Book Life and catching freshwater fish read online for free, author Leonid Sabaneev

From the publisher

This book contains the works of the famous Russian biologist, researcher and publisher, hunter and fisherman Leonid Pavlovich Sabaneev (1844 - 1898) on the fishing theme and is a complete collection of his works on fishing.

The first part of the publication is occupied by the “Fishing Calendar”, which was first published in 1885 as part II of the book “Hunting Calendar” by L.P. Sabaneev and was not published again during the author’s lifetime. When preparing the 2nd edition of the “Hunting Calendar”, the author did not include the “Fishing Calendar” in it. The full text of the “Fishing Calendar” is published here in the form in which L.P. Sabaneev himself prepared it.

The second part of the book contains various works by L.P. Sabaneev on fishing.

The third part - “Fishes of Russia” - was prepared based on the second edition of the book “Fishes of Russia. Life and catching (fishing) of our freshwater fish,” published in 1892, the last lifetime edition prepared by the author.

The editors tried to preserve the original style of L.P. Sabaneev, only slightly changing the text in accordance with the rules of modern grammar. Author's footnotes, marked with an asterisk (*), as was the case in the publications of L.P. Sabaneev, are preserved in the text.

Hourly times in the book are given in Greenwich Mean Time and do not take into account maternity time, introduced in 1919, and daylight saving time. Therefore, from April 1 to October 1, 4 hours should be added to the specified time, and from October 1 to April 1 – 3 hours. Calendar dates are given according to the old style, so 13 days should be added to them. The author indicates the temperature of water and air either in Celsius or in Reaumur. To convert to the Celsius scale, divide the value by 4 and multiply by 5.

The magazine "Nature and Hunting", formed from the merger of the "Journal of Hunting" and the collection "Nature".

Part one

Perch Perca fluviatilis L

This well-known fish, together with roach, belongs to the most numerous inhabitants of our fresh waters: everywhere - in rivers and streams, lakes, even stagnant ponds with fairly fresh water - perch is found in abundance (Fig. 1). Some lakes are even inhabited by this one fish. Lakes with clear water are the favorite habitat of perch, and they reproduce best in them.

In its appearance and body color, perch is easily distinguished from all our other fish. Its body is quite wide, especially in large perches, and somewhat humpbacked; the back is dark green, the sides are greenish-yellow, the belly is yellowish; 5–9 transverse dark stripes stretch across the entire body, which make it very variegated; in some cases, these stripes are replaced by dark, irregular spots. In addition, the caudal fin, especially in its lower part, the anus and ventral fins are bright red; The pectoral fins are yellow, the first dorsal fin is gray, with a large black spot at the end, the second is greenish-yellow. The eyes are orange. However, the color of a perch depends, like most fish, on the quality of the water, and even more so on the color of the soil... Therefore, perches in clear water with a light sandy or clay bottom are very light, sometimes even without a black eye on the dorsal feather and with inconspicuous transverse stripes. On the contrary, in forest lakes with a black muddy bottom they have darker stripes, a darker back and a bright yellow belly. In some areas (as, for example, in Lake Senezhskoe, Moscow province) perches even have golden gill covers. In addition, it should be noted that young perches up to two years of age are more uniform in color than those that have reached sexual maturity and that the largest ones are comparatively darker. On the gill covers there is one sharp spine, which pricks very painfully and can even cause swelling and mild inflammation. The mouth is very large and armed with numerous, but very small teeth.

The usual size of perch does not exceed 0.8–1.2 kg. In very rare cases, it reaches 2–2.8 kg in our country, and only in large lakes, for example Onega, do you come across 3.2-kilogram and in Chudskoye even 4.3-kilogram perches. But in the rivers and lakes of Western Siberia, such giants are no longer a very big curiosity, and in the lakes of the Yekaterinburg district there are currently huge perches weighing 4–5 kg. However, large perches are not at all as large as one would expect, which depends on the fact that they grow in thickness and height rather than in length. They are almost never more than 54 cm, but their thickness in the back sometimes extends up to 16 cm, and their height up to 26 cm.

Rice. 1. Perch

Depending on the size, as well as the time of year, the perch stays in more or less deep places in the river or lake. In the summer, small and medium-sized ones choose as their habitat creeks, chickens, overgrown with aquatic plants (burdock, pea - Potamogeton, reeds and reeds), which also serve as an ambush for them when catching small fish, and generally stay at great depths, but in the fall they come out to more open places . Large perches constantly live at depth - in pools, holes - and come out from there only in the mornings and evenings. In the warm season, perches are usually seen in small schools, several dozen, rarely hundreds of pieces, and then small, one-year-olds, but in the spring, before spawning and especially at the end of autumn, they gather in huge schools, which consist of fish of the same age and are the same more numerous than they are smaller, so that the largest schools occur in the fall and consist of fingerlings and one and a half year old perches. Judging by the fact that they are caught in large numbers almost all winter with seines and fishing rods, it must be assumed that these flocks are divided into smaller ones only in early spring. In general, perch is a sedentary fish, never travels long distances, even before spawning, and often, as, for example, in ponds and lakes, lives all year round in the same place.

Large perch is a very agile, strong and predatory fish. One must be amazed at the greed and tenacity with which he pursues some fish that he has recaptured from the village. The unfortunate fish jumps out of the water like crazy, and the perch circles behind it, opening its huge mouth with a loud slurping sound until it grabs it. The chomping sound of a large perch is so loud that in calm weather you can hear it a hundred paces away. Small perches are not inferior to large ones in their agility and agility of movements. Who hasn’t seen how schools of perch hunt for fry, that is, the young of other fish; it even happens that, carried away by the pursuit, they run aground after their prey, even onto the coastal sand. Perches swim very quickly, but in jerks, often stopping suddenly and then rushing forward again. The perch does not allow any living creature to escape, from small aquatic insects to fairly large fish, as long as it is within its strength and can fit in its wide mouth. It itself is relatively rarely eaten by other predatory fish, which do not like its sharp dorsal spines. The main food of perch is small fish, also caviar; large perch loves crayfish and during the molting of the latter it stays near stones, snags, under the shore - in a word, near crayfish holes. Small crustaceans from the genus amphipods (Gammarus) and other relatives, found in many lakes in northern and part of central Russia, also constitute a very tasty food for this fish. In the Trans-Ural lakes, the so-called mormysh, apparently, is the main food of perches from October to December and in February - March. This explains why in lakes abounding in jigs, perch grows extremely quickly and reaches enormous sizes.

