, on the muddy bottom, it is necessary to install nets. In the middle of winter, the activity of crucians decreases, and with it the catches. In convenient places (for example, in narrow silty backwaters of rivers), they can be increased by using fish surge into the net. On the last ice, crucian carp are activated again, but they are caught in nets already in other parts of the reservoir: near the shore, near polynyas and ice holes, and in those places where keys are beaten from the bottom or a stream flows into a pond or lake - that is, the movement of fish is connected with the search not for food, but for more comfortable, oxygen-rich water. It happened to me at the end of February and March to catch very large crucian carp, exposing nets in actually open water in winter, along the edges of a large, 3x10 meter hole, made for "walruses". The crucian carp also came across in low "spawning" nets stretched at shallow depths along the coast, but medium-sized fish prevailed in the catches there.

Oddly enough, our ancestors began to use bullshit as a fishing tool a very long time ago, long before they thought of knitting net fabric from threads or twine. Ethnographers who studied the life of the indigenous peoples of Altai described a tackle that was clearly a relic of a distant antiquity: a piece of wicker woven from willow twigs, about 5 meters long and about half a meter high. The fishing was carried out by three people, and the task of the third catcher was to walk along the reservoir in the area of ​​​​the bobbin and firmly press the lower edge of the tackle to the bottom. The prey caught in such a primitive tool was small, mostly minnows. The length of modern delusions is very different - from 6 to 70 m, but usually does not exceed 30 meters. It is difficult to drag a log longer than 30 m in the classical way, wade, especially in deep places - the greater the depth, the more difficult it is for the angler to apply significant efforts to the tackle (the catcher's own positive buoyancy prevents good traction with the bottom). Therefore, long rods are often used to catch small carp ponds (in autumn, when aquatic vegetation falls), while the fishermen go dry along the coast. This option is possible if the shores are clean enough, without submerged bushes, etc. However, anglers who want to achieve good catches when fishing with bullshit always prepare places for fishing in advance: they cut down trees that have fallen into the water, clean the bottom of snags and objects thrown into the water. IN ideal the section of the shore on which the line is pulled should be a flat area, wide enough and convenient for pulling the line and sampling the caught fish, free from bushes, other vegetation and any other objects that interfere with pulling out the tackle. However, when fishing "on the road" it is not always possible to find such convenient places.

When catching carp, there are no trifles. Even an incorrectly chosen depth causes a bad bite or lack of it. Therefore, it is extremely important to know at what depth the fish are most often found in summer and how best to use the equipment? Is it always necessary to fish from the bottom or is it acceptable to experiment with the location of the bait?

For successful summer fishing it should be taken into account at what depth crucian carp lives in a particular reservoir

At what depth does crucian live in summer

Having woken up from hibernation, the spring carp tries to go to shallow water, where it often stays until the first really hot June days. Spawning also occurs at the beginning of summer, during which the fish mainly stay in the coastal zone and shallow depths. There are many snags, fallen branches and reeds on which you can lay eggs.

In the middle of summer, crucian carp change their habitats, moving to deep-sea pits and depressions at the bottom. It is affected by the fact that the water in areas with a shallow depth warms up very much, there is less oxygen and the fish are uncomfortable in the place where they used to like to bask after the winter and actively searched for food. In addition, at this time, an abundant and dense layer of algae appears in shallow water, which crucian carp do not like.

As a rule, from the end of June to mid-August, the optimal habitat for crucian carp are places with a depth of 80 cm to 2 meters (or more). Where it is smaller, it is extremely rare to find it. The exceptions are rivers and lakes with underwater springs, in which the water does not warm up above 20 ° C even in July. Starting from the second decade of August, crucian carp in almost all water bodies go to great depths, and its activity and bite sharply decrease.

On a hot summer day, crucian carp will not be caught in shallow water

If we are talking about a large carp, whose weight exceeds 700-800 grams, then it is very rare to meet such an individual in the summer at a depth of less than one and a half meters. It is best to catch it on a feeder and other long-distance casting gear, or choose places with a solid distance from the float to the bottom. Small crucians throughout the summer prefer shallow water (30-50 cm deep), where predatory fish do not threaten them.

Naturally, in the summer, in search of food, carp can easily leave their usual habitats, going closer to the shore, reeds and snags. Strong winds, heat and increased atmospheric pressure, on the contrary, can force fish to hide in deep holes. Therefore, weather conditions and other reasons can also affect where the crucian is in the summer.

At what depth is it best to catch crucian carp in the summer

Summer months are the most favorable time for carp fishing. Good lure and a large arsenal of baits are the key to success. But sometimes a correctly chosen place, or rather, the depth of fishing, plays a much more significant role.

