Continuation of research into recreational fishing on the Lower Volga in winter

 

Against the background of a further decrease in temperature, ice formation processes intensified. By the third ten-day period of February, in conditions of a sharp cold snap, an ice cover with an ice thickness of about 20 cm formed on water bodies. During this period, the Volga-Caspian branch of the State Research Center of the Russian Federation "All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography" (VNIRO) continued to study amateur fishing on water bodies of the Astrakhan Region. During the trips, the branch staff carried out a route count of amateur fishermen, visual and experimental observations of the intensity of amateur fishing in the winter period, and determined the species and size-weight composition of the caught fish.

 

The catches of amateur fishermen included white bream, bream, roach, sabrefish, freshwater perch, pike perch, zander and pike, with white bream and perch traditionally dominating. The main fishing gear for amateur fishermen was a rod with a nod (on a jig). The interest of amateur fishermen in live bait gear (zherlitsy) for catching predatory fish species, mainly pike, has increased.

 

In general, in the second and third decades of February, the conditions for winter fishing on water bodies in the Astrakhan region were favorable, which affected the increase in the number of amateur fishermen on the watercourses and reservoirs of the region and their distribution on the main water bodies where stable ice cover has established.

 

Press service of VNIRO