Seven steps under water: step 5 “Learning to shoot”

If your hunting instinct has awakened in you or a “brazen” crucian carp has torn off your favorite lure while fishing and you need immediate satisfaction, then a speargun will help you achieve what you want.

Of course, for those who have never engaged in such an exciting activity, starting to master it on their own will be very difficult. If it is not possible to use the services of an instructor, then the recommendations in our article will help you master the basics of spearfishing for beginners.

What is spearfishing

This type of amateur extraction of natural resources is realized by immersing a person in the water column, while artificially interrupting the breathing process. Only trained hunters can dive to significant depths, but for underwater fishing to be successful, a dive of 2–3 meters is sufficient.

Modern underwater hunting is carried out using a gun with a harpoon, the release of which occurs due to the energy of compressed air or special tensioners.

Preparation for Beginners

To successfully master the intricacies of this hobby, it is better to start by visiting the appropriate club: find an authoritative person there who would teach the basics of successful underwater fishing. Moreover, according to the law, it is desirable for an underwater hunter to have a special certificate. You should not immediately start diving for fish with a gun or harpoon in your hands . It should be kept in mind that spearfishing is associated with a number of health problems:

1. Hypoglycemia is a lack of glucose in the blood. This is fraught with loss of consciousness at depth, which can lead to death. To prevent this dangerous condition, you can have a hearty lunch with mostly carbohydrate foods before diving, or take a drink with a high glucose content with you.
2. Hypothermia. A novice underwater hunter should not dive into a body of water with a low water temperature at all. It is better to gain experience in the warm season. Hypothermia can be caused by an incorrectly selected suit (too thin) and prolonged exposure to water. The person begins to shiver, convulsions, and problems with the heart are possible. In such a situation, panic often prevents you from acting correctly. You need to pull yourself together, try not to make unnecessary movements, but get to the shore as quickly as possible.
3. Underwater fishing poses another danger: barotrauma. This state of the body occurs due to the difference in pressure on the surface and in the water. You should drip camphor oil into your ears in advance. This will prevent injury to the eardrum by the wax plug. At depth, the sulfur plug often breaks off and collides with the eardrum, which causes very severe pain, including loss of consciousness.

Underwater hunting requires great dexterity, the ability to move silently in the water column. You need to take into account that equipment affects the coordination of movements, and practice swimming in a suit and mask in advance. It is necessary to practice holding your breath under water with a snorkel in your mouth, increasing the amplitude.

Selecting a location

Seas and oceans are most suitable for this type of hunting. In such places, spearfishing is divided into pelagic and rock. In the first case, the hunt is for fish that are located in the water column, in the second - for the inhabitants of underwater reefs and rocks. In such places the water is always clear, which easily allows the hunter to find prey.

If it is not possible to organize sea spearfishing, then this can be done in the country’s inland waters. The main condition for the successful implementation of this type of leisure is the transparency of the water.

In rivers, oddly enough, it is much easier to get a trophy specimen than in stagnant lake water. There is a logical explanation for this. There is almost perfect silence in the lake, which is disturbed by the movement of the hunter underwater, and the cautious large fish strives to leave the dangerous place as soon as possible. In the river, the fish are accustomed to the constant movement of the water mass, and it is possible to sneak up on the prey unnoticed, against the current.

A little history

Spearfishing appeared as one of the ways to feed itself in ancient times. It was practiced by peoples who had access to bodies of water. Thus, the inhabitants of the Pacific Islands hunted in coastal waters with spears. They dived, holding their breath. Later, such fishing ceased to be the main source of food and changed, turning into a favorite active recreation for many. And at the end of the 19th century. Underwater hunting received the status of an official sport, and international competitions began to be held in it. In areas where there are no seas and oceans, rivers and lakes are successfully used for underwater hunting. In our country, river and lake hunting is the most common.

Basic Rules

1. The requirements apply to other types of fishing, the only difference being that the fishing gear is different from “land-based” fishing. It is allowed to use only those devices that are permitted for this type of hunting, and also not to engage in underwater fishing during fish spawning. In addition, hunting for “Red Book” fish species is prohibited.
2. In order to fish in accordance with all the rules, a person must have with him the “Underwater Hunter of the Russian Federation” certificate, which can be obtained from the branch of the Russian Underwater Fishing Federation - such a certificate gives the right to participate in underwater hunting competitions.

