Rudolf likes to fish while on holiday at sea. So that spinning from the rocky shores of Norway is not too expensive, the author makes his "saving" pilkers himself. In Scandinavia, every throw is either a cod or a catch…
After a long journey, you can finally see the sea (actually part of it, for countless islets stretch along the coast). Small fishing villages are clung to rough rocks. Narrower and narrower roads and fewer cars. In the end, car traffic almost comes to a standstill. Water, water everywhere. Every now and then I made sure, is it not fresh water. The ebb and flow marks are clearly visible at the edge of the seaweed. In one of the sea bays we observed a hunting seal. Time and time again the animal stuck its head above the water and looked at us distrustfully. A narrow channel had formed between the two islands, which water flowed at low tide. At first I didn't want to believe it, however, where the current of the water was discharged into the sea – salmon popped out. The tide current also rumbled under the bridge. A little below, the water circulates in a circle. Can I see well, is it a mirage? After all, tiny fish jump out of the water there. Gulls immediately appeared at this point, shortly thereafter – and…
I fish with a spinning rod of a length 1,80 m, fishing line 0,25 mm and a 10-gram minipilker. The lure glides through the air for a distance of approx 60-70 meters. I've already counted to 15 and there is still no bottom. A slight pull-up. taking! The fish immediately escapes to an even greater depth. I pump her up. One and a half kilograms of cod. No specimen, but hauling light gear was exciting. Another flush and the cod again, a little smaller this time. Third flush and third cod. I'm not going to bore you, but it's not over yet. Every throw I feel some resistance – either a take or a hook. A bit of a lot of these hooks – and yet I fish with pilkers armed with small single hooks. But more on that in a moment.
As for the pilker
Most of the fish I catch are easy to unhook. I only take two cods with me, because it is absolutely enough meat for a meal for my whole family. Gutting takes one minute. Large crabs crawl out like seaweed tanks and fight each other over fish guts thrown into the water. Right next to it there are sea urchins and starfish of various sizes. After getting into the water, Mussels shells crackle under the rubber boots. The cod tasted great. After eating, I was fishing again. And although the fish were biting perfectly all the time, after some time I felt uncomfortable. For I realized, how much is all this fun for me. Each hook meant a loss of the bait. In practice, it was something like this, as if I were voluntarily throwing eight zlotys into the water every ten minutes. This is how much I paid for each little pilker.
During this holiday I lost all my stock of these lures, every one pilker. My blood is flooding, when I remember, how much all the lures cost me, which I broke up during my first several-day stay in Norway. Due to this, that Norway is for me the most attractive country in terms of fishing in all of Europe, I still go fishing there and almost every year. However, I already take many more pilkers with me than the first time.
Leftovers from a tinsmith
Despite this, I do not incur such high costs anymore. From that fishing trip, I started making my mini-pilkers myself. Thanks to that, that they come out much cheaper, I don't feel the next snags so painfully.
I literally buy the remains of a 3-millimeter lead sheet for pennies from a tinsmith friend. A sheet of this thickness can be cut reasonably well with solid old scissors.
First, I cut tiles with dimensions from it 10 x 6 Cm (picture 1). Because the sheet bends a little when cutting, i'm straightening her up, I smooth it, and then mark the contours of future pilkers on the board with diagonal lines (picture 2). End of pilker, to which the hook attaches should be a little wider. I smooth the bodies again and round the corners of the pilkers with scissors. Then I put the pieces of sheet metal on a hard surface and punch them (on both sides, so that no sharp blood forms) hammer and awl holes for hook installation and for tying the line (picture 3).
I arm my pilkers with cheap, galvanized eel hooks. The elbow of the hook should be as wide as the pilker at its widest point.
From a coil of thin tinned steel wire (available for purchase at garden stores) I cut off a 10 cm piece and lead it twice through the hole in the pilker and through the eye of the hook. Then I form a loop of wire, in which I stick the end of the hook release tweezers (picture 4). Thanks to this, the loop does not tighten when twisting the wire and the hook has full freedom of movement. Finished (picture 5)!
The body of the pilker can of course be scraped with a knife (will then become brighter for a while) or painted with waterproof paint of any color. I don't play so much pampering the bait and I didn't notice, that I would catch less fish because of this.
For beautiful specimens
However, if someone is setting, that he must catch a lot of cod during his vacation, should arm the pilker with a hook. The consequence of fishing with the hook will, however, be more frequent snags. So far I have caught more fish in Norway with pilkers armed with a single hook with a slightly crushed barb, than I needed. Whenever, when I start fishing, I always hope to get a great specimen. Flattening the barb makes it easier to unhook the fish, so I can release them with almost no cuts. I take the smaller cod out of the water on a stick.
Because I fish a lot from the rocks and I stand quite high above the waterline, Just in case, I also prepared a simple gusset. I made it from a long stick and a large hook with a crushed barb. I always have this gusset at hand, thanks to which I am also prepared for the landing of even very large cod. I usually attach the Pilker directly to the line 0,25 Mm (without a leader, carabiner, a connecting ring).
The most pleasant thing about spinning with light equipment, that almost every fish provides a lot of excitement during the haul. Such fishing is definitely more fun than fishing with a paternoster or with heavy ground equipment. I admit, that with such a thin line I can break off a lot of pilkers, but thanks to this, that I do them myself, I don't feel as painful as I used to. After all, posting every ten minutes 8 PLN into the water can ruin even the richest angler.
