Ruff, or rather an ordinary ruff, is one of the most common fish that live in our reservoirs. In addition to the common ruff, there are three more species of it, but you cannot catch them, since they are protected.
Ruff – the fish is not just small, but frankly small. As a rule, the average caught brush has a length of about ten centimeters and a mass of no more than fifty grams, and one that has grown to twenty centimeters in size and has gained more than one and a half hundred grams is a giant and, as a rule, rarely comes across on a hook.
What is he a ruff – what it looks like with a photo and description
The appearance of the ruff is peculiar, a fish with a large, even huge and wide head, on which the same huge eyes are located, for the general picture they are also very bulging and a small mouth.
Unlike the huge head, the ruff’s body is small, flattened on the sides, with a huge and spiny dorsal fin. The color of the ruff has a standard pelagic – the back is dark, the abdomen is light, the sides are beautiful – striped or speckled, and even golden.
In many European (and not only) countries, the ruff is considered a weedy and harmful fish, on the basis of which it is neither caught nor eaten. Of course, the brush, although small, prickly and bony, is not harmful at all and in our country does not belong to weed fish in any case. Despite its disadvantages, this small, spiny, and bony fish is the preferred food for many predatory fish, and, accordingly, the best bait when catching them.
Ruff is almost the most unpretentious fish, it’s not for nothing that he settled so quickly and so widely, because he, although freshwater, can live in rather salty water, up to twelve ppm, without any problems tolerates as high, up to thirty-five degrees, and very low, up to zero degrees, water temperature, it can live both in shallow water and at a fairly decent depth, reaching eighty meters.
Ruffle manners and catching
Despite its unpretentiousness, the ruff prefers calm water areas, no matter rivers, lakes, reservoirs or ponds. As a bottom fish, the ruff prefers a bottom that is comfortable for living – rocky or sandy, preferably dark and curled up.
Ruff is probably the brightest representative of bottom dwellers, and never betrays his native bottom and especially his beloved and cozy pit. And if the hatched pit has already become completely unsuitable for living, then he will simply move to the closest more or less habitable place, but until the last he will hold on to his habitat.
Unlike many other species of fish, the ruff is active always and everywhere – in summer heat, and in winter cold, and in a blizzard, and in a storm, and in any phase of the moon.
Only one thing can calm him down – too bright sun in the complete absence of life-giving shadow. As the closest perch relative, the ruff is completely not trained in good fish manners and does not take the bait, but roughly, from a raid, grabs it, and grabs it tightly. He breaks off the bait that does not fit into a small mouth, and swallows the bait that does not fit into a small mouth.
That is why for catching ruffs there is a special ruff jig with a long body, long forend and a small hook. But a jig is not everything, a ruff, as a rule, needs an infusion like a maggot , a worm or a bloodworm .
In addition to mormyshka, he is not indifferent to maggots, worms, bloodworms, giblets, pieces of meat or fish, bread, dough. Complementary feeding, of course, is desirable, and for this you can use both a pinch (no more) of grated substandard bloodworms and simple stirring.
How to catch a ruff with a float rod – what to catch, where to look for fish: https://youtu.be/pYr_fCXcLNA
Small but delicious
Ruff, despite the disdainful attitude of Europeans, is a very tasty fish, only small and bony. And those who are not afraid of its small size, or bony and prickly can taste not only the famous fish soup made from a ruff, but also a ruff of boiled, fried, stewed, dried and even ground into a fragrant powder.
How to fry ruffs – video recipe: https://youtu.be/-qTTGMv_UUQ
And no predator will refuse such a tasty snack. Ruff, despite its thorns, is considered one of the best live baits for catching pike, pike perch, large perch.
