Dashgil Base

The urge that had been wandering around my system since late autumn finally found a way out. A week of phone negotiations with my brothers-in-arms ended with the trip being set for the 24th. The necessary gear was split among the participants, the tackle was in order, the base management was put on combat alert, the shrimp were ordered, nose to the wind and tail up like a pistol). But in the morning I'm told that our fisherman-driver has a force majeure and the trip is postponed until tomorrow. There were a lot of words, mostly swear words, and then the emotions started to die down. But our fishing god didn't abandon us in our hour of need. A kind soul turned up and agreed to drop us off. We set off after four, just the two of us; the other half of the group was supposed to join us the next day.
We only landed on the platform after six and started rigging up in emergency mode, but no way, we finished by the light of our headlamps. And dinner, soup from concentrates. And some vodka. And the starry sky overhead. And a south-southwest wind. And the Caspian, our beloved grey Caspian.
Well, life seems to be getting better, we sat down on the boxes and smoked. Barely talking. Listening to the silence of the world and enjoying it. And smoking again, now sipping scalding tea. The bottomless ocean overhead won't let you tear your eyes away. That's when you realize that you really exist, that all your comforts and status give you no right to anything more than just looking and enjoying.
Lyrics over). The night passed without much happening. The ratchet went off once and there was a slack line once more, but both were duds. In the morning our buddies rolled up. They decided to try their luck from the sand. But that idea was doomed from the start - the wind was getting stronger. No fish. No bites either. Not even nibbling the bait. A couple of times gobies played around and that was it. Meanwhile it struck five bells. And there it is! The ratchhhet! Heart jumping out of my chest and off I go to take off the bite indicator and set the hook! A short moment of playing it and a kilo and a half of universal happiness is already in my hands! And a horse dose of adrenaline into the system! We're off the mark! My system can't cope with the adrenaline, there's too much of it. 30-40 minutes and a slack line. And another kilo! And so, at regular intervals, the number of fish in the keepnet reached five. Seeing this, our guys on the shore had already packed up and wanted to come over to us. But the wind was strong and nobody would take them out. They waited for it to ease off. And they got their wait. They finally made it out to sea and landed safely. "Onward, friends, now we're together again. And there's work to do and..........."
Rigged up; cast out. And already it's dinner again. With the hard stuff, in a good mood. And tea again after the meal with a cigarette, listening to our friends tell how miserable they were while waiting for the wind to ease off.
By the time exhaustion completely got the better of us, the number of fish in the keepnet had reached ten. We packed ourselves into our sleeping bags and went off to snore.
We got up before sunrise and marked the new day with a good ratchet run and a slack line on another rod. The day started with a bang!. South wind at 9-12 meters per second. It's blowing the rods out of place. Had to prop them up with bits of broken brick that we found right there on the platform. The fish came all day, not often, but throughout the whole day. Taking yet another sip from the mug, we noticed the bite indicator doing a strange dance, lousy dancer that it is - not dancing to the wind at all. Strike, play it - and a double! And after it a second one! And after that, bites on two more rods! Phewww. When it goes, it really goes)))). Joy knows no bounds. After all this, our thoughts slowly began to take on wording and shapes more understandable to an ordinary person and to yield to at least some kind of healthy logic). Our relatives on the other end of the phone were starting to understand us when we talked).
Dinner. Tea, coffee with a cigarette and stories. One of us is already past 70, God grant him many more years, so you understand, there's plenty to listen to and learn from.
Sunday morning was marked by good fish and strong wind. While we had breakfast and this and that, our boat arrived. It took three of us to pull out the keepnet!) That was adrenaline's final appearance on stage. We loaded up and headed home. Time to know when to leave.
P.S. I wish everyone an opening of the season as full and rich as this one.