In the morning, crucian carp will peck near the shore

• Areas with a depth of 1-2 meters. Suitable for morning fishing, as crucian carp often feed here at night. Therefore, in the interval between 5 and 8 o'clock in the morning in such places there is a large concentration of fish. Such depth also attracts aquatic inhabitants due to large and fresh deposits of silt, in which you can find a lot of food. A small carp lives here throughout the summer.
• Depth 2-4 meters. As a rule, such places are located at a distance of 5-20 m from the shore. The crucian carp moves here during the day, after it has time to saturate in smaller areas of the reservoir. Here he is quite comfortable: the water is warm, but its temperature does not exceed the norm, and if desired, you can quickly move to places with the best food supply. On some days the fish can stay at this depth for a long time.
• Depth 4 meters or more. An unpromising area for catching carp. There is little silt, food, vegetation and oxygen. In addition, in deep water areas, not the most comfortable pressure is created on the swim bladder of the fish. Of course, you can attract crucian carp here with the help of complementary foods, but often such attempts are in vain.

The weather also affects how deep in this moment carp will be caught

When choosing a depth for catching carp, it is important to pay attention to weather conditions. When it is cloudy and warm outside, you should give preference to medium depths. In a strong wind, the fish is frightened by the noise of the waves and reeds and bushes swaying on the shore, so it goes to pits and depressions. Heat, cloudless weather and changes in the water level in a lake or pond can also contribute to the retreat of crucian carp to a depth where it should be caught.

We catch from the bottom or half the water

In the fishing environment, it is customary to distinguish 5 types of equipment release:

• the bait is at the very bottom;
• at some distance from the bottom (from 1-2 to 10 cm);
• in the water column (somewhere in the middle between the surface and the bottom);
• practically at the surface of the water;
• directly on its surface.

More often than not, all anglers prefer to catch crucian carp at the maximum length of gear release. Thus, whatever the load, the nozzle is at the very bottom. This is quite logical, because crucian carp is a bottom fish and mainly looks for food in silt deposits. But there are times when it does not feed from the bottom.

Depending on the depth at which crucian carp will be caught, a different release of equipment is selected.

Let's say in deep layer silt bait is often "lost". The fish does not see it, and the number of bites decreases sharply. However, it is worth just a few cm to lower the float, as the bite improves markedly. The fact is that the nozzle no longer sinks in the silt, but is located above it, attracting crucian carp. The location of the equipment above the bottom (1-2 cm) is effective even in the case when the bait can merge with it. Suppose in dark silt it is difficult for fish to notice a hook with a worm and a bloodworm, and on clay and sand - with the same maggot.

Not all anglers know that carp can be caught even at half water. However, this practice in the summer gives good results.

Of course, in the morning and in the evening it mainly pecks from the bottom, but if during the day the air temperature exceeds 30 ° C, then the fish often moves into the water column. Then you can successfully catch crucian carp with a rig release of only 30-50 cm. True, this is not possible on all reservoirs. Quite often, in the heat, the fish goes to distant dumps and deep pits, where it can only be caught on a feeder.

For fishing at great depths, use a feeder rig.

Catching carp in the upper layers of the water

In the summer, as well as at the very beginning of spring, crucian carp can be found almost at the very surface. What forces bottom fish to change their habitual habitat? The following reasons can be distinguished:

• more favorable oxygen regime;
• changes in atmospheric pressure(his rise);
• more comfortable temperature conditions;
• the presence of food in the form of insects and their larvae that have fallen into the water;
• great competition in the form of other bottom fish (tench, rotan, carp, carp, etc.)
• unsuitable bottom condition (algae, lack of silt, etc.).

Often in summer, crucian carp is as close to the surface of the water as possible.

In the upper layers of water, crucian carp often feed on small, slow-flowing (or closed) reservoirs, where the maximum depth does not exceed 2.5-3 meters. Fish have a need for food, but it is impossible to look for it at the bottom due to insufficient oxygen.

On medium and large lakes, crucian carp are forced to move closer to the surface by the desire to warm up (especially in spring or after a long cold snap). Another reason is that often insects get into the water, which are a real delicacy for fish. They do not sink, float on the surface and actively move, attracting her.

Therefore, if you notice a couple of crucians swimming near the float, and fishing from the bottom and at half-water is unsuccessful for some time, we recommend that you try to set the depth to 10-15 cm. The main thing is to use small hooks and a float with a short keel so that they do not create false bites, when the fish, wandering in the near-surface layer, touches it.

For catching carp in the upper layers of water, bait with maggot is suitable

When catching crucian carp in the upper layers of the water, you need to Special attention give nozzle.

When the fish takes the bait from the bottom, it relishes it for a long time and gradually sucks it in. But near the surface, it will not have such an opportunity, so the nozzle must be compact and miniature. For example, a few maggots, a caddis larva, a small grasshopper, or a couple of bloodworms. In this case, catching a dough or a long worm is not rational.

