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Catching perch with a mormyshka allows you to never be without fish. And these are not empty words. Even when in the dead of winter he refuses to take a lure and a balancer, the perch jig remains effective. Fishing on it will be understandable to novice anglers, but also for experienced anglers there is a large field of research and experimentation.
Meet the mormyshka!
This bait has been known in Russia for more than a hundred years, even Sabaneev described it in his book “Fish of Russia”. The name comes from the mormyshka – amphipod crustacean, which is found in the reservoirs of the eastern part of Russia and in Kazakhstan. Since then, by the way, she has not changed much. In its classic form, it is a small hook soldered into a lead body weighing up to five grams. The usual weight of a mormyshka per perch is no more than three, and heavier ones are used only in deep areas.
Modern technology has made some changes to the design of jig. It has been observed that perch take small bait best. To make it more weighty, so that you can work at greater depths with the same thickness of the fishing line, they began to make them from tungsten. It has a higher density than lead and allows you to make heavier jigs for the same weight. Tungsten perch are considered the most catchy.
Note: in Western fishing practice, the winter bait “mormyshka” can be denoted by two words – “jig” and “tungsten jig”. The word tungsten means tungsten, tungsten completely replaced lead in the small segment. This trend can also be traced in Russia – almost everyone will prefer to fish with tungsten, if there is a choice. Mormyshkas of the first type include larger ones, including devils.
Also, new types of mormyshki appeared, which were unknown in pre-revolutionary Russia. These are all kinds of devils, bullshit and others. The fact is that they all require more hooks, which were then in short supply and were not cheap. All kinds of hanging tees and hooks appeared even later.
Over time, anglers began to come up with new types of jig. This is how non-nozzled mormyshkas were born. During the game, the jig with a nozzle creates a flavor cloud around itself, which excites the appetite of the approaching fish and forces it to take the bait. Without a bait, the angler has one way to cause a bite – skillful play. People come up with various forms of lures, decorate them with beads, lurex. Thus, fishing turns into a very interesting activity, with an abundance of lures, ways to feed the nozzle. Although with a nozzle in most cases it will be more catchy.
Far from always, a windless mormyshka is a nozzleless one. Most often, anglers use a nozzle in the form of sponge rubber soaked in an edible composition instead of a live bloodworm.
It is understandable – in severe frost there are too many problems with it. Also, a windless mormyshka can be equipped with vegetable nozzles – for example, semolina porridge dough. Roach is caught on it simply incomparably, the main thing is to calculate the moment of hooking very accurately in order to.
Both winter and summer
It is a mistake to think that mormyshka is caught only in winter. Modern fishing rods are quite light, rigid and also allow you to play with a mormyshka. True, the game here will be somewhat different, a special nod on the bait is actively involved. Summer jig with a side nod uses heavier baits, very good for perch fishing in late autumn, white fish after the ice melts and for wading or from a boat in the windows of aquatic vegetation. The latter method is the only one that can be fished in very overgrown areas, and brings good results.
Classic ice fishing rod
There are many types of winter fishing rods. This was partly due to the scarcity of Soviet times, partly due to the tendency of anglers to constantly invent something. Today, there are three types of fishing rods that are used for mormyshka fishing: balalaika, fishing rod with a handle and filly. All of them have a short length of the whip, designed for catching while sitting.
Balalaika is a fishing rod that appeared in Soviet times. It is a housing in which a reel of fishing line is placed. The fishing line is usually closed from external influences by the body. The appearance of the fishing rod resembles a balalaika – the neck is the whip of the rod itself, and the deck is the body with the reel.
When fishing, the balalaika is held by the body with three or four fingers. This allows you to very quickly, with one hand, reel in the line if necessary, and sometimes, if the mormyshka is heavy enough, and release it. The fishing line is protected from ice and snow, which is important – the thinnest fishing lines are used, which, having frozen to the crust, can easily break. Almost all professional anglers-athletes use the balalaika in competitions.
However, you will need to use two hands to reel in the line. Also, the line itself on the reel is open and can freeze both during fishing and at the transition.
The filly is the oldest of all fishing rods. It has a whip built into the reel handle, which can be permanently installed on the ice if desired. In its original form, the filly is used for fishing in winter on a float. All kinds of its modifications are used – a cork fishing rod, Shcherbkov’s fishing rod. These rods are small and light and can easily fit in your pocket. However, some types of mormyshka play can only be achieved with their help.
Most nodding rods for mormyshka fishing can also be attributed to fillies. They are used when fishing without the use of bloodworms. For such fishing it is very important to keep the weight of the rod to a minimum, so anglers avoid using reels and equip their rods with a reel. Usually they do it themselves.
Nod
It has been a companion of the mormyshka since its appearance. The fact is that when fishing, a float or other traditional signaling devices are not used, and it is often impossible to determine that the fish has taken the nozzle by knocking on the hand. Therefore, a special signaling device is used – a nod. He is very important.
A nod is an elastic rod or plate that bends under the weight of the mormyshka. It is attached to the end of the rod, the fishing line passes through it at the end point, sometimes at intermediate points. When biting, the fish takes the mormyshka into its mouth, this immediately becomes apparent from the fact that the nod straightened out. The angler has the opportunity to immediately perform hooking and get prey from under the ice. Also, the nod is involved in the game of the jig, making oscillations in time with the game of the fishing rod.
The classic setting for the nod is to bend under the weight of the jig in the air at about a 45-degree angle at the end point. This is achieved by adjusting the nod, sharpening it, cutting it, extending it, shifting the nod springs, etc. In classical fishing for a small mormyshka with a bloodworm, it is also customary for a loaded nod to have a shape close to a circle. This is done for a flat nod by cutting it into a cone. Such a nod is very clearly visible and sensitively reacts to a bite, practically does not interfere with the game. There are many ways to adjust and make a nod.
