My spearfishing buddy and I established a New Year eve tradition a few years ago. Every Dec. 31, we pack our gear and take a ride in his Russian-made off road vehicle - Niva - to this river, called the Vorya. Then we usually put on so-called hunting skies, put all gear in backpacks, clip the weight belts and ski across the field to the bank of the river, to the stretch that doesn't freeze in winter. Usually, viz is around 50 cm-1 meter and water temperature cannot be lower than 0 degree Celsius anyhow. Such conditions are good enough to spear roach fish as well as, if we get lucky, orfes and dogfish in pits which are some 4 meters deep or so. This year was no exception - we went to the same river, except for my buddy got a sore throat so I had to do it on my own. Spent about hour and a half in 10-mm thick Picasso wet suit. Found lots of roachfish, but speared just a few of the plenty roachfish to fry on a pan, but failed to find any dogfish or orfes.
getting into water
checking remnants of an old bridge against the current for orfes and dogfish
here is how the bottom of a typical central Russian small river looks like in winter if you enhance colors
my modest catch
have to comply with the Russian way of warming up (brandy in that one, spilled some into the river to please the river gods too) even though I am Armenian )))
getting into water
checking remnants of an old bridge against the current for orfes and dogfish
here is how the bottom of a typical central Russian small river looks like in winter if you enhance colors
my modest catch
have to comply with the Russian way of warming up (brandy in that one, spilled some into the river to please the river gods too) even though I am Armenian )))
Last edited: