SPRING CHUB

*Hello, All!* Spring chub. Andrey Baryshnikov. (Russian fishing magazine No. 3 / 1999) There is no need to introduce the chub - it is quite well known. And yet I can’t help but draw attention to some _his character traits_. The chub is a stubborn fighter, resisting to the last. He can sneak away even when you hold him in your hand and are already triumphant victory. It is very difficult to catch him: he is extremely careful. At the same time, the chub is omnivorous; its menu includes both plant and animal food. Already in adolescence, he is keenly interested in fry, and Having matured, he does not hide his passion for gudgeon. And, as a result, not rejects a small spinner or twister skillfully offered to him. As part of the topic of our conversation - chub fishing in the spring - it should be noted that chub spawns quite late: under favorable weather conditions in the second half of May, or even the first week of June - this is in central Russia. One more point is important - the chub does not go on a hunger strike and does not go on a diet in spawning period. In this it is similar to roach and perch. Impoverishment of rivers Unfortunately, the number of chub is declining every year. B In the near Moscow region you won’t find it in every river. Quite a lotchub in the Oka, Moskva River (of course, above Moscow), Dubna, Pakhra and some other rivers. But I was always surprised that despite the similarity of characteristics and In some of them there are no chubs in the hydroregime of the rivers at all. On the Istra section from dam of the Istra reservoir to the city of Istra and somewhat lower for many and For many years of fishing I did not catch a single chub and did not even see one there. Something prevents the chub from entering the Istra from the same Moscow River. At the same time, in the summer of 1997, I observed a mass of grown juvenile chub in the Mocha River, a tributary Pakhra. Such phenomena cannot be explained speculatively; practical scientific research. In certain places In spring, the chub is very active - it needs to regain strength after winter and stock up on energy for spawning. Like most river fish, the chub strives upstream to certain spawning grounds known to him. What is it This is exactly what my personal experience confirms. On the Moche (and on other rivers) I Every spring I catch chub at several points. In one place it's small a sinkhole with underwater roots of a tree standing on the shore. Lower and higher are caught roach and dace, but only in that basin there are several catches per day bites of good chubs. In medium rivers, in which fish have room to roam, during the spring movement The chub, again, defends itself in certain places. Interestingly, this is oftennot the places where it can be found closer to summer, after spawning. Yes, on In deep areas, chub should be looked for in the spring at the lower edge of the pool when exiting the riffle, at depths of half a meter or less, whereas in summer it prefers the upper part of the pool and, accordingly, the lower part the riffle preceding the whirlpool. An explanation can be found for this: in the spring, in high water, it is on the oncoming On the slopes of the bottom, most of the food carried away by the current settles. But that's just a trend that does not mean a lack of bites in other places. Dilemma It is necessary to clarify that in the conditions of the Moscow region it is difficult to talk about chub fishing and only chub. Due to its small number, spring fishing, targeting only chub is practically impossible. It's about regular spring wiring on those rivers and in places where there is a possibility catching a good and even large chub is quite large, where the chub can be wait and wait. When choosing equipment, the fisherman faces a dilemma: either light rig for roach, dace or roach, or extra rig strength. I prefer light equipment, knowing from experience that a good fishing line 0.15 with a hook No. 10-12 is possible with cold-blooded actions without difficulty cope with chub up to 1.5 kg. And when the equipment becomes heavier, we lose many bites of small and medium-sized fish, and a guarantee of a good chub bite whenThis one doesn't either. Nozzles So, the main method of catching spring chub is wiring. In places promising from the point of view of the presence of fish, but not convenient for the float to float, You should put the sinker on the bottom and move the float to the tip of the rod. Nozzles in both the first and second cases, traditional for spring: dung worm, brush bloodworms, caddis flies. I would like to especially mention the caddisfly, my favorite bait when fishing into the wiring. Some species of caddisfly overwinter in rivers, and in the spring crawl out of their underwater shelters and surrender themselves to the will of the waves. During this free-swimming caddis flies cling to any debris floating with the current and accumulate in backwaters or behind flooded bushes, where this garbage goes applied with water. It's convenient to collect them here. Based on the chub bite, I I put 2-3 caddis flies on the hook. It is impossible not to mention such an attachment as leech clepsina. For example, on Pakhra I successfully caught a chub using a leech. Dragonfly larva, which is often caught when collecting caddis flies