Security requirements

This type of fishing is an extreme activity. The safety measures that a person must observe are aimed primarily at preserving the life and health of the shooter.

Safety requirements are divided into:

1. Rules for handling a gun.
2. Rules for staying in the aquatic environment.
3. Risk factors associated with the hunting process.

Basic rules for handling a gun:

• Firearms must always be loaded and unloaded in water. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in personal injury and mechanical damage to the gun.
• It is prohibited to let go of a loaded gun even for a short period of time. Even if you are 100% sure that the gun is not loaded, you should not point it at people.
• If any part of the gun fails or requires replacement, then repairs can only be made by replacing it with an original part. It is prohibited to “modify” the gun or change its technical characteristics.
• It is forbidden to hold the gun by the harpoon or line; when fired, you can get serious damage.
• The safety catch is removed only immediately before firing.

Rules for being in the aquatic environment:

1. All kinds of watercraft equipped with an engine pose a great danger. In the water, it can be difficult to determine from which direction the boat is approaching. Even a bright buoy, which must be used when underwater hunting, does not always allow, at modern surface speeds, to notice in time the place where the underwater hunter is located.
2. When hunting for large fish, in cases where a successful shot was fired, you should stay at a considerable distance from the shot fish, and not engage in hand-to-hand combat with the prey until it becomes weak. If you ignore this requirement, then during the fight you can be seriously injured by the harpoon protruding from the fish’s body.
3. The weight belt must have a mechanism that allows you to easily release this load in a critical situation.
4. Snags are also very dangerous, because they attract catfish or other large fish in such places. In addition to trophy prey, there may be torn off gear and poacher’s nets that an underwater hunting enthusiast can get caught in. Also, during an emergency ascent, you may not notice the logs overhead and get injured, which can lead to loss of consciousness.
5. If fishing is carried out in cold water , then hypothermia can occur even in a wetsuit. Therefore, when plunging into the cold waters of mountain rivers, or in winter, it is necessary to monitor your well-being, use a wetsuit that must have sufficient thickness of material to retain heat, and if signs such as severe chills, shortness of breath, increased heart rate appear, you should immediately stop hunting , and go ashore to warm up.
6. You should not stay under water for too long, to the point of holding your breath. You should also not dive when you are very excited or experiencing negative emotions; this will result in a manifold increase in oxygen consumption in the brain.
7. Spearfishing is a very energy-intensive hobby, so for proper relaxation, it takes twice as much time as was spent diving.
8. It is strictly forbidden to shoot at unclear targets. This rule applies to both underwater and wild animal hunting.
9. When hunting on a mountain river or at a sufficient distance from the shore in sea water, you can get carried away by the process and not notice the current, which can carry the unlucky fisherman far into the open sea. On a river, strong movement of the water mass can cause a collision with stones, followed by loss of consciousness.
10. A sharp knife must be present in your equipment. Cases where experienced athletes died after becoming entangled in fishing nets occur every year.

Spearfishing for Beginners

It is worth understanding that simply buying equipment and studying the rules of hunting will not achieve success. Spearfishing will require the acquisition and application of certain skills, techniques and tactical principles that are not immediately learned.

Beginners to this business should know and understand some secrets:

• The hunter himself must be like a fish. In the aquatic environment, everything is very phlegmatic, any sudden movement is regarded as danger. That is why the hunter himself must simply merge with this environment. To move, you cannot wave your arms or a gun; it is enough to make slight movements with your flippers, and they must be visible. When getting off the boat, you cannot make a lot of noise; everything should be as calm as possible.
• The ability to wait is also the most important component, because when a fish swims past a snag, it does not pay any attention to it. So the hunter must become the same snag and not give himself away either by sound or movement.
• Staying calm is also very important in many cases. Do not forget that we are 80% water and when hunting we are in the same environment. When you see a potential trophy, you need to be able to control yourself; a strong heartbeat will instantly give you away, and it will immediately disappear.
• Ear training in water is also important; experienced hunters hear approaching fish long before they appear in their field of vision.

These simple and accessible skills will help beginners quickly adapt to a new activity and very soon they will be hunting on par with experienced ones.