Summing up

When catching carp in the summer, it is necessary to take into account the depth, which at a particular moment is favorable for fish. Most often these are areas of medium depth, where she has enough food, there is no lack of oxygen, and at the same time she can remain invisible to the angler. Do not forget about the various options for releasing equipment, because in summer crucian carp can actively feed in the water column or upper layers.

From the video you will learn how to catch crucian on a float:

Net fishing in the open water season

In most cases, pond carp are inferior to river and lake ones, both in size and in the strength that fish show when trying to free themselves from the net. Therefore, for catching them, single-walled fixed nets with a cell of 40 mm are used, woven from a thin monofilament - 0.15-0.17 mm (provided that the monofilament is of high quality). The landing coefficient along the length is applied 1x2, that is, from a "doll" of 60 meters, a standard thirty-meter network is obtained. It makes no sense to use nets or orders of nets longer than 30 meters on ponds, on the contrary, shorter nets should be used on small reservoirs. The height of the net is also in most cases sufficient for the standard one, 1.5-1.8 m. A 40 mm mesh allows you to securely bundle crucian carp weighing from 200 to 700 grams, and large fish are rarely caught in pond fishing. On lakes where carp are usually larger, or if specimens weighing more than a kilogram are often found in the pond, a three-wall or frame net should be used. If there are none at hand, low (0.6-0.8 meters high) single-walled nets, the so-called spawning nets, with a mesh of 40 mm can help. Small crucian carp are bundled in them in the usual way, and for large fish the net works like a ram net: a net “pocket” is formed between the upper and lower pickup, in which large crucian carp get entangled. The disadvantage of such fishing is that even three or four entangled kilogram fish can make the net completely unsuitable for further fishing: the cargo and floating cords are twisted into a bundle along the entire length of the net. Therefore, low nets are more applicable where there are not too many large crucian carp, or tackle needs to be checked quite often, once an hour, which is not always convenient. This inconvenience is partly avoided by the uneven, "trapezoidal" landing of single-walled nets, carried out as follows: a 60-meter "doll" of standard height is planted on an upper cord 20 m long and a lower cord 30 m long. A large difference in the length of the upper and lower cords leads to that the lower part of the network has the effect of "pleating", that is, it consists of many vertical pockets. In terms of catchability, the net is comparable to a "tangled" one, but it frees you from the main problem of a three-walled net: from difficulties with entanglement of fish. And in such a net, crucian carp are caught much larger than in an ordinary single-walled one. One of the main conditions for successful carp fishing: the net must have minimal negative buoyancy, and the floats must be used with a minimum carrying capacity. There are no currents in the ponds, and the only purpose of the floats and weights is to stretch the net in the water. The size of the float is selected as follows: a load is tied to the float and lowered into a bucket of water. The PG system (float-sinker) should sink in water very slowly and reach the bottom of the bucket within 8-10 seconds. If necessary, the size of the float is increased or decreased, then the rest of the floats are made according to the resulting template and attached to the cord of the already planted net in increments of 1 meter, that is, less often than on a net intended for river fishing. Below, opposite each float, sinkers are tied. If the net is planted in the manner described above, with different lengths of cords, then, accordingly, the distance between the loads should be 1.5 m. The net planted in this way has a minimum tension in the water, and when a large carp gets into folds and starts to rush about, it quickly becomes entangled . Since it is very often necessary to catch crucian carp in heavily silted water bodies, it is better to make sinkers in the form of wire rings (the diameter of the wire used is 2 mm), such rings do not go deep into the silt. The diameter of the ring usually exceeds the network mesh by 3-3.5 times. If possible, the material for the rings is used that is not subject to corrosion, otherwise the rings are covered with cambric or painted with waterproof paint, regularly renewing it. It is also very convenient to use cargo cords with lead sinkers woven inside and floating cords with foam plastic woven inside; in this case, buoyancy is adjusted by tying together the bays of the cargo and floating cords, and lowering them into a suitable container filled with water, and, if necessary, add hanging floats or sinkers. //-- * * * --// A similar method of planting crucian nets is used by Siberian fishermen, whose large Amur carp has become a very enviable trophy in recent years. Here is how they describe their nets for lake fishing for carp: "Firstly, the length of one upper landing is determined by the sum of 4 mesh sizes (we call it the length of five knots). For example, you plant a net with a mesh size of 30 mm, which means the size of the upper landing will be 30 mm * 4 \u003d 