To the sharecropper. V.Ya.Chudnovsky, A.K.Nikolsky

FOREWORD
It is easiest to see how numerous the tribe of fishermen is by visiting the train stations of a big city on weekends and weekends. In the summer, almost every third passenger standing on the platform and getting off the trains holds a tackle, or even a whole bunch of a wide variety of fishing rods.
In winter, you will see here no less number of warmly dressed people with boxes on their belts - "button accordions", as the people call them. They are ice fishing enthusiasts.

Commercial fishermen believe and say (sometimes not without reproach) that amateur fishermen in inland waters catch fish no less than they do. Well, perhaps, it is true, because the number of people who want to sit with a fishing rod on a free day is very large. How many of them - no one knows for sure. Only those who are members of societies of hunters and fishermen can be counted. But there are many more unorganized, they should be accounted for in the millions.
The mass nature of amateur fishing is primarily due to its fascination, accessibility to people of any age and the relative simplicity of techniques, especially when fishing with a float rod, and, of course, the abundance of water bodies in the country, where there are also fish and small fish.
The health-improving value of fishing is also great. True, the sight of a person sitting motionless with a fishing rod on the shore is poorly associated with the idea of ​​​​active outdoor recreation, but for a city dweller, a long stay in clean air is already good in itself. Psychologists could add a number of other factors to this: a change of scenery, positive emotions from good luck, abstraction from worldly worries and various experiences.
But there are many ways of fishing that require great activity, skill, and effort.

And the fish itself ... In what store do you see selling freshwater ide or pike, bream or chub, but what is there - at least perch, roach? And is it bad, being along the river bank, winding up in a boat on the surface of the lake, breathing in plenty of clean, invigorating air, returning home with a catch for a good fish soup or roast, to please your loved ones?
But in order for this very catch to be more significant, you need to know and be able to do something. After all, the success of fishing depends on a number of circumstances that must be borne in mind. First of all, of course, from the presence of fish in the reservoir. But even under this condition, the catch can be quite plentiful, and very humble.
Luck depends on the quality of the tackle and its suitability for the type of fish that is supposed to be caught; choice of place and time of fishing; using the most tasty bait for a particular type of fish; skills (if necessary) to lure fish to the place of fishing.
About the correct equipment of fishing rods, methods of catching fish, nozzles, baits, bait and is described in this book.
The section “Fishing tackle” was prepared by V. Ya. Chudnovsky, the sections “Bags” and “On baiting and baiting fish” - by A. K. Nikolsky.

FISHING GEAR

float rod
This gear is the most common. It is simple in its design, does not require special skill when casting.
Often the rod itself is called a fishing rod. Wrong. She is just a rod, a whip of various materials, without any equipment. A fishing rod is a tackle that includes, at a minimum, a fishing line and a hook. The float rod must be at least 2.5 m long, light and flexible enough.

In not so distant times, anglers preferred natural rods - from a solid birch, walnut or juniper whip. And even when bamboo appeared on sale, many avid anglers preferred the usual rods. They considered birch as the best, which are quite strong, elastic and quite suitable for playing even large fish. Therefore, even today, when there are rods from a wide variety of materials in stores, birch rods can be successfully used by lovers to try their luck on a pond.

It is best to cut the whip in autumn, in October or November. At this time, the wood acquires the greatest density. Sufficiently tall and more or less even trees can be found in a young birch forest (sailboat). The thickets here are so dense that the removal of one or two birch trees will not cause damage to the grove. And yet, even with a huge number of them, it is very difficult to find a tree of the required length and absolutely straight. Therefore, you can opt for one that has a slight curvature. After removing knots and bark, it is straightened in one of two ways.

The top of the whip is tied to a straight stick (about a meter long), and the stick is tied to something at a sufficient height. A heavy load (15–20 kg) is attached to the butt. Or the workpiece is tightly tied to a straight thick pole. In both cases, the whips must be in corresponding position 3-4 months.

But here they are fixed. Now you need to clean up with a file the places where there were knots and other irregularities, after which it’s a good idea to paint the future rod with oil paint, and always in dark colors.

A city dweller, of course, is unlikely to acquire such a rod, and primarily because of the inconvenience when using transport. True, a birch rod can also be made composite of 2-3 knees using connecting tubes, but such connections are short-lived.

There is no doubt that for a city dweller, and for any angler who has to travel to remote water bodies in personal cars, the telescopic rod is most suitable, which, when assembled, has a very small size in length, is not heavy, and in working order has all the necessary qualities for catching both small and large fish.

As already mentioned, the float fishing rod must be at least 2.5 m long. But the use of just such a fishing rod is justified by certain reasons. The normal length of the rod is 3-4 m. There are (moreover, factory-made) and longer ones.

Rural anglers sometimes use 6-meter birch rods, which can only be justified by some feature of the reservoir or when fishing from the lake shore.

It is obvious, however, that an extra-long rod is a considerable mass that can quickly tire the angler, especially if you have to cast the bait often and hold the rod in your hands. Yes, and it’s not convenient for them to fish out the fish.

Any rod is highly desirable to be equipped with guides and a wire reel with a line reserve of approximately 3/5 of the length of the rod. The expression "to wind up fishing rods" is known. Unwinding and reeling, or rather, reeling the line on the rod, if there is no reel, always has to be done not only at the beginning and end of fishing, but also when crossing the coast, otherwise the free end of the line with a hook will now and then cling to branches and stems andto avoid such a "surprise", every time you need to wind the line on the rod. This takes time, and with the help of a reel, everything is done much faster.

In addition, the reel makes it possible to very quickly reduce or increase the length of the line, based on the conditions of fishing, and in the event of a break, there is always a reserve on the reel. Yes, and a longer cast can be made again thanks to coil.

The power of the rod - its strength and elasticity - should be commensurate with the size of the fish that is supposed to be caught. But just do not think that a heavy-duty and very elastic rod will not let you down when playing the largest fish, and even a small one will not go anywhere. This is wrong. The flexibility of the rod, especially its tip, determines both the nature of hooking and the conditions for playing the prey. When fishing on a super-elastic rod, small fish come off often. This means that the cushioning ability of the rod must correspond to the resistance force of the fish.

Currently, to equip rods of all systems, scaffolding from various synthetic materials is used. On the label, in addition to length, thickness, its tensile strength is also indicated.

Forests, like all other tackle, must first of all correspond to the size and weight of the fish that the amateur fisherman expects to catch. In many regions of the European part of the country, its catch (when using a float rod) is most often relatively small fish: perch, roach, bream, rudd, ruff, gudgeon, bleak. In most cases, the mass of each individual does not exceed 100–150 g. And here forests of 0.2 and even 0.15 mm are quite suitable. It should be remembered: the thinner it is, the more inconspicuous it is in the water and, therefore, scares away the fish less. How important this is, we can conclude from the fact that even a roughly tied knot on the shank of the hook can scare away the fish. So say experienced anglers.

In almost all literature on fishing, it is recommended to tie a leash 300-400 mm long with a hook and sinker to the main line, and the diameter of the leash should be less than the diameter of the main line. This recommendation is due to the fact that a thin leash scares