Do-it-yourself “plug” feeder tackle. Fishing with a cork - practical advice Equipment for cork tackle

Fishing for crucian carp is possible with a wide variety of gear. Many of them are equipped with a special feeder that attracts fish with tasty bait. One of them is traffic jam. This kind of gear is also sometimes called a nipple. Catching crucian carp with it is not at all difficult, and the catch, as a rule, always pleases even the most demanding fisherman.

Cork tackle can be used to catch crucian carp

Tackle "cork": device, principle of operation and advantages

Fishing with cork tackle is most often carried out using long casting. The equipment consists of a semi-open type feeder into which viscous bait is stuffed. On the other side of the feeder plug, a rather heavy sinker is attached, due to which it always sinks to the bottom with the blind part. Leashes with hooks are hidden inside it, sometimes with a nozzle, sometimes completely empty. The fish, sensing the fragrant odors from the feeder, swims up to it and begins to suck in the bait. Naturally, she often swallows hooks too.

Next, the bite alarm goes off and the angler makes a hook. Although more often the fish hook themselves, because tries to swim away from the feeder, feeling a hook in his mouth. But the heavy traffic jam prevents her from doing this. In the end, all that remains is to pull the prey ashore. A spinning rod with a spinning reel helps with this. In general, the principle of catching crucian carp with a cork is in many ways reminiscent of another version of the tackle - the makushatnik. There is also an attractive bait in which the hooks are camouflaged.

In winter, there is no point in catching crucian carp using a cork. In cold water, the smell of bait is practically not detected by the fish.

When catching crucian carp with a cork, it hooks itself

Fishing with cork tackle is much more effective in spring and summer. During the spawning period of crucian carp, it can also give good results. After all, when small individuals go closer to the shore to lay eggs, then at depth large fish will definitely be interested in such bait.

Recently, the “cork” tackle has been very popular, because it has many advantages:

simplicity in the design of the gear, which is easy to make yourself from scrap materials;
It is easy to fish with it at great depths and at a decent distance from the shore;
bites of small fish do not bother the fisherman;
fishing can be successful without the use of baits, limited to foam balls that are put on hooks;
the risk of snagging the tackle is reduced, because there are no open hooks;
Most bites are successful because... the fish hooks itself;
You can catch any peaceful fish with a cork, both from the shore and from a boat.

Cork tackle shows the greatest efficiency in the warm season

Cork tackle equipment

You can fish for cork using any rod. Most often this is a feeder structure. However, some anglers also use fishing rods similar to float gear to fish on an overgrown pond. So there are no strict requirements for the rod and reel. However, they must withstand a decent weight - after all, several crucian carp are often caught in a cork at once, and it is not so easy to pull them ashore.

It is necessary to take the equipment very seriously. If you plan to fish in large bodies of water, where there are few snags and underwater vegetation, then a fishing line with a thickness of about 0.2 mm is suitable. Fishing on ponds and lakes with a lot of algae requires the use of coarser plug rigs. The thickness of the fishing line can be increased to 0.35 mm.

There is no need for large hooks. The ideal size is from No. 16 to No. 12 according to international numbering. Maybe even less. This way, the hooks become less noticeable to the fish, and when they eat the bait, they easily suck them in too. The number of leashes can reach up to 7. However, it is best when there are from 3 to 5 of them. The recommended length of leashes is from 5 to 10 cm. In this case, it is advisable to use a braided cord for them. It is thinner, more reliable and practically does not stretch. Another advantage of braided fishing line over monofilament is that leashes made from it are less likely to jump out of the feed.

The optimal number of hooks on a cork is 3 pieces

Bait for catching crucian carp using a cork

How successful fishing with cork tackle will be depends on the bait. You can use store-bought mixtures or prepare the bait yourself.

The main thing is that the bait is viscous and stretchy, somewhat reminiscent of dough or plasticine. However, under no circumstances should you make it too thick! Otherwise, the fish simply will not be able to suck it out of the feeder.

Catching with liquid bait is even worse. It will wash out in a few minutes, leaving the hooks uncovered.

