A small fish, familiar from childhood to many anglers. Fish is common in some countries.

Here is an overview of the content of this tutorial, feel free to jump to any section you care about:

For more fishing instructions, take a look at these popular Trizily links: Bonito Fishing, Perch Fishing.

• The 7 best baitcasting reels 2022
• The 10 best fish finders for the money 2022
• The 9 best fishing lines 2022
• The 7 best underwater fishing cameras 2022

Gudgeon Fishing

Characteristics of gudgeon

The size of the gudgeon can reach 200 g and a length of 20 cm. Fish is a natural food for many predators, and therefore is an excellent live bait when fishing on the appropriate gear. In addition, the fish is very lively and tasty, because it gives great pleasure when fishing. It has several subspecies. Gudgeon was caught in the mouth of the river, in slightly salted water.

Reproduction habits

It becomes sexually mature, reaching a size of 8 cm. Females are larger than males. Spawns in April – June. It makes nests in a rocky-sandy bottom. Spawns portionwise.

Gudgeon fishing guide: Techniques, bait and gear

Gudgeon fishing techniques

Gudgeon is caught all year round. For fishing, traditional fishing methods are used for small fish living in rivers and lakes. For children’s fishing, it can be a simple jar filled with bread crumbs and tied with gauze with a hole or just a piece of gauze. For more “serious” fishers, various bottom and float gears are used.

Catching gudgeon on float gear

Gudgeon, fish exclusively bottom. Some fishermen consider it, even capricious, due to the fact that the fish rarely follows the floating nozzle, and therefore confident bites happen when the nozzle is right next to the fish. When fishing on float gear, you must always take into account such a moment that the nozzle must drag along the bottom. Most often, in rivers, minnows are caught at shallow depths, so you can fish “in the wild”, wind up your feet with water, attracting a flock of minnows. Complex and expensive gear is not needed. A lightweight rod, a simple float, a piece of fishing line and a set of sinkers and hooks are quite enough. In the case of frequent hooks, it is possible to use a thinner leash.

Catching gudgeon on bottom gear

Gudgeon, along with a ruffe, the first to please the fishermen’s catches after the spring ice drift. For fishing use ordinary castors, donks made from fishing rods of “distant casting”, as well as “half-fishing”. “Half-bitch”, in fact, is an ordinary float gear, in which the float is shifted almost to the top of the rod, sometimes slightly increasing the weight of the sinkers. Due to the small weight of the sinker, the bait can be demolished by the river, but this does not stop the gudgeon from pecking, sometimes, near the shore.

Gudgeon fishing bait

Fish prefers animal heads. In the summer, in some regions, they catch wheat. The main bait for minnows are various earthworms. When fishing in ponds or lakes, bloodworms are used. Gudgeon reacts poorly to maggot, Chernobyl or ant eggs. At the same time, a caddis flock or a butterfly with cropped wings can serve as an excellent bait.

Where to catch gudgeon

Distributed to most of Europe. Benthic representative of small and large rivers. Leads a sedentary lifestyle, prone to small rivers with clean and spring water. It adheres to shallow depths in rivers, often in the coastal zone. Can live in flowing ponds and lakes. Where also adheres to the coastal zone, in search of invertebrate larvae.