The spawning of perch depends on the time of the final opening of the waters: in ponds and lakes it never “rubs” the previously complete disappearance of ice, and only in the lower reaches of large rivers flowing to the south does it finish spawning before the water begins to arrive and the ice flows from the upper reaches. In Central Russia, river perch usually spawns when the water subsides, primarily in small rivers. In semi-flowing ponds, that is, those that flow only in the spring and after heavy rains, spawning begins several days later than in rivers, and in stagnant lakes it slows down even more. Thus, in the same area, the difference in spawning time can be more than a week, sometimes ten days. This phenomenon is explained by the fact that each breed of fish does not spawn before the water reaches a certain temperature at which the development of eggs of one or another breed becomes possible. Perch apparently spawns when the water reaches +7 or +8°C. In general, here, near Moscow, the beginning of perch spawning in rivers and rivers coincides with the beginning of birch tree blossoming, and the latest spawning occurs in early May, when the leaves have already fully unfurled. Before perch, many other fish spawn - dace, pike, ide and sheresper; only in the lower reaches of the Volga, according to Yakovlev's observations, perch spawns earlier than all other fish - in March, immediately after the mouths are opened from ice.

Schools of perch leave their winter camps - pits - as soon as small edges are formed, that is, at the first arrival of water, they break up into smaller camps and approach the shores. Often, from large rivers or lakes of the village, these enter tributaries that have been cleared of ice, walk for some time along the floods of these rivers, chasing small fish here and eating the eggs of dace, pike and ide, never, however, going far upstream. Such flocks usually spawn here and return back to the river when it has already entered the banks. Most of the perches in large rivers spawn, however, in oxbow lakes and flood lakes, where the flood drives them; when the waters quickly recede, they sometimes remain here until the next spring or a major flood. In rivers, spring camps of perch are always much smaller in number than in large flowing ponds or lakes, especially those where perch is almost the main species of fish.

Spawning in rivers almost always takes place in places that have no current or only a weak one, certainly in places where perches can find objects that they can rub against and thus contribute to the rapid flow of eggs and milt. These items vary depending on the nature of the area. In ponds and lakes, perches rub in old, broken reeds and reeds, in shallow places, and, in the absence of the above-mentioned plants, on the remaining stems and roots of burdock (water lilies); in rivers, eggs are spawned in creeks or bays, also on the stems of aquatic plants or on driftwood, various rubbish, on the roots of trees washed away by water, sometimes on the branches of flooded bushes; in large rivers, perch spends mostly in oxbow lakes and flood lakes, also in grasses. Only in northern and northwestern lakes (partly rivers) with rocky beds does perch spawn on stones and sometimes on sand. It has been noticed that large perches always rub in deeper places than small ones, and most willingly drop their eggs on old sunken stems of aquatic plants. During spawning, for the same reasons, perches go well into muzzles and tops woven from willow twigs, and they can easily be attracted to any place by placing several pine trees or fir trees there.

Like most fish, perch become more vibrantly colored shortly before spawning. The proximity of this time can always be determined several days or weeks in advance by the redder fins and sharply prominent stripes on the back. Perches with mature reproductive products are therefore very different from young perches from last year and third year, which are always paler and almost the same color. In most cases, these perches follow the schools of spawning fish in masses and diligently eat the eggs they have spawned.

The spawning itself takes place relatively more calmly than, for example, with roach, dace, bream and some other carp fish, which spawn in large herds. The spawning of large perches is not even noticeable, partly because their schools are small, partly because they rub at greater depths than small ones - between deep-seated reeds or (in some lakes) between stones. But small perch, at least in the so-called perch lakes, spawning in large runes (which are joined by even larger schools of juvenile perch) and in shallow water, often jump out of the water, and sometimes even gather in lake bays in such numbers that the upper rows , protruding outward at the bottom, produce a strong splash, audible and visible from afar. The best indicator of spawning grounds and a large concentration of fish in general is, as almost always, the presence of gulls, loons and other water birds.

Perch spawns exclusively early in the morning, sometimes shortly before sunset; in the midday heat and in the evening the game weakens significantly, the school thins out for a while, and at night the agitated fish completely calms down. Each fleece mostly finishes spawning in two or three stages, i.e. in the morning and evening or two in the morning and evening, but the game of perch of all ages continues for a very significant time - about a week.

Read also: Microjig on the current

Having spawned, schools of hungry perches first wander near the shore at shallow depths and feed mainly on the eggs of other fish, especially roach eggs, which spawn shortly after the perch, as well as earthworms brought into the river or pond from arable lands and vegetable gardens. Then, here in central Russia, around the second third of May, the perch breaks up into small flocks, and each village chooses a well-known area, which, with rare exceptions, it does not leave all summer, i.e., it leads an almost sedentary lifestyle. The number of summer schools also depends on the age of the fish and the area; Thus, the largest perches are found at this time even alone, rarely more than a dozen together; small perches move in dozens, and sometimes, as in some lakes and in the Lower Volga ilmens, in hundreds. The summer habitat of perch also depends a lot on the area and is quite varied, but in general we can say that perch in summer, with rare exceptions, stays at medium depth, in a small current and only where it can find some kind of protection or, rather, an ambush. Large perches always choose deeper and stronger places. One can almost take it as a rule that in stagnant or semi-flowing waters, perches stand in deeper-growing reeds and in other aquatic plants, mainly burdocks and powder grass (Potamogeton), closer to the edges of the growth, not far from clean places. In rivers they also choose grassy pools, oxbow lakes, and in the absence of them they stay in weak currents near stones or in snags and wells, and finally, in ravines and mill whirlpools with a whirlpool. In small rivers, schools of perches are found only in barrels (i.e., wider, deeper and slower-flowing places) and usually stand here not far from the riffles, waiting for prey - worms, some insects brought by the current, and small fish. In addition, perches everywhere like to stay near swimming pools, piles, bridges and piles of brushwood.

