The Volga Canal is awash with fish. How we caught roach, roach, and bleak.

Good afternoon everyone! We're continuing our fishing expeditions. This time, we decided to head to the Volga Canal from the Kopylovo settlement. We hadn't had any hope of catching anything; local fishermen said they only had a few bites early in the morning, and that was it. We like to sleep in, so we didn't arrive until 10 a.m.

Of course, our whole family came. We found a fun spot with not only dirt, grass, and trees, but also a little sand for the kids to play with during breaks.

Place and time of fishing

It's too long to explain in words and can get confusing. I'll show you on a map:

Samara Oblast. Nearby is a hydroelectric power station. In front of you is the Volga. Above is the village of Fyodorovka, below is the Kopylovo settlement. The road is clear, no traffic jams.

The fishing season is around the twenties of May this year (2021). The weather is unusually hot, muggy, and 31 degrees Celsius. However, the river is still icy, and a cold breeze blows off it. As a result, the sun is so hot you strip down to your T-shirt, and suddenly a breeze blows off the water, and you immediately wrap yourself in a sweater.

Tackle

My husband and I always pack a ton of fishing gear. The trunk is filled with them. We got out two six-meter fishing rods and a classic: a maggot and worm.

By the way, we don't use any fancy gadgets. Our fishing rods cost no more than 1,000 rubles. And they're comfortable to fish with! They're incredibly durable and telescopic. They fit in the car and fit snugly in the trunk. I don't understand fishermen who spend their entire salaries on rods, bait, and other trinkets.

First test and setup

We cast out a test rod (a simple float). First, we deepened the fishing line—about a meter. It was quiet. We dug even deeper a couple of times, started to brush the bottom, and pulled out some grass. We pulled it up a little higher and waited for a fish. They say larger specimens bite from the bottom. After about four minutes, a bream the size of a palm took the bait. We also call them "sharman" (a bream).

I get bored of just casting and waiting. It doesn't bite right away. Sometimes you have to wait 15 minutes, periodically recasting (because the current carries the float away). I started experimenting—playing with the depth. I thought I should try fishing on the surface. I made the depth shallow, just 20 cm. And on the first cast, right as the float landed, there was a bite. I pulled out a bleak. I cast a second, third, tenth time—and it bites right away. Just like a crucian carp during its feeding frenzy. All you have to do is keep casting and reeling in.

Then it got boring to just catch bleak—they're small fish, like a large sprat. But my husband is more patient; he keeps hauling in a bream every now and then.

And what is nature like:

Interesting points

Throughout the day, we regularly hauled in bleak and sharma. But a few times we caught large crucian carp and roach. We also got caught. We didn't bring our waders this time—there was no room in the car. Thankfully, we tugged and it let go, but we had to fish with the float, because everything was completely torn off.

When we got hungry, we grilled some chicken. It was like shashlik, but quick and easy. There was no time for marinating or other natural cooking. Our main priority was to quickly feed the kids and grab some fish 😂.

While we were fishing, we saw three beautiful ships sailing past—a motor ship, a barge, and a simple fishing trawler. I couldn't miss these moments and took pictures:

This time, my son showed more interest in fishing than my daughter. He fished like a grown-up. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring a kid's fishing rod, so he used a six-meter one. It was heavy for him, but he still puffed and caught fish.

Lure

I mentioned in previous articles that we don't use ready-made bait. We make our own from mixed feed. And we even add some bread. We simply poured boiling water over half a bucket of mixed feed, and after two hours, it swelled up to a whole bucket.

In one fishing trip, we usually throw away half a 6-liter bucket. We always freeze the leftovers.

Let's sum it up

Late in the evening, when the sun was about to set, we started packing for home. We were so eager to stay the night! It's a shame we haven't gotten a bigger tent yet. We're thinking of getting a four-person one. We're still shopping around.

This is our catch for the day:

We didn't clean the fish, just took a bunch and salted it in a bucket. It'll make amazing dried fish later. With kvass, it's absolutely delicious!