Probably every fisherman wants to catch a fish that he will tell his family and friends about as the biggest and most important trophy. For many fishermen, grass carp is such a welcome trophy.
This cautious fish is not easy to catch, however, knowing some features of the behavior of grass carp and the secrets of catching it, it is still possible to do this. It is important to consider the season, time of day, weather in order to choose the right bait.
Cupid General
Despite the external differences from carp and carp, grass carp belongs to the carp family. This fish has an impressive size, and its weight can reach 30 kg.
The birthplace of cupid is East Asia. The presence of this fish in Russian lakes is a sign of its artificial breeding. Fish grown in a natural way is found only in such rivers as the Don, Yenisei, Volga and Amur. This herbivore fish: absorbing a huge amount of algae, it cleans water bodies with stagnant water.
Cupid is demanding on the purity of the reservoir, as well as on the concentration of oxygen in the water. In this regard, quite often you can meet this fish in paid reservoirs.
As a rule, cupids are kept in a flock, are characterized by good survival. In winter, they hibernate. Amur spawning occurs in June - July and only in running waters.
Catching grass carp is the dream of any angler. However, deciding to "hunt" for this fish, it is worth knowing a number of secrets and features of fishing. So, the spring and autumn months, especially sunny and calm days, are considered to be an excellent time for catching cupid.
Where to looking for?
Amur is a large fish, but it lives in small water bodies. Catching grass carp, for example, in the Volga is a great success. Things are simpler with small ponds: here, this fish can be observed in large quantities.
When "hunting" for Cupid, you should observe maximum silence, as this fish is very shy. Swimming at a depth of only about 1-2 meters, grass carp is very sensitive to the emerging fishermen and at the sight of danger can almost instantly swim into the water thickets. Catching fish from such a "safe place" is extremely difficult.
If the cupid is still "hidden", fishing enthusiasts will have to find a gap in the aquatic vegetation and for a long time feed the fish.
"Treats"
Cupid fishing is carried out on almost anything. Both young corn and cucumbers, bean pods, young stalks and leaves of dandelions, barley and reed pulp are used. Some seasoned anglers manage to “hunt” for grass carp using cherries, cherries and plums.
Artificial grass carp has its own preferences. It is easier to catch on peas, wheat, maggot, worms, bloodworms.
If a feeding trough is used during fishing, then it is usually stuffed with mamaliga. As a bait, feed, bread and all kinds of cereals in bulk will be an excellent option.
When fishing for grass carp, special attention is also paid to gear: carp fishing rods and feeder fishing rods are excellent options.
Features of spring fishing
Fishing for grass carp in spring is an extremely exciting and fruitful activity. It is in the spring that favorable conditions for "hunting" for the specified fish come. So, in the spring the water warms up to 13-15 degrees, while the aquatic vegetation is still insignificant. Cupid is hungry after long winter months, so it easily pecks on various bait (be it corn, barley or young cabbage leaves).
Amur fishing in the spring should occur in calm sunny weather. This fish does not tolerate noise, therefore, fishing should be carried out in silence (otherwise the cupid will be scared and will sail away into the thicket).
In the spring, grass carp are caught on a variety of bait. However, there are its most popular types. Such treats seem to be specially created for the category "Amur fishing". This bait is as follows:
- corn (by the way, the favorite delicacy of grass carp);
- stalks of young reeds;
- leaves of young cabbage;
- clover;
- pea leaves;
- barley.
Throwing the bait into the water is necessary not to the alleged location of the fish, but slightly to the side. It is worth knowing that cupid captures bait instantly, so the hook should be quick and long.
Having understood that the extraction is on the hook, it must be carried out smoothly to the shore, avoiding sharp throws and turns. If the cupid manages to escape into the water thickets, it will not work to pull it out. Since grass carp is very strong, the process of transporting it to the shore is usually a long and laborious process.
Catching grass carp in the summer will be much more difficult due to the fact that he has plenty of food during this period, so he will be less willing to respond to bait.
May - the beginning of the grass carp season
The most successful will be fishing in May. This month, cupid fishing can be carried out both in the daytime and at night. It is worth knowing that with the onset of darkness, grass carp bites as well as in the morning hours, but it does lose its vigilance a bit (in the daytime, grass carp is much more careful than at night).
On hot and sunny days, large representatives of this fish are more often caught in the morning and evening. But small fish (weighing up to 1 kg) are perfectly caught throughout the daylight hours. In cloudy weather, large individuals of grass carp are caught throughout the daylight hours. For fishing, it is better to choose the leeward side.
Catching grass carp in May is also easier because it is during this period that willow blossoms begin. As you know, willow inflorescences are a favorite delicacy of grass carp.
However, the nuance is that willows are water-loving trees and they grow at the very edge of water bodies. Inflorescences of this plant, similar to small cones, after flowering, immediately fall into the pond and become easy prey for cupid. Therefore, it is necessary to catch at a time when the willow inflorescence is only being formed and the fish cannot get it on its own.
When catching grass carp in May, you can settle down all in the same thickets of willow. If you throw the above inflorescences into the water, the cupid will not take long to wait and immediately rush to swallow the bump. After that, you can safely plant inflorescences on the hook and run them into the water.
Summer is the height of fishing
For fishing in the summer, warm (but not hot), calm weather is perfect. In this case, ideally, the water temperature should be no more than 18 degrees. For this reason, the peak of catch of grass carp falls at the beginning of summer.
In the summer, grass carp can be found in thickets located near the coastline. It is there that the fish seeks food for themselves. Cupid may also be in shallow reaches, as the water there warms up quite well.