120 mm. Secondly, 5 cells are recruited for one upper landing and a double or triple knot is made with a landing thread. Third, two cells are recruited for the lower one landing, and the size of the landing should be half as much as in upper landing, i.e. 60 mm This method of landing provides good catchability of the net, because the elongated rhombus of the mesh at the top and the pleating of the delhi at the bottom do not allow the caught fish to pull off the web and make it inoperable. More than a bucket of crucian carp came across in a net with such a landing in one night. //-- * * * --// If for some reason there were no suitable frame nets or three-walls at hand, and there is no way to make a specially planted crucian net as described above methods, you can catch large crucians with a "hammock". "Hammock" is not some special tackle, it's just a certain fishing method used in water bodies without a current, where large cyprinids with a wide body are found. are usually set along the coast, and always at a depth less than the height of the net, so that the floats remain on the surface of the water.Catching requires the indispensable presence of a fisherman - having set the last net, he sails on a boat to inspect the first.The main objects of fishing are carp and large crucian carp Having rested in their course towards the shore in a net cloth, unable to catch on the gills due to the smallness of the cells, these fish continue to stubbornly swim forward, shifting the net in the direction of movement. he takes out this section of the net in a special way: three meters from the fish he raises the cargo cord to the surface, carefully, without jerking, reaching it through the cells of the net. Then he raises the section of the net through which the fish tries to pass, pulling it to the boat, again by the cargo cord. At the same time, the floating cord is held with the other hand - so that it is near the surface parallel to the cargo cord, at a distance of half a meter. A crucian or carp pulled out of the water lies on the net, not entangled in it, as if in a deep hammock. By-catch - perch, roach and other small fish caught in the net cells - are taken out without fuss, immediately swimming to the place where it got tangled (in this case, the floating cord does not go to the side, but twitches in place with more or less force). When fishing with a "hammock" net with a mesh of 27 mm, it is possible to catch crucian carp weighing 1.5 and even 2 kilograms, which, under normal fishing methods, would never get tangled in it. Cautious bream "hammock" is rarely caught - hitting the net, the fish turns around and leaves. If a tench is found in a pond together with a large crucian carp, it also rarely gets into the "hammock". In my opinion, this apathetic fish, having rested against an obstacle, stupidly stands next to it - and it comes across by chance if a crucian carp nearby starts ramming the net with the tenacity of a tractor driven by a drunken tractor driver. //-- * * * --// In most cases, nets for catching crucian carp in stagnant waters are set up at night along the coast, so as to block the approaches to feeding places for crucian carp. The best places are along the thickets of reeds or cattail, along the edge of coastal vegetation, along the floating banks in wetlands. Only in the spring, when aquatic plants have not yet risen, flocks of crucian carp in search of food swim rather haphazardly throughout the reservoir, and then the largest catch is brought by nets that go from the shore into the depths. At the same time (at the end of April and in May), the so-called crucians are very successfully caught. "paths" - small nets with a rubber shock absorber, cast from the shore. "Track" is an active tackle that requires the presence of a fisherman, otherwise even one large crucian carp is able, entangled, to roll the net left on the "samolov" into a tourniquet. (See the book "Fishing nets and screens" for more information about "track" fishing.) Small net screens for catching crucian carp are used much less frequently. But in some cases (on heavily overgrown reservoirs), only they can be successfully used in small "windows" of clean water. It is necessary to attach places intended for catching with screens. Generally speaking, the importance of bait and bait when fishing with nets is greatly underestimated, while skillfully applied bait can significantly increase the catches of fish such as crucian carp and carp. It is especially necessary on artificial (digged) reservoirs, vast and, moreover, shallow (1.5-2 m), with a monotonous underwater relief. The vegetation on such ponds and quarries is not concentrated in the coastal strip, but rather randomly scattered around the reservoir, and carp also randomly roam in search of food - single fish can get entangled in randomly set nets, and only sometimes, when a flock approaches, decent catches occur. For regular successful fishing, it is necessary to attach several places (preferably from a boat, in an area inaccessible to coastal anglers). The same vegetable baits are used as in angling, with the addition of aromatic substances. Riding nets (that is, not sinking to the bottom, but floating on the surface) are almost never used for catching crucian carp. But sometimes it happens that on a hot summer night, crucian carp move to places of fattening on top, 40-50 cm from the surface of the water.