Everywhere and always, perch, like pike, leads a completely diurnal lifestyle and from dusk until full dawn, that is, shortly after sunset and shortly before sunrise, stands motionless in its shelter in a half-asleep state and does not take food at this time. Only at the end of May and at the beginning of June does it wander all night, but only in more northern areas. Perches go out to prey early in the morning, and, carried away by the pursuit, the fish often scatter in different directions and quite far from the camp. On a hot sunny day, they gather again and stand in shady places, in thick grass, under burdocks, overhanging trees, or under the very bank, if it is quite steep, until the heat subsides, and they no longer hunt, but only lie in wait for prey. from their ambushes. The perch swims and stands mostly close to the bottom, although not at the very bottom, like, for example, ruff, burbot, char, at a distance of 5–18 cm, but at times it rises higher - half-water and even to the very surface. In general, we can say that the higher the schools of fish rise, the smaller the schools of perch move. This explains why perches, despite the fact that they do not like warm water, stick to the upper layers around noon. However, in the middle of summer, in the most intense heat, in stagnant ponds and lakes, perches move to the springs or to the depths, hide under the floats, in flowing ones they go out into the riverbed and sometimes rise up the river, reaching the next dam. Apparently, in addition to warm water, they are encouraged to this movement by parasites that greatly bother them. As for purely river perch, its summer migrations depend mainly on the lack of food in the previous places and are mostly temporary, as well as the reason for this shortage is a large surplus of water. With each flood, the resulting turbidity and strong current drive small things into backwaters, bays, or into the mouths of small tributaries, where, of course, the water is cleared faster and (since it is dammed) has a weaker current. The perch follows the small fish and, together with it, rolls back into the river, taking its original places. In the lower reaches of large rivers, the flow of water can be caused by a strong downstream wind, but its consequences are the same: all the young fish, huddling near the very banks and in shallow places, go to flood when the “marine” approaches, and after them the perches move off. When the water decreases, they, following the fry, begin to roll back into the river bed along with the water, which is why they never dry out on the shallows, as happens with many carp fish.

The main food of perch is, of course, small fish - juveniles or the smallest species; Larger fish (7-10 cm) are caught only by the largest perches, and then relatively rarely, since they are too agile for these relatively clumsy predators. But the perch does not allow anything living to escape and in some areas at times even feeds exclusively on worms in the spring, and in the summer on molting crayfish or young crustaceans; in late autumn, at the beginning and end of winter, the main food of perches in many lakes in northern, part of central Russia and Siberia are small species of crustaceans, amphipods or jigs (Gammarus). Actually, this fish eats insects only when there is a lack of other food. Of the small fish, perch always pursues the species that is most common and easiest to reach. Those fish that constantly live in thickets of aquatic plants, where pursuit of them is almost impossible, become its prey only at a very young age, and perch prefers to hunt small fish of those species that like to stay in cleaner places, but close to thickets of aquatic plants, serving as an ambush for him. Almost everywhere in the rivers, perch mainly feeds on last year’s roach and fry of this most common fish, and only in the south of Russia does it seem to prefer carp fry to it (near the end of summer and autumn). In the ponds and lakes of central Russia, small and medium-sized perch undoubtedly prefer adult redfish (Leucaspius delineatus) to small roach, which here is sometimes very numerous and represents easier prey, since it always stays in the upper layers of water in even more open places than a one-year-old, already quite nimble roach. In more northern lakes, the place of the verkhovka is replaced by smelt; large perches living at great depths feed here on young whitefish and one-year-old whitefish. Finally, in small rivers, generally with a lack of small roach, perch hunts mainly for small minnows, loaches, and partly (in central and northern Russia) minnows. The easiest thing for him to get is loaches, which he diligently looks for in the stones, in the same place where he finds young crustaceans. It goes without saying that he does not spare his own offspring everywhere, and a large perch will also never miss an opportunity to grab a 9-12-centimeter fellow. The perch is so greedy and relatively stupid and careless, so little afraid of noise, with the exception of large specimens, that it can be caught, at least for ten months of the year, almost without interruption. The only difference will be in the number of those caught.

Almost simultaneously with the emergence of perch fry from the grasses, schools of adult perch, in turn, leave their summer camps and go out into more open and usually deeper places in the river, pond or lake. These flocks gather by age into herds, which continue to increase throughout the fall, almost until the waters freeze. These changes in the lifestyle of the perch are determined by corresponding changes in the lifestyle of fry of carp fish, which serve as its almost exclusive autumn food. Since the end of August, perches relentlessly follow the small things that have gathered in clouds, pick up stragglers and stray fish and, from time to time, bursting into the school, causing terrible devastation in it. They no longer hunt from ambush, as in the summer, but attack openly, they have plenty of food, and they get it even easier than in the summer. And since the location of the fry in the fall depends even more on the water level and wind direction (in lakes especially), this circumstance must always be kept in mind when looking for perch. During floods, as mentioned above, the little one clings to the banks or enters tributaries; in a strong wind it usually goes either to the leeward side or deeper. In addition, most of the fall, gulls and loons serve as good indicators of the location of fry and, therefore, perch, which in turn chase small fish, sometimes being content with fry, crushed by perches or regurgitated by them. With rare exceptions, perch stays close to the bottom in the fall, rising to mid-water only in very warm and clear weather. After the first strong mornings, it ceases to be thrown out of the water, of course, because all the fish, especially the fry, from now on stay in the lower, warmer layers.

For the same reason, flocks of perches, following herds of fry, with the onset of cold weather, at the end of autumn, little by little move to deeper places, or rather, into holes, and come out from there less and less often. At the end of October and beginning of November in the middle zone, the perch is already in winter camps and changes them only if it is disturbed by something. The locations of these camps are unchanged, and their main conditions are to deepen the bottom with possibly strong, sandy, rocky or clayey soil and good water; in addition, the larger the perches, the deeper and usually the farther from the shore they become. Then, depending on the nature of the waters, the camps have many features. It can, however, be taken almost as a rule that in spring or semi-flowing ponds, as well as in closed lakes, perches spend the winter either in the deepest and cleanest places, or lie close to springs. The same is observed in flowing ponds and lakes; here perch often winters in the upper reaches of the pond, in the so-called pipe, or even in the pond itself, but in the river bed, at the mouths of lake tributaries. In the large deep lakes of northern and northwestern Russia, perches prefer, however, to winter in rocks (on ludas, nals), as well as in some deep and rocky rivers, but not otherwise, however, than on a small current. In rivers, perches almost always spend the winter in pools. Finally, on the Volga, Oka and some of their tributaries, schools of perch, apparently, mostly stand under steep banks or bank ledges, often also at river mouths. In the lower reaches of the Volga, however, they prefer clean and deep eriks to the main channel, where they lie in the deepest places, usually where the erik is divided into two branches.