Amur is a finicky fish, so in the summer it is necessary to use certain varieties of bait. Fish pecks well on reeds and young cucumbers. Perfectly proved and catching grass carp for corn.
It is worth noting that in the summer, due to the abundance of food, this fish is reluctant to respond to standard bait. Therefore, experienced fishermen use the so-called sandwich of cucumbers and early corn.
The resulting "delicacy" is put on a hook mixed with rounds of ordinary polystyrene foam itself. Polyfoam slightly raises the bait above the bottom, making it more visible.
Bulrush as a bait
Being a herbivorous fish, grass carp rarely swims past bait in the form of reeds.
Catching grass carp on reeds is almost always a success. Use this bait correctly:
- First you need to cut the reed shoot at least 50 cm long. At the same time, the bottom of the plant should be cleaned of leaves.
- Attach the reeds to the hook, and carefully hide the hook under the leaves.
- Wrap the trunk of the plant with fishing line.
Throw the bait into the water in such a way that it is next to the growing reeds, creating the appearance of a simply broken plant.
Grass carp almost always reacts to the indicated bait, and the angler needs to be very careful not to miss the moment when the fish starts eating reeds.
The main feature of using this plant as a bait is that only the lower part of it is in the water. The reed itself must be on the surface of the water.
It can sometimes be difficult to do this, since when fishing in a similar way, a float and sinker are not used (for this reason, difficulties arise when throwing bait into a reservoir).
How to catch fish on a feeder?
Catching grass carp on a feeder is quite difficult in terms of bait fishing places. What is the reason for this? The fact is that grass carp is caught on a feeder from an impressive distance from the coast.
For the best bait of the place, a special volumetric feeder with dough is used, it can be thrown over a large distance.
After cutting, you can begin to hunt grass carp. It is worthwhile to carry out this procedure very carefully and carefully, since the fish can swim away into the aquatic vegetation, where it is unlikely to get it. When fishing in this way, the feeder rod should be as reliable and strong as possible, so that at the right time, the fisherman can actively begin to play grass carp. Fishing line should use a wicker with a leash. The use of braided fishing line makes it possible to make tackle more sensitive, which is of great importance during fishing.
When catching grass carp on a feeder, special attention should be paid to feeder equipment. An ideal option is a paternoster. It fits on the main fishing line, which minimizes the risk of breaks. The peculiarity lies in the fact that a piece of polystyrene is inserted into the feeder, matching the shape of the feeder itself (for example, in the form of a square or washer). Such a feeder will float out of the water, and, accordingly, the feed will be washed out over the entire surface of the reservoir. Amur reacts to such a trick in almost all cases.
Catching of grass carp on a feeder can occur using conventional feeders, without polystyrene foam. However, you should still keep in mind the fallback.
When using a feeder, it is worth using a landing net with a long handle and a large head. You need to choose a leash from 20 to 80 cm long. A similar spread is obtained due to the use of polystyrene, since if you put a foam ball on the hook, it will raise the bait to a distance similar to the length of the leash.
Cooking fish boilies
Boyle is a bait based on protein balls. Outwardly, it can have absolutely any shape: spherical, pyramidal or oblong, similar to a capsule.
Such a bait is mounted on a hook in an unusual way: the boil is located as if behind a hook and does not fit on its forend. This arrangement of bait does not allow prey to swallow the whole boil. At the same time, such bait does not scare fish. At the moment when the cupid swallows the bait, the hook clings to his lip.
It is important to know that the mount for such bait is hair. The basis of hair snap includes:
- hook;
- boyle;
- a leash.
The hook that holds the above bait is securely attached to the sinker. When grass carp reacts to bait and swallows it all (along with the hook) - the sinker contributes to self-notching. This is due to the fact that the fishing line is in constant tension, and the tip with the fore-end of the hook is exposed. For this reason, it is difficult for the fish to spit out the captured bait and hook.
There are many recipes for making boilies. However, there is a special one for catching grass carp. So, to make a boilie for the specified fish, you will need:
- soy and corn flour - 200 g each;
- eggs - 10 pcs. (based on a kilogram of dry weight);
- granulated sugar - 50 g;
- milk powder - 150 g;
- semolina - 400 g;
- sunflower oil - 3 tbsp. spoons.
All of the above ingredients are mixed, tinted in the desired color and aromatized. The resulting dough is rolled into many small balls (with a diameter of 3-5 cm). After that, the balls are boiled for 3-4 minutes and dried.
An important step in the preparation of boilies is their aromatization. For catching grass carp, you can use:
- peanuts;
- mint or blackcurrant leaves;
- cocoa or ground coffee beans;
- garlic;
- various culinary seasonings: basil, cinnamon, caraway seeds and others.
Most often, experienced fishermen make their own boilies. However, in the absence of time and desire to cook the boilies themselves, you can purchase them in any specialized store.
Boilies themselves can be of two types: floating and sinking. The method of their manufacture is different: for example, a sinking boil will turn out if the ball from the dough is first boiled and then frozen. A floating boil is cooked in a microwave, but it is less reliable during fishing. It does not last long on the surface of the water, crumbles and loses its shape.
According to most seasoned fishermen, cupid fishing for boilies is more successful when using the floating type of bait.
Instead of a conclusion ...
Thus, catching grass carp is not an easy task. Being a fish careful and attentive, grass carp will not respond to an unfamiliar bait left in an unusual place. You should always prepare thoroughly for the "hunt" for this fish: bait, tackle, bait - everything should be done in the best possible way.
Only thorough preparation and study of the behavior patterns of grass carp at a particular time of the year will make it possible to bring to the shore a worthy trophy in the form of a large individual. Have a nice fishing!