Criteria for choosing equipment for beginners

1. The mask must be made of high-quality materials, the porthole must withstand significant pressure and possible impacts on hard objects. When broken, glass should not form fragments that could injure the eyes. For this type of outdoor activity, models with minimal under-mask space are suitable, which together with a wetsuit add positive buoyancy to the hunter.
2. The snorkel will be rigid, classic, with a strap for fastening, and of sufficient length so that you can stay on the surface of the water for a long time, watching for prey.
3. The choice of a wetsuit should be taken very seriously, because the comfort of staying in such an unnatural environment for humans as water will depend on the correct selection of underwater “clothing”. Wetsuits can be dry, semi-dry or wet. In a dry wetsuit, it is almost completely impossible for water to get inside; in a wet suit, this happens every time you dive. In a wetsuit, the water that gets inside acts as a heat insulator, being heated by the human body. The thickness of the wetsuit fabric depends on the temperature of the water where the dive will take place. To make hunting comfortable in winter, models with a material thickness of 9–11 mm are suitable.
4. The wetsuit material has a porous structure, and as a result, positive buoyancy. To balance the lifting force and the force of gravity of the earth, the hunter needs to use a special belt with a load. The load is selected in such a way that the hunter can easily dive to the desired depth if necessary, and can also easily surface to the surface to catch his breath. The belt fastening mechanism should exclude the possibility of involuntary unfastening, but at the same time, if unpredictable situations arise that require an emergency ascent, it should be easy to remove.
5. The fins are different from ordinary ones and have a greater length, as well as a bend angle relative to the plane of the foot. This shape allows you to reduce the load on the foot, develop greater speed and maneuverability.
6. Weapons are divided into pneumatics and rubber bands. In the first case, compressed air is used, in the second, elastic rubber.

The beginning is already half the battle, so if you are interested in this type of extreme recreation, then you should purchase equipment and go to the nearest body of clear water to acquire skills and professional experience.

Handbook for underwater hunter: Hunting in small and mountain rivers

First, let's understand the terms. We will assume that “small rivers” are those in which the average depth does not exceed 4–5 meters. This is the main criterion, since it is this that primarily determines the development of flora and fauna in the river, and therefore the underwater hunting methods used. The length of the river does not matter. Moreover, all our further arguments will be equally applicable to the upper reaches of such large Russian rivers as the Don, Dnieper or Volga.

I’ll admit right away: I personally like to hunt most of all in small rivers. I'll try to explain why. Firstly, the shallow depths and light saturation of such a reservoir contribute to the rapid growth of the most abundant and diverse aquatic vegetation. Not only does it provide food and shelter for many fish, but how beautiful is it?! What about the rubble formed after washed away coastal trees fall into the water? They are impossible in this form in any other reservoirs, but river debris is the most likely daytime habitat for catfish, chubs, ides, pike perch and other fish. I know of hunters who, having thoroughly studied their river, dive into one blockage, climb out, move to another, dive into it, and so on.

I am far from recommending this technique to everyone, primarily because it is focused exclusively on maximum production in the shortest possible time. If the hunter is not only (and not so much!) a breadwinner, then he is interested in swimming among underwater plants, in reeds and cattails, on shallows and riffles, it is interesting to check cold holes and whirlpools, warm reaches and bays, that is, to carry out a comprehensive search. And this is justified, since a small river is that it is unpredictable.

In such streams there is a current of medium strength. It forms the river bed, which in two or three years can change beyond recognition. Where there were good pondweeds growing last year, this year there was sand, and the grass almost disappeared. Or vice versa. Or a spring flood swept away a powerful blockage, but at the next bend a large alder tree was washed away and knocked down, and now a new “Eldorado” is being created there.

And the behavior of fish in the river cannot always be predicted. Sometimes you find it in completely unusual places. In addition to temperature and pressure, in small rivers the presence of fish in a particular place can be influenced by spring floods, accidental discharges from industrial enterprises, farms or livestock yards, prolonged rains, and so on. In a river where last year there were no fish at all, and you were ready to give up on them, there are surprisingly many of them this year. Unfortunately, this rarely happens; more often, alas, it’s the other way around. But that is another topic…

Small rivers are also good because all categories of hunters can enjoy hunting there: old and young, experienced masters and beginners. In them it is quite possible to do without diving to great depths, without holding your breath for long periods, which many of us, for one reason or another, are simply not capable of. But at the same time, with some experience and perseverance, you can always count on meeting fish. And, sometimes, not small at all.