During the first third of winter, perches are still quite energetically pursuing schools of fry, which very often occupy the shallows adjacent to the pits, and in places in the north - numerous amphipods, not afraid of the cold and sometimes completely dotting the inner surface of the ice. But the strength and speed of movement of these fish, like almost all others, decreases significantly after the waters freeze, and they become more and more sluggish. With the formation of a thick layer of ice in the middle of winter, perches, apparently, do not leave their camps and lie here on the bottom, almost motionless, in close rows, in several layers, and take almost no food. With the first thaws here in the middle provinces in February, they little by little begin to emerge from their half-asleep state and begin to feed again. At the end of winter, the main food of perches in most lakes in northern and part of central Russia is the amphipods mentioned above (mormysh in the Perm province, humpbacks in Western Siberia), which at this time reproduce and are usually found in pairs. Then, with the formation of edges and large polynyas, schools of perch leave their winter camps, break up into smaller herds and soon begin spawning.

Perch has many enemies, and if it is found in large numbers almost everywhere, it is only due to its unpretentiousness and strong reproduction. All predators - catfish, pike, pike perch, burbot - do not disdain it, in some places catfish and pike almost prefer this fish to others, large perches eat small ones. Waterbirds and osprey are also doing quite a bit of perch fishing. Its eggs are destroyed by other fish, especially char (in the north and stickleback), and water birds; they often die from lack of wind, as mentioned above, or, on the contrary, from strong winds that throw them ashore. Often the perch becomes a victim of its own greed: it happens that the captured fish slips into the side gill slit, in which it gets stuck and dies along with the predator; It also happens that a perch attacks a stickleback and it mortally wounds it with its erect dorsal spines. Quite often he is attacked by parasites, especially in stagnant waters: tapeworms are often found in his intestines, and a special type of parasitic crustacean, the so-called perch eater (Aechteres percarum), lives in his mouth. In ponds and lakes, although not all, a huge number of perch die in winter from lack of air. The so-called spirit - the spiracle of harmful gases - acts on them earlier than on pike, ruffe and roach, that is, they fall asleep before these fish.

Rice. 2. Perch eater – female and male (enlarged)

With this last exception, most perches die as prey to humans. But, despite their abundance, they do not have such commercial importance as, for example, the even more numerous Caspian herring and ram and the more valuable and larger bream, carp and pike perch. Perch and pike are perhaps the only fish that are almost universally caught in larger numbers by anglers than by real fishermen.

* * *

Fishing for perches is the easiest and most tempting in terms of catchability, and therefore there are a lot of fans of this fishing, especially among beginners and inexperienced fishermen. Perch takes more or less greedily almost all year round, with the exception of the middle of winter, and even then not everywhere; Its bite is very reliable and it rarely breaks and is mostly due to the fault of the fisherman. The perch “bites” boldly, immediately grabs the bait with its large mouth and immediately drags it, swallowing it as it goes. The little one, however, sometimes fiddles with it if it is large or if he is full. The bait is usually either an earthworm or a small fish, less often a molting crayfish, crayfish necks and small river crustaceans (mainly in summer), and even less often, in some places, the so-called mormysh (in winter). In addition, in autumn and winter, a large number of perches are caught using artificial metal fish - spoons. Other baits, such as eels (the larva of the cockchafer), bloodworms (the red larva of the green water mosquito), other insect larvae, and especially insects themselves, are rarely used, and the perch never takes bread or grains.

Bait and bait for perch are required very rarely, only in the summer, when the bite is bad, and even then they achieve little of their goal. They feed it most often with worms, less often with slugs or (in the current) raw bones with the remains of meat. Abroad (in England) a very ingenious method is used to attract perches to the desired place, namely: they lower a large wide-necked bottle or a white glass jar with small fish there, after having previously tied the hole with some very rare material. Some German authors of works on fishing believe that camphor, camphor oil and some other odorous substances attract perches to a certain place, and it may very well be that they are right, since there is no doubt that all fish, when searching for prey, are guided mainly by smell, then touch and sight. The Germans consider the best bait composition for perch to be an ointment made from camphor, goose fat and fat rendered from heron (gray), which undoubtedly has a special appeal to all fish, as well as camphor with honey. Worms, crayfish necks, frog legs, etc. are placed in these compositions for some time (at night), and then they are thrown where needed, like bait or groundbait.

There is no need for particularly strong and thick fishing lines, and a fishing line of 6 and no more than 9 hairs or a silk thinner than an ordinary pin is completely sufficient. Only when fishing with girders, lures and tracks, when there is generally a greater likelihood that a pike will take a perch instead, is a thicker line, sometimes even twine, needed, and with a thin basque leash. Hooks, single, medium-sized (from No. 1 to No. 4), are tied either directly to the fishing line, or on leashes made of so-called buffalo hair or thin basque. Double, let alone triple, anchor hooks are used relatively rarely, but it is very useful sometimes (if the bite is good) to tie a so-called bloodworm hook with a long rod onto the leash, which cannot be swallowed deeply.

The methods of fishing for perch are quite varied. It is caught on a long (2.8–4.2 m) solid or composite (three-column, rarely four-column) fishing rod with and without a float, on a short line, on short 1–1.4 m fishing rods with a long line, without a float ( i.e. bottom fishing rod, or cast fishing), on the so-called filly, or block, with a short fishing line without a float - on the weight, finally, on a spoon, on a track, occasionally on girders, on allowances and nets. Let's take a closer look at each of these fishing methods. Where, at what time of year and day you should look for perch, has already been described above.

