Loach fish - lifestyle, behavior and methods of amateur fishing. How to catch a loach fish

The loach serves as the main representative of a small group of fish that are characterized by an elongated body covered with very small smooth scales, and sometimes no scales at all, small eyes, small gill openings and thread-like antennae on soft lips. Based on these, as well as some anatomical characteristics, all loaches are classified into the family Cobitidae.

In its appearance, the loach somewhat resembles an eel or a snake; its very name shows its ability to wriggle like the latter. For this reason, it is used for food only in places and is generally neglected, which, however, it does not deserve at all. The body of the loach is very long, almost cylindrical in front; The slightly downward-facing mouth is surrounded by ten antennae, of which six of the largest are on the upper lip and four on the lower lip; all its fins are more or less rounded, the abdominal ones lie far behind the pectoral ones and are of insignificant size; the scales are very small and, since they are always covered with a thick layer of mucus, they are completely invisible.

The loach's back is yellowish-brown with black specks, its belly is yellow, sometimes even reddish, and along the sides of the body there are three longitudinal black stripes, of which the middle one is much wider than the outer ones; all fins are brown with blackish specks; the eyes are yellow and very small. Loaches moved to running or clean water develop brighter colors. Occasionally there are white degenerates - albino loaches. The usual size of a loach is about 20-23 cm, but sometimes it reaches more than 30 cm in length and is as thick as a thumb.

The distribution of this fish is quite limited. The loach is found only in Central and Eastern Europe, and in Northern, Western and Southwestern Europe, it seems, it is not found at all, that is, it is extremely rare in eastern France, and is not seen at all in England and northern Russia. In Siberia and the Turkestan region it is not found at all, but, according to some information, the loach is found near Yekaterinburg and in some rivers on the eastern slope of the Yekaterinburg Urals; he probably crossed the ridge quite recently. The possibility of this transition is confirmed by the fact that it is found more often than other fish in almost dry swamps, and swamps in the Ural Mountains often give rise to rivers belonging to two different basins - the Ob and the Volga. On the western slope of the Urals, the loach is quite common in all silty and swampy rivers; in the rivers flowing into the White and Arctic seas, it is also lacking in Finland; even in St. Petersburg province. it belongs to rare fish and is somewhat more common in Kronstadt Bay and Peipus.

Loach habitat on the map:

The loach is found in greatest numbers in swampy rivers, swamps and ditches of that huge region, which is known as the Pinsk swamps and Polesie; It is also caught in abundance on the Dnieper floodplains (bays); It is very strange, however, that it has not yet been found in the lower reaches of the Volga. In Kuban, this fish is still quite common, but is not found at all in the Crimean and Caucasian rivers. Near Moscow, the loach is found in many flood lakes and swampy ponds, but is very rare in rivers. It is most numerous in Dmitrovsky district.

The loach loves quiet water and a muddy bottom, and therefore its main habitat is swampy, slowly flowing rivers, quiet backwaters of large rivers, blind channels, silty ponds and lakes, often ditches and swamps, where the existence of any other fish is already unthinkable, not excluding and crucian carp. The loach is more tenacious than the latter and can live for a very long time in the wet mud that remains at the bottom of dry lakes, pits and swamps. In general, it constantly stays at the bottom of the water, often completely buries itself in the mud and here it looks for food, which usually consists of worms, insect larvae, small bivalves, as well as the silt itself.

It comes to the surface only before the onset of bad weather or a thunderstorm, and due to this ability to predict the weather, sometimes a day in advance it is often kept in a room in a jar of water. For a fisherman, this is the best, most reliable and cheapest barometer. Another remarkable ability of the loach, which led to its name squeak, is that, when picked up, it emits a faint squeak.

This, obviously, comes from the ability to draw air into the food intake channel, which is confirmed by loaches that are kept in a jar with not entirely fresh water: then from time to time they come to the surface, stick their heads out of the water, swallow air and immediately release it with a noise through the back hole. This passage of air through the food intake channel, as it were, replaces breathing with gills.

