Proper equipment of a winter fishing rod for trolling perch with your own hands

Why is it important to choose the right gear in winter?

Properly selected and mounted tackle for catching perch will lead to the following:

• it will be convenient for the fisherman to hold the tackle in his hand;
• the angler will be able to carry out the necessary animation of the bait;
• the angler will be able to quickly lower the bait into the hole;
• the angler will be able to quickly reel in the fishing line when moving to another place;
• the angler will be able to detect a bite in time, no matter: visually or tactilely;
• the angler will be able to perform an effective hook;
• the angler will be able to perform effective fishing;
• the angler will be able to transport the tackle without fear of breaking it;
• the fisherman’s hands will not freeze;
• the angler will enjoy fishing with such gear.

Perch tackle set

Tackle for trolling perch consists of the following elements:

Fishing rod

Any fishing rod consists of a handle and a whip. The handle should be ergonomic, i.e. have a shape that ensures its comfortable position in the hand. There are several types of grip for a winter fishing rod when fishing with a spoon, and different shapes of the handle are convenient for different hand positions, although it cannot be said that they differ so significantly.

If the fishing rod is supposed to be used with a reel, then the handle has the shape of a cylinder or a truncated cone. When fishing without a reel, the handle has the shape of a “filly” or “pistol”, or some more bizarre shape.

Expert opinion

Knipovich Nikolai Mikhailovich

Zoologist, hydrobiologist. I am interested in fishing at a professional level.

Attention! When changing places, the fishing line is wound across the handle. When dropping the bait, it quickly runs off the handle, like from the spool of a spinning reel.

It’s good if the handle is made of “warm” materials : cork, foam, EVA, neoprene. When fishing with such a fishing rod, your hand freezes less. When moving from hole to hole, you can stick bait hooks into the handle, although many anglers rightly believe that this spoils the appearance of the fishing rod.

The rod of a fishing rod can be made of glass or carbon fiber. In fact, in winter this does not play a special role - the “glass” whip provides quite decent sensitivity, and the difference between it and high-modulus carbon will be minimal. All the difference is hidden by the fact that tensile monofilament fishing line is used. If the fishing took place with braid, the difference would be noticeable.

The whip can be telescopic or non-removable. The advantage of the “telescope” is only the compactness of the folded fishing rod; such equipment has no other advantages. The whip can be solid or hollow. Some anglers believe that a hollow whip is less durable, but this is an unfounded prejudice. Any whip can be broken if handled carelessly. The whip can be firmly glued into the handle, or it can be removable - this again concerns only ease of transportation and does not in any way affect the functionality of the gear.

Coil

Fans of trolling perch are divided into those who consider a reel to be an essential element of gear and those who prefer to do without it. The reel helps you quickly reel in the fishing line, but as already mentioned, this can also be done with a reelless fishing rod. The advantage of a fishing rod with a reel is the ability to track changes in terrain when moving from hole to hole - this is impossible to determine with a reel.

Often, the success of fishing depends on whether the angler is able to find local anomalies in the bottom topography, which are places where predators gather, or not. All this is important when catching perch, which leads a bottom-dwelling lifestyle; if the hunt is for a pelagic predator, then studying the relief is meaningless.

Reels for winter fishing rods can be built-in or attached . If the built-in reel receives damage that is incompatible with its further use, you have to throw away the entire fishing rod, and if the reel is attached, then only it itself suffers. Small wire reels made of impact-resistant materials are suitable for perch fishing. The best are considered to be those that have a friction or “ratchet” option, which allows you to release a certain amount of fishing line under heavy load, preventing breakage when hooking.

Any angler would like the line to unwind freely from the reel under the weight of the bait, but this is not always the case, especially if the reel parts are poorly fitted. Sometimes it is enough to lubricate the reel axis with thick grease, and it begins to work “like a clock.”

fishing line

For vertical trolling of perch, monofilament line and fluorocarbon are used, the latter is increasingly used because it has the following advantages:

• slight stretchability, due to which the sensitivity of the tackle increases;
• invisibility in water, which can be important when catching passive fish;
• less ability to freeze.

However, fluorocarbon has less strength than monofilament of the same diameter, which is especially noticeable at knots.

