What Carp Pecks On - Grandfather Afanasy's Recipe

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

Fishing tales

Who among the fishermen does not know or have not heard the numerous stories about how capricious the crucian carp is and how unstable he is in his gourmand preferences. There are legends about this. However, there are anglers who know some of the habits of this fish and therefore, as a rule, always with a catch. I will tell you about one such case.

Several years ago I spent my next vacation in Karelia on the Bottomless Lake. I do not know where this name came from, but the lake did not correspond to it in any way. It stretched about a kilometer and a half in length and less than a kilometer in width, moreover, it was entirely shallow, nowhere did the depth exceed two meters.

A grassy wall stretched several meters inland from the water's edge. In it, up to clear water, here and there gathas were laid, and in two places - bridges. The bottom is very viscous. Truly a kingdom for the karassin brothers. And in fact, crucians were found in the lake, and, according to rumors, very decent ones. But here's the bad luck: now, in the summer heat, they did not take any bait. This has been stated by many anglers. The same fate befell me. No matter how sophisticated I was, trying different options for baits, occasionally I came across little finger crucians, which I naturally let go.

This went on for several days. Until the mistress of the house (my distant relative) got tired of my fishless walking to the lake, and she advised:

- Go to grandfather Afanasy, he thinks about something in this matter and if you manage to find a common language with him, he will help you, - and somehow mysteriously smiling, she finished: - Just don't forget the magarych, grandfather is a big drinker …

I did not remember the face of my grandfather Athanasius, but I knew that he lived on the other side of the village. My appearance clearly puzzled him. After waiting, when the dog calmed down and stopped barking deafeningly at me, he asked in bewilderment:

- You, boy, are obviously lost.

When I explained the purpose of the visit, he issued:

- You definitely, hovering, wandered in the wrong place. I have no crucian secrets.

I had to resort to the "secret weapon". Only after the second shot of vodka, savory snacking on pickled cucumber, did the grandfather advise:

- Dig up worms, come early tomorrow morning to the footbridge by the big stone. Do you know where is it?

I nodded.

Even before sunrise, I settled down with a fishing rod on the walkway near a large stone and looked sadly at the motionless float. Only an hour and a half later, grandfather Afanasy appeared. Greeting, he unwound his simple fishing rod, planted a worm on the hook and threw the tackle literally half a meter from mine. In less than a minute, a bite followed, and a palm-sized crucian carp became the fisherman's first prey. He immediately caught the second, then the third.

Probably, seeing my obvious bewilderment, grandfather Afanasy asked:

- Where did you dig the worms?

- In the manure at the farm pigsty.

- No, brother, now in the heat these worms are not suitable for crucian carp. We must look for worms under the fallen leaves. At this time, the crucian takes only them. I'll give you a few pieces, and then you can handle it yourself. With these words, he unrolled a damp cloth lying next to him and handed me some worms.

I will not hide, with trembling hands, I planted a donated worm on the hook, threw it with understandable excitement. And it went well. So it was in the following days. Grandfather Athanasius's advice turned out to be infallible. I don’t know how long this abundance of carp would have lasted, but the vacation ended, and with it the fishing on the Bottomless Lake ended.