River jig moments. - I am fond of fishing.
A considerable number of rivers that exist on the territory of our country, as well as a massive enthusiasm for jig fishing methods, would clearly have, it would seem, to define jig on the river as the most common type of spinning fishing. However, in reality this is not the case. In most regions, river jig is popular only during the spawning ban and in winter, and the rest of the time fishing from a boat and in reservoirs is a clear priority. This is partly understandable, because boat fishing in a pond with stagnant water is more comfortable, most often more productive, and also not so demanding on gear. These advantages are obvious, however, I will argue that with the right approach, the river jig is not inferior to any of the other options for spin fishing.
All the rivers flowing in the flat part of our country are similar in many respects. I say this with confidence, because in almost twenty years of spinning hobby I happened to fish on ten of them. Of course, each has its own characteristics and nuances, but, in general, the fishing conditions for them are similar. Jig, as you know, is effective in almost any conditions, and on the river, of course, too. Moreover, fishing on the river has a number of advantages. First, river fish are more determined. In particular, a predator, as a rule, does not have time to think about whether to attack a potential prey that has come into view. Didn't decide - so missed. Secondly, river dwellers have more accelerated life cycles. This is due to the fact that the constant struggle with the flow of water takes a lot of strength, and they need to be replenished more often. Thirdly, the oxygen regime on the river is almost never critical, which is especially important in hot summers. Fourth, the width of most of our rivers does not exceed 40-50m. This means that with proper skill and harmonious gear, you can successfully fish from the shore across the entire width. Fifthly, fishing on rivers is usually done from the shore, so a motor, boat, echo sounder and other equipment are simply not needed.
About wiring in the course
I have heard from spinningists more than once that the most unpleasant thing in a river jig is when your bait is constantly blown away by the current, and as a result it is not possible to control its wiring. Which is understandable, because the control of wiring is the main key to success. Indeed, there is little chance of a bite if you manage to make only two or three full-fledged steps for wiring (although sometimes this is “for happiness”). Once, at the stage of mastering the river jig, I faced a lot of difficulties - in fact, I had to experiment on every new fishing trip. Literature and the achievements of more experienced colleagues helped in many ways, I came to something myself. As a result, I mastered a number of basic postings that I use depending on the situation. But before talking about the features of the wiring I use, I want to draw your attention to the fact that, unlike jig on stagnant ponds, where both the animation style and the bait are selected for a specific type of predator, with river jig everything is much simpler and more versatile. The dynamic nature of the wiring and a very narrow range of weights and sizes of lures used practically erase the boundary between zander, pike and perch wiring.
1. Local wiring. In addition to the small radius of action, such wiring is characterized by the highest efficiency, but within a small area. Therefore, it is logical to use it in cases where the location of a promising place is well known, or when there was a “blank” bite and there is a chance to catch fish.
The place where the bait splashes down is calculated in such a way that the first touch of the jig on the bottom occurs approximately at the beginning of the sector where the probability of a bite is highest. The second and third steps, in principle, do not require anything other than maximum control of the tackle. It is best to perform the casting conditionally at “two hours” (if we take the perpendicular to the river as “twelve hours”) and 3-5m further than the supposed place where the jig fell to the bottom. Usually, after 2-3 steps, the direction of the cord will be at "eleven o'clock" - this is the signal to unwind the tackle. The fact is that due to the increased water pressure, the efficiency of further animation will noticeably decrease. The main disadvantages of "local" wiring are obvious - almost point fishing and the need for a large number of exits to the water.
2. Posting search. But the "search" wiring serves to catch the maximum territory. Naturally, some steps will not turn out to be optimal, but the probability of meeting with a predator when using it is the highest. I use this wiring more often than others. Usually, after all, you don’t know in advance where exactly the fish is, what can we say about the situation when the water area is unfamiliar.
Technically, “search” wiring is casting of maximum range and slightly upstream with a slightly heavier jig than required by the conditions. After splashing down the bait, we use classic steps (2-3 turns of the reel handle and a pause). It is quite justified to jig a little more aggressively than usual - this will increase the pace of fishing. It turns out that we both catch and explore the terrain. If at least some statistics of bites appeared or a promising area was identified, it is justified to resort, for example, to “local wiring”. Fortunately, this does not require changing gear. Obviously, at the end of the “search posting”, the bait will most likely be carried far away by the current, this, of course, is not the most favorable option, but even there a bite is quite likely.
