First Line

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

Fishing tales

While still a student, I came to a tiny village in the south of Karelia for the summer holidays. The desire to fish led me to this wilderness. I must say that, despite the abundance of lakes in the area, the range of fish was very scarce: crucian carp, roach, perch, and even pike in some places.

I quickly got tired of this monotony and, on the advice of a local fisherman, I went to an unnamed lake, five kilometers from the village where I lodged. According to him, “all kinds of fish” are found in this lake.

And so early in the morning, even before sunrise, I found myself on the lake. Choosing a place convenient for casting a fishing rod, I slowly walked along the shore until I came out into an open area. On the left, on a low bank, several houses could be seen. On the right, footbridge went into the water about three meters. A little further - by the thickets of cattails and reeds, at the stern of a homemade punt, sat a fisherman - a man of clearly retirement age. In his hand he held a crooked rod - a rod.

I settled on the walkway, assembled a three-piece bamboo rod, planted a worm, and threw the bait into a "window" free of grass. The bite followed pretty quickly, then again and again. But the trophies did not please. Alas, these were entirely small crucians. Of course, I let them go.

After some time, such fishing bored me, and I began to watch the fisherman in the boat. For a long time, it seemed to me, he sat motionless for a very long time. Finally, a bite followed, because the rod bent hump, and after a short struggle, the weighty fish, flashing with silvery scales, found itself in the boat.

After about forty minutes, the fisherman fished out another large fish. Throwing her into the boat, he sat down at the oars and a few minutes later moored to the walkway. I was the first to say hello.

He, in turn, introduced himself:

- Vasily Kasyanovich.

As he scooped the water out of the boat with a can, I examined the catch: five dark green fish with wide, thick tails. What are these curiosities? I looked more closely, saw tiny red eyes, froze and could not resist:

- Yes, it's a line!

- They are the most, - confirmed Vasily Kasyanovich.

Having collected the fish in a sack, he looked first at me, then at my fishing rod, he probably understood everything and therefore said:

- Come on, kid, catch the cat's lunch. Get into the boat and move to my place, there is a stake, you will tie the boat to it. Try to catch a line.

Indescribably delighted, even forgetting to thank Vasily Kasyanovich, I literally jumped into the boat and began to row hastily, trying to get to his cherished place as soon as possible. Having found a barely noticeable stake in the water, he tied the boat to it. Without hesitation, I planted a crawl on the hook, threw the bait along the thickets of grass and stood in anxious expectation of bites. Time passed, but they were all gone.

In vain I threw the bait in different places, the fish did not respond. Only half an hour later, the float finally began to stir, lay down on the water, then slowly moved to the left and immediately froze. Several minutes passed - there was no movement, and I decided to reset the tackle. But as soon as I started to raise the rod, the line pulled tight and the rod bent into a steep arc.

The fish resisted desperately and all the time tried to stay at the bottom. When I finally managed to bring the fish to the boat, I was ready to scream with joy: a tench appeared from the water! It was not very large - 600-700 grams. But what did it matter: this was my first line. About an hour later I caught another one, though much smaller than the first.

Soon Vasily Kasyanovich appeared on the shore. I moored to the catwalk and showed him my catch.

He nodded approvingly and explained with a smile:

- This is my conspiracy place, - and already busily added: - tench is a serious fish and requires a special approach. Therefore, two or three days before fishing, I feed the fish with a dough of cottage cheese and flaxseed flour. Here are the lines and fit. So you come at any time and catch.

I didn’t abuse the host’s hospitality and therefore visited his cherished place only two more times. Three and four tench became my prey. This is how a childhood dream suddenly came true.