The spawning time of the loach is not known with certainty. According to some observations, he spawns in winter in December, according to others - in the spring, according to others - twice a year - in winter and in May; but it is most likely that it begins to spawn very early in the spring, in March, and that its spawning lasts for a very long time. Loach eggs are very numerous (about 150,000) and are usually attached to aquatic plants. This number of eggs explains the unusual abundance of loaches in those areas where they are safe from predatory fish, especially pike and burbot.

In central and eastern Russia, no one is engaged in catching loaches and very few eat them as food, but in southwestern and northwestern Russia, especially in Minsk province, they are caught in the local swamps and swampy rivers in huge quantities. How, however, they are caught in these areas is unknown. However, there are a lot of loaches in the swamps of Dmitrovsky district and Moscow province, as Ozeretskovsky mentioned. In the Dnieper lakes and floodplains, according to Sereda, loaches seem to have a habit of gathering in shallow swampy places in order to prevent the water from freezing by their accumulation in a countless mass. He concludes this from the fact that usually in those places where they hang out in winter, the ice is very thin, so that it cannot withstand the weight of a person. Once, having fallen through in such a place, he had the opportunity to observe how the loaches not only did not try to swim away, but with squeaking and fuss rushed into the hole that had formed; the mass of loaches kept increasing and increasing, and it was possible to take them with anything and as much as you wanted.

It is very possible that loaches burrow en masse into the silt of springs. Near Moscow, loaches are caught in flood lakes by lowering baskets with a stick into the ice hole, where they are hidden. Where there are a lot of loaches, they are excellent for taking with a fishing rod, with a worm, from the bottom with small hooks and light floats; sometimes they even grab a bare hook - and you can catch as many of them as you like. Loaches peck both during the day and at night. But there are few hunters to catch this fish; more, it seems, it is fished as a very good and extremely tenacious bait for pike, catfish and especially eel, which almost prefers loaches to other fish.

For this purpose, they can be kept in stock in large quantities for a whole week. You just need to pour no more than 4-9 cm of water into the bucket, put fresh grass on top - wheatgrass, nettle, sedge - and change the water twice a day.

Loach meat is very fatty, soft, easily digestible and has a sweetish taste, although it almost always smells like mud, which is why it is better to keep loaches in a planter for some time in running water or first clean off the mucus with ash. They cook more for fish soup, less often they fry.

Note on catching loaches

If a fish lives in an aquarium or some other container, it begins to get very worried, tries to get out countless times within a minute, and does not accept any food. Fishermen say that then it’s not worth going fishing, no fish will bite.

If the loach is actively feeding and behaving normally, then you can go fishing.

Catching loaches with a float rod

Catching a loach with a float rod should be with a small float and thin fishing line. The hooks are tied small, the sinkers are adjusted so that the bait almost lies on the bottom, and the line sags very little.

The loach is found where there may be solid hooks, and the loach itself, greedily and confidently grabbing the bait, will quickly break free.

The hook should not be done right away. Although the loach almost never gets off the hook, you need to wait for a few exercises with the float: it will tremble a little, go under the water, and jump left and right.

Catching a loach better at sunset before nightfall. A worm is suitable as a bait; there have been cases when a loach grabbed an empty hook.

After catching a loach, you need to place it in the water. This fish is very tenacious and can be preserved for a long time for various purposes.

Loach meat can be eaten in any form. It is very tender, tasty, similar to tench meat, and also does not have small bones.

Catching loaches in winter

At catching loach in winter You must first clear the area of vegetation and silt.

Catching a loach with a basket

It would be more correct if catch a loach in spring and summer. There is an interesting method called “trampling loaches.” It consists of placing a basket in the center, overgrown with vegetation. The fish are driven out of their shelter in the mud and driven into a basket, that is, they are trampled down in a peculiar way.

People respect the loach for its endurance and overcoming life's adversities; it is not without reason that it has long been included in Russian folklore through proverbs and sayings.

Catching loach video

Fishing for loaches in summer

Catching loaches in winter

The loach is very sensitive to meteorological changes. Some fishermen deliberately keep a couple of individuals in an aquarium or jar in order to be on the safe side and not go fishing at the most inopportune moment.