Fishing with a float

used in places with a weak current or no current at all - in ponds and lakes, in river backwaters, whirlpools and barrels, mostly from the shore, swimming pools, bridges, and on lakes, more often from a boat. The float (cork or sedge bark) must match the nozzle, i.e. the smaller the nozzle, the lighter it should be; At 12–16 cm from the hook, a sinker is attached to the fishing line (or leash) - one or several large pellets or one buckshot, so that the float stands vertically and most (two thirds) of it is under water. The bait is a whole worm, put on from the head, with a more or less long tail, a crayfish neck (in both cases, the bait should lie on the bottom or hang 4.5–9 cm from it) or a small fish, usually a small raft (in 4. 5–7 cm), even more often verkhovka, occasionally crucian carp. The fish sinks 12–26 cm from the bottom and is hooked onto the back under the dorsal fin. When biting greedily, when the perch takes not only the already asleep fish, but even pieces of fish, it is more profitable to bait the little one like a worm, sticking the hook in front of the dorsal fin or on the side of it and passing the sting behind the skull. The main thing is that the fish has the correct, horizontal position on the hook, and therefore, where there is no or almost no current, there is no point in hooking the fish by the lip or under the gills, as when fishing in the current. When biting, a small perch first shakes the float and then dips it (probably this is where its name comes from); the big one often drowns him right away. The moment the float disappears is the most convenient for hooking, since if you are late, the perch deeply swallows the bait and the hook has to be either pulled out of the stomach or unhooked with a special piece of iron or a copper knitting needle ending in a fork. You shouldn’t hook too much, since the perch’s lips are quite weak (for the same reason, the tip of the rod should be quite flexible) and you can tear them off; large perch, in addition, when strongly hooked, often breaks the line, and it is more prudent to let it walk on the fishing rod for a while and drag it only when it gets tired and swims to the surface; then it is caught with a net, and in the absence of a net, it is taken by hand (from a boat) or dragged to the shore, away from the water. Large perch is a fairly strong fish; He is especially stubborn when turning, but he gets tired relatively quickly. Very often, after hooking, he rushes into the bank, into the grass or under the boat and tangles the fishing line. Since the perch takes correctly and does not break away, it is mostly caught with two or three fishing rods; they are stuck into the shore, with a peg with a fork in front for support, and when fishing from a boat, the fishing rods are placed across it. They can only catch with one fishing rod when the bite is very good; in this case, it is more profitable to fish with a double (see ruff). However, in the middle of summer, when the perch is full and becomes (especially large ones) more cautious and careful, it is necessary to catch it with one fishing rod, changing places more often. At this time, sometimes it’s enough for one to break loose, and he takes the whole flock with him.

Fishing calendar

January

In Central Russia, burbot

.
Spawning lasts 7–15 days and is carried out in pairs (the male mates with the female) in deep sandy or rocky (prefers white
pebbles) places in large rivers - from 2–4 fathoms in depth.
The caviar is small, whitish. Three-year-olds (about a pound) and older spawn. As the burbot moves up the very stirrup of the river, it is caught in places on white
boards with hooks, which the burbot, walking along the bottom, touches with its belly.
Before spawning (and during spawning?), burbot continues to take live bait and pieces of fish.
In a harsh snowy winter, fish begin to choke in small stagnant lakes at the end of the month.
First the ruff
.
In small flowing lakes, fish approach the mouths or springs. The perch usually stops
taking (on spoons, jigs).
In the Middle Volga (near Syzran) the movement and fishing of lamprey
.

Knitting nets for bastings, nets, nets, circles (fish planters). – Extract from overseas fishing equipment. – Procurement of silk and hair forests. – Ordering and preparing fishing boxes. – Preparation of homemade folding fishing rods.

February

Burbot spawns in more northern provinces

(near Meeting).
His fishing continues. At the beginning of the month, perch usually begins to take fish again in North-Eastern Russia (for jigs) and ruff
.
If there is no thaw, the fish suffocate in large stagnant lakes (Central Russia). In the middle of the month in the Middle Volga the movement and fishing of lamprey ends
.
roach
(sea roach), then
bream, sabrefish
and
whitefish
begins under the ice .
Fishing for the latter with live bait.
In the southwestern provinces, the ruffe emerges from deep holes and begins to spawn at the end of the month (see April).
Also pike
(in the southwestern provinces).
In the south, almost all the fish move from deep places where they spent the winter to shallower ones, to the shores. Catching it with a basting line.
Preparation of silk, hair and vein lines (and renewal of old silk), floats and other fishing accessories; preparing circles (postavush) for pikes and tarring strings for lanterns.

March

At the beginning of the month the run of the whitefish

to Volga.
Opening of southern rivers. of the roach
is intensifying .
Around the middle of the month in Southern Russia, ides
emerge from the depths.
In the middle provinces the pike
comes out of the holes, approaches the edges of the ice and the mouths of rivers and
begins to take bait
(zhor before spawning).
In Southwestern Russia, its spawning ends. Burbot
fishing in the central and northern provinces.
The dace
comes out of the holes and
begins to peck
(before spawning).
The sterlet
movement begins in the lower reaches of the Volga .
Shemaya
goes to the Don and Dnieper .
In the south, in the second half (in ponds, lakes and estuaries), tench
from the depths and
begin to bite.
roach

bite also begins .
spawning ends .
Perch spawn at the end of the month (at the end of the ice drift).

In the mornings and evenings in 2-3 doses, first small (22-month-old), not in very large flocks, mostly in old reeds. Caviar is released in gelatinous ribbons of 1–3 arsh. the length in which the eggs (the size of a poppy seed) lie in piles (from 3–5 eggs). Start of spawning of pike perch

(in the lower reaches of the Volga - until the flood).
In shallow places, near the coast, in the grass or in koblas, tree roots. Spawns starting at 3 years of age. It splits into pairs: the female stands upright, with her nose to the ground, the male walks around and pours milk on the eggs. Spawning of large ide
.
Mostly enters rivers. At 2–3 am. Near the Annunciation, asp also spawn
- in rapids, in rocky places, already in high water. Its caviar is eaten under the mouth.

From the middle, fish emerge from the depths. (“Water comes from the mountains to Alexei, but fish from the stand”).

In Central Russia, at the end of the month (as soon as the ice breaks), the pike

.
Small, 3-4 year olds spawn first. Families: the female is accompanied by 2–3 or more males, usually of smaller stature. In the smallest places, spills, on sedges. The caviar is greenish-yellow. Fighting pikes with a spear, catching them with a snare, shooting them with a gun.
Preparation of lines and floats. – Purchase of hooks and various fishing accessories. – Casting sinker. – Preparation of natural solid fishing rods and fishing rods for bottom (at the end of the month, in more southern areas), girders, poles for them, stands for rods, etc.