The thickness of the fishing line depends on the weight of the bait and the size of the expected prey.

Gatehouse

A guard or nod is used to fix a bite. Nods can be metal or lavsan, although the latter are mainly used for fishing with jigs. Metal nods come in spring and plate types. In addition, nods made of silicone tubes are produced especially for lures, which do not lose their properties in any frost.

Whether to use a nod or not is up to the fisherman. What is the advantage of nodding? The opportunity to see the most careful bite. What is its disadvantage? The fact is that while staring at the nod, the fisherman does not see what is happening around him. And a lot of interesting things can happen around. For example, the fact that most anglers moved a considerable distance in pursuit of active perch. So the fisherman should decide what is better - to rely on bites “in the hand” and be aware of events, or to isolate himself from the world in anticipation of cautious bites.

Sinkers

Sinkers are not used when fishing with a spinner, but they are a necessary element of equipment when fishing with a spinner, which is similar in technique to a spinner.

Lures

The main baits when fishing from ice with vertical lures are balancers and vertical winter lures . You can also equip small VIBs; some anglers catch them, sometimes successfully. Silicone baits are used extremely rarely.

Expert opinion

Knipovich Nikolai Mikhailovich

Zoologist, hydrobiologist. I am interested in fishing at a professional level.

Interesting! You can increase the catchability of the tackle by tying a small “stray” on a short leash above the main bait.
As such an addition, pyzdriki, artificial flies and amphipods, hooks with beads and red woolen thread are used.

Equipment according to fish type

The types of equipment depend on the type of production.

1. Roach fishing. To do this, take light fishing rods that work with fishing line with a diameter of 0.06 to 0.1 millimeters, artificial baits, and small jigs.

2. Perch fishing. Forms of medium hardness with removable reels, fishing lines with a diameter of 0.12 to 0.16 millimeters, cone-shaped nods up to 10 centimeters high, brass, silver or copper balancer spinners with a length of 7 to 10 centimeters are used.

3. Pike fishing. It uses high-power fishing rods with whips from 40 to 50 centimeters long, multiplier reels for fluorocarbon fishing line, and braided cord with a diameter of 0.26 to 0.3 millimeters. To prevent the pike from biting them, you need to attach a leash made of Kevlar, guitar string. In this case, you need fish-shaped balancers from 5 to 10 centimeters long, which cling to the leash using swivels equipped with carabiners.

4. Bream fishing. For the equipment you need a small supply of fishing line with a float without a jig, with a hook on which there is edible bait. No additional loading required. In winter, bream does not catch at great depths.

5. Fishing for pike perch. For fishing you will need a powerful fishing rod with a smooth action, monofilament or fluocarbon fishing line with a diameter of 0.25 to 0.35 millimeters. When using artificial baits, you can fish without nodding. Spoons should have an oblong shape and a length of 7 to 10 centimeters.

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6. Fishing for crucian carp. Fishing rods are equipped with lavsan nods or thin metal plates replacing them, soft guards with high sensitivity and a length of 15 to 20 centimeters. For fishing you will need a fishing line with a diameter of 1.12 to 0.16 centimeters, a strong and thin hook with a small groove, tungsten jigs of brass, copper, silver, and red.

The choice of spinners in stores today is extremely large. But many people make them on their own; you can find enough materials at hand.

How to assemble tackle

For spinners

Installation of a fishing rod for winter lure fishing is carried out as follows:

1. A fishing rod, if it consists of several elements, is assembled into one structure.
2. Wind the line onto the reel or spool of the reel.
3. Pass the end of the fishing line into the “tulip” at the end of the whip or into the cambric put on this end, or into the nod hole.
4. Attach the clasp.
5. Attach bait. The glitter is ready.

For jig fishing

With nozzle

1. A fishing rod is assembled from individual elements.
2. Wind the line onto the spool of the reel.
3. Place a nod on the tip of the fishing rod.
4. Pass the end of the fishing line through the holes in the nod.
5. They tie a jig.

Nozzle jig

Everything happens exactly the same as in the previous case, but the so-called “balalaika” is used as a fishing rod.

