AND THEN THE THUNDER STRUCK!

Where and how should hunters and anglers celebrate Republic Day? Silly question)))

THIS PART IS BORING TO READ!!!

We set off on May 28 at 10:30. The crew: me, Alex and Kera55 with his dad (Uncle Kolya). We were headed for Sherbetka, since over the past month we'd heard decent reviews about it. Got there pretty fast and without any adventures. Put the tackle together, cast out. Only small fry were biting… I mean really, really tiny stuff) Since the plan was to move to the Kura by evening for catfish, Kera55 and his dad kept catching livebait, while Alex and I got into the water, which, I have to say, I regretted right away… As for underwater visibility, I'll put it this way — you can't see a damn thing… The canal was teeming with life. Small, but life. Clouds of tiny fish, grass snakes, beetles, turtles, leeches and frogs. Later the locals told us that a palm-sized fish counts as a trophy here. But I didn't even see a fish like that; I did, however, see Lomonosov, and he, in turn, saw crucian carp of 1-1.5 kg. When Alex, who had swum the whole canal, came out empty-handed, we realized it was time to move. Wishing Lomonosov good luck, we packed up and moved on. Google Maps showed two clean fish ponds not far from Shcherbetka. We decided to stop by and scout them out. We were greeted by a fence, a barred gate, a padlock and a sign saying "Kenar shexslere…". Sad(
The bank of the Kura in the village of Mollakənd looked very promising. We pitched the tent, cast out, sat down for tea… The catfish we were getting were so small that we decided not to waste worms on them and went to bed. The morning is wiser than the evening. At dawn we broke camp and moved on.
Kera55 told us that a friend of his catches well at a secret lake nearby. After asking around among the locals, we found the lake. Unfortunately, all the banks were overgrown with grass. Fishing was impossible. Next we came across the Mil-Karabakh (as we figured it) canal, which had no fish either.
The optimism that had been sparkling in the eyes of all four of us just yesterday smoothly turned into pessimism, and later into total couldn't-care-less… We didn't feel like anything anymore, we just wanted to go home.
On the way home we decided to make a detour to some top-secret lakes Alex had told us about. First we checked the map, then the road signs, then the sun, then we stopped caring... After an hour, maybe an hour and a half, it became clear — we were lost. We drove through a hell of a lot of villages. We started pestering the locals with lines like: "Brother, is there any water around here with any fish in it?". In the end the locals sent us packing to the Kura… The Kura… Again…

YOU CAN START READING FROM HERE!!!

We drove about 25 kilometers along the Kura on a freshly built embankment, stopping every so often to check out the banks. Tired and angry, we decided to turn back home... We were already in the cars, but Kera55 decided to say hi one last time to two local anglers sitting all alone under the scorching sun. They turned out to have catfish of 1-2 kg, which pleasantly surprised us and suited us just fine. We drove a bit further along the embankment and ran into a very promising little bay. There were loads of locals. They were literally sitting shoulder to shoulder. We got a spot under the scorching sun. Oh well. Cast out. About 5 minutes later Alex pulls out a catfish of about a kilo and bam! We're not so tired anymore and not angry at all))) Not trophy fishing, but plenty good enough for dinner. The bites came regularly. Catfish from 0.5 to 3 kg. A couple of big ones (5-7 kg) got off, after first slapping their tails on the water right by the bank. Turns out the locals came not for catfish but for small carp. They said a one-kilo carp is standard here. Don't know, didn't see any. They blamed it on the water level having dropped a lot, and that's the honest truth. The level was dropping before our eyes. Literally.
By around 7 pm the locals somehow packed up their stuff really fast and bolted. Strange. The evening is supposedly prime time for carp and catfish. About 10 minutes later we figured out what was going on, but too late. The harmless little cloud that had been hanging over us for a couple of hours went KA-BOOM!!! And dumped a real downpour on us! We packed up in a minute, tops. Floored the cars toward the embankment. We fell about 3 kilometers short of the asphalt — the road got washed out. The car was uncontrollable. We barely made it out. Uncle Kolya turned out to be not only a good angler but also a good driver, and Alex was on top of his game too.

Overall we were happy with the trip. Now if only I could remember where that spot is ;)