The fact is that before a sharp jump in atmospheric pressure, the fish become restless. They begin to rush around, try to jump out of the container, and do not touch the food.

This behavior of pets is a serious reason for abandoning the planned fishing. There definitely won't be a good bite.

If they are calm and do not refuse food, you can safely prepare gear. There will be beautiful weather soon.

Techniques for catching loaches in winter

Catching loach does not require any special skills. It is enough to own a float rod and know its favorite habitats.

These are usually windows in the middle of vegetation in shallow ponds. On such reservoirs there is a high risk of snagging and breaking of gear.

In addition, the loach has a truly fighting character and, despite its size, always offers stubborn resistance when fished. Therefore, you cannot use too thin a fishing line.

But the float must be tiny, otherwise it will not convey a gentle, neat bite.

After a sufficient number of loaches have gathered in the area of the hole, the hole is expanded to accommodate the trap. The trap is installed so that it protrudes from the water by at least a couple of centimeters.

This will prevent the fish from leaving the trap freely. After installation, the trap is left for some time, and hay or twigs should be placed on top again, otherwise the hole will freeze along with the trap.

Having a constantly ice-free ice hole and a properly made trap, loaches can be caught all winter, and their number can reach several hundred.

As you can see, the answer to the question of how to catch a loach is obvious: it can be caught by making a special trap. Loach is a tasty and nutritious fish, in addition, it is interesting.

In ancient times, the weather was predicted by the behavior of this fish. It was noted that if the loach was calm, then the weather would be sunny, without precipitation, if the behavior changed and the loach was very active, then a blizzard with heavy precipitation should be expected.

How to make a trap

Winter fishing is somewhat different from fishing in warm seasons. You will need to make your own trap for this.

A basket, sieve, box or any similar container will do. A tarpaulin is placed on the bottom, and a hole is made in the center of the trap, which should be slightly higher.

The principle of a crayfish trap is used, where there is an opportunity for fish to enter, but not for exit. To make such a hole, you can use several methods.

Try installing a tube with a larger diameter than the thickness of the loach's body. It is desirable that it be several centimeters higher than the bottom, but at the same time lower than the sides of the trap.

Using a trap: A hole with a smaller cross-section than the diameter of the trap is cut in a reservoir. Twigs are laid on top of it, and then the whole thing is covered with hay.

After everything is done, you need to wait a few days. The fish, sensing the influx of oxygen, rises up and accumulates in large schools around the hole.

After several days, when a school of loaches is already near the hole, it is necessary to expand it and lower the trap there.

The sides of the trap must be higher than the water level, so the fish will not be able to get out of it. Having completed all the steps, the hole is again covered with twigs and hay. It turns out that the fish will come to the surface for oxygen and crawl into a trap from which there is no way to escape. Thanks to this method, you can catch dozens of loaches with a basket.

In the Leningrad region you can hardly find loach, and only the Kronstadt Bay and Peypus can boast of the presence of this fish. The loach prefers swampy areas and all kinds of ditches with a large amount of silt.

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Catching loaches in winter with a trap is an ancient method of fishing, interesting and productive fishing. Currently, it is rarely used, mainly by residents of villages located near water bodies. You can make a trap for fun or for tourists.

Trap for catching loaches in winter.

Catching loaches in winter with a trap - photo of a homemade trap

The trap is a box of any shape; a raised hole is made in the center of the bottom for fish to enter. Currently, the box is made from various materials, the main thing is that it is strong enough, otherwise it may be crushed by the ice in the hole; you can use boxes. The bottom can be made of durable fabric, tarpaulin or polymer fabrics.

In the photo, the trap is made of planks, which are attached with wire to hoops made of wicker; the bottom is made of wicker and wood chips, also fastened with wire. First, an entrance neck with a diameter of 6 cm is made from 16-20 flexible rods, and divided into 4 parts, attached to the body of the trap, the free areas are covered with wood chips secured with wire. The result is a fairly robust structure.