The simplest bait recipe is to take bread crumb, dilute it with water, flour and cake. You can also use various cereals that are mixed with highly flavored dough. Fishing with a cork bottom will be effective only if pleasant odors come from the feeder with bait. Therefore, be sure to add various purchased attractants, bite activators or natural flavors (sunflower oil, anise, garlic, honey, etc.).

Bread crumb can be used as a simple bait when fishing with a cork.

Here is another recipe in which we will tell you how you can quickly prepare bait for cork tackle. You will need a can of canned corn. Its grains are finely chopped or twisted in a meat grinder. The resulting “minced meat” is poured with juice from a can of corn. Then about 100 grams are added there. crushed roasted sunflower seeds.

You can also add a little flavoring with the taste of hemp, anise, plum, strawberry and other flavors that attract crucian carp. Finally, bread and breadcrumbs are added to the resulting mixture. Rye varieties are best. As for the quantity of ingredients, it is important that the bait resembles a thick dough in consistency. If it turns out to be liquid, then by adding semolina or flour, you can bring it to the required density.

How to make a cork tackle for crucian carp

It is extremely rare to find cork-type tackle in a fishing store. Most often they do it themselves. For installation you will need a plastic cap from a plastic bottle. You can take it from ordinary containers into which carbonated drinks are poured. However, it is best to use the cap from bottles in which dairy products are sold or water is delivered to order. They reach a diameter of about 5-6 cm and allow the use of more hooks and bait.

Making cork tackle with your own hands is not difficult.

Then you need to load the plug. This is done from the outside. The sinker must be flat. It is best if it follows the shape of the lid. Next, holes are made in the cork to secure the load with wire. Now it's time to install the leashes. Again, you will need holes, but you need to make them on the side, one on each side. The result is 4 holes.

A clasp with a swivel is threaded into any of them, to which the main fishing line will go. To prevent it from jumping out, you can glue the joint with waterproof glue or silicone. The remaining 3 holes are for attaching leashes. You can tie them directly, but it is better to use winding rings.

Choose hooks that are miniature, thin and light. Because it will be difficult for the fish to notice them, which means the chances of a bite will increase. It's a good idea to attach a small ball of foam to each hook. This will provide it with neutral buoyancy, and the crucian carp will not feel any resistance when swallowing the hook.

The success of the catch will depend on the hooks chosen

Features of catching crucian carp with a cork

Now you know how to assemble this tackle with your own hands, what kind of bait should be used for fishing with it, and what requirements exist for the equipment of the cork. It remains only to talk about some of the nuances.

The hooks in the cork feeder must be placed so that the eye is at the bottom and the bend is at the top. It would be a good idea to put foam balls on them too.
Catching crucian carp with a cork is impossible without high-quality bait. You need to prepare it right before fishing. It is best on the shore, using water from the reservoir where you plan to fish. This way the crucian carp will not be bothered by foreign odors.
To ensure that the aroma from the bait remains in the water for a long time, you can glue a piece of foam rubber soaked in the aroma to the bottom of the feeder.

Foam should be placed on the hooks in the cork tackle

Remember that catching crucian carp with cork tackle begins with bait correctly placed in the feeder. You need to fill it with food in a heap, making several convex parts into which it is convenient to disguise the hooks. By the way, you shouldn’t hide them at the very bottom of the cork - the crucian carp will have time to eat and lose interest in the feeder.
When the bite is active, we recommend having several rig options with you. With the help of a fishing carabiner and a clasp, you can quickly change the plug for another one already filled with food.

Thanks to the video you will learn how to make cork tackle yourself:

Crucian carp are caught using numerous methods and equipment options. In this article we will tell you about such gear as a cork, which is a fairly simple and simple device, and at the same time allows for effective fishing for this fish.

Tackle "cork": device, principle of operation and advantages

The method of catching crucian carp using a cork rig is somewhat similar to fishing using a macaque. Why is the equipment so named - because it consists of a cork into which complementary foods are stuffed and it also contains leashes with hooks.

A heavy type of sinker is attached to the other end of this plug. That is why the cork tackle lies on the surface of the bottom of the reservoir with its dull side. You can attach bait to the hooks themselves, or you can leave the hooks empty. Having caught the aromas of the feed, the fish begins to swim up to the feeder plug. Having tasted the prey, the crucian carp actively sucks up the feed and at the same time swallows the hooks in the feed.

