My first barbel at Severnaya GRES

Good day!!!!

I'd been dreaming of this encounter for a long time, heard a lot about this fish!!!! And now,

finally, it happened!!!! And I'd like to share this joy with

my fellow spearfishers.

Seeing Uncle Vitya's barbel at the first Championship, I was green with envy (the good kind).

I kept pestering and grilling him: where, how, what... Because, honestly

speaking, hunting mullet has just gotten old.

After the north winds, not really counting on much visibility,

I decided to hunt kutum. By the shore the visibility really was,

to put it mildly, not great - about 1.5 meters. Swimming out from the shore, I thought

there was no point wearing myself out, and it'd be better to head for the southern part.

On the way out, after a couple of ambush dives, a small kutum came up to me. Having taken

it, I changed my mind and headed for the far ridge. Sometimes

moments like that turn out to be decisive. I must say that past 5 meters

the underwater visibility was strikingly clear. Dropping to 7 meters between

the rocks, I spotted a golden tail moving deeper under a ledge.

Getting down nicely, I made what turned out to be a decent shot, pulling

out what I thought was a small carp. Bringing it up, I was pleasantly

surprised. A BARBEL!!!!!! The one I'd been looking for so long!!!!! And not a small one!!!

As the weigh-in later showed - 2.5kg! Continuing to poke around in the grottoes,

I lay down between the rocks and then... out of nowhere, from above and to the side

a shadow comes down. Still buzzing from the first barbel I'd taken, I hesitantly

pulled the trigger and, annoyed that I'd aimed too high, cursed myself

up and down: the spear flew off into empty space way too freely. Only on the way

up did I feel tension and a sharp jerk. I'd hooked the fish after all!!!!

Quickly changing direction, I started going down along the gun's taut line, not

daring to pull on it, to soften the fish's jerks. Once I got closer,

I saw that I'd hit it, surprisingly well - in the hump. but I still couldn't believe

my luck. The second fish weighed 2.75kg.

And that's how my first acquaintance with barbel happened!!!! Wishing the same

to you!!!!