away fish less, and in the event of a hook or bite of a large fish, of course, the leash will come off, but all the tackle will not be lost.

It seems that there are no sufficient grounds for the use of a leash. Firstly, as already mentioned, it is generally necessary to use the thinnest possible forest, and modern synthetic materials allow it to be strong enough. Secondly, if a large fish makes a cliff, then there is little joy in the fact that the main forest will remain intact. In the case of a hook, both the hook and the sinker will be torn off - no less value than a 3-4 m scaffold. The main thing is that in any case, you will have to re-equip the forest with a hook and sinker or tie a new leash, that is, to lose precious time. In addition, at the time of the hook, it is often possible to rescue the hook by twitching. When using an ultra-thin leash, even a small effort to release the hook will most likely lead to its loss.

Of all the other components of a float rod, the hook is the most important. It consists of a forearm with a head, underwear and a sting with a beard. Hooks differ not only in size, but also in shape - in particular, in the length of the shank. The head is made in the form of a ring or spatula. In our country, the size of the hook is indicated by a number - from No. 2.5 (the smallest) to No. 20. The width of the hook corresponds to the number of the hook - the distance from the end of the sting to the forearm in millimeters.

When using worms and a number of other animal baits as bait, you should use a hook with a long shank, and when fishing for bread and other vegetable baits, a hook with a short shank is better.

When choosing a hook, the main thing is the proportionality of its size to the mass of the fish that can become the prey of the angler. It is impossible not to be surprised by those of them who stubbornly strive to use large hooks (No. 6, 7 and more) where small fish usually come across - from 50 to 100 g. The logic is simple: what if a bream weighing 2-3 kg bites? This is where a reliable hook will not let you down. But for some reason, a large fish does not show interest in the nozzle, and a small one in fright shied away from an exorbitantly large hook. In addition, often such a hook is attached to a thick forest ...

A good bite does not always please the angler, but even on such days, the one who uses the lightest tackle - the thinnest line and the smallest possible hook - achieves the greatest success. Of course, hooks No. 3.5–4, when biting, say, a solid perch, can straighten out or break. But if for years you have fished out only a trifle on a certain reservoir, is there a guarantee that at some point a big fish will suddenly bite? You have to be realistic. And it is better, using the proper gear, to hook a sufficient number of medium-sized fish than not to catch anything. By the way, seasoned anglers manage to successfully play quite solid specimens on the lightest tackle. It's about skill and experience. So hook number 4 will be universal in its kind for a float fishing rod.

The fishing rod in question is called a float, therefore, a float - integral part of the gear. The purpose of the float is to keep the bait at a certain depth and signal a bite. There are a lot of floats. Those made from natural materials - tree bark, cork, bird feathers ("goose") are successfully used, but now those made from polystyrene foam, polystyrene or other artificial materials are becoming more common.

Here, too, gigantomania should be avoided. With an excessively large float, the fish, taking the nozzle, feels resistance too clearly and can instantly get rid of it. A huge float on the water surface is also capable of scaring away cautious fish, especially when fishing is at shallow depths.

The “goose” float is good: it is hardly noticeable in the water, it reacts very sensitively to the most delicate bite, it clearly signals that the nozzle has fallen to the bottom.

A small float made of any material is in many cases preferable to a large one, but one thing must not be forgotten: it must be clearly visible to the angler both at dusk and in ripples on the water. In some cases, the choice of a float depends both on the type of fish you want to catch and on the fishing conditions. Given the inconspicuous bite of bream, it is recommended to use the lightest float, and when catching perch, in fact, any one is suitable.

And finally, the sinker. It makes it possible to fish at various depths by adjusting the release of the line with a nozzle by moving the float through the forest. The sinker should match the buoyancy of the float, drowning it by two-thirds. A float lying flat on the water testifies to the completely insufficient weight of the sinker. Especially clearly signals this "goose". This position of the float on the water reduces its sensitivity to bites. In addition, it can be assumed that it is shallow here and the nozzle lay on the bottom.

Ready-made sinkers are on sale - lead shots with a slot for clamping the line. However, having a piece of lead, it is easy to make a sinker yourself, for which you need to flatten the lead, and then separate a small part (of the required mass) from this plate and attach it to the forest 120–150 mm above the hook. It is always useful to have such plates with you when fishing. It is very easy to equip a fishing rod with them, while excess lead is easily cut off with a penknife.

On a float rod, you can catch fish without a sinker, especially those that hold in the upper layers of the water.

It is quite possible to replace the sinker with a small mormyshka. And in stagnant water or in a pond with a very weak current, you can use several float rods at the same time. This "multi-station", firstly, allows you to most quickly determine which nozzle and at what depth this or that fish is best taken, which is especially important when mastering an unfamiliar reservoir, and secondly, it makes it possible to fish out fish with different passion for bait.

However, one should not lean towards excess. If 5-6 rods are placed too closely, then the lines may become tangled. In addition, there is no guarantee that fish have accumulated in this part of the reservoir. Having placed the fishing rods rarely, at a distance of 2–3 m from one another, it is possible, while biting at the extreme ones, to linger with the hooking of any of the fish, perhaps the most valuable. With intense biting, such fishing generally turns into a bustle.

Perhaps it is most expedient to cast no more than two fishing rods, using an animal bait for one, and a vegetable bait for the other, varying the release of the forest to one or another depth and casting distance.

Of course, you can experiment in this way with one fishing rod. But, let's say you arrived at an unfamiliar body of water. What kind of fish lives in it? What is she better at? Having one fishing rod, you bait a worm on the hook, sit for ten - twenty minutes - not a single bite. Increase the descent of the forest - the same result. You change the place - and again nothing. And time goes by, the precious time of the morning dawn. Finally, an hour later, instead of a worm, you put a ball of black bread on the hook, and almost immediately the bite is a rather large fish. For the same bread, you fish out three or four more rafts. And suddenly, in a transparent depth, near the shore, you notice a fair size perch. Of course, he won’t take bread, but would there be a worm in front of him now?

You hurriedly take a hook with a bread ball out of the water, bait a worm - and in vain. The moment is gone. Perch walked near the shore and left. Perhaps he will still fit, if not him, then another, but when? Wait? But during this period, several rafts can be caught for bread. This is where a second rod would come in handy.

Bottom and throw rods

On deep and wide rivers, bottom and spinning rods can be successfully used. The bottom one looks like a float one: about the same rod length, only more durable and rigid. The line should be considerably longer and the sinker heavy enough to hold the bait in the fast current. One or two leashes with hooks are attached to the forest, there is no float. The bait is cast with a rod, and if it is necessary to cast farther and with a sufficient length of the line, the sinker is thrown by hand. The moment of the bite of the fish is determined by the tension of the line, the oscillation of the tip of the rod, or by the ringing of the alarm bell. They are caught with a bottom rod from