In this case, of course, crossbreeds between both crucian carp are also very common, but crossbreeds, as we shall see and have even partly seen, also occur between very heterogeneous fish.

The main differences between round and oblong crucian carp are visible from their very names. The first is much wider, his back rises from the back of the head in a steep arc; it is usually more or less dark golden, sometimes reddish golden. The oblong crucian has a more elongated body, its back forms a much less convex arc, so that its height is about a third of the entire body length; the scales on it are silver, but sometimes take on a blackish tint; the tail is more cut. The location of both those and other crucian carp is almost the same: both round and silver carp live exclusively in stagnant waters, also in quiet bays and oxbow rivers, but the latter, however, is more often found in running water, especially in rivers, why sometimes and is called lake or river carp.

It should be noted that the silver carp in our country is subject to much greater changes in relation to the shape of the body than the round one, and not only the body is elongated to varying degrees, but sometimes the shape of the head also changes, which makes it look like a completely different look. Among the differences of the oblong crucian carp, the so-called. steppe crucian, or podroyka, podryyka, which is taken by many fishermen of the southwestern provinces as a special species. These crucian carp differ in a very small size, which probably depends on the fact that they live in small lakes and, moreover, in relatively large numbers, so that they feel a noticeable lack of food.

Sometimes this short stature is also noticed between goldfish, and it happens that both species are in such unfavorable conditions together. Both types of crucians - round and silver - are found in almost all areas of Russia.

Of all our fish, crucian carp is undoubtedly the most unpretentious and undemanding. This circumstance gives it a rather great industrial importance in areas abounding in stagnant waters, which constitute the main habitat of this species. Carp lives in more or less significant numbers not only in all lakes, ponds, but often comes across in semi-underground lakes, almost completely covered in bogs, and in small pits where the life of any other fish is completely unthinkable. It can even be positively said that the worse the properties of the water of the basin they inhabit, the more silty the pond or lake, the more numerous and faster the crucians develop. Tina is their element. Here they get food, consisting exclusively of organic remains and particles, also small worms, and for the winter they completely burrow into this silt and remain alive even when, in cruel snowless winters, shallow stagnant waters freeze to the very bottom. Golden crucians are generally much more hardy than silver ones. From this it is clear why at the present time you rarely see at least the most insignificant pond or lake in which there would be no divorced or accidentally caught crucians. The latter, as is well known, after floods are often seen in the smallest goblet in water meadows. Sometimes crucians appear suddenly in completely isolated pools, but this circumstance can be easily explained by the fact that crucian caviar, sticking to the feathers of water birds, is easily carried even to a fairly considerable height and not only develops here into young fish, but these latter, having found themselves plentiful food, after a few years they multiply to such an extent that a lake or pond, which until now seemed without fish, is teeming with crucian carp in five years.

In general, crucian carp can be found in any water, and if sometimes it is rare in rivers and some lakes, then this, of course, depends most of all on the fact that at the first opportunity it tries to go into calmer and muddy waters. His thick, clumsy body cannot cope even with a rather slow current, and on a sandy or rocky day he has nowhere to get his food and nowhere to hide from predatory fish, which, of course, take advantage of his slowness and soon completely exterminate both him and him. eggs and juveniles. Proof that the crucian carp is not afraid at all cold water, it may be that it is often, especially in the Ural Mountains, also found in spring pits - a circumstance noticed by the late Aksakov.

In any case, it is clear why crucians are the most numerous and largest in closed and muddy, almost overgrown lakes and ponds, where there are no, and cannot be, any other fish.

IN small pools, especially near housing, carp rarely reach more than 2-3 lb. weight, but under favorable conditions, especially in the north, they are incomparably large, and then already grow exclusively in thickness or height.

The greatest fame in this respect, as you know, is Lake Chukhloma in the Kostroma province, where giant crucian carp, 10-12 pounds, are found. The same crucians are occasionally found even in Lake Senezh (Klinsk near Moscow province) and in some lakes of the Kyiv province (Dombrovsky).

Very large crucian carp are also found in Osanov and Fedovsky lakes in Vyshnevolotsky district. (Tver province). The crucians of many trans-Ural lakes in the Perm and Orenburg provinces also reach enormous size: in the Katasma lake of the Bogoslovsky district (Verkhotursk region), crucians of an unheard-of size -14, even 15 f. This is probably the extreme limit of the growth of this fish, especially since it grows quite slowly compared to other fish. Fishermen usually say that crucian carp grows by autumn no more than an "old penny", but becomes capable of breeding in the third year and in very rare cases reaches the weight of one pound before four, even five years. Most of the three-year-old calf crucians, as you know, are usually much less than half a pound. The normal size of a two-year-old crucian is vershok.

Without a strong doubt, the growth of crucian carp, like any other fish, depends mainly on the amount of food, and since it feeds exclusively on plant matter, it is understandable why it grows very slowly in pools with a sandy bottom, devoid of water grasses. With an excessive number of crucians, their growth also decreases, but sometimes a slowdown in growth occurs from completely different reasons.

In general, crucian carp, due to the exclusivity of its location, also suffers a lot from insects and other "reptiles", which reproduce freely in stagnant waters, especially silty and overgrown with grass. Caviar and freshly hatched juveniles are exterminated in a multitude of green frogs, even newts, otherwise pricks, or water lizards, which, like the first, very often live together with crucian carp. This can be best observed in aquaria, but here it often happens to see how adult carp mercilessly tear off the gills of young newts. The most important fighters of caviar and crucian fry, undoubtedly, swimmers are large water beetles; other aquatic insects, such as, for example, water bugs, etc., do not bring them such significant harm. Swimmers often eat or spoil already quite large crucian carp, pursue even completely grown-ups, and it is not for nothing that fishermen consider them the worst enemies of this fish, which is not very agile and often does not have time to escape from them.

