Russian Fishing 4 RF4's Staff Guide - Mosquito Lake: In Search of the Crucian Carp

Species Overview

Crucian Carp are of the carp and minnow family of Cyprinidae. They are normally 20-35cm long. They have been known to reach 40cm and 1kg. They are rarely over 2kg, however in RF4 at Mosquito lake, a 3.488kg Crucian has been netted. They are a quite sturdy and deep bodied fish. Their scales are prominent and protruding. They are normally a silver color as juveniles, but become copper to gold during adolescence and the color deepens in the adult phase. Crucians are known to spawn in shallow reddy bays from May to July. During dusk during spawning they are known to splash loudly on the surface. They have been known to breed with Common Carp to produce hybridized carp.

Diet

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Crucians are not picky eaters, They are known to eat a variety of insects such as maggots, and also plant material. They have also been known to eat expander pellets, casters, punched bread and sweet corn. They have even been known to bite on snail eggs. In game I found they bit on corn worms, Squid and Octupus 15, Corn, Caddisfly, Stonefly and Pearl Barley albeit sparingly. The baits I had the most success with, in order of preference and catch weight were Old Pal Caramel, Bread, and Cream Mango 15, which seemed to be the favorite by far, catching the biggest of 1.546kg. The dominance of these bait preferences is clear on this graph.

Locations

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The species has been introduced to many waters both on an intentional and unintentional basis. They are very hardy and can survive waters with a very low oxygen content. They survive this by burrowing in the mud. They can even survive in completely frozen lakes. Normally you will find them in vegetation rich backwaters and oxbows of lowland rivers. They can also be found at drop offs into deep water, reedbeds and lillies.

I tried going into a little deeper water but had little success. The same held true for shallower water. The success rate was scarce at 40 and 60, but for float fishing allowing it to drag on the bottom seemed the best option. Feeder fishing seemed to be the way to go. The fish were larger, and the bites were more consistent on the bottom near the lilies. The map shows the locations at which I had the most action. The locations go from red, yellow and green in the ascending order of success.

Setups

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The fish seemed to favor the deeper water right under, or just adjacent to the lily pads. Crucian/Gibel ground bait upped the bite rate significantly. My setup varied between hooks sized from 16 all the way up to an 8. The smaller hooks seemed to attract the smaller fish while the bigger hooks did well. Here are my feeder and float setups.

Bolognese setup

Feeder setup

Fish Activity

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The fish seemed to be more active in the later hours. Following is a graph depicting what time the bite rates seemed to be higher. The temperature and wind speed did not seem to have an effect on the bite rate in any significant pattern. Unfortunately we couldn’t pull out a trophy.

Activity of Crucian Carp per time of day.

Conclusion

The Crucian Carp is a relatively easy species to fish. They are in abundance on Mosquito Lake and are not that much affected by weather. Though there are certain hours the fish is more active, you can find them throughout the day. It's a great species to learn the game and to level up both your float fishing as well as your feeder fishing skills.

The data that I've collected has yielded much useful information. Nevertheless, there are still things to explore. I encourage the motivated anglers to pick up where I've left of. Show me how you caught your trophy Crucian Carp - though I believe I'm getting very close to finding it! I encourage and challenge you to go out there and to come back with your findings. And if you learn something new, please share it with the rest of us!

Until next time - Tight Lines!

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1609656904

RF4's Staff Guide - Mosquito Lake: In Search of the Crucian Carp