And the last word in defense of small rivers. There are many of them, or rather, a lot of them. They cover our mostly flat country so thickly that near not only every city, but also towns and villages you can always find a river or rivulet. Thousands of hunters can enjoy our favorite hobby without buying a train or plane ticket. And this is a very powerful, perhaps the main argument in favor of hunting on small rivers.

They may object to me: they say, not all rivers have clear water. Well, that's right. But, firstly, the concept of “transparent” is different for everyone. In our Moscow region, visibility of one and a half to two meters is considered normal, three to four is good. When I was hunting on a mountain river, a local hunter stated with disappointment that visibility was poor, while it was no less than four meters. In the southern Urals, I know, meter visibility is considered normal. And secondly, rivers with a lot of aquatic vegetation have the ability to filter water well. Therefore, you should not despair if you drive up to a river and its water is muddy. It may very well be that a kilometer or two downstream, it is already quite suitable for hunting. It is possible that there is no need to go anywhere, but you should immediately swim into a quiet bay or climb deeper into the reed thickets. Transparent water may be higher up the river, and the turbidity that upset you so much is a consequence of the recent watering of a herd of cows or the bathing of local boys.

What awaits an underwater hunter in small rivers, besides the above-mentioned aquatic vegetation and rubble? What kind of fish? And any! Both in terms of species composition and maximum sizes. We will not take into account the maximum dimensions of catfish, silver carp, carp, grass carp, pike and pike perch; they are now very rare even in our largest and deepest reservoirs. What, isn’t a pike perch worth a five, a pike a ten, a carp worth a pound and a catfish worth fifty dollars bad?! And these are not from the realm of fantasy, but very real examples even for our time. However, in everyday life, much more modest production awaits us all (I hope such recognition will not turn you away from small rivers).

The scope of the article will not allow us to describe each type of fish, the method of hunting for them and its features. I think it would be good to look at the basic techniques we use in small, flat , moderate flowing rivers.

Active search is the most common and prey-producing hunting method. Climbing into the thick underwater grass, a hunter can encounter almost any fish that lives in a given river. The same picture is seen in the dense interweaving of branches and in underwater bushes. These are the most likely places for fish to stay during the day. Since it is impossible to detect fish here from the surface, you have to constantly dive and climb into the real underwater jungle. In this case, the fish can be seen five centimeters from your own nose. Therefore, the river gun modification is the shortest, and the gun must be held so that the tip only protrudes slightly forward behind the hunter’s head. Then it is difficult, but still possible, even in the thickest grass, to turn the gun around and point it at the target of fire.

There is no way to explain it, but in the river the fish almost always stand on a flat bottom. It can be in the middle of the river at great depth and shallow near the shore, but if the bottom slope is thirty degrees or more, it is useless to look for fish here during the day. Even the ubiquitous pike avoids such places.

Since visibility in thick grass is very limited, and the fish are not timid and stand firmly, we have to check (we call this “combing”) all the grass thickets. This is done as follows.

Typically, an active search involves the hunter moving against the current. Here you are swimming up to such underwater thickets. First, you look through the entire lower edge of the grass, diving towards it from the side of the clean bottom and looking, but not swimming into the grass. Then, moving forward a meter and a half, again starting from any edge, you dive, stick your head into the grass, take a more or less horizontal position so that you can inspect the area in front of you and on the sides.

The first place you should look when lowering yourself into the grass is directly below you, since this is where the fish will come off first. Next look, a little lower downstream, so as not to inadvertently lie directly on the fish standing below you. And then forward and to the sides. There is nothing - pop up. Don't try to push through the dense thickets, you'll only make noise. Having checked a small area in this way, move to the side about one and a half meters (depending on the density of the grass growing in this place) and dive again. Then again to the side and dive again. So until the end of the grass or to the shore. Move forward again and dive in the opposite direction.

We call this search method “square-nest” and consider it the most effective in dense thickets of underwater grass. If a fish is found, but you were unable to shoot it, do not try to catch it, and do not change your hunting method. The fish often moves up the river, and you still have a chance to catch it. But don’t miss the other one, standing two meters to the left or right.

