Gilazi lakes (Khizi)

One of my favourite spots, the so-called Generals' Lakes. The only things swimming there are carp, mirror carp and lots of turtles, which are often a pain, creating the illusion of a good fish biting - the rod bends in half and your heart starts pounding, but when a shell comes up and the turtle's head with the hook firmly swallowed hides inside it, you feel like making the turtle commit hara-kiri. The lakes live their own life and I still haven't figured out what signs tell you when the bite there will be good. Sometimes you pick great weather, get shrimp, worms, corn and groundbait, sit down at "your" spot, cast out and catch nothing worthwhile. You can bust a gut - a couple of little carp and goodbye. And sometimes it's the other way round - you catch several kg in a couple of hours. The best time at these lakes, in my opinion, is from the end of April to the end of October. Earlier or later it's down to luck. Everyone usually fishes on the second lake from the highway, it has a clean bottom and plenty of access points to the water. The first one, on the other hand, always has lots of weed and constant snags are normal. I fish there with a float, but spinning works too, though worse. Ideally come with a boat and just paddle around the reeds enjoying yourself, but as a rule it's not bad from the shore either. For groundbait, pearl barley and bread work well there. You can also fish pretty well on them. Lots of people fish there on bread only, and some pull out a fair bit on corn too. The biggest one I've personally seen pulled out of there was a carp of 3.2 kg. Of course the local lame gamekeeper, God bless him, who'll ask you for 1 manat per person as a "state fee" for your stay, will tell you plenty of tall tales about how just yesterday somebody pulled out a whole 20 kg right over at that spot, but those are just tall tales. That's what I think... :)