3. Posting with the flow or "up stream". She has long been known, and much has been written about her. I also use it. It often happens that with a strong current and great depth it is generally not possible to “drive” a bait of a reasonable weight and size to the bottom. if when fishing from a boat this is somehow solved, then sometimes problems arise from the shore. Meanwhile, fish in such a place (especially pike perch and large pike) are very often present, and it turns out that there is no other way out than to do the wiring with the flow. Yes, the speed of the bait will increase noticeably, but who is it easy now?!
"Up stream" is also good in cases where the weight of the jig when moving to a new place turned out to be insufficient. Agree, it is not always a joy to re-select the weight and size of the bait at every turn of the river. But there are also situations when from the shore, in no other way than casting against the current with subsequent wiring along it, you can’t catch a vending place ... and just an ordinary bush growing near the water can significantly reduce the sector for casting. The main drawback of the flow with the flow is the high speed of the bait, regardless of the desires of the angler and the preferences of the predator.
And although aggressive fishing, as you know, is more suitable for catching an active predator, already in this 2012 there was a case confirming the opposite. We were hunting pike with a friend. The water was cold, and the “toothy” obviously did not show activity. At some point, a dilemma arose - to put a jig 14g and carry out the wiring against the current, or use the “up stream” from 10-12g. So until the end and not having decided, we caught both this and that. And at the end of fishing analyzed the results. And we got the following statistics: during the day we caught 5 pikes - 4:1 in favor of the "up stream", including one at 4.2 kg. There were 11 bites in total.
8:3 again in favor of "up stream", and this despite the fact that both options were given approximately equal time. By the way, we caught on the same type of "silicone" - on "edible" vibrotails One 'Up Shad from Sawamura in the size of 3 inches (they were unrivaled that day).
4. Wiring against the current. This opposite of "up stream" is no less well known. At one time, I even thought that this is the main type of wiring that works always and everywhere (now I have a different opinion). To lead the bait strictly against the current, in my opinion, is most expedient when fishing from a boat. At the same time, you need to be sure that the probability of the presence of a predator in the wiring sector is very high, otherwise the excessive waste of time on such fishing will not be justified. And these are not empty words.
The time the jig falls between the steps sometimes reaches 10 seconds or even more. For a passive predator, this is, of course, good, but the pace of such fishing is simply no, so it will not be possible to catch many places.
As for fishing from the shore, the main place where the "wiring against the current" is effective is the areas under the steep banks. There, as a rule, already a meter from the water's edge there is depth and there is a high probability of catching an interesting trophy. But getting close to the water in such a place is sometimes simply impossible, and approaching the water, you can scare away the fish near the shore. So it turns out that casting twenty meters parallel to the shore and stepped wiring a meter or two from it is the most justified and sometimes the only solution. With this approach, you can earn a bite of different fish, but first of all - a good pike. There was once in my practice an interesting, but somewhat unpleasant case.
On a fine day, I was fishing in one of the pits of the Psel River. The maximum depth there is 10m, but I was interested in a sheer cliff, or rather the edge on it from four meters. There is only one approach to the water, so there was no need to choose a casting vector. I remember that I did a lot of postings, until, finally, a pike pecked. I saw it right at the moment of the attack, but I didn’t understand what it was - something like a log suddenly appeared near the bait, then the bait disappeared somewhere, and the tackle began to literally break out of my hands. Only then did it become clear to me that this was an impressive pike, and, naturally, I performed a sweep. And then something unexpected happened: the spinning rod literally “exploded” in my hands - the blank broke not far from the handle (probably, the hooking and jerking of the pike coincided in time). Of course, I tried to defeat the “crocodile” with the rest of the tackle, but, alas ... if I could then take such a monster with such a delicate tackle, it would be a miracle worse than those that Copperfield demonstrates. And a little later, at that place, a more successful spinner caught a pike weighing 11 kg.
5. Wiring without contact with the bottom. Perhaps such approaches were once not associated with the jig at all, but now it is in the order of things. It was easy for me personally to get used to the idea that contact with the bottom is not at all necessary. After all, there are many such situations. For example, fishing in grassy shallow waters. Someone will be surprised: why then wobblers? When fishing in such places from a boat, wobblers will really have an advantage, but when shore fishing is not necessary at all. Indeed, from the shore it is often necessary to cast at 40-50m. and the bait sometimes needs to be passed through snags... In addition, when fishing in the grass, such an animation method as “pulling the bait through the algae” is often very effective. Its meaning is that with a powerful spinning kit, and using a heavier jig, we lead the bait literally through the algae. And, despite such a “barbaric” approach, the pike bites, and the performance sometimes exceeds the wildest expectations. And often this is generally a non-alternative option. A jig without contact with the bottom sometimes gives good results on sections of rivers that are clean of algae (naturally, such wiring, as a rule, still assumes that the bait is close to the bottom).