At the same time, the bite alarm system starts working, and the fisherman strikes. The crucian carp will try to break away and swim away, but the traffic jam itself with a heavy load does not allow it to escape.

The advantages of this type of gear are the following indicators:

— the simplest possible equipment;
- can be fished even at great depths;
— you don’t have to use bait;
— the likelihood of snags is reduced;
— crucian carp is self-hooking;
- you can catch a wide variety of fish.

Features of fishing with a cork

When catching crucian carp with a cork, it is necessary to carry out the process of placing hooks into the cork itself in such a way that the hooks themselves are located with their ear at the bottom, while the bend of the hook is located at the top. You can equip the hooks with foam balls.

This method of catching crucian carp is simply impossible without the use of a tasty feeding agent designed specifically for crucian carp. The process of making complementary foods should be carried out immediately before the actual process of fishing for crucian carp. Mixing the components should be done during the fishing itself, adding body water.

In order for the scents of the aromatics to last a little longer, a piece of foam rubber soaked in the aromatic substance is fixed to the bottom of the cork before adding complementary foods.

The feeding is placed in such a way that it forms a small mound with several edges. The hooks should not be placed to the very bottom of the cork, otherwise the crucian carp itself may have time to get enough and still not have time to reach the hooks.

When fishing for crucian carp with a cork, take with you several corks that are already ready for fishing. If you run out of complementary food on one, you can quickly change the plug with the help of carabiners, without wasting time on packing food for the crucian carp.

Cork tackle equipment

When catching crucian carp with a cork, fishermen use a wide variety of rods. Some people use a feeder rod, while others prefer regular float rods. With this method of catching crucian carp, the reels must hold a fairly large load, because several crucian carp can be caught at once.

When catching crucian carp using this method, the line is selected somewhere around 0.2 millimeters in diameter, but if you fish in clean reservoirs, free of snags and thickets, you can use smaller options. You should not use hooks that are too large in size. Large hooks are quite difficult to hide in the cork itself.

Bait for catching crucian carp using a cork

Successful fishing with the cork method for crucian carp depends entirely on the success of making bait for crucian carp. Many fishermen began to use ready-made, commercially available feeding products. But a real fisherman must make the means for complementary feeding himself. The fertilizer is prepared to be quite viscous. It should be slightly stretchy in composition. Although the feeding density parameters should not be excessive.

One of the simplest ways to make fertilizer for crucian carp is to mix bread crumb and cake mixture. A small amount of flour should be added to this mixture. Among other things, you can use the addition of a small amount of dough. Flavorings such as cinnamon, coriander, garlic are necessarily added, or store-bought flavorings are used.

Another, also quite simple way of preparing the feed would be to mix canned corn in a crushed state and lightly roasted sunflower seeds, and add the juice from the corn. Some flavoring is also added.

How to make a cork tackle for crucian carp?

In order to carry out the process of making cork equipment on your own, you will need some kind of plastic stopper from a five-liter plastic container or a larger plastic container, you can use a lid from some kind of sealant or something else similar.

We select a flat sinker, approximately equal in size to the cork itself, and attach it to the back side of the cork using a sliding fastener. In the cork itself, we make a hole in the center of its base and pass a fishing line with leads there, or the leashes will be attached from the sides through the holes in the cork.

Technique for catching crucian carp using a cork

You can fish with a cork in summer, spring, and autumn. When carrying out such fishing, you should cast the equipment away from the coastline. A process occurs where the cork slowly falls from the base to the bottom. Thus, the complementary food in the cork itself becomes available to the crucian carp, because it lies with the complementary food itself upward.

In some situations, crucian carp begin to be hooked almost from the first minutes of casting the cork rig. Hooking of crucian carp is carried out spontaneously, but it is necessary to equip a bite alarm system, maybe a bell. It should be noted that in addition to crucian carp, a wide variety of fish can be caught using this method, so do not be surprised if, when you pull out the tackle, you find bream or perch on the hook.

