Catching bream on a ring, or on eggs is an old way of fishing that has traditionally developed for this type of fish. It is simple and resourceful, but requires a boat and is used only in the current.
Eggs: a way to catch
The fishing method is old, it was described by many fishing practitioners, including Sabaneev. During the years of the USSR, it was considered forbidden for various reasons. Perhaps – because of its resourcefulness and accessibility. Modern fishing rules allow the use of feeders associated with fishing gear, including the method of catching bream for eggs. It consists in the following.
- The boat is anchored in an area where there is a current and, presumably, fish will peck.
- A feeder is lowered to the bottom on a rope so that it is lower downstream from the boat. The rope is stretched to a certain extent to ensure the convenience of catching.
- The fisherman takes out a fishing rod, most often an onboard type, equipped with eggs. The equipment of the egg is placed on a rope, the equipment is gradually lowered into the water so that it stretches downstream, and then to the bottom.
- Waiting for bites. When biting, hooking is performed, in which the eggs fly off the rope, and the fish is hauled out. After that, the eggs are again put on a rope, the hooks are reattached and the tackle is lowered.
- Periodically, it is necessary to raise the tackle so that the hooks with the nozzle are not covered with bottom silt and food from the feeder, and also move the feeder so that the feed spills out of it.
As you can see, the method itself does not require the fisherman to use complex gear or any special skills and is available to any fisherman with a boat. Of course, they can only be caught during the permitted period for catching bream and only fish of acceptable sizes.
Tackle
As follows from the description, the tackle consists of two parts: a feeder on a rope and an equipped rod. Each of them affects the success of fishing equally. The feeder is used in a large enough volume so that the angler does not have to constantly lift it from the bottom and fill up with new food. And a larger amount of food is a stronger food irritant in the water, allowing you to attract a large flock of bream. Its usual volume is from two liters to five. The string of the feeder should be smooth enough so that the eggs can be lowered along it, and not very large in diameter so that they slide along it, do not jam.
The equipped rod is a side rod with a length of one to two meters. Usually this is an old rough action spinning rod and any other rod that is not too expensive and rather stiff. An inertial reel or a trolling multiplier is placed on the rod. The inertia in this regard is better, since it is easier to wind off the fishing line from it by self-propelled just under the weight of the eggs. A fishing line with a cross section of 0.3-0.5 mm is wound on the reel.
Eggs are a special cargo. It looks like two balls that are mounted on a wire spring that compresses them together. The spring is also an eye for which the eggs are attached to the fishing line. Sometimes they are called “cherries”. They can be deafly tied to the fishing line of the rod, or they can have some kind of free play between the two limiters. The first method is more commonly used.
After the eggs comes the main equipment. It consists of several leashes attached to the fishing line in a loop-to-loop way, usually there are two or three of them. The section of fishing line below the eggs is long enough that the current can easily pull it out. The length of the leashes is about half a meter, they are located at a meter distance from each other, and another meter recedes from the eggs so that there are no hooks on the feeder. Swivels are not used on leashes, as they make the tackle heavier and prevent it from straightening.
Hooks and nozzles use the usual ones, as with bottom fishing for bream. The cross section of the leads is 0.15-0.25 mm. The largest nozzle is usually placed on the very last leash with a hook so that it pulls all the tackle behind it. Sometimes a small sail is also used – a round piece of sinking plastic, which is placed at the end of the main fishing line. He quickly pulls the bet with leashes and allows the tackle to lie straight on the bottom. As you can see, the tackle is quite simple and usually anglers make it with their own hands.
Fishing tactics
Yes, yes, even such a simple method has tactics. The main assistant of the angler when fishing from a boat is an echo sounder. Fish should be looked for at a depth of 2 meters, at a lower depth it will be too afraid of the boat. Especially if the boat is not rubber and the angler in it creates more noise. The area for fishing should be relatively free from grass, but not far from it. Bream likes to stand there, especially in summer. If the echo sounder shows fish, it’s good, you should stand on such a site. If not, perhaps she will come for bait later.
It is most convenient to put the boat across the current. This will give you the maximum space for fishing. At the same time, the angler sits on the bank across the boat. The feeder is thrown either directly under the boat, or at a short distance. The feeder in this case will not be in the shadow of the boat, and the fish in shallow water will not be afraid to come closer. This is especially felt when the sun shines downstream and casts a shadow from the boat further. In deep water, the feeder is usually lowered under the boat.
After that, eggs are installed on the feeder cord in such a way that the fishing line that follows them does not wrap around the cord and runs straight downstream. After that, they release the stake with leashes into the water and wait for them to go down the river. Then the eggs are slowly lowered along the cord to the very feeder and wait for a bite.
The bite is usually felt with the left hand holding the feeder cord. To do this, you need to pull it a little, but not too much, and drag the eggs a little so that they also pull the cord with their weight. The main thing is that the cord behind the hand does not touch the side of the boat or its other parts anywhere, otherwise the bite may not be noticed. The angler sits holding a line in his left hand and a rod in his right hand, waiting for a bite. You can use bite alarms associated with the main rod – nods, bells, floats, etc. They will only work well if the eggs have free movement along the fishing line.
When biting, it is important to make the cutting correctly, with sufficient amplitude. In this case, two things happen: the eggs fly off the cord and the fish is hooked. It is more convenient to do this with a longer rod, especially at a good depth, in order to also remove the slack in the line.
Where and when to look for bream
This is a key issue when fishing for eggs, because if you choose the wrong place to fish, you risk losing both time and bait will be wasted. It is best to look for it near places with aquatic vegetation, but for fishing, choose a cleaner place. Small areas should be avoided. The best for ring and egg fishing are depths of 3-4 meters in a not very strong current. Usually it is a stretch or a turn of the river near a steep bank. On the rifts, bream rarely feeds, but you can try to fish there.
The bream likes to feed on areas with a soft bottom, where there are many worms and aquatic insects. However, he does not avoid rocky places and shells near such areas, and even prefers to stick to them. Given that usually the shell bottom and stones are free of grass, it is advisable to find them and stand above them.
It is better to stand on a boat either above the edge or near the riverbed. It is worth paying attention to grooves and depressions, but only in those places where there is no predator. There is no point in standing up. These areas are usually not very rich in food, and all of it rolls down both with the current and by gravity down to the crest. But places near the washed-out coast are worth catching, even if there is a slope there.
The bream is active in the morning and at dusk. Where there are white nights, it can be caught at night until the morning – it bites best at such a time. In the dark, it is less active, and is caught at night only in special conditions. Usually during the period of activity, it goes to smaller areas. During periods of rest, flocks of bream usually stand in pits under a slope to a depth, in whirlpools and other deep-sea places.
With the advent of autumn cold, flocks of bream become more lethargic, and move less and less across the reservoir. They retreat to the places of winter parking. On the rivers, they look for places with a depth of 4-5 meters or more. It is there that it is worth catching them from the beginning of September and almost to freezing. The bream at this time is sluggish, and it is very important to correctly determine the bite and not be late with hooking.
Spring fishing on the ring was the most productive, the fishermen caught as much from one boat as they sometimes did not catch even in the net. However, in our time, spring fishing is prohibited, as it falls under the spawning ban. But as soon as it ends, you can start fishing for eggs and other methods from a boat, observing local rules and restrictions so as not to harm nature. The most active biting of bream is at the beginning and middle of summer, then it subsides slightly by August, and practically stops in November. In the video below, you can safely verify the operation of this gear, the main thing is to choose the right weights and make the installation according to the diagrams.