It is quite obvious that at a sufficiently strong current and at a shallow depth (up to 3m) the predator has a minimum time to make a decision (between two touches of the bottom, the bait can overcome 4-5m), so it is unlikely that it will . As practice confirms - attacks happen at all stages of wiring. The statistics I have collected say that in a fast current, about 40% of bites happen in the first second of a pause, when the bottom is still far away, about 20% during reeling, and the remaining 40% include attacks that occur on the approach of the jig to the bottom or already when it is dragged along the bottom. It should be remembered that, for example, the same "exploratory wiring" at some of its stages inevitably turns into "wiring without contact with the bottom." And this is quite normal.
Once there was such, in my opinion, an interesting case. I caught perch on the Oskol River. At least a year had passed since my previous trip to these parts, so the key to a good bite had to be re-selected. Perch behaved "disgustingly" - pecked very rarely. I then experimented a lot, but not with the horizon of the wiring, but it was he, as it turned out later, that was the key point. When I realized this, I conducted a simple experiment: for two hours I alternated fishing with a jig at the bottom and in the middle water horizon. I spent approximately the same amount of time, and I used the same lures - Paramax from Ecogear and Bugsy from Bait Breath. As a result, I earned 38 bites in the water column, and only 6 near the bottom. But at first, only “knocking on the bottom”, I thought that the fish were simply inactive.
6. Wiring at the surface. As a further development of the "non-contact jig", the following jig method can be considered - "wiring near the surface". I assure you, this method was not born from scratch, and I personally have been using it for ten years now. The most justified jig near the surface is, in particular, when fishing at short distances, when it is extremely important to apply the bait carefully and in no case hook algae or snags with a hook. Usually in such a situation, the calculation is for pike or perch. Undoubtedly, the surface jig is effective in the moments of “perch fight” and “champing”, as well as during periods when the fry are squeezed striped to the surface, and the hunters themselves stand immediately below it, from time to time snatching the poor fellows from the flock.
Oddly enough, but even after long casts, the jig very often does not need to be lowered to the bottom (in this case, the main calculation is for an active predator). When casting under the opposite shore, the probability of hanging algae on hooks is huge, and this is highly undesirable, therefore, in such situations, I usually start wiring as soon as the jig touches the water, and only after 3-5m I let the bait go deep. In principle, active fish have time to respond to a splash or the first meters of wiring. If not, I lower the bait to the bottom and lead it further using, for example, “search” wiring.
Faith in jig fishing near the surface came to me after one interesting fishing trip. There were no special theories in my head at that time, it was just that the river in the area where I was fishing was heavily snarled, and I just wanted to save money on baits. Two comrades who were fishing with me were jigging at the bottom, but at a depth of 3-4m I carried my baits no deeper than a meter. As a result, I caught three pikes, while my friends tore off several jigs and did not earn a single bite.
And quite recently I got into another non-standard situation. Caught in the area with a depth of about 5m. They expected perch and pike, but they seemed to have died out in the reservoir, and no frills in the wiring worked. When, after the next posting, he simply began to exhaust the tackle, a good perch “sat down”. On the next cast, I repeated the actions already on purpose - I caught another one. After that, using twitching wires, for several hours we perfectly caught perch near the surface on “silicone”. At the same time, only "edible" slugs worked, and Bait Breath's Fish Tail was the clear favorite.
7. Wire drawing. For a very long time, I treated dragging lures along the bottom as a negative phenomenon, but then I became convinced that it could be the only way to achieve a result. This style of wiring assumes that the bait “strikes” along the bottom in a controlled manner, and not randomly, turning side to side, rolls under the influence of the current. This is not easy to achieve. You need a balanced and tactile jig tackle plus certain skills.
Before embarking on the development of such wiring, you should definitely watch how the bait is “dragged” under the influence of the current in the coastal zone. And although everything will be a little different on a long stretch of the cord, the meaning will remain the same. "Drag-and-drop" does not at all involve the use of an overly heavy jig. On the contrary, the meaning of wiring is to “drag” the bait as light as possible for a given place all the time along the bottom, knocking on it and raising the dregs. And the more passive the fish, the lower the speed should be. The most effective, from my point of view, actions I would describe as follows: casting no more than 30m, we find the bottom and no longer lose contact with it until the end of the wiring. Slowly, on a stretched cord (there can be no question of a fishing line), by pulling with a rod (the so-called “American jig style”) we make the bait constantly “crawl” along the bottom. There should be no sharp jerks, steps too. This works most effectively on hard shell areas. The main object of fishing is zander and perch. And the more passive the predator, the more effective the "dragging" compared to other types of animation.