It is mandatory to equip the cork rig with a bite alarm system.
The feeding agent for crucian carp should not be made too thick or thin; it should not immediately fall apart when it gets into the water.
You can use this type of equipment without bait.
Do not take excessively large hooks, which are difficult to hide in the cork of the tackle itself.

“Cork”, “harvester”, “pacifier”, “smoktun”, “satellite”, “bomb”, “bombushka” - in different regions it is called differently. The first time I saw this equipment was in the 80s on the Aksai River in the Rostov region. Now, digging on the Internet, I find very little information on this gear - almost everywhere it has been replaced by a feeder of various configurations.

To make it immediately clear, I will say that the “cork” tackle in a simplified version is, as we used to say, a cork made of a PET bottle, weighted with lead, to which leashes with hooks are attached. Everyone knows that all the tackle is like a feeder; in fact, it is filled with bait, hooks are stuck into it, and then it is cast with a spinning rod. Few people know that the weight of ready-to-use gear, to put it mildly, reaches 20-30g. It is necessary to emphasize that the principle of action of the tackle is similar to the “makushatnik”: the fish approaches the tasty bait, begins to “feast”, sucks in the hook with the food and, in the end, hooks itself. It is also possible that all that remains is, in general, to hear the bell ringing or, therefore, to see how the tip of the spinning rod bends, and finally run to fish. Imagine one fact: traditionally, carp (carp), crucian carp, roach, rudd, and bream are caught using the “cork”; it is also used in sea fishing. I would really like to emphasize that it is important to note such an advantage of the “traffic jam” as range. Of course, we all know very well that you can just fish from the shore without resorting to a boat. It must be emphasized that with all this, the tackle can be sent to 110-120 meters. We must say what they say correctly: until you try, you won’t appreciate it.

Fishing principle
Into the cavity of an ordinary cork from a plastic bottle, weighted with a sinker, ordinary bait for carp is stuffed, which is brought to a plasticine mixture when kneading, so that it does not wash out so quickly. It must be said that various ingredients and, as everyone says, any flavorings can be added to the bait. And it’s not even necessary to say that in this plasticine with a slide, hooks are masked on two leashes made of nylon thread with any kind of lock. Few people know that the leashes are tied to the main leash, passing through the side (bottom) wall of the cork. Of course, we all know very well that a leash with a lock is finally threaded through the hole and attached to the main fishing line (I traditionally hook it through a carabiner).

Corks traditionally come in a snow-white or yellowish color, but there is no doubt that whether they are blue, greenish or somewhat reddish, the effect will be virtually the same. It must be emphasized that the catchability of such equipment is determined not by its color, but by the smell emanating from the nozzle.

The size of the hooks may vary depending on the fishing region and types of fish. It would be bad if we did not note that numbers from 4 to 10 are suitable according to the old classification. I would really like to emphasize that in the end the calculation is, as it were, carried out with an eye to the big one. Of course, we all know very well that, typically, the cork constantly sinks to the bottom, so to speak, with the weight down, so the bait will always, to put it mildly, be at the top.

The fish quickly find the tackle and, therefore, begin to eat the bait, sucking in one or even two hooks together with the “plasticine”. Undoubtedly, it is worth mentioning that there were cases when two carp landed on one plug, so to speak, at once (naturally, there were two hooks). It should be noted that it is virtually impossible to miss a bite - the fish is also firmly detected, and either, as most of us constantly say, with a massive jump, or, as we are used to saying, with a complete weakening of the fishing line, this indicates a bite. It is also possible that bells, bells, or something that you are more accustomed to are hung as signaling devices.

Problems with fishing traditionally do not arise. Imagine one fact: that an extreme event, in the end, turns fishing in a “traffic jam” into an unsportsmanlike, or, if you wish, a simple, but quite effective process. I would really like to emphasize that especially if fishing also takes place during the daytime in the hot summer months, when the fish stays at the depths, and you can’t get it from the shore with a fishing rod. And it’s not even necessary to say that, unlike “springs” that work by analogy with plugs, when using the latter, to put it mildly, a larger amount of porridge is consumed, and preparing them for casting takes significantly more time.