April

In the first half, small schools of herring

(mad):
pike perch
, which has already spawned there, rolls back into the sea;
of bream
ends .
Chub
spawning begins (in the south) .
Mostly in small fast rivers, on sand spits, less often on rifts. The game continues for a week. The caviar is very small, orange in color. Crucian carp
and
tench
in ponds emerge from the mud and holes and
begin to catch (in the south) the worm.
, pike spawning continues or begins

. First the small ones play, then the large ones, first in rivers, then in rivers and finally in lakes and ponds (semi-flowing). Spawning ends in 2–3 weeks and sometimes drags on until the end of the month.

Around the middle or in the second half of the Lower Volga, the real herring movement begins; spawns on sandbanks. Roach also spawns (in floods, in the grass)

(Caspian roach).
In Southern Russia, catfish emerge from pits and go into warm water (bays, ilmen). At the end, its spawning sometimes begins (in the southwestern provinces). In the Lower Volga, bluegill
(Abramis ballerus) emerge in huge flocks from holes into deep, fast water with a rocky bottom and spawn there.
Also subdus, in the same places (eggs are large, whitish) and sapa (Abramis sapa), but in ilmen and calm water. In the south, at the same time, from mid-April, roaches spawn in
large flocks in reeds, tree roots, trash, etc., in shallow places near the shore.
It spawns in the 3rd year. After spawning, it hides deeper for a week. The young hatch in 7–10 days. In windy spring, a lot of eggs are washed ashore. The beginning of the ide
(from the middle, when the viburnum blooms).
Fishing from the bottom with a worm.
Shemai spawn in the lower reaches of the Don and Dnieper

.
After the 15th, during the flowering of the willow, the largest bream
(bream) spawns in South-Western Russia;
around Yegoryev's Day (23rd), during the oak tree's blossoming - medium (6-8 lb.) bream
(clubbill). On grassy shallows, in bays, sometimes in flooded shallows. Always early in the morning. Spawning occurs with great noise, on the surface of the water and is heard from afar. Disturbed bream go deeper.

In the middle provinces in the 2nd half they spawn: first ide (in small rivers earlier), then dace

(later in Southern Russia?), in rivers, on coastal sedges -
perch
(when the ice completely melts and the ice drift stops),
shereshper, chub, ruff
, sometimes (more in May)
char
and
spikefish
.
In Pskov Lake (after opening) the spawning of smelt
(in the 2nd year).
In the Neva (after opening) the smelt
;
stickleback
spawns there and in the large northwestern lakes .
The male builds the nest and protects the eggs and young. In the middle chernozem provinces (Oryol) bream begins to take
(before spawning?)
on a pile;
sometimes its spawning begins at the end of the month, but in Central Russia the smallest ones spawn first (mostly in early May).
In the middle of the month, during high water, it sometimes takes
(in shallow places with a cartilaginous bottom)
a podust
on a worm ;
caught with a double. The gudgeon
in the rivers comes out onto the riffles.
As the water begins to recede, spring fishing for burbot in pits at night with a worm (or 2) and a bottom fishing rod from a raft or boat. The bite sometimes continues until mid-May. It begins (at the end of the month) to take ide (from the bottom), first small ones, also roach
(before spawning), which, near the middle, emerges from the holes where it spent the winter.
All on the red worm.
Fishing with a basting line in hollow muddy water. All preparations for the wedding are completed. – Fishing

pike
on the girders, put them on the fishing rod. – Finding, preparing and clearing places for fishing, buying and repairing boats.

May

First half in the southern provinces:

The spawning of river
herring
.
Around May 9, small bream (from 2 to 4 pounds) and silver bream spawn
.
bream
appear , and large ones slide into the sea.
The movement of the raw material
is upward.
From the very beginning, sabrefish (three-year-old and older) spawn in
very fast water, on riffles and shallows, mostly before sunrise and in foggy weather.
Also bleak
(see below).
The beginning of spawning of carp
in quiet grassy pools, in families (a female and two males; males are more driven and have white warts on their heads), at a temperature of +18 + 20°R.
The eggs are released in clumps onto the grass. Spawning lasts 8–10 days (?). In similar places and at the same temperature tench
(after the 4th year), also in families (the female is darker, her scales are larger, and her fins, especially the pectoral ones, are shorter), and
rudd
- in large flocks.
crucian carp
begin to spawn in schools in the coastal reeds and reeds .
Myron barbels
(when pear and elderberry trees bloom) go in lines against the current and spawn eggs (at 8–10°) in deep and fast water with a rocky or gristly bottom. The caviar is large, orange (considered poisonous), and sticks to the stones. The fry hatch in 9–15 days. At the end of spawning, the barbel go to the fastest places in the river. When the rose hips bloom, catfish spawning begins. The female (?) makes sounds similar to clucking (leaking). She is accompanied by 1–2 males. Caviar is released in deep but quiet gullies, littered with rubbish and snags, in holes up to 31/2 arsh. depths dug by catfish with the help of pectoral fins. Males protect eggs and young (?), which hatch in 7–10 days.

This is where the fishing begins

catfish
on a klokovaya fishing rod in a boat.
This fishing continues throughout May and June (?).
– Spawning carp are hit at floods with sandovs
(spears).
– the ide (on the worm) well and begins to peck at the bream and all the other fish that have already spawned. – Fishing for pike perch (with live bait).
In the middle lane

(mostly during the birch blossoms) small
bream
, then around May 9 (during bird cherry blossoms) - the medium one, and around the middle (when the grain is earing) - the largest one.
Spawning of perch, pike perch, roach, subdust, char
(on riffles) and
brook lamprey
(ibid.);
Gudgeon
spawning begins (also on riffles, in rocks; on the Lower Volga - in crayfish holes) and continues intermittently until July (?).
Sterlet begins to spawn in the Upper Volga. In the deepest places of the river, in the cartilage. The caviar is dark and oblong. Development in 5–7 days. The young are first held in cartilage. Around May 9, in the more northern provinces, talmen, pike
(end of spawning),
ruffe
and
stickleback spawn
.
spawns
in the Neva .
The eggs are yellowish and develop in 5–10 days. of catfish
begins (in the middle provinces) .