Scheme for making a loach trap

Catching loach in winter with a trap - trap diagram

The diameter of the trap is 30 cm, the height is 15 cm, the size of the entrance hole is 6 cm, the height of the entrance hole is located 7-8 cm above the bottom of the trap. In some trap designs, the entrance hole has an additional bend from the center, preventing fish from escaping.

diagram, loach trap

Loach fishing

The general principle of catching loaches in winter is based on oxygen starvation of the fish and its desire to approach the hole for oxygen. In winter, loaches tend to the hole in search of oxygen. A trap is installed in the hole into which the loaches enter. Holes can be made well in advance of setting traps so that fish can gather near them.

The trap is installed in a hole so that the entrance hole is below the water level; the top is covered with branches and straw to prevent it from falling asleep with snow; you can use film.

The loaches, in search of oxygen, enter the hole of the trap, but cannot get back out.

The trap is set for a long time, a day or two.

trap for catching loaches in winter with a trap

Loach is a good bait for catching catfish and large pike with live bait.

Loaches sense changes in weather very strongly, and before the weather changes they begin to rise to the surface towards the water. Some fishing stores install jars in which loaches are placed. If the loach stands still, the weather will not change, if the loach swims, the weather will change to bad weather and, accordingly, pike and perch will be caught well.

loaches barometers in a jar

Venter - an effective fishing trap

These traps are very easy to make. To do this, take the rim of a sieve, which is found in any kitchen. A box, an unnecessary basket or an old drawer will also work. In short, any container that has hard “sides”.

The bottom of the future trap is made of tarpaulin with a hole in the middle. A tube or piece of hose slightly larger than the size of the fish is threaded into it. It is worth considering that the tarpaulin needs to be raised a little - so that there is approximately five centimeters from the tube to the edge of the sieve.

After this, the trap is ready, but it is too early to put it in the water. To ensure a good catch, first make a small hole.

It is needed to collect more loaches at the fishing spot, which are attracted by the flow of fresh air.

Oxygen bait

An important point: first, the hole should be smaller in diameter than the trap. The top is usually covered with dry grass or twigs; bark and snow can also be used. This is necessary so that the hole does not freeze.

Then comes the waiting time. It takes several days for a sufficiently large number of loaches to gather. The fact that the fish became interested in the “oxygen bait”

Loach is a very interesting fish. Many people have heard that a caught loach squeaks, that it looks like an eel or a snake, but few have seen it in person, and even fewer fishermen have caught it. Although catching a loach is not particularly difficult, the main thing is to find a body of water where it is found.

Meanwhile, loach meat is very tasty; if you keep previously caught fish in clean water for a couple of days, then the unpleasant smell of mud will go away.

By the way, this also applies to other fish that like to swarm in the mud, for example, crucian carp, tench or rotan.

The loach is very “respected” by catfish, so it is often used as live bait when catching river hosts. Pike will not disdain snake-like fish, if this fish is familiar to its diet, that’s also great. Let's talk about this wonderful fish in more detail today.

Ichthyology

The loach, squeak or barbel lives in rivers and lakes of Europe and Asia. It especially prefers slow rivers with shallow bays, muddy lakes and ponds. In South and Southeast Asia, this species of the cypriniform order is highly valued as a food item, and in Japan it is even bred artificially.

Dimensions

This snake-like fish reaches thirty centimeters in length, its weight rarely exceeds one hundred and thirty grams. The usual size of a loach is 15-18 centimeters and weighs up to one hundred grams.

Nutrition

It feeds on worms, mollusks, crustaceans, and when starved of food it eats silt and mud. But most of all he is attracted to other people's caviar; he unmistakably finds it in any place in the body of water where he himself lives. He is also very fond of mosquito larvae - bloodworms, because their habitats, wetlands, are a paradise for these insects.

Survival

The loach's ability to tolerate drying out of water in a pond or river is amazing. It burrows into the bottom deeper than crucian carp or tench, up to fifty centimeters. Sometimes it survives even under very dry and cracked bottom silt, and the first rain brings it back to life.