To everything that has been said, it only remains to add that more than once I had to use such gear when fishing not only at a distance, but also at an extremely close distance from the shore , throwing the cork from your hand to a length equal to the length of the rod. Everyone has long known that this gave a positive result when the fish scurried close to the shore at the border of aquatic vegetation.

And further:

Option No. 1 The cork, in general, is filled with bait, and the hooks are recessed into the bait.

Option No. 2 A positive result can be achieved if, finally, you bait several maggots on the hooks, leaving the hook pressure uncovered, or, as usual, pickled corn.

I have already described the general scheme of fishing for traffic jams, but I would like to dwell in more detail on the design features of the “traffic jams” themselves.

Assembling the “plug”
We take two corks: one is PET, the other is preferably aluminum (well, the cork from a liter Baltika No. 3 fits extremely well). I must say that we pierce the duralumin with an awl in two places and insert the wire for fastening. Of course, we all know very well that we also pierce the plastic plug in the same way to make it more convenient to assemble the tackle. Please note that we pour watery lead into the duralumin plug, but not completely, but under the outermost turn of the plug, so that the PET plug fits into the duralumin plug during assembly, as if it were original.

A cork is a simple homemade fishing tackle, which, as a rule, is used to catch non-predatory fish species in freshwater bodies. For the most part, it is intended for fishing with passive types of bottom fishing. Also, another feature of this gear is that it is used exclusively at the bottom of reservoirs.

The essence of the cork fishing method

The technique for using such non-sports equipment is as follows:

The fish bites viscous bait, inside of which there are several hooks with foam. The latter makes the hooks weightless and invisible in the water.
The fish gradually absorbs the bait, and along with it the sharp hooks, but when leaving, it is caught by them. In this case, the self-hooking effect is triggered, which is why this type of fishing is called non-sport fishing.

However, fishing with a cork is quite effective, so every year it is increasingly gaining popularity among fishermen.

Advantages and disadvantages of gear

The advantages of the gear include:

the ability to make it at home;
quite convenient supply of bait mixture;
possibility of fishing at different depths;
can be fished at different distances from the shore;
the effectiveness of the gear and its effectiveness;
A very small amount of bait is used.

The disadvantages of the gear are:

inability to catch predatory fish species;
fragility of gear;
inability to fish in large currents;
poor visibility of gear at the bottom.

What kind of fish is usually caught with a cork?

As a rule, the following types of fish are caught with this tackle:

Medium and large crucian carp.
Carp.
Carp.
Mullet.
Chub.
Roach.
Rudd.
White amur.
Barbel.
Rudd.

Equipment equipment

For fishing with a cork, you should prepare the following parts of the tackle:

Rod. It is desirable that it be telescopic and have a length of at least two and a half meters. The test rod must be at least 35 grams.
Coil. It is recommended to use a high-quality spool size 3000.
Fishing line. Best used with a diameter of 0.25mm and a length of 40 meters.
Leashes. They need to be made from braided fishing line. Each should be about twenty centimeters long.
Hooks. Typically, they are used depending on the bait. It is recommended to use hooks with sizes from six to ten. It is also important that they are of high quality and sharp.
Bite alarm. It is not at all necessary to use expensive electronic alarms for this purpose. An ordinary bell, which only needs to be installed correctly, will be no worse.
Small weight. For this tackle, you should use a small olive or teardrop-shaped lead weight. It is also necessary that it have a natural color that will blend with the water. It is best if it is brown or dark green.
Cork. It can be taken from almost any plastic bottle. The main requirement for it is simplicity and spaciousness, so that as much bait mixture as possible can fit into it.

Making a cork with your own hands: a step-by-step process

To make gear, you should prepare the following materials:

tin lid for strong drinks;
plastic bottle cap;
bolt;
screw;
swivel;
a piece of lead;
winding rings.

This gear is manufactured in the following sequence:

Melt the lead and pour it into the tin lid.
Make one small hole in the center of the plastic cover (its diameter should be slightly larger than the diameter of the bolt). Also, make four small holes for the leashes. Insert the winding rings into them (if that doesn’t work, you can attach the rings directly to the lid).
Drill a through hole in the tin lid with a size slightly larger than the diameter of the bolt. Attach the ring and swivel to the bolt. Insert it into the hole (in the lid).
Place the plastic cover on the bolt.
Secure the entire structure with a nut.
Attach leashes and hooks to the winding rings.
Fill with prepared bait. Insert hooks into the protruding parts of the bait - with the sting facing out. Also, to make the tackle even more attractive, you can put a worm or bloodworm on the hooks.

