Ide Adventures on Winding RIvulet
Fish habitat and appearance
Ides are part of the Cyprinidae which includes minnows and carps. They usually grow up to 2kg, with a normal max size of 5kg, with some specimens growing even larger. They have a sturdy body with is noticeably plump, but not very deep. They are a very fast growing fish. Small Ides have dark markings on their backs and shiny silvery sides. Their eyes are yellow and they have bright red underside fins. When they grow lager they develop a golden coloring along their sides.
Ides are found in freshwater in Finland and as far north as southern Lapland. They inhabit large lakes, but also rivers and streams. They are frequently found in the sea of the south and southwestern coast. They are also present in the Gulf of Bothnia in river estuaries. Smaller Ide tend to join fish of a similar family. Larger fish coexist with smaller groups and move on what are perceived to be predetermined routes. They prefer clear, warm water.
Fish Diet and Spawn Activity
Ide feed on larval and adult insects, snails, benthic invertebrates and and various vegetation. Larger Ide may also eat small fish, with the largest of them even consuming Common Roach and Common Bleak. Ides spawn in shallow water after the ice melts. They will often travel to rivers and streams, but may spawn in shallow parts of lakes and even sea inlets. The spawning period usually consists of 3 or 4 days and incites considerable commotion.
Areas to find Ides
So this was a tough one. As you can see, the research turned up very general ideas of where you might find them. Luckily, just from some experience of fishing the water body, I had a pretty good IDEa of where they were (sorry, couldn't resist). The map marks the spots I tried. Red for poor activity, Yellow for second best activity, Green for the most productive.
I tried numerous hooks, and I mean numerous. The sizes varied from 8 all the way down to 18. I finally settled on the size 13 Berserk Rage Series 4. I tried both Paternoster and In-Line Rig. Not surprisingly the In-Line rig was superior. I also used a mesh feeder even though it is usually not designed to be used in a strong current. As a control I did use a common feeder, as expected the bite rate on that rod was less. Ides are extremely cautious fish, so anything you can use to camouflauge your setup pays dividends. They also tend to bite and release quite a bit. This is what clued me in on trying different series of hooks. Once I found the type and size I had almost no missed fish. I still did have a few of what I called "false positives", but not many.
This was my setup:
The setup is a bit powerful for this fish, but I did even catch a few Common Carp during my testing, so I wanted to be ready just in case. As you can see the leader was still quite small, this of course because as stated before the fish are quite cautious.
Baits used are as follows. I tried a large amount of boilies, you will notice some areas on the chart were so small their name did not even register, I also added corn and insects just for the sake of thoroughness. I did also try spin fishing for Ide, but the bite rate was very sporadic and I felt due to the amount of other fish being caught it would be hard to identify what lures would be suitable when going solely for Ide. The chart also shows the bite percentage during different weather conditions.
Here are a few more graphs just do add a little insight to temperatures and times during which fish were caught.
During my initial testing no trophies were caught. I was pretty sure my time, temperature, hook size and bait were dead on... so, I figured I would go back out for a tiny unrecorded session and see what we got...
I was a little surprised actually. Most of my larger fish came in the late night hours, even though the multitudes seemed to prefer the sun and for the most part medium weather between about 11 degrees and up as far as 21. This one came at 15 degrees at 5 am, in sunny weather.
Please remember, fish are extremely complex in Rf4. They will not always bite in the same locations on the same bait, and sometimes you may have to look around to find them. While I couldn't find a wealth of information on Ides, I was able to find a hot spot where they existed and catch them almost exclusively on my setup with what you can see on the chart was their most preferred bait. Best of luck, and hope this helps you add that trophy Ide to your tally! Tight lines and most of all have fun out there.