This ability is manifested in the loach due to the fact that it receives 60 percent of oxygen through the skin and only 40 percent through the gills. In addition, it can absorb oxygen from the air. When there is a lack of oxygen in the water, fish stick their heads out of the water, swallowing air. Oxygen is then absorbed into the blood through numerous blood vessels through the intestines. Carbon dioxide also exits through these vessels, and undigested air exits through the anus.

Feeling air pressure

The special sensitivity of calf leather to atmospheric pressure has also been noted. For example, in calm, warm weather, loaches rise to the surface of the water no more than once every 15-20 minutes. But before bad weather, the water begins to literally swarm with fish snakes.

Spawning

Sabaneev, in his book “Life and Catching of Freshwater Fish,” noted that he did not know the exact time of spawning of the loach. Here is a quote from the master’s book: “The spawning time of the loach is not reliably known. According to some observations, he spawns in winter in December, according to others - in the spring, according to others - twice a year - in winter and in May; but it is most likely that it begins to spawn very early in the spring, in March, and that its spawning lasts for a very long time.

Loach eggs are very numerous (about 150,000) and are usually attached to aquatic plants. This number of eggs explains the extraordinary abundance of loaches in areas where they are safe from predatory fish, especially pike and burbot.”

Fishing methods

The loach, which lives in small rivers and silted standing reservoirs, is easiest to catch with a simple float rod. Moreover, fly rods are mainly used and very rarely Bolognese rods. The following baits are put on the hook as bait:

bloodworm;
worm;
maggot;
bark beetle larvae;
caddisfly

In order to confidently catch this interesting fish, it is advisable to cast the tackle to the border of vegetation with clean water. After casting, you need to slowly move the equipment, provoking the fish to bite. With this method of attracting fish, catching a loach, as many fishermen note, is possible with a piece of a worm, and sometimes the loach even bites on a bare hook.

The Bolognese fishing rod is used mainly for fishing with line fishing. Having thrown the gear, they float it downstream. Sometimes the tackle plays along with short stops and delays at relief ledges and other interesting places in the river.

It is during pauses that it is easiest to catch a loach, which reacts to the stopping of a moving bait.

Equipment

Loaches, which often live among mud and filamentous algae, are not very picky about the thickness of the fishing line. Therefore, you can equip a fishing rod with a fishing line even with a thickness of 0.25 millimeters. But the best option would be a monofilament of 0.12-0.14 millimeters, preferably colored green or black.

The lightest float is installed with minimal loading. One grain of grain and additional shepherd is enough. The hook size is used according to the bait used. For example, when fishing for bloodworms, hooks of the minimum size are used, No. 16-18, and for fishing for a worm, No. 8-10.

Features of winter fishing

How to catch loaches in winter is described by Sabaneev. For this purpose, natural or artificial traps are prepared. Previously, wicker baskets lowered into an ice hole were used as artificial traps; today, they can be successfully replaced by various net traps: muzzles, tops, and hems.

It is much more interesting to catch loach fish in winter on “pits”. Fishing is carried out in lakes formed on former river beds, the so-called oxbow lakes. This is what the process of constructing this simple hydraulic structure looks like:

On the shore of a frozen lake we make a trench, that very “hole”. Its dimensions are as follows: length 1.5-2 meters, width and depth about sixty centimeters.
From the hole into the reservoir we dig a channel as wide and deep as a shovel.
We first block the hole and channel with branches.
Throw hay, straw or dry leaves onto the branches.
Cover everything on top with a layer of snow.

Thanks to this shelter, the water in the canal and pit does not freeze and is therefore constantly enriched with oxygen. Starved of oxygen, the fish enters the trap through the channel to breathe. Now it is enough to block the channel with a shovel inserted into it, open the hole and scoop out the fish that have entered from it with a landing net.

It has its own characteristics, so not every fisherman is ready to become interested in such fishing, despite the fact that the loach has the usual taste. This fish has unique survival abilities and is able to reproduce in small areas.