After this, the tackle is ready for use.

What bait to choose when fishing with a cork

There are several options for effective bait for this gear. Let's look at the best of them:

Corn groundbait

a jar of canned corn (preferably Bonduelle);
a spoon of sunflower oil;
spoon of sunflower seeds;
breadcrumbs;
two tablespoons of linseed oil.

So, you need to grind the corn in a blender, and fry the sunflower seeds a little in a frying pan. Then grind in a coffee grinder. Add the resulting mixture to the corn. Then add a spoonful of vegetable and linseed oil there. At the end add a spoonful of honey.

Mix all this thoroughly, turning the mixture into a homogeneous thick porridge. Just before fishing, you should add a handful of breadcrumbs to it to make the mixture more elastic and aromatic.

Carp and crucian carp, which are distinguished by their craving for aromatic and sweet mixtures, will certainly not refuse such bait.

Pea groundbait

To prepare it you will need:

- one glass;
corn - half a glass;
water - three glasses;
sugar - three tablespoons;
honey - one teaspoon;
sunflower oil - one spoon.

Prepare the bait in this way:

To boil water.
Pour the peas into boiling water and stir thoroughly for ten minutes until they are thoroughly boiled.
After thirty minutes, add the corn and cook for another half hour. It is very important to constantly stir all this time, otherwise if the porridge burns, the fish will smell the burnt smell and will not bite.
At the end of cooking, add sugar and honey.
Cover the pan with a lid and let the bait sit for two hours.

Bread-based bait

To prepare it you will need:

black bread;
or roasted sunflower seeds;
potato;
vegetable oil;
anise oil.

Preparation:

Boil the potatoes and grind them in a blender.
Grind the flour.
Add black bread, flour and butter to the potatoes. Mix it all well with your hands to form a thick, homogeneous mass. This bait is very effective, since most fish always bite on it perfectly.

In order for fishing with a cork to be successful, you should adhere to the following recommendations:

Before you start fishing, you always need to choose the right place for the upcoming fishing. It is best to select places on reservoirs with differences in depth, snags, flooded trees, large vegetation or hills at the bottom. It is in such areas that non-predatory fish species most often live. It is very convenient to study the bottom topography for this purpose using a marker float or a spinning rod with a jig head. Also, if this is your first time fishing in a particular body of water, you should study it in advance and understand what kind of current is present there and where it is better to throw the tackle. This knowledge will definitely come in handy, especially when you need to cast the tackle.
Now you should prepare the tackle itself for casting. First you need to install . It is best to use rod-pods for this purpose, since they are the ones that best cope with their task. After this, you need to check the fishing line, its tension, weights, and hooks. Everything should be in its place. Also, you should adjust the coil. It is desirable that it have a built-in system (this will allow you to hold the tackle during a sharp bite). If the coil does not have such a function, then you need to loosen the friction brake. Finally, you need to install a bite alarm.
There should also be a cage and landing net nearby, so that when fishing you don’t waste time looking for them.
After this, we proceed to filling the plug itself. It should be filled with bait tightly enough so that when it gets into the water, the mixture does not spread out in the first minute. On top of the bait you need to sculpt several elongated triangles into which you need to insert hooks (with the tip up). Now the tackle is ready to cast.
Casting must be done carefully so that the bait and hooks do not fall out, otherwise everything will have to be redone again. After casting, you need to wait until the tackle lands on the bottom and only after that you can tighten the line a little and install the rod on the stand.
It is advisable to check the plug every half hour, since it often happens that an overly cautious fish simply eats up the bait, leaving only bare hooks, so naturally no biting occurs. To prevent this from happening, the fisherman must always control the fishing process and check the plug in time.
If there is no bite for more than an hour after casting, then in this case it is recommended to change the fishing location to another. You can cast the tackle a little further or, conversely, closer to the shore. You can move the casting location a little to the side, since even a significant change may well improve the overall fishing activity of the fish. In addition, for even greater success, it is advisable to change the contents of the plug - fill it with a different bait mixture. To do this, you must always have several pre-prepared bait porridges with you.
When biting, it is very important not to rush, otherwise the fish may get off the hook. It is important to wait until it has definitely swallowed the hook and hooked itself, and only then can you pull the rod. You should know that you cannot make a sharp hook, since most fish have rather weak lips and with quick jerks the hook can break through them, which threatens the escape of the prey.
As a rule, if a fish starts biting in one place, then whole schools of fish gather there. In this case, it is recommended to throw the tackle to the same point again and again so as not to lose biting activity, because when the fish finds food in one place, it will not swim to another in search of food.

