Hello folks! It has been a while since I last time updated my blog. That’s because I have been super busy in my scientific career – I have done too many 12h days at work lately. Well, today I have a free day, and I went through all the interesting photos captured along the winter 2015-2016. The first post today is about the ice fishing trips I have made, as I have experimented with a novel technique of horizontal ice fishing of trouts. I will explain more, carry on!
So, I made these ice fishing jigs which mimic more or less caddisfly larva. I have heard and read that trouts consume a lot of those little creatures during winter, why I though I should try to serve something similar for the fish. The idea is to attach multiple jigs along the line, let the spoon to slide horizontally and drag the jigs away from the ice hole. Then, I drop a small weight along the line, so that the line forms 90 degree angle. Now, as the line is pulled gently, the jigs start to crawl along the bottom like real larva! The hooks are protected by the loops made of fishing line to avoid bottom attachments. However, I haven’t caught anything with this interesting novel technique. It still needs a lot of optimization. For example, I need to consider more the sensitivity of the technique, since it is hard to know if a fish is poking the jigs, since the line, spoon, and the jigs have a lot of friction with the bottom. I will report more later, if I manage to catch something 🙂
Ready to drop the jig assembly under ice.
Beautiful sunset over snowy lake.
I once used my foot to open an old ice hole. Suddenly, I saw a small baby fish jumping on snow after removing some ice from the hole. It was somehow trapped inside the ice, and I helped it back to the deeper waters 🙂
In addition to trout hunting, I have used my old favorite perch fishing technique. The mormuskas! These extremely small and sensitive jigs are superior to catch a lot of perch, usually small ones. The heaviest mormuskas made of tungsten are put lower, and they pull the line straight. By carefully following the movement of the tip, one can even see how fish swim by! Seriously, I have caught many fish from their stomaches and sides during the years. First, all of the jigs are lowered into the bottom. Then, by constantly and gently shacking the rod, the line of jigs is pulled slowly upwards. Usually, the perch attack instantly as the first jig arises above the bottom. Unfortunately, I do not have an image of my most sensitive mosrmuska equipment. My friends and I were fishing at a potential trout spot, why I wanted to use a little bit thicker line and rod. Oh yeah, and a reel which can release the line easily if a big, angry fish want to start a fight 😀
Red maggots are perfect baits for fishing with mormuskas.
During a couple of days, me and my friends caught easily over one hundred small perch. It was a hell of a work to clean them, but a nice catch to fry with chili!
The home of trouts.
Once I got a triple catch of perch at once with my mormuskas 😀
A slightly bigger perch my friend caught.
A baby zander my friend caught. The fish was released.
Once I also went to watch how fishing nets are put under ice. Many years ago I had my own fishing nets, but I haven’t used them during winter.
A zander caught by the nets.
Here are some interesting big abandoned fish left on ice I saw earlier. The crows and eagles are grateful 🙂
The end of the fishing stories so far!