In deep muddy pits, more or less buried in silt, crucian carp spend the whole winter and early spring, and only when the pond or lake is completely clear of ice, they begin to appear along the reedy shores. As a matter of fact, their main exit begins shortly before spawning, when the water is already much warmer, cloudy, when water grasses rise from the bottom and rose hips bloom.

Depending on the climate, weather, and also the location of the lake, the crucian game starts earlier or later, but usually it spawns after almost all fish (except tench and carp). In the south - at the beginning of May, in Central Russia - in the middle or at the end of May, and in the north even in June.

It has also been noted that in overgrown lakes covered with a floating bog, crucians always spawn later than in open lakes. This circumstance depends on the simple reason that these bogs often thaw only in June and the water in such semi-subterranean pools does not reach the proper temperature for a very long time. For the spawning of crucian carp, or rather for the development of caviar, it is necessary that the water be no colder than 13, even 14, and therefore it is unlikely that its caviar can successfully develop in key pits, where, nevertheless, it is sometimes found in quite significant numbers.

By this time, the crucian gathers in dense, sometimes very numerous, flocks and goes to the coastal reeds and sitovniki (reeds), where the very process of spawning takes place. He does not like sedge, but often, especially in the north, where reeds and reeds are very rare, he plays moss and releases his small yellowish caviar on it, the eggs of which, having the size of a poppy seed, are considered tens of thousands; they cling in great numbers to underwater plants, or float in clusters in the form of tufts of wool on the surface, where they become the prey of water birds. In general, crucian caviar, and indeed most of the carp fish, has the same specific gravity with water and can swim at any depth.

The very spawning of crucians is very short and many, many if it lasts two mornings, and first of all, the largest ones spawn - usually one morning, and ends by noon. Therefore, the crucian goes very amicably, and if you follow him, then his game is noticed and observed more easily than in most other fish.

Usually, the eggs - females - are at the bottom, where they rub, while at the top the males spin and jump out, who eventually turn their belly or side up and begin to pour milk one by one onto the caviar, released simultaneously by the females. Foam and turbidity then stand over the gathered flock of fish, in the morning silence you can hear its spanking and characteristic smacking far away, the tops of the swaying reeds rustle, moss floats everywhere; carp are teeming with crucians, and the fisherman's oar is sticking against them. It is very remarkable that in many areas crucian spawns in several stages, separated from one another by fairly large intervals. In the Perm province, behind the Ural ridge, all fishermen are quite convinced that the crucian plays "every new month", from May to August, that is, 3-4 times. I myself observed its secondary spawning at the end of June, but I cannot, however, say whether this depends on the fact that crucians of different ages spawn at different times, or on the fact that each crucian does not release eggs at once, but in several - precisely two or three receptions. The latter, at present, I consider more probable.

During this period, or rather, periods of spawning, carp are caught with nets and other fishing equipment. On the trans-Ural lakes, and in many other areas, their so-called. wall lines. These fences are usually placed near the reeds in known, from experience, localities; with a good choice of place and time, so many fish become entangled in them that the net literally sinks to the bottom. There are times when up to ten pounds of selected fish are pulled out of each netting in one morning (depending on the size of the meshes of the outer rows).

In addition, crucian carp are caught in large numbers, but at any time of the year, with the exception of winter, in the muzzle. The muzzle, nerot, or top, is nothing more than a round, oblong jug or barrel woven from willow twigs; inside a wide hole, a throat is woven from rods in the form of a funnel, so that the fish can freely pass into the muzzle, but it was impossible to get out. In Germany, some kind of bait (bread, etc.) is often placed in such gear. You can catch crucians even in a linen basket closed with a tight lid or matting - with a hole about 2 inches in diameter. A bag of cottage cheese is placed in such a basket, then it is lowered with a stone into the water, b. hours for the night.

A lot of crucian carp fall in the fall, especially in the Kots. This is a whole labyrinth of pine twigs, willow twigs or reeds, where the caught fish can neither turn nor go through the gaps between the sticks. In great use is also the catching of crucian carp in botal nets, which, like the wall ones, consist of 2 or 3 rows; their main difference lies in the fact that the fish is driven with the help of a pole with a hollow tip - a tool called botal on the Trans-Ural lakes, tops in the south and mshaga on Lake Peipus. Fishing with seines and dragnets is possible only in not very grassy and silty ponds and lakes and is used b. h. late autumn and in winter, when the frozen grass sits on the bottom and will no longer interfere with pulling out the net. However, in the Trans-Urals they adapt to fishing with a net and in very rich lakes, shortening the upper bowstring in such a way that the lower string is dragged somewhat behind it and does not rake in the silt. In other places, for the same purpose, bundles of straw are woven into the lower selection of the seine, which do not allow the seine to sink into the silt.

