"Dead time" in the middle of winter, Amur River

In January the ice on Amur River is about 1 meter thick.  Most of fish in this period are more sleepy comparing with the time of "first ice" - November & December.   

It takes lots of time & effort to make a hole in the thick ice with the ice-pike.   

Ice-auger is not very useful at Amur River ice - the ice has lots of sand in it, so the blades of a drill get dull after 2-3 holes.  Ancient tools - ice-pikes - are still popular in Khabarovsk. 

By mid December lots of lampreys are coming up to Khabarovsk. 

These "fish" are anadromous; they do not feed in the river and will be spawning in the spring. 

The life cycle of a lamprey is exactly the same as the one of a salmon.

The fish which is very active under the ice is burbot Lota lota. 

The best rig to catch burbot is a heavy lure baited with piece of row fish

Trophy whitefish is hard to catch in mid winter, when it is cold

Amur pike is one of fish which is active through the whole winter

Tail of Amur pike

Amur River near Khabarovsk - ice-fishing for whitefish Coregonus ussuriensis

Amur whitefish Coregonus ussuriensis is one of two whitefish species which dwell in the huge Amur River drainage.  The fish can reach big size (up to 5 kg).  The ecology of the species is unique:  from September till April it can be found in the main channels of the Amur River.  In summer the water in Amur is too warm for whitefishes, up to +25*C.  For the summer this species is migrating upstream into the cool water of the lower parts of mountainous tributaries of the Amur R.  Most of its diet consists of small fish. 

 

Smooth ice is formed over shallow sandbars with slack current; broken ice shows the areas with the depth over 3 meters and strong current.  The fishermen are catching whitefish at the depths 3 to 5 meters. 

Typical tackle for Amur whitefish has a small brass lure with 2 hooks.  Above it we tie a dropper hook on a long tippet; this hook is baited with a long and narrow piece of raw fish. 

The lure is lifted from the bottom and dropped back every 2-4 seconds.  Most of the fish are caught not with the lure itself, but with a baited hook. 

When the biting is good, during the day it is possible to build a long fence

Arthur is glad to catch a nice Amur whitefish

 This species has terminal mouth, suitable to catch small fish

In 5 long months I will be able to catch similar fish with a flyrod..