Secrets of fishing. Boris Nikolaevich Krasnogolovy

Foreword
Recreational fishing among all types of outdoor activities is one of the first places. Fishing has evolved from a hobby of loners into a permanent occupation for millions of people around the world. In developed countries, the organization of amateur fishing, as well as other forms of active leisure, is handled by special government services and research institutions. According to experts, in a civilized country, amateur fishermen should make up at least one tenth of the population, and in many countries this figure is much higher. For example, there are about 60 million recreational anglers aged 6 and over in the US, or about 27% of that age group.
Fishing is not only an exciting activity in the bosom of nature, but also a serious factor in improving health, as well as one of the sources of fish for personal consumption. Thus, fishing is of significant socio-economic importance, and this cannot be ignored.

The main purpose of this book is to give the reader an idea of ​​fishing in all its manifestations. For beginners, regardless of their age, the book can be considered as a fishing minimum or as an invitation to fishing, but experienced anglers will also find a lot of useful information in it, as the author with half a century of "fishing experience" has something to share with them.

After a brief history of the emergence and development of fishing, the book provides information about fishing in general and about amateur fishing in particular, and an attempt is made to classify anglers according to various characteristics and quantify them.

In the chapter on fish and how to catch them, the reader will find answers to questions: what to catch, where, when, with what, how and what to catch.

The next chapter describes in detail fishing tackle for catching non-predatory fish in open water. The main attention is paid to float rods and bottom gear for various purposes, which are used by at least 90% of anglers.

In the chapter on fishing, considerations are expressed on preparing for fishing, practical advice and recommendations are given on the actions of the angler on the pond and after fishing.

The last chapter contains the recipe for the most popular fish dishes (fishing culinary minimum).

Each chapter ends with a selection of interesting facts, statements by scientists, literary and artistic figures, prominent military leaders about fishing, aphorisms, anecdotes and poems. The vast majority of fishermen understand and appreciate a sharp word, a joke, and this material, in our opinion, will not be superfluous.

Literary sources, in which the stated issues are considered in more detail or in a different interpretation, are indicated in the footnotes.

Materials with numerical examples and elementary calculations in the book are typed in small print, and they can be omitted during the first reading. The most important results of calculations for fishing practice are summarized in tables for ease of use.

Popular science literature, to which this book belongs, should be relevant, reliable, understandable and entertaining. The author can vouch for the observance of the first two conditions, and it is better for the reader not to judge the rest, but to the reader.

If the publication of this book will cause a new replenishment of the ranks of the anglers, the author will be quite satisfied. It is safe to say that those who made such a decision will never regret it and will remain "rod and hook enthusiasts" to the end.

FROM THE HISTORY OF FISHING

Although the days of primitive hunters have long since passed, none of the ancient forms of economic management people held on so stubbornly as hunting and fishing. It is amazing that the driving stimulus in this case is often not so much the extraction of food as an almost inexplicable desire to measure strength with creatures living in water and on land, to once again check who is more cunning, who is faster, who is more patient. Perhaps this is nostalgia for the times of primitive hunters and fishermen.
Andreas von Brandt
Ancient legends, archaeological excavations and images from the early history of human development that have come down to us allow us to believe that people began to fish for several millennia BC, and perhaps much earlier, if we mean primitive methods of fishing (using spear, harpoon, gaff, etc.).

Since ancient times, man has had the opportunity to observe how hungry fish greedily grabbed various insects and leaves falling on the water. And so he “... made a hook out of a bird bone, planted a grasshopper on it, tied the hook to a long tendon and threw the bait into the river. A fish pecked. Since then, man and fish cannot live without each other” (M. Semenov).

It should be noted that the purpose of fishing from the very beginning of its inception was not only the extraction of food, but also the desire to measure one's strength and outwit the creatures living in the water by any means, i.e. in fishing even then there was already a sports passion, and maybe the spirit competition.

The appeal to the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton), the husband of the famous beauty Nefertiti, began with the words: “River fish are dancing in front of you ...” Amenhotep IV lived at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 14th century. BC e., and fish were caught even earlier.

In ancient Egypt, fish were caught not only for food, but also for entertainment. Плутархом описаны рыболовные соревнования с участием легендарных Aнтония и Клеопатры (40-е годы BC e.)

Even the Olympic gods did not disdain fishing. On the fresco of one of the houses of Pompeii, Venus and Cupid are depicted with fishing rods in their hands.

The history of fishing is clearly traced through the evolution of fishing gear.

IN Египте найден рисунок с изображением ловли рыбы удочкой, относящийся ко второму тысячелетию BC e. In various museums of the world, the oldest stone and bone hooks are stored, the age of which exceeds five thousand years.

Scientists believe that the prototype of hook fishing tackle first appeared among the tribes and peoples inhabiting the northern regions of Eurasia, due to the fact that the local reservoirs were less rich in fish than the southern ones. In Belarus, for example, fishing hooks, harpoons, spears, etc. were found at the sites of primitive man dating back to different periods of the Stone Age.

IN Китае (400 лет BC e.) леску уже делали из шелка, удилище — из стебля карликового бамбука, поплавок — из кусочка высушенного спинного мозга буйвола, а насадкой служил вареный рис.

Macedonians as early as 300 AD. e. used artificial flies, which are now used in fly fishing. Homer in his Iliad gave a description of catching catfish on a kwok. As our ancestors mastered the secrets of non-ferrous and then ferrous metallurgy, the hook as the basis of fishing tackle takes on a modern shape, although the tackle itself remained quite primitive for a long time: a long pole with a bent nail at the end. A piece of meat was planted on a nail, a pole was lowered into the water and fish were caught, and these were voracious predators (taimen, burbot, etc.). Technology The production of hooks has been improved all the time, which expanded the scope of their application to non-predatory fish, and also made it possible to create artificial baits (flies, spinners, etc.).

For the manufacture of hooks, at first, not wire was used, as is currently customary, but steel sewing needles. The notes of the Chinese emperor Jingu (170–269) describe in detail how to make a hook from a needle: “Heat the needle on coals to red heat, make a beard with a chisel and sharpen the sting. Then heat again and bend into the desired shape of the hook. Further tips are given on sharpening the sting and hardening the hook in cold water. Since the 17th century the manufacture of hooks from sewing needles began in England. The combination of production of needles and hooks is typical for many countries, including Russia, and this tradition has been preserved to this day.

Hooks of two types (with a ring and with a spatula), oddly enough, were made in Rus' even before the invasion of Batu. For a long time, the hook, as, indeed, all fishing tackle, was called in Rus' "hook" or even "fishing rod".

From the end of the 19th century Norway became the main supplier of fishing hooks for the whole world, after the Second World War it lost its leading position to Japan and some other countries.

From the end of the 19th century in fishing, horsehair lines were used - individual hairs from the tail of stallions, woven into links, which were then tied together. The first mention of the appearance of silk fishing line in Europe dates back to 1882. Silk thread was replaced by linen lines, lines made of hemp, cotton yarn and rayon, which lasted until the end of the 50s. The creation of synthetic fibers from polyamides (nylon, perlon) and polyesters (dacron, terylene) revolutionized the production of fishing lines. Modern fishing line (“kapron vein”) is a fiber made of high-strength and flexible polymers.

Bamboo rods appeared in Europe only at the beginning of the 17th century, and before that, anglers used flexible and durable whips made of hazel, linden, beech, ash and other tree species, which they cut and processed themselves, as rods. A whalebone was used for the tip of the rod. Composite rods, including telescopic rods, were known to the Romans as early as the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, but were not widely used. due to the complexity of manufacturing and