Specialists from the Volga-Caspian branch of VNIRO monitor recreational fishing in winter
04 February 2025

Specialists from the Volga-Caspian branch of VNIRO monitor recreational fishing in winter

The calendar winter of the period 2024-2025 in the Astrakhan region is characterized as abnormally warm. Warm weather was established throughout January and in the first days of February throughout the territory, with air temperatures exceeding +10 °C on some days. Due to high water temperatures, the average for December is +2.2 °C, January - +0.8 °C with the norm of +1.4 °C and +0.4 °C, respectively, unfavorable conditions for winter ice fishing in the Volga-Caspian fishery sub-area developed throughout the entire period, which affected the total number of amateur fishermen on the watercourses and reservoirs of the Volga River.
 
The first short-term ice cover on the slow-flowing, shallow reservoirs (eriks) of the Volga Delta formed only by the end of December, and lasted only 1-2 days. There was no ice on the region's major water bodies (the Volga River, the Bakhtemir River, the Gandurino River, the Kizan River, the Buzan River), and for most of the period there were no banks. During a short cold spell in January, ice drift on the delta's main watercourses was also observed for several days. The thickness of the ice that formed did not exceed 2 cm.
 
In general, the above limited amateur fishermen in moving to fishing spots, searching for productive areas, and in the very possibility of going out onto the ice.
 
In such conditions, on most branches of the Volga Delta, amateur fishermen began to use summer fishing gear - spinning rods and bottom fishing rods for fishing in open water, while small-sized watercraft were actively used. The species composition of the catches of amateur fishermen consisted of bream, white bream, perch, pike, pike perch and sabrefish.
 
Press service of VNIRO