There is another, alternative setting. She suggests that the nod should be like a continuation of the fishing rod. This one has a lot more rigidity. At the end point, the nod bends only at an angle of 20-30 degrees, and in terms of the type of bend, it more resembles a parabola. It is usually used when fishing for a devil, for baitless mormyshkas and takes part in the game.
The fact is that for the movement of the fishing rod up and down, a nod with the correct selection of the pace makes two such oscillations. This greatly increases the pace of the game, but requires painstaking adjustment of the nod for each mormyshka, for each tempo of the game. The bite here is usually expressed not in the rise, but in the knocking down of the game of the nod or in its lowering. A nod for summer fishing has only this kind.
Types of mormyshkas and playing with them
As already mentioned, all mormyshkas can be conditionally divided into two types – nozzled and non-attached. This division is rather conditional, because nothing prevents you from catching fish with bloodworm replanting on a non-baited one. Also, you can catch fish on a nozzle without using bloodworms or other natural baits.
Much more convenient here will be the Western classification – the division of jig into small and large. It well reflects the typology of mormyshka play and the features of fishing, and is less tied to the external forms of the bait and the holivar of nozzle and non-bait fishing.
Usually, rhythmic movements with a small amplitude take place during a gradual movement up and down, with stops and pauses, with a change in pace – posting a jig. There are practically no sharp tosses, falls, because the mormyshka in this case has a small weight and will not respond to the amplitude movements of the rod, especially when falling.
Large mormyshka by type of game has many features in common with lure. It can be crocheted sideways, like a classic mormyshka, or crocheted down, like a winter lure. A striking example is the devil, which is placed with hooks down. The shape of a heavy mormyshka is usually more elongated. Its main difference from the spinner is that it does not have such a pronounced game on the fall and return to the bottom point. Although there are exceptions here too – a devil with a very elongated body has just such a game.
Playing with a large jig can be as low-amplitude, like playing a small one, but it usually alternates with sharp ups and downs, knocking on the bottom. Wiring may be interrupted. Such a game allows you to quickly find active fish, and often a large mormyshka brings good results with an active search. And it also works even at great depths, while the shallow one works only up to three meters. This is due to the pressure of the water at depth and the resistance of the line when playing with a small mormyshka.
Form: the best catchy jigs for perch
When fishing, many attach importance to the shape of the mormyshka. This is not always correct. If the mormyshka is small, then the shape does not greatly affect the number of bites. You can get approximately the same number of bites on the Ural, and on the carnation, and on the pellet, and on the droplet, and on the ant. However, it will be better to pinpoint the fish with an oblong mormyshka or one that has a maximum gap between the hook and the body.
This is due to the fact that the mormyshka, in which the tip of the hook goes close to the body, will actually have a reduced hook. This will affect the implementation of bites. There will be more offensive gatherings for such mormyshkas, especially for large fish. Therefore, if a pellet, or an oatmeal, or a bug, or a lentil is used, it should be chosen with a sufficiently long hook that extends far beyond its body. Otherwise, you can simply not cut through the perch by the lip. If desired, a cambric can be pulled onto a hook that is too long so that the nozzle does not slip from the tip to the base and does not expose the pry.
For large jigs, the shape is already more important. Usually on a perch, you should choose longer ones that are attached by the eye, and not at the top point.
This allows them to be played more effectively and expressively. Mormyshki that are crocheted down will also be more attractive than they are longer. The same can be said about the bulldozer and the devils. However, if the fish bites exclusively on a fractional small game, it is better to put a more compact form, since it will behave more adequately in the water at the same time.
It is worth recognizing that the nature of perch fishing, its winter habitat and biting, including large ones, make a small mormyshka preferable to a large one for him. The fact is that perch is best caught at shallow depths, among last year’s grass, in quiet backwaters without a current. Sometimes it is possible to carry kilogram humpback whales in a place where there are only twenty or thirty centimeters to the bottom under the ice. Although it depends on the nature of the reservoir. In such conditions, a small mormyshka will work better, especially in the dead of winter. When it is required to actively search for fish in a large area, then a large mormyshka comes into play.
Mormyshki decoration
It is generally accepted that a mormyshka for winter perch fishing should be decorated. After all, the perch is a predator, and, according to the feelings of the angler, it should be tempted by everything bright and shiny. It is not always so. Typical perch food is small crustaceans, polyps, insect larvae. They rarely have a bright color. Therefore, the mormyshka should not have flashy colors.
However, often decoration with the help of hairs, beads and beads brings a positive result. The fact is that when fishing at a shallow depth, all these decorations create characteristic vibrations in the water, rustle and are able to attract fish to them. A striking example is the popular mormyshka nail ball. It is worth remembering that already at a depth of more than two meters, all this game is lost due to the influence of the pressure of the water column, and the jig just plays up and down along with all the elements that do not make any sounds.
One thing is clear for sure – when decorating mormyshkas, you should not reduce the hook’s hookiness. For example, a huge bead on a hook with a small hole will reduce its hooking. This will affect the catchability, the number of gatherings will increase many times. If you want to use a very large bead to make it ring, you can successfully hang it higher on the fishing line, and not on the body of the hook.
Thus, they attract him from a greater distance. It will be easier for perch to find bait in muddy water. There are practically no cases when the luminous paint scared him away. You can use both special fishing paint and disco luminous nail polish. Girls often use it to match the color of the same luminous lipstick. A good quality varnish is needed so that it lays on the lead in a very thin layer and holds firmly. A thick layer of varnish can reduce the specific gravity and impair its play at depth.