Pike Lake

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

Fishing tales

When, on one of the trips to the Karelian Isthmus, my fishing partner Vadim, a local fisherman-old-timer offered to fish for pikes on Lake Shchuchye, Vadim took this offer calmly. It did not interest him in any way: after all, you can catch pikes in almost any body of water. However, when the old-timer explained that only pikes are found in Shchuchye Lake, Vadim was intrigued by this, and he agreed. At the same time he sangled me.

When Vadim and I, covered with hoarfrost, came to the house of the old-timer Fedotych, the fisherman, he was clearly in a "non-working state." Apparently, the day before he had a good meal and now slept soundly on the stove.

Seeing our useless attempts to stir him up, a boy of about twelve, who turned out to be Fedotych's grandson, stopped us:

- Let the grandfather sleep. I am aware that you want to fish for pike in the Pike Lake and will try to help you.

Vadim and I exchanged glances and looked at him with undisguised skepticism. But our apparent distrust did not bother the boy in the least.

- First of all, we need to get live bait, - he explained and, putting on rubber boots and a soldier's jacket, added: - and we need not just live bait, but pike.

Vadim and I again looked at each other in bewilderment: what is this still for a curiosity - pike live bait? After all, it is well known that a pike can take on any live bait.

- Only pikes are found in the Shchuchye Lake, since they have already eaten the rest of the fish, - the boy explained, - so even if we get live bait, we can try to catch only small pikes. And even then it is unlikely. Nowadays it is mainly big pikes that hunt, but they will not chase after trifles. For them, the most suitable bait is only pikes.

- But where can I get them? - without saying a word, we exclaimed.

- Don't worry, grandfather prepared the bait for you in advance, so the fishing will take place. We will fish for a pike.

He threw a bag of tackles over his shoulder, took in his hand a bucket in which a few squints were swimming, and we went to Shchuchye Lake.

At the reservoir, our young guide looked around and advised to drill holes along the steep coast, twenty meters from the water's edge. We lowered three pike-cars into them.

This tackle was a variant of the girder and consisted of a piece of rubber hose about fifteen centimeters long, around which ten meters of a thick cord was wound, one end of which was fixed on a wooden tripod, and the other was pinched in the cut at the bottom of the hose. A bee-eater would be planted on the tee.

An agonizing wait began. There were no bites for about half an hour. Finally, Vadim got lucky. A piece of hose twitched, the cord slipped off it and began to quickly unwind. Vadim sharply hooked and after a short struggle pulled out a pike of at least two kilograms.

And again there were no bites for about an hour. Only closer to noon, when a strong wind blew, there was a bite, and again from Vadim. This time he threw a pike on the ice a little less than the first. And again the lull. I was about to offer to finish the fishing trip, when our guide took a bite.

At first it was just a strong pull. The young angler waited a few seconds, then hooked. Apparently, the caught fish started spinning around. This went on for about a minute. Then the cord tore so that the tripod broke and the boy probably would not have held the cord in his hands if Vadim had not caught it in time.

The stretched line rang like a string, but still held the fish. Slowly, very slowly, Vadim began to pull the fish to the hole. When there was very little left to choose, the game was stalled. Trying to find out what was the matter, Vadim lay down on the ice and peered into the water. And when he examined the trophy on the hook, he even recoiled from the hole:

- Well, the monster … - he just said.

But as soon as he began to reel in again, the cord tore again, and immediately it sagged. This meant only one thing: the fish was gone. However, when Vadim pulled the tackle to the hole, we were surprised to see a pike on the hook that was clearly more than three kilograms. And we were even more surprised when she found herself on the ice. There were just terrible wounds on her torso. It's not hard to imagine what a huge pike grabbed such a hefty trophy.

I will not give the dimensions of the pike that Vadim named (after all, he saw it in the hole), but I leave it to the readers. These are the giant pikes found in the Shchuchye Lake, which justifies its name …

Alexander Nosov