|
 Russia's
Volga River is the largest river system in Europe, draining over 1.3 million
square kilometers of catchments area into the Caspian
Sea. The brackish Caspian is Earth's largest
landlocked water body, and its isolation from the world's oceans has enabled
the preservation and
growth of several unique animals, fish and plant species.
It's a truly unique and impressive place to visit, very
few UK carpers are aware there
are some enormous carp living in its depths and it's
highly likely to produce a monster carp of world
record shattering proportions before too long.
Even fewer people have been fortunate enough to
pursue these Russian leviathans, which I
personally reckon are the hardest fighting carp on the
planet!
With a
length of 3500 km the Volga delta covers a triangle of 100km x 200 km. In a
large number of areas we looked at you could
barely see the other bank, location of fish here was
going to be a task of the most epic proportions!
Still, undeterred, we ventured on, just one Volga
carp and I would be a happy man!
At the northern corner of the delta lays the modest city of Astrakhan, with
500,000 inhabitants the largest city in the
region. It was here, after a long journey alone
from Heathrow to Geneva, then on to Moscow, that
my connecting domestic flight landed and my
'safari' began. A lot of different landscapes are
visible going from Astrakhan through the delta to the
area we had chosen to fish in and
onwards to the Caspian Sea. Extensive pastures, cut by
broad waterways and fast running streams, turn to
well developed flood plain forests with a huge
variety of willows, poplars and alders.
It took
us roughly 3 hours by road to reach a small cottage, which had been rented
as our 'base camp'. Once out of the city, the
roads are largely empty, old Russian built cars
are parked along the roadside selling watermelons
and vegetables, this is a rural area. My first
impressions of the Volga were of its shear size, beauty
and the fast flow, holding bottom here was going
to be interesting! 20 feet high strips of reed
along the water suddenly broaden to reed fields
that seemingly stretch to the horizon. Fast running waterways
suddenly flow out into a zone
with vast shallow lagoons apparently named "kultuks", bordered by reed
fields and willow bushes.
 As I sat
there absorbing the atmosphere, a cruise boat came into view, not the
Norfolk Broads type either, a mahoosive bloody sea
going cruise ship about 5 floors high and a couple of
football pitches long!!! Amazing stuff, no doubt churning
the bottom up nicely. The large variety of natural
biotopes in the Volga-delta and the bordering area's yields
a huge variety of bird species. There is an
incredible amount of huge birds, of all types (I'm told,
not particularly into the feathered kind of birds) in the
area. The extensiveness and unspoilt
condition of the region contributes to the high numbers
in which some, and rare, species can be found. So
take your binoculars!
Enough
waffling, perhaps I ought to explain how I got myself to Russia in the first
place. A couple of years ago, I sent some bait from
Essex Angling to a chap in the south of France.
Nothing unusual in that, being one of the premier shops
in the country (Check out
www.essexangling.com!
OK, stop plugging Essex Man.), we send a lot of stuff all over the planet.
Anyway, a while later I had another
order from the same chap, this
time to Moscow. A friendship was
struck, lots of e-mails and phone calls exchange
and here I am in deepest,
darkest Russia!
After
loading my gear onto the speedboat, we set off in search of my friend Yuri
who had set up on a small island about 20 minutes
boat ride from our cottage. The area looked gorgeous, the
banks and islands were all sand - just like being in the
Bahamas! The weather was warm, mid
twenties, with a strong northerly breeze.
The island where we intended fishing from is where Yuri has caught a few
fish in the past, nothing too big, but rumours
have it fish to 38 kilos + (this would be a rod &
line carp world record) have been netted by
commercial fisherman (Oh yes, did I forget to mention
the trawlers) not too far from
here. Wouldn't that be nice - dream on,
Essex Man.
After spending considerable time with the echo sounder, I opted to position
my four-rod set up to the right of Yuri in the
mouth of the channel which led into the bay we
were fishing. Fishing the main body of river would
be nigh on impossible, the flow was extremely
strong and with depths of over 60 feet I really
didn't feel too comfortable. Not to mention the trawlers, cruise
boats, sand barges, et
cetera, on their way to and
from the Caspian Sea!
