Imishli

Prologue. The tale of how the "Salyan Vagabonds" requalified as the "Imishli Bums". The team lineup changed a bit: Rovshan, Tolstiy, Sasha and Rovshan's pooch, Rif. To those who love to write that we went for nothing and there's never anything there this time of year, please don't even bother, because we knew there'd be no fish — we went just to chill and get to know each other better. We started getting ready for the hunt way in advance. Cartridges, backpack, food and firewood — everything was ready 2 weeks ahead. The dogs were learning to take a bird in their mouths and were dragging wings around. On Friday we called each other in the morning and moved the trip from Saturday to Friday (Yashar m. talked us into not dragging it out and heading off overnight so we'd make it for the dawn flight.). And then, out of the blue, bird flu. Our fury knew no bounds, but you can't stop us. We unloaded the cartridges from the backpack, put the guns in the safe and went fishing. The road: I woke up at 4 in the morning. Started packing my wetsuit. And damn, no mask!!!! Where the hell did I put it???!!!! What a pain in the a@@.... Urgent call to Tolstiy: You gonna swim? No??!! Awesome!!! Bring your mask!!!!!!! Got to Rovshan's, left my car in his yard, moved everything into the Niva and off we went. In Gobustan we picked up the tackle and dug some worms. "Horse Spring" greeted us with a friendly traffic cop who just wanted to check our papers and find out where we were going so loaded up. In Kurdamir we stocked up on meat, bread and other food, and even found Ochakovo kvass. The fishing: The bite was insane! In a couple of hours we caught a bucket of Caspian roach. It's paradise for float anglers there. The locals were getting small crucian carp and little carp, we only got roach. No predators, or at least they're well fed. The bottom rig with meat and the float rig with a live bait stayed untouched till morning. The operation: Back at camp after fishing, everyone got busy getting ready for the night's hangout. I was lighting the fire, Tolstiy was handling the meat, Rovshan was slicing salo and other grub. And then we hear a pitiful howl. Damn my sloppiness!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd forgotten the treble hook with meat I'd set up for catfish in the bushes. The pooch gobbled it up. It's dark, the pooch is howling. The treble had gone into his cheek. We had to cut the treble out of his mouth using a knife and pliers. Credit where it's due to the pooch. He bore this painful operation stoically and only nipped my finger once, when I was trying to push the hook point through his lip. Adrenaline, we were all soaked from the stress. After that, tired and drained, we went back to the food and the campfire stories. The raid: There was shooting nearby all night. From the direction of "Sari Su" we could hear the sounds of a cannonade.. We woke up before dawn, had some tea, grabbed a bite. Small flocks of teal started flying at us from the nearby marsh. They hadn't been shot at yet and weren't afraid of us at all, flying up to within 10-15 meters of us. We grabbed the tackle and went fishing. We got back to the car by one in the afternoon. Even from far off I spotted 3 guys in suits and civilian black coats. Turned out it was the ecology folks. The wardens showed their IDs for a long time and over and over, promised to search the car, and when they noticed the fins they asked whether we had scuba gear or a net. Meanwhile, nearby, undoubtedly legal shots rang out and perfectly legally shot birds were falling. There was no doubt about the legality, because the wardens didn't react to it at all and kept on searching us — the ones illegally catching roach. We noticed a guy in camo standing modestly off to the side. Turned out he was the head of the "Imishli" ecology department, Khazar — a good guy. We got talking with him. He told us there are no wild boar left on "Sari Su" — the flood drove them out of these parts. Epilogue: We had a soulful rest. Losses: my mobile (I cracked the screen), Rif's punctured mouth. We agreed to go after hare in a week, if they don't find some kind of disease in the hares. P.S. Rovshan, don't bother looking, your mug and salt shaker are with me… There are photos, but there'll be a separate report for them — Igor is out of reach all week…