Zhoring
pike after spawning and catching it with a lure and a fishing rod (with live bait). - Biting ruff
.
– From 9
–
shereshper begins to catch on top (for chub, bleak) on the rapids near the shallows, chub (for eel), ide (for worms and crayfish necks). – In the middle black earth provinces, bream from the bottom near the deep banks. Later - in the grasses at the bottom. burbot
fishing ends (around May 9 near Moscow) .
– The gudgeon takes the worm on the rifts and sand. – Closer to the middle of the month, bleak
(before spawning);
large perch
go into the depths, small and medium ones stay in the grasses.
– The tench
begins to take .
– Clearing places for fishing and securing them.
– Arrangement of ties and bridges for fishing. – Catching crawling worms (large worms). In the second half

in the Dniester, Bug, Dnieper and its lower tributaries, in the Lower Don, in the Terek, Kura - carp
spawning
.
In small flocks, in fast and deep water, on rocks. Spawning of the rudd ends
(spawns in several stages).
In the southwestern provinces, it spawns (within 2 weeks) in deep, fast places in the riverbed, on rocky ridges (or artificial ridges - rowing) of raw material
.
crucian carp
spawn .
The bite of catfish, carp, rudd, barbel, bream
, etc.

Roach spawning continues in the middle zone

(during rosehip flowering), spawning
of tench
and
crucian carp
in ponds.
The following spawn in the rivers: blue
(until the beginning of June),
river lamprey, glasach, silver bream, sabrefish
;
in the Middle and part of the Lower Volga (later) sterlet spawns.
Bleak in large flocks spawns in the grass, in small places, brushwood, and less often in stones.
In ponds it is pursued by rudd
, which eats its eggs.
Grayling
spawn in more northern rivers . Families (2 males and a female) on the rifts. The female digs holes in the cartilage. The eggs are orange and the young hatch at 14–18 days.

Fishing
for pike perch in deep places with a sandy and snagy bottom for gudgeon, chub, smelt in the northwestern provinces. They fish from the bottom. – The real catfish eating
.
– The roach
,
having spawned, takes good food for bread. – In small rivers and streams, chub using a cockchafer (without a float or sinker).
–
Bream begins to take from the middle (the bite lasts 2-3
weeks
) and silver bream
.
– Carp
sometimes start pecking in ponds .
– At the end of the month, it takes well in fast places (after spawning) to feed on bloodworms, maggots and ant eggs.

June

In the southwestern provinces in the first half the best bite is
for barbel
and
carp
.
Fishing for cheese
in
deep places with a fairly fast current.
Molting of crayfish begins (first in lakes) and fishing for molting crayfish.
brook
larvae hatch and the spawning of
river lamprey
.
Carp
spawn in the ponds .
Young catfish
go out into the riffles.
Minnow
spawning continues .
In more northern areas (lakes), crucian carp
.

Fishing begins with lines and approaches.
– The bleak takes the fly well (from the surface). – Burbots hide in snags, holes and under stones. – Feeling for burbot (hand fishing). – Catching chubs using the cockchafer continues. sabrefish
well in deep fast water (on a worm shallow from the surface).
– The best bite for white bream is from the bottom on a worm and bread near the shore in deep and quiet water. – In lakes and flowing ponds, crayfish sometimes begin to moult. – Catching submouth and roach with greens (algae) in the rapids. Catching pike with a snare at noon.
– Breeding maggots. – Preparation of various baits. – Dyeing forests. In the second half the trout

(in the northwestern and northern provinces) from rivers it goes into streams or stays near springs.
Almost all large fish begin (in the middle lips) to stay near the crayfish holes and take well on the molting crayfish. From the middle, catching ides with a grasshopper (fly fishing, without a float and sinker) in deep and strong places, as well as shooting them with a gun. Around the 15th the carp start to bite
.
In deep, clayey steep ravines. Bream b. h. stops taking the bait. gudgeon
moves from the riffles to deeper places with a sandy bottom and
continues to be caught with a worm.
In the northern tributaries of the Volga (at the end of the month),

(of bream, ide, etc.)
for broom
begins .
In northern rivers, the grayling takes from the middle (float, on a worm or a web) in the mornings and from 5 pm
.

July

From the sea, bream rises again to the Volga for the winter. Also pike perch

, as soon as the muddy water runs out.
In southwestern rivers, the barbel begins to bite well on cheese and greasy renderings (cracklings). In Central Russia, the best bite for carp is
.
Fishing with bait in places where it is seen fighting (jumping out of the water). The bream
goes into deep water.

Fishing for broom (at the beginning of the month), moulting crayfish and grasshopper.
– Catching chubs with a frog, a leech and a black cockroach.
– In general, in the first half the fish take poorly, and the bite improves only from July 20 (Ilya’s day). – Fishing with a self-submerging float (float-sinker) .

August

Catfish and carp
continue to catch well .
In the Lower Volga the best bite for carp (for red worms). – In the middle provinces (on the Moscow River, etc.) there is a good bite from the top on the fly, from the bottom on the worm, also bream and ide on young oats (in some places) with fly fishing. – Roaches sometimes take well on the worm. – The best fishing for pike perch, shereshper and
catfish
is on the lines. – The best fishing on the track. – Preparation of spinner tracks and tar for beaming. – Preparation of spinners.

September

In the north and northwest, salmon spawning begins at the beginning (or middle) of the month. In fast, shallow water, in rocks. The eggs (about the size of a large pea, at first milky white, then yellowish) are laid in grooves dug by the females. Spawning in families. At the same time, nelma

(at least 7 pounds), in pairs (or 2 males), in cold and deep water, in holes.
From the middle, trout
in several stages, also in families.
The eggs are buried in holes. Larvae of river lampreys
(blind bindweeds in the Neva:
they serve as the best bait there)
begin their transformation.

Fish ( ide, roach, rudd, dace, shereshper, chub, ruff

) begins to go to the deepest places and gathers in large flocks.
It is followed by pike
.

the ide
stops pecking altogether.
–
The chub takes at depth (for crayfish necks, greaves, eels) from the bottom.
–
Roaches and dace continue to be taken until frost, best on bloodworms (and maggots?) from the bottom.
–
Shereshper only takes from the bottom (with live bait). – The pike
,
also in deep places.
Fishing with live bait (almost from the bottom) and sometimes with lures. –
The ruff
finally goes into deep holes with a muddy bottom
and catches well on worms and bloodworms.
–
Perch
also gathers in large schools in holes (with a sandy bottom) and
takes well on fry, spoons and (sometimes) worms.
– In mid-September or earlier, depending on the weather,
stops eating
and lies down in the pits.
– burbot
begins to take .
– Preparing worms for the winter
(at the end of the month).

vendace spawning begins in the northwest

.
The best trout
.

