Salyan

The weather was gorgeous – it was snowing. Nothing foreshadowed trouble, and our crew decided to open the season (you can't break tradition).
As agreed, 5 people were supposed to go, but the weather scared off the faint of heart. Another group of comrades went in a different direction… In the end me, Tolstiy and Polad headed off toward Salyan. Since it's February after all and the fish would be "pouring in," we needed to buy something to grill and eat ;-) Oddly enough, they don't sell mutton in Sahil. We drove around the village for about 20 minutes and in the end found one single piece for 2,800 and that was it :-)

Off-road :

We rolled up to the canal and despite the mud (the road looked passable) decided to drive through to our favorite clearing. After about 50 meters we ran into a narrowing of the road and the car just wouldn't fit between the canals. Okay, we'll just back up and everything will be fine. After 10-20 goes back and forth (10-20 meters each) we got stuck for good. We needed a shovel (not a little spade, but a SHOVEL) because we'd bottomed out on the ground. While Tolstiy was digging the car out with an axe, we decided to walk over to the nearest building to ask for tools. A guy opened the door, made a call and asked someone to bring a shovel. We took it and had gone about 50 meters when he called out to us. He says if you can't dig yourselves out, come back, I've got a Niva, I'll pull you out. After messing around in the mud and realizing we needed a jack, we decided to have a smoke before that operation. During the break the aforementioned guy showed up in the "Niva" and (we laughed for ages) got the "Niva" stuck right next to us. You should have seen his eyes when instead of sympathizing we rushed to take photos in front of the stuck cars :-) Credit where it's due to the "Niva", it got out and drove off in an unknown direction. We stood there speechless…. About 10 minutes later the guy came back with an old man, and the old man, without any Nivas, with just a shovel and shouts of "push!", got the car out :-)

Fishing :
Spoons, wobblers, twisters and shads are all irrelevant this season because the pike couldn't care less about them (it's cold). Live bait rules!!!!! On the float (worms) we caught smelt (Jackie Chans) and little crucian carp, which went as bait for the predators. The little fish became Jackie Chan because of its habit of spreading its fins when in danger. You can hold it between two fingers and it spins like on a horizontal bar. After the flop in Imishli, Tolstiy went all out with the meat. The mutton with kiwi and lemon was insanely tasty. And the snow and Polad's pickles completed the picture.

Result: The fishing was a success no matter what. The season is open! The trophies include pike, little crucian carp, smelt (Jackie Chans).