Winter Fishing. We Do Not Repeat Other People's Mistakes

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Fishing tales

When my constant fishing companion Vadim and I got off the train, we immediately noticed that, contrary to usual, there were no fishermen on the platform besides us. We looked at each other in surprise …

“Something is wrong here,” Vadim said anxiously when we headed to the house of Mikhail Sveshnikov, where we always stopped before going to the lake.

Our fears were confirmed by Mikhail:

- And although, as you understand, the ice drift is still far away, due to thaws, the ice on the lake has cracked in many places, and in some places there have appeared gullies. So now fishing is only for extreme lovers.

He paused, looked at us searchingly, apparently expecting our reaction to the warning. But we were silent, not knowing what to answer.

Finally, Vadim decided to defuse the prolonged pause and asked:

- And yet there are extremals?

- Last week there were two, so one of them visited the hole. Fortunately, he did not drown.

- Wow! - Vadim was amazed, - tell Misha how it was …

- I myself did not see what was happening then on the lake. And I know about it only from old Sazonych, whom you all know well. Therefore, I will only retell what I heard from him.

And this is what Mikhail told …

Two guys came to the village for a fishing trip. We put the jeep on the shore, just outside Sazonych's garden, took the tackle and went to the lake. Sazonych tried to reason with them: they say, where your relatives have taken you, you can easily fail. "Don't teach a scientist, old man," the big red-cheeked man advised him, "this is not the first day we have been fishing." As soon as they set foot on the ice, Sazonych's dog barked at them. "You see," Sazonych shook his head, "even the dog warns you." "Silence your mongrel or I'll kill her!" - the big man's partner has threatened.

The threat clearly touched Sazonych, and therefore he said with resentment in his voice: “I have seen many people like you here in my life, diving into the hole. True, not all of them surfaced. “Don't croak, you old bastard,” the big man stopped him, and they, stepping carefully, wandered along the ice. They had not gone even twenty meters when they came across a crack. However, she did not stop the cocky anglers.

They returned to the shore, chopped the alder poles with a hatchet, laid them on the ice, like narrow-gauge rails, and moved towards the thicket of reeds. We reached them safely and started fishing. The bite was bad, and after consultation they began to move along the reed, gradually moving away from the shore. Finally they stumbled upon a school of fish, and their catch increased rapidly.

After a while, the big man's partner, apparently, picked up a big fish and could not get it out of the hole. After several unsuccessful attempts, he called his comrade for help. It's hard to say what happened next: either the big man, hurrying to him, stumbled, or too abruptly stepped on the poles, but the ice began to break under him. The poles caved in, and he found himself in the formed hole. "Help!" - he shouted heart-rendingly.

His partner rushed about stupidly, not knowing what to do. He tried to hold out a pole to a comrade in trouble, but he did it so awkwardly that Sazonych could not stand it and shouted from the bank: “Stay where you are, your head is garden, otherwise you will perish yourself! And you, on the poles, do not move. Despite his advanced age, Sazonych quickly ran home and returned with an foot and a coil of rope.

He scattered the rope on the shore in rings: he tied one end to the alder trunk, and made a loop on the other. Picking up the noose, and constantly tapping ice with ice, he began to move towards the hole. A dog followed. Before reaching ten meters to the hole, Sazonych stopped, stroked the dog with his hand and said affectionately: "Don't let Cupid down, come on!"

The dog took a noose in its teeth and trotted to the hole. When she got to her, she went in so that the big man could reach the loop with his hand. The first time he, fearing to make a sudden movement and fall into the wormwood, missed. The dog pulled the rope out of the water and tried again. Successful this time. Pushing their strength, Sazonych and the big man's partner dragged the poor fellow onto the ice and quickly led him into the house.

After warming up, and recovering from such a shock, the agitated big man said: “Father, you saved my life. Take the jeep! " “Why do I need your colossus,” Sazonych dismissed. "Sell". "I won't do this." The big man looked at him in bewilderment and, after a pause, resolutely suggested: "Then take the money." "Still what … - Sazonych was indignant, - what are they to me for?" “You’ll fix the house, it’s not so hot.” "Enough for my life!" - Said how Sazonych cut off. "Well, then take at least some gear." “I'll take some gear. Thanks".

- On that they decided, - Mikhail finished the story.

He looked from Vadim to me and advised:

- So brothers, fishermen, have a rest in nature. And fishing will be another time, because the fish will not go anywhere …

Vadim and I, without saying a word, nodded.

Alexander Nosov

Photo by Alexander Lazarev