When a hunter moves against the current, his speed relative to the bottom is low, he manages to examine all the places underwater that interest him, easily dives under plants tilted towards him and, using the current, reverses out of the tangle of branches. But the most important thing is that the silt that he lifts from the bottom or knocks off plants with his body is carried back by the current, without covering the hunting area with a muddy curtain.

It is better to examine the underwater rubble in the following order. First, the roof is checked: you dive a little from the sides and behind the blockage (depending on the thickness of the roof) and look up from the bottom. Here you can see the hanging tail or white belly of a catfish, chub or pike. The fourth side, the one on the side of the current, is forbidden. I don’t advise anyone to climb there, as the current can strongly press you against the branches and trunks, and it will be very difficult to break away from them, practically without using fins.

Finally, you begin to examine the rubble itself. Start by finding a gap in it, that is, a place through which you could not only climb into the rubble, but also get out of it. You should determine in advance whether you will turn around or return backwards (this is also possible). The main thing here is not to rush. Haste is harmful from a safety point of view, firstly, and, secondly, it is also not justified because the fish in the rubble is very strong. How many times has it happened with a noise and a crash that you take one catfish, and then a second one, lying some one and a half to two meters from the first. The most promising place in the rubble is its base. Here, at the bottom there will be both the largest catfish and pike perch.

There is a way to hunt downstream, the so-called “rafting”. Using it, you can catch those types of fish that are usually in motion in the water column. These are asps, schooling bream and ide. You have to shoot quickly, offhand, taking into account the movement of not only the fish, but also your own. There is a high probability of catching a large pike while rafting if the underwater vegetation is not too dense, with clearings. The pike here stands at the bottom or in half-water, usually right behind the thickets. It is not difficult to notice it if you concentrate your attention on such places. In this case, the gun should be pointed not where you are looking, but downward, that is, under you. Moreover, in that split second, until the signal about the seen target passes the eye-brain-hand chain, the current will carry the hunter exactly this distance, and the gun will be aimed at the fish. There is a little trick. If, when hunting against the current, the trident is turned vertically in order to cling less to the stems of grass, then when rafting it should be installed horizontally. This will increase the likelihood of hitting fish.

In shallow places you can raft on the surface. In a deep channel, it is better to raft by diving, moving just above the grass or a couple of meters from the bare bottom. If the fish is not visible through the grass from above, then you have to lower your head and the tip of the gun into the thicket of this grass. The closer to the bottom the river current, the weaker it is, and accordingly the hunter’s speed of movement will be less than on the surface.

It’s no secret that even experienced hunters scare away a significant part of the fish that gets in their way. Moreover, not always realizing it. When rafting down the river, we practically do not work with fins, do not tear out grass, do not break small twigs, do not breathe “like a steam locomotive,” but, most importantly, we do not move in the water column. Hunters move with the flow of water, and the fish does not sense them with its most sensitive organ - the middle lateral line. And he lets you in, to his own misfortune.

There is another method to deceive the fish: the “lay-out” method. It is designed for someone who is on the move. Many species of fish suffer from curiosity, large predators do not like aliens who invade their territory, asps and silver carp are almost always on the move. All these categories of fish may well swim towards a hunter who pretended to be a log.

Storage can be done both at the bottom and on the surface. At the bottom, the hunter freezes, often holding onto something sticking out or lying at the bottom with his free hand. On the surface we usually hide among reeds or reeds. The more noise you make when settling into the haul-out, the later the interested or calmed fish appear. As a rule, the small fish come out first, then the larger fish, and only at the very last the test specimens appear. Hence the conclusion: the longer you can hold your breath (in the case of underwater hauling), the greater your chances of hanging something on the kukan.

When preparing to hunt on any Protva, Prona, Istra or the same Moscow River, you should take into account those features that we talked about at the beginning. First of all, your equipment should not have anything on it that easily gets caught on branches and grass. For example, mesh fins and open heel fins. Of course, there is no question of signal buoys (unless you hunt only by rafting). We have already mentioned what kind of guns there should be. Most river hunters use air guns that are medium-length, have a center handle, and are powerful enough to handle carp and catfish.