To the balancer

Equipping a fishing rod for a balancer is no different from that for lure fishing, although some anglers who purposefully fish only with balancers prefer to use a softer whip.

Making a fishing rod for winter trolling

To make a homemade fishing rod for winter trolling with your own hands with a reel at home, you will need the following materials:

• solid fine-pored foam;
• ready-made whip with guide rings, either rings separately or cambrics;
• nod, if desired, use it;
• if necessary, superglue, paint and waterproof varnish;
• fishing line;
• clasp.

Tools:

• hacksaw for metal;
• marker or pencil;
• knife;
• nail;
• file;
• sandpaper.

The process of manufacturing and equipping a fishing rod or “spoon thrower” is as follows:

1. The outlines of the handle of the future fishing rod are drawn on the foam plate.
2. The workpiece is cut out with a hacksaw.
3. Cut off all excess with a knife.
4. Process the workpiece with a file and sandpaper.
5. To give the fishing rod an aesthetic appearance, it is painted and coated with waterproof varnish.
6. In the front part of the handle, a recess for the whip is burned with a hot nail.
7. Glue the whip with superglue.
8. The whip is equipped with pass rings and a “tulip”. To do this, they are tied to a whip with thread and soaked in superglue. If you don’t want to fish with rings, put cambrics on the whip - one must be on the tip of the whip and as many as seems necessary on the whip itself. Another option is to equip the whip with a nod.
9. Wind the fishing line onto the reel.
10. Pass the fishing line through rings, cambrics or a nod and tie a fastener to the end.

Expert opinion

Knipovich Nikolai Mikhailovich

Zoologist, hydrobiologist. I am interested in fishing at a professional level.

Healthy! If there is a need to make a collapsible fishing rod, then not a whip is glued into the recess in the handle, but a tube with a diameter corresponding to the diameter of the butt of the whip.
If something happens, the butt can be sharpened with a needle file.

Tactics and fishing techniques

The tactics for catching perch is to search for its potential sites or determine the direction of movement of perch schools . When fishing for schooling perch, the main thing is to catch the first fish. Then you should “collect” the fish and lift it to the upper layers of the water. This can only be done when using the right spoon and proper wiring. You can search for perch using winter echo sounders. The latter will help determine the attitude of the perch to the bait - if the fish approaches, “sniffs” the bait and leaves, then you should change the bait or the type of game.

When catching coastal lake stripers, the tactic is to drill holes from the shallows to depth . The first perch caught is also the key to future success. It will help you understand at what depth to look for fish. Even small lake perch rarely go alone, so the tactic of “collecting” fish can be effective.

The winter glitter technique involves performing the following actions:

1. The bait is lowered to the bottom and knocked on the ground several times in order to create a cloud of turbidity that can lure a predator.
2. They make a toss with the tip of the rod, which can be done in a variety of ways, depending on many factors: type of bait, activity of the perch, depth, current, etc.
3. Make a short stop at the top point.
4. They make a reset: smooth or sharp, which is also determined by numerous factors.
5. They take a pause, the duration of which also depends on several reasons.
6. Repeat the entire cycle several times.

Expert opinion

Knipovich Nikolai Mikhailovich

Zoologist, hydrobiologist. I am interested in fishing at a professional level.

Important! In many cases, it doesn’t make sense to fish only the bottom layer, since the perch often stays half-water. Therefore, you should sequentially fish different horizons, approaching the surface and then moving away from it, right down to the bottom.

Features of equipment for winter fishing rods

The design of winter models for trolling does not play as big a role as their equipment. She is the one responsible for a successful catch. Equipment options depend on the fishing method.

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1. Stationary fishing. In this case, the nozzle stands motionless in the water column or at the bottom, bites are transmitted using a nod. The equipment is selected according to the degree of its elasticity so that the fish cannot feel their weight and swallow the bait without fear. These can be light jigs attached to a thin fishing line. It is important that they provide synchronous play with the nod.

• 2. Fishing in the current. In this case, special weighted equipment is used that can be held in the water flow and remain very sensitive. They necessarily contain lead leads and heavy sinkers, which can be replaced with a feeder set assembled using inline technology.

- test from 15 grams to 65 grams.