Text of the book “All about fishing (collection)”

Leonid Sabaneev All about fishing

From the publisher

The second part of the book contains various works by L.P. Sabaneev on fishing.

The magazine "Nature and Hunting", formed from the merger of the "Journal of Hunting" and the collection "Nature".

Fishing calendar

January

In Central Russia, burbot

February

Burbot spawns in more northern provinces

March

At the beginning of the month the run of the whitefish

From the middle, fish emerge from the depths. (“Water comes from the mountains to Alexei, but fish from the stand”).

In Central Russia, at the end of the month (as soon as the ice breaks), the pike

April

In the first half, small schools of herring

Around the middle or in the second half of the Lower Volga, the real herring movement begins; spawns on sandbanks. Roach also spawns (in floods, in the grass)

In the middle provinces in the 2nd half they spawn: first ide (in small rivers earlier), then dace

pike
on the girders, put them on the fishing rod. – Finding, preparing and clearing places for fishing, buying and repairing boats.

May

First half in the southern provinces:

This is where the fishing begins

Roach spawning continues in the middle zone

June

July

From the sea, bream rises again to the Volga for the winter. Also pike perch

August

September

Fish ( ide, roach, rudd, dace, shereshper, chub, ruff

) begins to go to the deepest places and gathers in large flocks.
It is followed by pike
.

vendace spawning begins in the northwest

.
The best trout
.

October

Vendace spawning

and
whitefish
(in the 1st half) in the north and trout
spawning
in the western and southwestern provinces.
In Kura and Terek the shemai
wintering journey.
Near Astrakhan, the movement and fishing of lamprey
.
Fish in the southern provinces are starting to end up in pits. Carp
and
bream
gather in schools and lie down in bays overgrown with reeds and rose hips.
Tench
too, but they lie down in the deepest places with a muddy bottom and a slow current and then even bury themselves.
Minnows
and
bleaks
also go into holes (with a sandy bottom);
the latter sometimes take well from the bottom. Bream
become (at the end of the month) large schools in shallow sandy areas of the river, where the bank is ledges.

Fishing
pike with a spinner and perch with a spinner, worm or jig (crustacean) before the freezing of rivers and lakes, later on the ice. – Ruff continues to take bloodworms well. – From Pokrov (or earlier) hunting begins with a beam and spear, mainly on lakes and ponds. In the north, on the first ice they catch fish (mostly burbot and pike
),
which become under the ice.
October is the best time for transporting fish for the purpose of breeding it in other waters and for preparing fishing rods (juniper, birch, walnut, rowan) for the next year.

DIY fishing tackle

Fishing is a real art. It is impossible to comprehend all its nuances even with many years of experience. Our advice to fishermen is just another step on a long and difficult road to perfection, another opportunity to show off to your friends an extraordinary catch, another morning dawn spent on the banks of a river or lake.

Here we have diligently collected as much useful information as possible for all fishing enthusiasts. Advice to fishermen on rigging, equipment, various fishing methods, how to properly make fishing gear with your own hands, as well as which fishing bait is suitable for specific fish - all this will be very useful for both a green beginner and a seasoned bison .

Those who prefer to relax on a river or lake with the whole family will find tips on introducing the younger generation to the mysteries of fishing, and at the same time learn how to make the process exciting, interesting and as comfortable as possible. We also have tips for fishermen regarding the peculiarities of catching different types of fish:

Catfishing is one of the most exciting types of fishing. Catfish always impress with their impressive size, especially when they “sit” on your hook. It’s a pleasure to catch such fish, but to do this you need to know what kind of bait is suitable for fishing, how to set the right fishing spot, etc. All this is on our website in the Catfishing section.

As for the section Fishing for pike perch, you can find advice there on choosing gear and fishing period, features of fishing for pike perch in winter and much more. So catching pike perch will become interesting and definitely productive for you.

Well, if you are planning to go fishing for perch, then take a look at the Perch Fishing section. There you will find a lot of useful information for yourself, namely how to find the “bread” habitat of perch, how to properly hook this predator, how to improve the game of bait to attract large specimens. Those. everything you need to make perch fishing successful for you.

The section Making baits describes many tips and secrets on how to make fishing tackle with your own hands, how to make them better and more effective.

In short, no one can escape your hook. Well, those who like a thorough approach to business can look through special literature on fishing.

If at the moment you don’t want to study, but just relax, in addition to advice for fishermen, we offer you exciting fishing simulators that will help brighten up the anticipation of your next trip.

Welcome to everyone who loves fishing as much as we do!

The entire site in one book

Our e-book is a voluminous and colorfully designed informational and educational manual, which contains everything you need to understand the basics of amateur fishing and all sorts of subtleties associated with it. It consists of selected materials from this resource, supplemented by topics that are often of interest to its audience. The contents of the book are systematized using a special methodology based on a consistent and detailed presentation of information material. This allows us to specifically address each topic without leaving out the smallest details. This saves the reader from unnecessary questions and promotes a holistic and lasting assimilation of what he read, as well as the application of the acquired knowledge in practice.

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The listed advantages are qualitatively reflected not only in the aesthetic appearance of the pages, but also contribute to a correct understanding of the contents of the book, especially regarding the design and operating principle of fishing equipment and their distinctive features.

The text of the book is written in simple language; all introductory names are given a full definition. The meaning of special terms used both in this publication and in fishing vocabulary in general is explained in great detail.

With its help, you will learn to catch both peaceful and predatory fish, and not with just one float rod, but with various tackles, and in all sorts of ways.

The book will not be superfluous for those who are already familiar with the basics of fishing. In addition to them, the reader will be able to obtain detailed information about the most common types of freshwater fish, learn their biological characteristics, habitats, fishing methods, secrets of catching large specimens, as well as receive tips on how to get out of difficult situations that often arise during fishing and in the preparation process To her.