Fishing Trip

During our stay at our friends (Gena and Marina’s) Dacha (country house) for their son’s 2^nd birthday, Gena, Sasha and Slava (Gena and Marina’s brothers) took me fishing.  Last time we visited we went fishing from a boat on the Denpro River and more or less fished “traditionally”.   This time, they planned on taking me fishing by “hand”….I was outfitted in a nice set of waders and a nice warm under suit, they took extra care to make sure I was outfitted comfortably from head to toe.   We loaded in the car and headed to where the river used to be….the river has since receded and had left these “pools” of water.   I got all dressed up (with some help) feeling like a fish out of water myself; we then have a couple of toasts for good fishing and head to one of these pools.  I have to say I wasn’t sure if this was real or if I was going on the Russian equivalent of an American “snipe hunt” – Sasha is first in the water and I watch as he starts reaching into the water and feeling around and wouldn’t you know it, within about five minutes, he brought up a fish?!  He tosses it to the shore and starts his searching process over, by the time Gena and Sasha grab about five fish and I’m stuck to my knees in mud and not “feeling” anything, I ask Slava (Marina’s Brother) how to do this.  He gives me a quick tutorial and I follow the process and BAM! I feel and grab a fish….I pulled up this little tiny thing, but the process worked!  I shrugged my shoulders at my small fish put it back in the water but felt pretty darn successful and excited!  I keep going at it and occasionally feel a fish on my finger tips but can never quite grab them….I eventually catch a real keeper and toss it to shore!  Oh what a happy day!  By this time Gena and Sasha have caught in the neighborhood of 20 fish and my addition made it 21, but who’s counting right!   We do this for about an hour (before a real break) and my legs are feeling nearly exhausted from pulling myself out of the mud with every step…..but Gena is unstoppable!  He keeps going and finds new places to fish and I’m dragging my out of shape hinny behind him, having a blast but feeling like I’m about to pass out from the exercise, heat (from the suit) and a severe lack of sleep.  All said and done, I think Gena and Sasha picked up nearly 30 fish…. I caught four fish (only the one keeper) but I had a really, really good time!

What did we do with the fish you ask?  Well, when we got home they poured the live fish into a tub of water and the girls came out to investigate (play with is a better description) our catch (hey! I have one in there)….a little later Slava and Gena preceded to clean the fish (I could have helped, but I didn’t feel all that comfortable trying to use a knife at this point of my day, among other reasons, I was very, very sleep deprived).  They prepared the fish two ways, Marina fried a few and the others were “stuffed” and then baked…..both ways the fish were fantastic!!!  We ate them throughout the night as we alternated in and out of the sauna visiting and having a great time.  Although, I could no longer think or engage in any conversation and I was often drifting into endless blank stares, I enjoyed every minute being with our hosts and their family!