Amphipods for winter fishing

Trophy fishing trips, conducted in the protected areas of the Turukhansk region, allow you to catch noble predators using a variety of gear, rods, and bait. The trip begins with a helicopter drop into the wild taiga.

The Putorana Plateau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is designated one of the Wonders of the World. It is a land of picturesque waterfalls, lakes, and rivers, abundant with salmon predators, plants, and animals.

Guests from all over the world come to the reserve to fish and hunt, learn different fishing techniques, and discover a wealth of life hacks. Amphipod bait is one of the most interesting fishing tackles used to lure predators from beneath the ice of Siberian reservoirs.

Design and features of the bait

Summer fishing enthusiasts know amphipods as small crustaceans used for fishing, i.e., as bait. However, they bear no resemblance to the bait used for ice fishing. The design features of the winter amphipod are as follows:

1. The bait looks like a live bait.
2. The rig got its name from the irregular symmetry of its design. This irregularity causes the amphipod to move underwater at an angle, i.e., sideways. This occurs because one side of the bait is convex and the other is concave.
3. A hook (treble hook) soldered into the tail assists the lure during casting, allowing it to cover significantly larger areas under the ice hole. Sometimes the deviation from the ice hole is as much as 1 meter.
4. The tail section of the winter amphipod ends with a long tail with a woolly tassel.
5. The materials from which the bait is made can be the same as for all winter baits (spoons, micro-baits, jigs).
6. The colors of the baits of this type can be different, but most often, silver and golden amphipods are used.

This rig can catch a variety of predators. However, amphipods are often attacked by pike, perch, and zander. The bait can also be used in summer, but you'll need a reliable leader and, if possible, a boat. Because the fishing is similar to vertical jigging.

How to fish with amphipods?

To find fishing spots, experienced anglers use high-tech devices (echo sounders, underwater cameras, thermal imaging cameras, etc.). Snags, pits, coastal areas, and various bends in bodies of water are particularly popular. Many predators prefer such spots.

During the dead of winter, predators migrate to areas with strong currents and greater depth. This allows them to obtain more oxygen. In the spring, these toothy specimens move closer to the shore to hunt small fish.

A few casts and retrieves will tell you if there are fish. If there aren't any bites, you need to change your fishing spot. Perch and pike bite early in the day, and later in the evening, other predators, such as zander, come out to hunt.

The amphipod lure can be retrieved with various twitches, wiggles, and pauses. After casting, wait until the lure sinks to the bottom before beginning the action.

First, the amphipod is raised low, about 15 cm, and then the bait is raised higher, 0.5-1 m. Then, we release it back to the bottom, take a break, and repeat the entire process.