Fishing of zander and pike in Volgograd

I liked fishing near Volgograd since the first trip in the distant 1992. We stopped at one of the departmental recreation centers, located on a large island a few kilometers downstream of Volgograd. At our disposal was a boat with a motor of 20 , and it allowed us to explore all the bays of the island and some part of the river riverbed for 5-6 kilometers downstream. Of course, we didn't have any echo-sounder. We found all the good places by following the kinks of the coastline. The best points were the underwater continuation of the sand braid and channel. For the first time in that trip managed to catch a spinning perches over 1 kilogram weight! And we then caught a pike in the bays very much...
Since then I have been in those parts several times. In recent trips we have already had echo sounder, which greatly facilitated the search for fish, which has its own peculiarities in those lands. As the river below the Volgograd hydroelectric power station goes on the radical riverbed, the current is very strong. All snags somehow washed away from the riverbed and are off the coast. Often even the surface of such blockages from trees, bushes and logs is visible. Fish in these blockages are always, but catching there is not easy. Strong current constantly wears out bait under snags, whence it to not take out.
We have to tear it off ... ((A more productive way is to search for fish by topography. Along the channel, it is a transverse bump. This current washes out such underwater dunes. Here in the bottom folds there are pike and sometimes pike.Also it is necessary to pay attention to all without Exceptions to the island, or rather to their submarine continuations. Here and the current is weaker, and the fish is always in the presence.
Based on the foregoing, it is already clear that the spinning, reel and cords that you take to fishing in these places should have increased power. Due to fishing on a very strong current, it is necessary to use a sinkers of 50 grams or more. I had to put a sinker of 90 grams on one of the fishing trips (I connected two sinkers of 45 grams with a ring)! So spinning is needed with a lure weight test at least up to 60 grams, and better up to 80 ... Cord: everything is not simple ... A thinner cord sails less during the process and allows using less heavy weights. At the same time, there is always the possibility of biting a very large fish). I used # 1 and # 1.5 cords on a Japanese scale. I know that many who aim only at catching zander along the riverbed put thinner cords - from # 0.8. In my opinion, the “unit” will nevertheless be a reasonable minimum ... The reel, naturally, is a power one, with a gear ratio of the main pair 4.6-5x1, dimension 4000 in the Shimano line. A less powerful reel can not cope with fishing in such conditions.

Continuing his fishing trip on the Lower Volga Roma Baikov moved from delta Volga near Volgograd, to the base "Raygorod". Now he together with fishing guide Vladimir Rusakov catch pike and zander on the root channel of the Volga river a little below Volgograd. And they will have to face the problems that I mentioned above ( strong current and heavy sinkers).

It was nice to see my old friend Ilya and his fishing tackle shop in Astrakhan in the film. I was his guest last time in the spring of 2017, and the store has since become much better, and the range is more diverse and relevant...

@spinner