Fishing with a cork requires a lot of attention and effort, but all this is compensated by the joy of the caught prey, so fishermen do not regret the effort spent. Using the above recommendations and knowledge, you too can learn how to successfully fish with such unusual gear.

The “cork” tackle is a simple cork from a plastic bottle, to which leashes with hooks are attached, and a weight is attached to the bottom. The bait is stuffed inside, and we hide our hooks in it. The principle of operation is that the fish swims up to the bait, tastes it and, together with the food, sucks in the hook and is hooked.

You can attach a bell to the top of the fishing rod to signal a bite. You can fish with a cork both from a boat and from the shore. It is also convenient for fishing at night. This tackle is relevant any day.

In winter, fishing with a traffic jam is ineffective, but at the beginning of spring, when peaceful fish go to spawn, luck can come even at shallow depths.
In summer, the bite does not last long, mainly in the morning or evening, but during the daytime the fish stands still in the holes and will need to be looked for.

In the autumn, the fish can be compared to a bear; it walks along the bottom and looks for food. Autumn is the best time for fishing.

Crucian carp, carp, carp, mullet, etc. are well caught using a cork. It is better to put foam on the hooks and then hide it in the bait. When immersed in water, the cork moves smoothly and smoothly due to the weight. When washed away by water, the foam floats up, attracting fish. If the bite is not suitable for you, then instead of polystyrene foam you can attach corn, pearl barley, a worm or some other bait that will be more suitable for catching fish.

Cork has many advantages:

the tackle is very simple and can be made at home, with your own hands;
there is no need to hook the fish, as it sucks on the bait with hooks and hooks itself;
you can fish at any depth and distance from the shore;
Suitable for catching any peaceful fish.

Tackle for cork fishing

You can attach a cork to almost any type of fishing rod.
If you fish near the shore, it is better to use short spinning rods of 2.1-2.7 meters. If there are thickets of plants there, then it will be convenient to use rods 3-3.6 meters long.

There are no special requirements for the type of cork reel. It is better to use with a friction brake.

The choice of fishing line should be taken seriously; you must decide where exactly the fishing will take place and what kind of fish you are counting on. In a clean reservoir, you can equip the reel with 0.2 mm fishing line. If there is algae, the thickness of the line increases to 0.35 mm. You need to wind 50-100 meters of monofilament onto the reel.

The size of the hook is taken according to the size of the fish. This choice again depends on where you plan to fish.

To make cork tackle, we use common and affordable materials ourselves:

plastic bottle cap;
lead weight;
lure;
leashes with hooks;
wire.

The color of the cork, in principle, does not matter much, because the smell is important for the fish, not the color, and yet some fishermen advise choosing the color either yellow or white.

Four holes are pierced in the sides of the cork, Leashes with hooks are inserted into them, and one hole is also made in the center of the plug, into which the main fishing line is attached. The number of hooks that are used may be several.

For leashes from 5 to 10 cm long, it is advisable to use braid. The lead weight is attached inside the cork with ordinary wire, leaving a twist inside. Next, the feeder is filled with bait.

Bait for fishing

For bait, you can use any porridge: semolina, wheat, corn, etc. It can also be bread crumb or dough. You can add it to groundbait (within normal limits). The correct consistency of the bait is very important: if you make it too liquid, it will quickly be washed out by water, and if it is too viscous, it will be difficult for the fish to suck it out of the feeder.

