Amur River near Khabarovsk, at the dike (August 06, 2011; 5 - 11 AM)

I was fishing from a boat from the right bank of the Pemzenskaya channel, below the dike (this image is taken from the left bank).  

Today a big school of medium size skygazers (3-5 pounds) are feeding on sawbellies and other little fish.   I was casting big silver-pearl streamers and Antiwoblers with a two-handed rod and intermediate leader. Amur River is now low and rather clear (in summer I had not seen it any more clear than this).  I  

Skygazer is never jumping; this fish always pulls the line to the bottom. 

 This simple fly on a "golden" hook was working the best at that day.

 Skygazer of medium size

 I was using two flies; the smaller one was on a tippet tied to the hook of a big upper streamer. 

Pearl Antiwobbler was working as well

A little Mandarin bass was also caught with the same tackle. 

When too many spin-fishermen had started to cast the jigs across my line, I had decided to go home.   

 The fish was sometimes boiling right near the boat, in slack water. 

 Over a dozen fishermen are too many for this little place..

Here you can see that the dike is completely destroyed by the 2011 floods. 

Hot July at the Amur River

The first part of the summer in Khabarovsk was rather cold & rainy.  Only by mid July we have got the usual hot weather - over 30*C.  The nights are also very warm. The water in the Amur River is 22*c, and in the lakes  - 24-25*C.     These days the city people are using any possibility to go the water to swim. 

On the weekend I was with my family on one of the lakes at the Bolshoi Ussuriiski Island, about 5 km from the border with China. Some of the local fish of the northern origin do not like hot weather.  On the contrary, some species had come here from the tropical waters.  Hot summer is the time when they are feeding most active.  

 These aquatic plants form thickets at the depths of over 2 meters. 

Predators love sitting in a shade, below the green ceiling. 

 I was moving in an inflatable kayak along the weed beds and reed walls.

 Amur catfish was caught with sinking line & pink-and-purple wobbler fly.  

This little snakehead was caught with typical pike tackle: floating line, steel tippet, and red wobbler fly with yellow legs, tied on #1 hook.  

Snakehead is very strong fish with sharp teeth and powerful jaws.  Amur River is the northernmost part of its range. 

Amur River - at the dike near Khabarovsk (July 2011)

The Pemzenskaya channel of the Amur River is crossed by a stone dike which is supposed to support the water level in the main river channel. 

During last years the water level in Amur was high; the dike was seriously destroyed by the floods.  Now it is not forming a drop as before.  The river bottom below the former dike is covered with huge rocks which are providing shelter for the predators. 

 Local fishermen are fishing with long poles & bobbers with bait of little fish.  

Small catfish is among common fish caught near the dike.  In most cases I am using bright streamers tied on offset hooks.  "Normal" streamers are lost too often due to the rocky bottom.

Skygazer looks like a herring, but it belongs to Carps.  

 

One of the best flies to catch skygazer is a wobbler fly fished in middle layers of the water. 

Mandarin bass Siniperca belongs to rockfishes (Sebastidae)

This little fish was caught with a silver streamer on the offset hook 

Mandarin bass sits close to the rocks; the fly should move slowly, with jerks.  

At the dike - part 2 (Amur River near Khabarovsk, June)

When the water level in the Amur goes down, the top of the dike becomes visible.  This period it is possible to reach it by boat, and to fish powerful streams flowing through the dike.  This habitat is unusual for the Amur River, but many of the local fish like it.

In strong current it is necessary to use heavy rods and sinking lines

Chinese perch (Mandarin bass)

Chinese perch should be fished near the bottom, among the rocks, with a streamer with upright hook

Mongolian redfin is often caught in the same place, in middle layers of the water

Mongolian redfin

Good size Mandarin bass

June is time of flowers

At the dike (Amur River near Khabarovsk, May)

Huge side channel of the Amur River, Pemzenskaya, in 2000-2006 was growing and becoming bigger and deeper every year.  There was a threat that Pemzenskaya will become the main channel of the Amur, so the river will go away from the city and its river ports.  A new dike was constructed out of big rocks at the upper part of the Pemzenskaya channel. This had created an unusual, mountainous type habitat at the river flowing through huge plain.  After a day spent near roaring water a fisherman has buzzing in his ears - as if he was fishing for salmon near big falls.

 Many fishermen use spinning rods with a heavy spoon or sinker at the tip of the rig and 2-3 primitive flies as droppers.  With this tackle you can catch many species of fish, including Mandarin bass (Chinese perch).  Siniperca chuatsi is the only freshwater rockfish (Sebastidae).  

 Amur ide is among those carps which often eat small fish.  It was caught with a tiny wobbler-fly on a flyrod. 

 Skin-carp (Hemibarbus labeo, in Russian - horse) also eat small fish.   

The head of skin-carp is horse-like.

Andrey had landed a good size Mongolian redfin  (Erythroculter mongolicus)

 Amur catfish (Parasilurus asotus) is normally small

 Lookup (Culter alburnus) is one of predators which are numerous around the dike in spring.

Banded catfish  (Pseudobagrus fulvidraco) has relatives in tropical rivers. 

New "fly" - Anti-wobbler

When working with wobbler flies (see the post dated January 12, 2010), I had made several ones with a blade put “wrong way” - it was directed to the water surface.  Here you can see "normal" wobbler-fly (bottom) and Anti-wobbler (top).

 

What did I want to get?  Just a new type of a surface skater.  When I was testing them in the water,  some of the flies with an upright blade were showing much more complicated behavior than just coming to the surface and skating.  Some of the sinking varieties during retrieve had characteristic “hunting” movements – wide sweeping action.   These were the flies of completely new type. 

The base of Anti-wobbler consists  of a hook and plastic blade; attached with 0,1 mm mono line & clear glue. The best blades are concave ones; I make them out of disposable syringes.    When the glue will be dry, you could built on this hook with a blade any fly: streamer, imitation of squid, prawn, leech, or insect larva. 

 On this simple base you could tie Anti-wobblers of 3 main types: 1- with a foam back, 2 - Matukka style with a back out of a feather,  and 3 - the simplest fly  which has only hook, blade, body & tail.   All 3 flies below imitate little Cyprinid fish; I use them for catching pelagic predators in the Amur River.    

Anti-wobbler is excellent choice for catching pink salmon in the Sea of Okhotsk, far from fresh water.

This fly was most effective on that day - yellow skinny Anti-wobbler.  

Anti-wobblers were catching pink salmon in the river as well.

 Fresh silver pink salmon often jumps when feeling a hook. 

School of salmon running up Ola River near Magadan

Sunset at the Amur River.  Anti-wobbler could be presented near the bottom, in the middle layers of water, under the surface, and on the surface as a skating fly.   

On the base of Anti-Wobbler (blade & hook) you can tie any streamer, fantasy fly, leech, or nymph. The tail is usually made out of marabou or soft synthetics, sometimes with some flashy fibers.  Comparing with normal wobbler flies, anti-wobblers do not need the buoyant foam back; many of them I make with no foam at all.  

Anti-wobbler is one of the best flies for skygazer from the Amur River.

On some days this strange fly works much better than any spinning lures.   

Fine-tuning of the Wobbler flies and Anti-wobblers is done same way: by cutting the blade.  It is necessary to get flies with a stable wiggling action on retrieve.  A good fly is not falling on one of the sides, and is not rotating even on strong current. 

There is one more option – using a floating Anti-wobbler with foam back with sinking line in shallow areas.  The line goes on the bottom, and the fly is moving above it.  This is one of the best approaches to predators of big rivers.