The loach belongs to the carp family and is a freshwater fish. It grows in length from 15 to 18 cm, but there are specimens up to 30 cm or more in size. It has an elongated body, covered with very small scales, but which can be seen with the naked eye. The caudal fin has a rounded shape, and 10-12 antennae can be seen around the mouth. There is an infraorbital, non-functional spine located in the thickness of the skin. Males can be distinguished by an elongated and somewhat thickened second ray of the pectoral fin. On the left and right of the dorsal fin, there is a barely noticeable thickening formed by adipose tissue. If you have never seen this fish before, it can easily be confused with an eel or a snake.

Therefore, the loach received such a name, because of its appearance and ability to wriggle. It is possible that these factors had a direct impact on its popularity among fishermen. It is little used in food, and fishermen go out for any fish, but not for loaches.

All fins, like the rear one, have rounded, very neat shapes. The loach has both pectoral and pelvic fins, which are located at some distance from the pectoral fins. The scales of the loach are almost invisible because they are covered with a layer of mucus. On the back of an adult loach you can see black dots located on a yellow-brown surface. The belly of a loach can have different shades, depending on living conditions: it can have either a reddish or yellow color. Small, black spots can also be seen on the brown fins. The loach has small, yellow eyes.

Symmetrically, along the sides there are 3 black stripes, the middle of which is slightly longer than the other 2. Depending on the living conditions, the full color of the loach may change: if you take a loach from a river with clean running water, then the loach will have lighter colors, and if you catch this fish in a pond with a muddy bottom and not so clear water, then the loach will have shade much darker.

As mentioned above, individual specimens can reach a length of about 30 cm, and the thickness of such a fish can be equal to the thickness of an adult’s thumb.

Habitat

Most of the loach can be observed in the reservoirs of Central and East Asia. As for the European part, it is not so rich in this interesting fish. Some numbers of loaches were noticed in eastern France, as well as in the reservoirs of Yekaterinburg and the eastern Urals.

The fact that it moved to these areas indicates that the ecosystem began to be disrupted, as a result of which part of the swamps, where it is the largest representative of the ichthyofauna, dried out. Quite a lot of this fish is found in the muddy reservoirs of the Western Urals, which give rise to the largest rivers of the Asian part of Russia. Most likely, this is due to its spread closer to Asian regions.

In the Leningrad region you can hardly find loach, and only the Kronstadt Bay and Peypus can boast of the presence of this fish.

The loach prefers swampy areas and all kinds of ditches with a large amount of silt. There is quite a lot of it in the swamps of Polesie, where its fishing is widespread. It can be found in large quantities in the Kuban, but in the Crimea and the Caucasus it can hardly be found.

Nutritional Features

The loach can eat quite a variety of foods: larvae, mollusks, bloodworms, worms. It may well feed on the eggs of other fish species, which can reduce their numbers. Enjoys eating mosquito larvae.

As observations show, this representative of the underwater world is quite voracious and can cause damage to the quantitative composition of other inhabitants, such as crucian carp or carp. But this can happen if there is a lack of other food in the reservoir. If the reservoir is muddy, then the loach will find food for itself, not paying attention to the eggs of other fish species.

Breeding period

Not many people know when the loach starts and when it stops spawning. Because of this, quite a few disputes arise. If you believe the observations of experienced fishermen, the loach spawns in the spring, at the beginning of March. The only problem is that the spawning period can be extended in time. Some individuals begin to spawn in winter. Females are quite fertile and can lay from 15 to 150 thousand eggs. Nature has ensured that this unique species of fish has fed humans for thousands of years.

How to catch a loach

Loach can be caught both in summer and winter. In summer, it can be caught with a regular float rod. The best option is a fishing rod with a sensitive float, equipped with hooks No. 3-No. 4. It is advisable to use a green fishing line so that it does not stand out at the bottom, among the silt and underwater thickets. The thickness of the fishing line can be within 0.25mm, although you can immediately say that it is thick enough for catching loaches, so you can use a thinner fishing line. There is no need to catch particularly large specimens. You can use grasshoppers, bloodworms, bark beetle larvae or caddis flies as bait.

According to the recommendations of experts, the bait should be cast to the border of clean water and algae, and then slowly carried out. If you have a boat, it can make the task easier. With the help of a boat you can move freely with the current. If there was a bite during the retrieve, but the fish was not caught, then you can return to the starting point and repeat your actions. There shouldn’t be any special problems with catching loaches if you have at least some skills in handling a fishing rod. At the same time, you need to have skills in handling the boat, and even more so in the current.