Having pulled the hooks out of the cork, fill it with bait, and only then insert them into the bait with the tip facing up.

Each fisherman has his own recipes for preparing bait. The most common is semolina porridge. Recipe:

We take semolina and water in equal proportions.
Pour water into a saucepan, put it on the fire, and wait for it to boil.
After the water has boiled, we begin to gradually add semolina, stirring constantly.
When the porridge becomes homogeneous, remove from heat, cover with a lid and wrap in a blanket.
After half an hour, open our porridge and, having greased our hands with vegetable oil, knead it with our hands.
Then you can divide it into several parts and add your own flavor to each.

Fishing technique

First of all, you must decide where exactly you will fish. After all, the result of good fishing depends on choosing the right place. It is best to fish with a cork in reservoirs with stagnant water or a weak current, because if the current is strong, it can very quickly wash away even the densest and most viscous bait from the feeder.

You can fish with a cork in the most remote thickets, when fishing in which you cannot avoid snags with any other gear.

The casting method depends on the reservoir. On a spacious lake with little vegetation this will be much easier. Cast bait near the junction of water and grass or into windows of clear water between weeds. After casting the tackle, the fishing line must be tightened so that it does not sag. A bell is attached to the fishing line to hear the bite.

The float should not sit very deep in the water- less than half. The distance between the hook and the float is slightly greater than the depth of the reservoir in the place where you are fishing. The fish quite quickly finds the bait and eats it, sucking up the mess with the hooks.

It is impossible to miss a bite, because the fish is firmly detected and reports this moment to your alarm. All you have to do is pull out the fish. Many fishermen are still afraid of missing a bite and hang bells as alarms.

Features of catching different types of fish with a cork

Catching crucian carp with a cork is very simple. This is a rather unpretentious fish. It is found in muddy lakes and ponds, prefers a quiet place, and is often found in rivers. It is best to catch crucian carp at dawn and in the evening, after the heat of the day has subsided. During the day it is also caught, but not so actively. Spicy aromas will be flavor enhancers for crucian carp cork: garlic, dill. Flavorings should be added at the last time the feed is mixed.
Bream can be caught at any time of the year. In summer, it swims far from the shore, into the depths. Bream does not like fast currents and noise, so when fishing, you must maintain silence. Despite the fact that bream is a very cautious fish, it bites well on steamed peas, canned corn, millet and pearl barley. In addition, bream has a strong sense of smell, and the aroma of bait has a good effect on the fishing result. If the water is cold, the fish reacts to hot, spicy aromas (cinnamon, coriander, garlic), and if it is warm, various sweet smells work great - vanilla, caramel, anise, and also fruity smells. And don’t forget that so-called “sandwiches” can sometimes be used when the bite is very bad.
Carp is a cautious fish. It can live in both a deep lake and a pond overgrown with grass. Depending on the weather, you need to choose a fishing location. If the weather is warm, carp should be caught in shallow water, but if it is cold, it is better to move further from the shore. The bait is based on any grain mixture; various porridges are also used: wheat, oatmeal, barley. For aroma, you can use anise, vanilla, mint; you can also use garlic, dill, and sunflower seeds.
Carp lives near the shore, where there is vegetation. Early in the morning and in the evening he likes to feed near the shore. Steamed peas are used, you can also use corn flour and cook a very thick porridge from it. For flavor, you can add anise or sunflower oil. If you catch carp in the spring, add chopped worms and porridge to the cake. In summer, use only plant-based foods. Add flavorings.
When fishing for mullet, the best time is the day before a storm. and after it, until the sea completely calmed down. Complete calm makes mullet fishing not very successful. The most effective bait for catching mullet is considered to be a mixture that includes bread, minced anchovy, wheat flour, and processed cheese.

Take some spare gear with you. During active fishing, you can quickly hook the plug to a new one filled with food using a carabiner.
To connect the main line with the plug, it is better to use a swivel with a carabiner. It will prevent the line from twisting and will speed up the installation and dismantling of the feeder.
When adding flavorings to the bait, do not overdo it, this may scare away the fish;
Prepare your bait immediately before fishing. It is better to moisten it with water from the reservoir where you are fishing.