 Rigs were
kept nice, simple and most importantly strong. The
hook link is the new Sufix 'Super skin' in 25lb
which Cash of Gardner kindly sent me a few weeks
prior to include in my Big Carp 'Tackle Talk' and various
internet review series.
Brilliant stuff, but I'll save the technical reviews for a later date. Hooks
the impressive Kamasan Power Carps,
an old favourite of mine, proving incredibly strong on my
prior travels to Raduta, Romania.
Baits were the new 'MYX' bird food developed by Ian Russel of Heathrow Bait
Services and myself for Essex Angling. An instant
and highly effective bait which we have caught well and
have mega confidence in, this was accompanied by a
method style mix and light scattering of chopped
particles/MYX pellets. The
stuff looks irresistible!
After putting out the markers, baiting lightly (around 3kgs per rod of the
above mentioned mix), I was ready to do battle
with those Russian carp! Water levels were down a
couple of metres on pictures I had seen
previously, so banks of sand and trees were
exposed that are normally under water. I felt very
confident.
 After 24
hours, a fair amount of Vodka, and a relaxing time chilling out on the sand
in the sun, my left hand rod positioned in 4
metres of water at the bottom of a small drop off
into the main channel burst into life. Let battle
commence! OK, only a 14 pounder, but my first
Russian carp! The carp are pretty much all
commons, I was amazed at how hard they fight, then again seeing the
strong flow of the main river,
I guess its understandable. A gorgeous long fish, not an ounce of fat
and still with the curtain in its mouth. Back she
goes, which she wouldn't of if caught by one of
the trawlers!
That night, following one of many incredible sunsets, Yuri and I spent a
long while discussing rigs / tactics and carp in
general. I find it interesting to hear the
unbiased views and thoughts of carpers not tainted
with commercial ties or influenced by the mags. We
discussed the basics and mechanics of carp
fishing, why we love it, my quest for carp in some of the remotest
parts of the world. The Vodka
flowed, cigars smoldered....Yuri's RX digital screamed!!!!
Things were admittedly a little slow, not quite as slow as Wraysbury or
Harefield, but slow enough! We caught quite a few
carp, nothing too massive, around 37 pounds being
the biggest during our stay. I won't bore you with
statistics, that's not what it was about for me
this trip; just catching one was all I hoped for.
I lost a few bigger fish, well I would say that wouldn't I,
but I feel I did and certainly
they scrapped like hooking a Russian U boat. The
'Hunt For Red October' as Tim Paisley would say!
During the days, the local fisherman would drop by to look at our tackle, no
doubt wondering what the hell we were up to. They
often had many Catfish strapped to their plastic
boats, using hand lines and frogs as bait. Yes,
live frogs!! If you've never seen one, I've
included a photograph of a 'clonk'; this is used
to imitate the sound of a frog by hitting the water with it.
An art, I can tell you, several hours still saw me
thrashing the water to a foam.
In the evenings, after sorting out the baits, we would sit around enjoying a
few drinks whilst the chef (Yes, proper chef, not
me in a hat slogging over the Coleman) would
prepare sumptuous grub. Real five star carping!!
 All the
Catfish caught by the locals tend to be eaten, the Volga is a life source in
that part of the world. Carp are eaten too here, as
they are in other foreign parts, some sights are
not for the faint hearted. The carp scene is still in its
infancy in Russia and I'm sure the 'No
Kill' policies will take a while to filter through the
population.
All too soon our week together was over, I headed back to Moscow and a tour
of the tourist sites. Red Square, the Kremlin.
All absolutely spectacular.
Thanks to my Russian friends for making it all possible.
OK, time to get the gear ready, Raduta is calling. It's a tough life !!
Tight lines,
Chris 'Essex Man' WoodrowChris ‘Essex Man’ Woodrow
www.essexangling.com |