Loaches bite vigorously no matter when fishing occurs, day or night, although they are most active between sunset and darkness. The loach bites in a specific way: the float can sink slightly and, as it were, move to the side. The hook should be made after several such twitches. The loach's appetite is quite large, so it swallows the bait instantly and completely, so that there are practically no escapes.

Instead of a hook, you can tie a needle to the main fishing line, this is how they practice catching eels. The needle is tied not behind the eye, but in the middle. The worm is placed on a needle and thrown into the tackle. During the bite, when the loach swallows the worm with the needle, a hook is made and the needle becomes across, so that the fish has no chance to escape.

Winter fishing for loaches is of great interest. If in the summer, when the loach has enough food, it is problematic to wait for a bite, then in winter there is a way that allows you to catch hundreds of loaches throughout the winter. It should be said right away that it is somewhat unsuitable for a typical fisherman, because you need to go after fish and check your gear very often. As a rule, fishermen go fishing, especially in winter, for a day or two, but no more, but here, quite more time is needed.

In winter, the loach is caught using a specially made trap. Moreover, the guarantee of capture is very high if there is still a loach in the reservoir. In winter, fish suffer from a lack of oxygen and if the fish has such an opportunity, then it will definitely want to breathe fresh air. In this case, it is appropriate to remember winter fishing in general. An ignorant person can throw out something like this: “They don’t have enough fish in the summer, so they also catch it in the winter”! This may be true, but it’s clear that the benefits of winter fishing are obvious. While on a pond, fishermen drill hundreds of holes through which the water is enriched with oxygen. Maybe they’ll catch something, but that’s for sure that they’ll save a lot more fish.

First you need to make a trap from a suitable vessel. This could be a sieve without a bottom, a box without a bottom, a basket without a bottom, etc. A long time ago, such traps were woven from vines and successfully caught loaches. The bottom of the vessel is covered with a tarpaulin, in the center of which a hole is made into which the tube is inserted. It should be above the bottom, but below the trap itself, otherwise the loaches will be able to get out of the trap. It turns out to be a trap in which there is an entrance, but no exit. The tube should have a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the loach.

And now you can start the most important thing - punching a hole. To prevent the hole from freezing, rods are laid on top, after which the hole is covered with hay or straw. After this, you will have to wait several days until the loaches gather in the area of the hole, wanting to breathe clean air. After this, the hole is widened and a trap is placed in it, after which the hole is covered again. The loaches rise to breathe and crawl into the tube to the surface, but can no longer get out. If you constantly monitor the hole, you can have at least a dozen loaches every day. The benefit is mutual: the fish feel good and the person is not hungry.

Loach is a very tasty fish that can be fried, boiled and cooked in other dishes. Anyone who has ever tried this fish will never forget this taste. Many consider loach meat to be a delicacy, although catching it is not so easy: it takes a lot of time, and there must be a body of water somewhere nearby, in which loaches must certainly be found.

In conclusion, it should be said that interest in this fish was lost in vain. Just 100 years ago, this fish saved entire families from starvation. Thanks to their fertility and ability to survive in extreme conditions, there were a huge number of loaches in stakes, ponds, small rivers and rivulets. Its craftsmen caught it throughout the winter and its reserves did not dry out. Moreover, crucian carp, tench and other fish coexisted next to the loaches. If there was enough food for the loach, then it did not pay attention to the eggs of other fish species, spending most of its life in mud and silt. He rose to the surface only in winter to take a breath of fresh air. Things with the loach are somewhat worse these days, because some of the small rivers have dried up, as have parts of the small ponds where the loach felt very good. He could be caught in any ditch, as long as there was water in it. Why did the loach prefer such bodies of water? Yes, most likely because in such rivers and ponds there were not as many predators as in large reservoirs with clean water and a hard bottom. Loach is a tasty morsel for predatory fish, so it is unlikely to survive in such conditions, despite its fertility.