Due to the lethargy of the bite and the low resistance exerted by the caught crucian carp, the fishing of this fish is not particularly interesting and for river hunters it is even more boring than the fishing of the tench. The latter rarely fall for the bait of less than a pound in weight, while there are few such ponds and lakes where pound carps would often come across. But since there are many places where you have to catch only carp, and since there are even great lovers of catching them (or rather, carp fried in oil), I consider it necessary to say a few words about catching this fish, which I myself resorted to only in extreme cases where there was no other. In my opinion, a fish should be valued by a hunter not by the quality and taste of the meat, but only by the degree of difficulty of catching and the amount of resistance it exerts.

In addition, crucian carp, in relation to biting, belongs to the most fickle fish: today it takes perfectly, tomorrow it does not bite at all, and it is difficult to explain why. There are very few days with a good bite for crucian carp in a year, less than for other fish. Where crucian carp are few in number or, besides them, other fish live - tench, loaches or tops, they sometimes do not take at all, unless by chance, after spawning. The best biting of crucian carp, and, moreover, more constant, is noticed only in purely crucian ponds, where there is no other fish, except perhaps for the top - an almost constant companion of crucian carp in the stagnant waters of the Middle and Southern Russia, starting with boundary and brick pits. If crucians in such places are not caught with ravings, then they are bred in such large numbers that they no longer have enough food, and therefore they are very hungry and take them almost daily from spring to late autumn. But there are very few such places, and besides, crucians here are very small, about 2 inches, so catching them does not give much pleasure.

Most best time years for carp fishing are June and July days, after he has spawned. In some places, it seems, in cleaner, that is, non-overgrowing, low-feeding and smaller, soon warming up ponds, crucian carp are not badly taken in May. In August, their biting weakens or stops altogether, although there are ponds in which they take tolerably well on warm September days. But with the onset of matinees, crucian carp begin to burrow into the silt and no longer go for any, even the most delicious, bait.

However, crucian finally lies down shortly before the freezing of the pond, later than tench and carp, which are much more sensitive to cold, which explains their less distribution to the north.

The crucian constantly keeps in the grass and rarely comes out of it to completely clean places, especially where pikes and other predators are found, and therefore they catch it mostly from the shore and there is rarely a need for a boat. It is best to clear in advance a small place, one or two square sazhens, among thickets of water plants - water lilies, peas, water fir trees and others. This clearing is best done with long iron rakes. The depth in this place should be at least a arshin, even better if it is two: large crucians come close to shallow shores only at night or when it gets dark. Some anglers advise to sprinkle the cleared place with sand, but I think this is unnecessary, because sand can only be useful when you have to fish from the bottom with a dark-colored bait, which is therefore almost invisible on black mud. Carp almost always fish on weight.

The best time of the day for fishing is early morning, before 9-10 am (in summer); in the evening, crucian also takes very well, although worse than in the morning. In some places, and maybe everywhere, on hot days, when crucians walk in the sun, their best biting happens around noon. However, at this time they take almost on top, more on that later. There are, finally, ponds where crucian take it best at night. Large (i.e., over a pound) everywhere falls for the bait only in the early morning or late evening.

For fishing, the most simple tackle: light rods from 4 to 6 arshins long, without a reel, completely unnecessary and even harmful; hair line in 4-6, rarely 8 hairs - only in grassy places and where 3-pound crucians come across; silk fishing lines are worse, because in ponds in general, in crucian ponds in particular, they rot very soon, even if they are tarred, that is, covered with a waterproof composition. Small algae, perhaps also small crustaceans (daphnia, cyclops) have an extremely destructive effect on silk, and it very soon matures here. The float should be light and sensitive, and is mostly made of succulent, a piece of kuga, or a small cork. The sinker is small; hook, on a leash of thin vein, never larger than 5 N; 8 or 9 is preferable, but its dimensions, of course, are determined by the nozzle and the size of crucian carp found in a given place. Some anglers catch large crucians at night on bottom, casting rods, like bream, and on larger hooks.

In order to catch a lot of carp, a bait is needed, that is, it is necessary to accustom them in advance to look for food in a place chosen for fishing.

Crucian is a lethargic, lazy fish, wanders little and rarely, tench even less often, and almost does not move away from its main residence, since food, i.e. grass and algae, otherwise mud, is at its side. But, like all fish with fleshy lips, his taste and sense of smell are quite well developed, he likes to feast on and hears odorous bait from a fairly considerable distance, even in stagnant water, where halls spread in all directions, and not just in one direction. like in a river. The more fragrant the bait is, the better, and therefore it is flavored with various odorous oils - linen, hemp, to which a few drops of any essential oil (anise, mint, lavender) or cherry laurel drops are added. The latter are undoubtedly of great attraction for crucian carp. I know cases that crucian carp went very well for bait moistened with kerosene. One well-known Moscow fisherman very successfully bred crucian carp in the ponds of the Petrovsky Academy, lowering to the bottom a bottle with a hair tube inserted into the cork, from which kerosene seeped in drops. For the convenience of fishing, he made a preliminary deep hole. Actually, bread, buckwheat and millet porridge, as well as cottage cheese serve as bait; the latter is lowered into the water in a bag or in a bag of radish and is considered almost the best bait, which is quite understandable.

