Amur Winter

The winter had come, and huge river is freezing over. This time a fishermen does not have much choice: either tying flies and dreaming on the summer, or ice-fishing. I like both. Let us start with fishing. Amur is freezing unlike the lakes or slow rivers do: the first ice is forming only along the banks, and at the main waterway slush-ice and ice-floes are mowing (it is the fall ice-flood). Only in about two weeks the entire river freezes over. The Beshenaya Channel near Khabarovsk is finally frozen Ice flowers at the river ice near an unfrozen hole After freezing at the main channel of the Amur the wide stripe of the ice-hummocks is forming. Amur near Khabarovsk — here the main channel of the river is about 2 km across When the is not much snow, the frozen channels make good roads. This time it is possible to go far from the pavement even with a 2WD car.. ... and even with a bicycle. The biting of Amur pike in winter normally begins with the sunrise or later. In the evening the fish can be active also after the sunset, while it is still enough light. Morning frost at the Emoron channel Fishing in a tent is much warmer The most active biting period of the pike is December. Later the fish are becoming lazy and do not feed every day. Amur pike is the main catch of the Khabarovsk fishermen in winter In Amur the fishermen normally use wooden ice-fishing rods with a strong line (I am using mostly the 0,65 mm mono) with a self-made lure called «Crab» We catch pike with various plugs, lures and heavy jigs. This pike had bitten a «Crab» with a silicone twister * The most popular color of our winter lures is white with some red Amur pike looks like a salmon or trout*