last year aquatic vegetation, has proven itself well on the Ugra, and in the near In the Moscow region, I somehow still can’t really test its effectiveness. It is interesting that on the Eel the chub takes a frog at night in mid-May fishing with donkeys. And at Pakhra at this time they catch chub with a spinning rod on small rotating spoons and twisters. On DubnaAlmost every year at the end of April or beginning of May I go to Dubna with reasonable hope of catching a good chub. I call fish good from 400 grams and more. Of course, I have verified ones in Dubna and so say, targeted places. One of these places is a group of islands in the middle rivers, near which there are attractive channels, backwaters and shallows. One day in May I arrived there at nine o’clock in the morning. By the way, in the spring the fish are active all daylight hours, and there is no need to strive to get to the river by sunrise sun. The water was higher than the summer level, but already quite clear. Dial the caddisfly was no problem. I waded to the upper island and began fishing in channel between the island and the right bank. Gradually fishing improved: on At the border between a strong stream and calm, a small roach was encountered. But I gave up on stream, the float began to quickly move away from me, and almost at the hood it sank and went down sharply. A hook, and it immediately became clear that this was the long-awaited one chub The bite of a chub never leaves any doubt that it is taking a solid fish. In this case, the chub behaved illogically after hooking. Instead of in order to throw himself downstream according to the rules, he went up and to the opposite bank. Keeping the line taut, I descended several meters down, and the chub ended up higher than me, continuing to fight the current andspring rod. Soon he got tired and leaned towards me, I dragged him to the shore, He blocked his escape route with his feet and grabbed his head with his left hand. This one The red-feathered beauty has gained more than a kilogram. Of course you should have a portable landing net, but fishing prejudices are strong: it is believed that if If you take a landing net with you, you probably won’t catch a single one worth copy. I also remember this catch for other episodes. During one of the float passes A large chub surfaced near him and immediately disappeared under the water. I continued peering at this point, not noticing how my float was pulled to the side. The hook was late, and the bite, apparently, was a chub. Then I I saw that under the opposite bank a giant chub was standing on the stream. In my opinion It was estimated that it contained at least 4 kg. How did he manage to live to such an age and weight? In the afternoon I decided to change my place. Returned to the left bank and crossed to a sandbank downstream. In one place during the transition I had to overcome the underwater groove, so to speak, to the limit of my capabilities overalls I left my backpack on the shallows, and I myself began to wade, chasing float on a rocky rift with a depth of about 40 cm. I had three chub bites almost in a row. Two copies of 500 grams replenished my catch, and the third got away. In the intervals between the chubs they gavepay attention to caddis flies, roaches, dace and large bleak. By the way, in spring in Dubna a lot of large bleak, which takes well not only from the top, but also from the descent 20-30 centimeters, but also at the bottom. May frosts One day, our constant company and I came to this section of Dubna for three days. on the eve of the May holidays. Spring that year turned out to be surprisingly warm. B the first night the temperature did not drop below +12 degrees. In two days of fishing we did a good job, had several effective chub bites and several offensive encounters. The catch of the first day, naturally, went to the fish soup. In the evening of the second day we sat for a long time by the fire and gossiped about this, that, then lay down in the tent and finally calmed down. Still in complete darkness, long before dawn, I woke up from the cold. He got out of the tent and was taken aback by what he saw: everything the area was covered with frost; our boots, standing at the entrance to the tent, turned white as snow columns. I had to urgently light a fire and while away the time by warming myself fire. As the sun rose, the frost disappeared, but it was quite cool. There's a bite in the morning practically none, and only in the middle of the day, when it became noticeably warmer, did they begin rare and weak bites. But still I managed one chub per 800 grams catch. We were once again convinced that even in the spring, with sudden changes in weather, the bite worsens, and is stable, as a rule, on warm days.Such fishing in the middle of spring is typical, with greater or lesser fluctuations in its effectiveness, both for the Moscow River above Zvenigorod and for the lower reaches Pakhra, and for some other nearby rivers, not to mention more distant ones routes. Of course, the bulk of the catch consists of roach and dace, but chub decorate every catch. Those few bites of medium and large chub, which happen during a spring day are remembered for a long time, and then often Unique details of fishing come to mind. /That’s all, All, you can scroll further.../