The use of "edible" baits in a river jig
Let us now consider the efficiency factor of the use of "edible" silicone lures in the conditions of jig fishing on the river.Believe me, this is true. No one doubts the fact that the vast majority of those smells and tastes that are developed by American and Japanese bait manufacturers also attract our predatory fish. And if, say, the effectiveness of the “edible” for pike is still a moot point, then pike perch and perch very often react positively to the “edible” and attractiveness of modern material, even in the current. At the same time, it is quite obvious that there is a simple and logical pattern: the more passive the fish, the weaker the current and the lower the speed of the posting, the more significant the “edibility” factor is. But this does not mean at all that the effectiveness of the “eater” will be zero in a fast current, but this was once considered to be so. Let's remember the same wiring by dragging" - it requires the use of "edible" silicone, and the most effective when using it will not be vibrotails or twisters, but "edible" worms. My favorites for this kind of fishing are Swimmy Bullet and Ridge from Sawamura, Tsunekichi Worm from Tsunekichi, Needle and EnergeStick from Bait Breath.
But effectively “edible silicone” works not only when drawing, I bring to your attention a table, the data for which I have been collecting for more than two years. It seems to me that it quite clearly displays the influence of the “edibility” factor of baits when catching various predatory fish with all the styles of postings described above. The effectiveness of the use of "edible" baits was evaluated on a ten-point scale.
About equipment
Naturally, the selection of gear depends on the conditions of fishing and the personal preferences of the angler. Nevertheless, I want to give some general advice to those who are just joining the river jig.
It’s probably not worth it to immediately acquire a nine-foot (2.74m) rod, as some “pros” advise. The banks of our small rivers, as a rule, are so overgrown with bushes that you simply cannot turn around with a long rod. I think that the length of 2.4m is just right - and it is convenient to catch, and the blank with such a “growth” can be really fast (rods “fast” with a length of over 2.5m are not “fast” at all). Range is usually enough with a margin.
The coil is certainly an important point, but I would not buy it separately for a river jig. Any high-quality, with good cord laying and powerful enough will do. As for me, when using a jig from 14g and above, it is better to pay attention to Daiwa (in their price range, Daiwa coils are slightly ahead of competitors in terms of durability and reliability). By the way, three years ago, for my first fee for two articles published in the Fishing World, I purchased a Team Daiwa TDR4 2508 reel in their online store. cranky" and also "twitch"... surprisingly, it still works great to this day.
Particular attention should be paid to the cord. It doesn't always have to be as thin as possible, although it usually is. It's good when there are two sets of gear - for "heavy" jig and "light". And even better, if each reel has a spare spool, which, for example, is a rarity for reels in the Japanese market. The fact is that sometimes a longer lowering of the bait to the bottom is better to ensure by increasing the diameter of the cord, rather than reducing the weight of the jig. For example, when fishing with the mentioned “pulling the bait through the algae”, the tackle should generally be initially powerful. But in the case of “drag” fishing when using small baits in a strong current, as well as when fishing for long distances, the line will need to be as round, thin and slippery as possible in order to fly far.
Speaking specifically, as a rule, for a delicate river jig (4-8g), a cord with a conventional Japanese designation for a diameter of 0.4 (approximately 3kg to break) will be the most suitable. For the classic version using weights 12-16g - 0.8-1 (about 5-6kg). And only in extreme situations, when fishing is carried out in “strong places” or catfish is possible in by-catch, you can take a particularly powerful option - 1.5 (about 8 kg). Recently, in terms of price / quality ratio, I consider the G-Soul X3 and G-Soul PE cords from YGK to be the best.
As for the leader, even in the river jig you have to constantly choose between steel products, special leader materials and fluorocarbon. What do I do ... if the main calculation for an active pike is a leash unequivocally steel or stranded metal. If perch, and pike, and pike perch, then, rather, fluorocarbon with a diameter of 0.25-0.3 mm. If perch predominates - definitely "flur". And one more thing: the more the situation requires delicacy from the tackle (clear water, passive fish, weak current), the more correct it will be to turn to the “flure”, even when hunting for the “toothy”.
Naturally, the topic of jig fishing on the river is not exhausted by the above description of postings. I have more to say, but that's for another time.