Nozzles for catching carp are quite monotonous. They are usually caught either on a red dung worm, or on bread, black is better than white, since the first is odorous.

It is remarkable, however, that there are ponds where the crucian takes mainly, sometimes even exclusively, for bread, and those where he takes only for the worm. Bread must be flavored with some odorous or sweet substance - anise oil (a drop on a teaspoon of Provence), laurel drops, honey, even kerosene, or thrown with green cheese. Other nozzles are of little use; occasionally, and in some places, crucian carp are not badly taken for maggot (bloat fly larva), and large ones are caught with great success (on bottom night fishing rods) on large earthworms (creeping out, worms).

Usually, the bait is let in an inch or two from the bottom, but on hot sunny days, when crucians walk in dense flocks on top, they must be caught almost from the top, letting the bait very small, 2 vershoks from the surface of the water. Fishing for crucian carp is especially successful when a strong wind blows all the duckweed into any corner of the pond.

These fish are very tasty to young leaves and roots of floating grass and gather here in masses, so if it is possible to throw a nozzle on the border of greenery, then you can always count on a brilliant catch. Catch, of course, on top.

Sometimes crucian carp are caught on worm-like strips of meat, although they do not take worms. For some reason, carp are not at all on the Trans-Ural lakes. feed on mormysh, which in crucian lakes is always a great variety. I think that the clumsy crucian is not able to catch a nimble mormysh in summer, but in winter and early spring, when mormypi is main food other lake fish, crucian carp hibernate, digging into the silt.

The bite of crucian carp does not have a specific character and is quite diverse. In general, one can only say about her that she is quiet and unfaithful, so that you can apply to her after many mistakes: premature and belated sweeps are inevitable. Small carp usually leads the nozzle and float to the side; this movement of the float first gradually accelerates, then becomes quieter. At this moment of deceleration, you need to cut. Sometimes the float, before swimming to the side, begins to jump.

Large and even medium crucian takes like tench and bream. The float shudders slightly or jumps, then goes to the side and lies on its side. They hook it exactly when the float starts to lie down; if you are late, then the crucian usually manages to spit out the nozzle. He almost always takes sluggishly and does not swallow food quickly, unless he is very hungry, he first savores it, holding it in his lips, which is why he often pricks himself, almost never getting caught without hooking. Very large crucians sometimes lead a float for a very long time, like a tench. Usually caught with several rods, rarely less than three, as well as lines.

Pulling out small and medium crucian carp is not associated with any difficulties, since they have only a slight resistance, less than all other fish (except pond bream) of the same height or, rather, weight. Large carp, about 3 pounds and above, of course, cannot be pulled over the head, but they are far from being as stubborn as lines, and rather get tired, floating up sideways, like a bream.

Crucian belongs to a rather valuable fish, but since it is almost never found in such large numbers as other cyprinids, it has no commercial value and is mostly consumed locally, has a limited sale and is almost never harvested for future use by salting or smoking. As far as is known, carp are dried only in Western Siberia, but frozen carp are brought several hundred miles away. Chukhlomsky, for example, are delivered to Moscow and St. Petersburg, and the Trans-Ural lake ones go in winter in a fairly significant amount (several thousand pounds) to the Ufa, Vyatka and even Kazan provinces. Only live crucians are valued and not very large ones, about a third of a pound, the so-called. portioned.

Although crucian carp almost always more or less reeks of mud, but, being fried in sour cream, it loses this smell and makes up a rather refined dish that has many lovers. Ear from crucian carp, and even more so boiled crucian carp, are rather tasteless, mainly because they smell like grass; crucians that have spent several days (a week) in running water lose their unpleasant taste, but still, crucian carp is good only when fried. An interesting way of cooking in North-Eastern Siberia, described by Argentov. Gastronomes of the city of Yakutsk stuff large carp with Sarachin millet (rice) with various spices, taking out only bile and leaving all the insides; then they are fried (baked) in a heated, already closed oven in a frying pan, with nut (cedar) oil.

Carp is such a hardy and so common fish that it is not worth talking about breeding it. It is absent only in recently dug ponds or where it cannot withstand the struggle for existence with other species. In small and shallow stagnant ponds, only crucian carp can live, since lines, and even more so carps, sooner or later suffocate in them in winter. However, ice-holes are also necessary for crucian carp, since not everyone has time to dig into the silt; especially a lot of little things die. With a large number of ponds and prudent fishing, crucians can serve as a fairly large source of income, especially in suburban estates.