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“The perfect pastime”
What do you usually do in your spare time? Sleep? Read? Eat something tasty? Play computer games or just stroll down the streets with good guys? All these activities are in a way useful, perhaps joyful, but not good for me. My choice is fishing! I think it’s quite a natural pastime for any country girl. My village Shipunovo is nestled between two rivers: the Alei and the Klipechikha. Besides, there are 11 more rivers and 506 lakes in our area. They are rich in various species of fish: gudgeon, perch, bream, crucian, pike, carp, trench, burbot or eelpout, starlet and even gray ling in the upper reaches of the Charysh.
The best time for fishing is early morning, when the first rays of the Sun only begin to wake the Earth from a short summer nap. The tired birds still rest in their nests with their peewees .The breeze lightly chills the leaves after yesterday’s heat. The sparkling drops of sweet dew, tasty nectar for insects and bees, treat to water the emerald-green blades of grass in the meadows. Hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of swift fish fries play their mute games in the shallows, near the shores. It’s the time of heavenly silence!
In summer weekends my mummy, daddy and I, followed by our pet dog Richick, usually leave home for any place in the open air to fish. We have our own exact spots for that. But I’m not allowed to tell you their location. It’s a secret! When my parents took me there for the first time my father taught me how to cast the line, hook the fish after it has swallowed the bait, save it in a fishpond and do all other useful things properly. By the way, it’s not that easy to catch even a small gudgeon-fry. First of all you should learn some fisher men's rules, a kind of our know-how. “You are to know that people engaged in angling have a special code of behavior, and musts to follow,” Said my dad. The first one is very important: do not mix fishing with fishery! The second leaves no excuse for those who do not respect the place where fish live. No noise, no haste, no laughter when you catch, no cries when you fail to do it, no hollowing. Then you should never catch more than you need! (By the way, our dog is not allowed to break these rules either.) The last rule concerns fishy stories, I mean boasting about the takes. Wow! I would say it’s the most difficult one and absolutely unrealizable thing to ban!
My father says that a song about a merry fisherman is nonsense; a fisherman can’t be noisy but calm and quiet. Sometimes he even seems like he is sleeping. It’s a usual ignorant folk’s illusion! Actually he is all his eyes and ears, because he is in the act of waiting for his happy hour.
The result of such weekends is special fish soup, ukha, prepared in the nature by my dad! The fire is ready; the water in a smoked pot is boiling… He adds only some salt and fennel to fish. M-m-m! I can’t put its unforgettable aroma and taste into words! It’s easier to put ukha in your mouth! Help yourself! Only don’t haste! It’s hot! Five-words add to that, “All pleasures in one spoon combined!” What are they? The warm Sun, the blue sky, the beautiful countryside, the smoke of the fire, Mummy and Daddy, ready to play Richick! It’s not a little, is it? At least it isn’t for my family and I.
I would like to invite you personally to take advantage of all that fishing can provide! Welcome! Just enjoy and relive the scenic beauty, peacefulness and simplicity of my native place and take it home with you! Fishing is the best way to have it all!
Svetlana Kamynina Altai
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