The clonk

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This is a piece of shaped wood of Hungarian origin, long about 40 cm., where there is all the efficacy of the adrift fishing. It was use by the professional fishermen of the East Europe in order to attract the Wels towards the fishing-net. They noted the curiosity with which the Wels approached to whichever source of noise, so through a careful observation came developed this tool named "Clonk" or "Butchka". There are several models, with different shapes and lengths, with a thin or large stem, with small, large, concave head, made by a single piece of wood carved or by several pieces glued. So, there are clonks for all the tastes and wrists, in fact is thanks to the correct movement of the wrist that this strange tool issue the right sound that attract the Wels. It wake up the Wels from their diurnal torpor and it persuades it to search the source of the sound. Every clonk, according to the shape, issues a sound with tonalities a little bit different, so in case with a type of clonck you don't see any bites, changing it or changing the cadence of impacts on the water, it is possible to succeed in purpose (fig.1-2). Big cloncks with big heads issue potent sounds, otherwise the small one are more moderate, so the diameter of the head has to be chosen considering the river we are daring. So the difficulty is to find the right accord between the type of river and the rhythm and the sound of the clonk, that has not to be too violent or soft, or too noisy, with the risk of frightening the fish. More is the depths of the water, more potent has to be the sound, all the more the current is faster, all the more we have to do the movement. In slow waters it is possible to make some breaks, using different cadences.

USE OF THE CLONK

The effectiveness of the technic therefore depends on the correct use of this tool, so we will see better as you have to move it on the water and not stuck it, as many make, causing instead of the call the contrary effect, spoiling the fishing to other boats with fishermen more experts. The two things more important are the entrance and the escape from the water, the movement at the beginning, when the clonk meet the water it has to be soft, contrary in escape it has to be decided , so the final protuberance of the tool in leaving the water creates the effect of empty (fig.3), that gives origin to the classic sound that seems the uncork a bottle of foaming wine. Once entered in water, it goes pushed fastly to behind and after few cm. Of immersion, with a same faster movement of wrist, it goes let out from the water (fig.4-5). The head of the tool during the regression causes, in fact, a bubble that issues the characteristic sound.

The first times it seems we can't succeed in no way, but insisting on a pair of training months, slowly we have become more and more good and the movement seems more and more natural now. To this moment, we were ready in order to lower our baits in the water and the results arrived. A very important thing is to don't apply this technic nore than a time on the month during the same sides, otherwise the risk is that the Wels accustom too much to this sound and they do not answer anymore, so you should often change drawn of the river, as well as the "Po" is long how much we want.

WHY THIS SOUND ATTRACTS THE WELS?

The reasons why this sound and the vibrations it provokes in the water are so irresistible for the Wels have not been verified till now. One certain thing is that the Wels is very sensible to whichever type of noise and vibration, often you can see them moving after the passage of boats or barges with big motors, that obviously caused strong vibrations in the water. Someone thinks that these vibrations are similar to those issued by the wounded fishes that swim with difficulty, so easy quarry. This incites the predatory instinct of the Wels, inducing it to come off the bottom to the search of the source of the sound. An other hypothesis is that the sound is similar to the same one they produce during the phases of the hunting in surface and this should induce others to follow them. That's certain that it like very much this sound, in fact the most part of the bitten are under the vertical of the point where the clonk touches the water; some times we looked some bitten a few cm. under the surface of the water.