We change the tips depending on what kind of fish we hope to meet and in what conditions we will hunt. Strong but delicate mountain fish (taimen, salmon, trout, trout, etc.) are better to pierce right through with a single tooth. Large fish (catfish, carp, grass carp, silver carp) should also be shot with a single tooth. For other fish, in principle, a trident with large petals is also suitable, but due to the fact that you almost always hope for something “oh-ho-ho!”, this tip is most often kept in a backpack. In addition, under coastal bushes and in dense aquatic vegetation, hunting with a trident is very difficult, and at long shooting distances, due to the high drag, such a tip greatly reduces the lethal force of the gun.

Any masks are suitable, whatever you like. The small under-mask space, which is used by the best imported samples, does not play a significant role due to the fact that you don’t have to dive particularly deep. But the large visibility inherent in single-glass, elliptical masks is much more in demand in river conditions. With small and soft fins it is much more convenient to hunt in rubble and in thickets of the same reeds. But as soon as you got out of them and went against the current, you immediately regretted that you weren’t wearing long and powerful fins. Therefore, it is impossible to give an unambiguous recommendation here: look at the specific conditions and decide for yourself.

There are many different opinions and disputes regarding valves on tubes. Two points are indisputable: the first - the upper valve does not allow bubbles to escape gurgling and scaring away the fish (this is good), and the second - when diving to 6-7 meters and deeper, the compressed air begins to draw your tongue into the tube (this is bad). In general, everything is as always: there are pros and cons. The choice is yours. Personally, I swim with top valves, although of different designs for summer and winter. I didn't like the bottom valve and removed it. Maybe it was adjusted incorrectly, but when it was necessary to exhale sharply, almost all the air escaped through it. As a result, I was temporarily blind, and the fish were hardly attracted by this underwater explosion.

Mountain rivers, in accordance with the criteria we have adopted, should also be classified as small rivers. It is distinguished from a lowland river by a powerful current, usually a rocky bed and an almost complete absence of aquatic vegetation. The first of these differences makes spearfishing either completely impossible or very difficult. It is impossible to describe in words the stream in which you can still hunt, and the one in which it is better not to meddle. Everyone must learn this themselves, based on the speed of the current, the depth, the abundance of stones and other objects in the riverbed, the equipment used and their own physical fitness.

There is no question of swimming against the current. There are two ways out: the first is to hunt in places where there is almost no current, that is, under a waterfall, on a hole or on a stretch, and the second is to raft down the river. When rafting down a mountain river, even if it’s not very stormy, the speed is such that you have to be more careful not to crash into some boulder under water. Sometimes you rush past graylings standing right at the bottom and, despite very good visibility, you don’t even have time to notice them.

If there are a lot of large stones and boulders in the river, but they are smooth and do not rise closer than 40–50 centimeters to the surface, then any current is not dangerous, and you can completely devote yourself to hunting. If individual stones stick out of the water, then you must constantly raise your head and look forward. If you see a stone or a strong breaker on the surface, you should dodge to the right or left. You must constantly look for the main channel with maximum depth. Just like rocks, you should avoid shoals and riffles, which are identified by characteristic ripples on the surface. It is better to avoid obstacles in advance, taking into account the fast current. But if you didn’t have time and you landed on a protruding boulder or log, then the worst thing is to end up half on one side of them, and half on the other. In this case, a powerful stream will fold you in half and press you so tightly against the obstacle that it will be extremely difficult to slide off it in any direction.

It is much simpler and more common to hunt on a stretch, where a countercurrent forms after a sharp turn in the river, or in holes under falling water. On the reach you can find not only fish from mountain rivers, but also the well-known perch, ide, pike, and burbot. It is very likely that this fish has never seen an underwater hunter and will let you take a shot without showing signs of excitement or fear. Hunting under a waterfall is interesting due to a completely unusual situation: falling water forms thousands of small bubbles and sharply reduces visibility. Often it is in this seething water or just downstream that the owner of the waterfall (taimen, brown trout) stands and waits for what the river will bring him.

When diving under a waterfall or a powerful rapid, you should remember that the falling stream of water then becomes something like a river within a river. A hunter caught in this bottom stream will not immediately or easily be able to leave it and emerge.

And maybe one last piece of advice on rafting in such conditions. I swam (or rather, I was carried) along the artificial canal of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant. There is a narrow, 200-meter section with vertical, rocky shores. It would seem that the depth is great, the bottom is clean, without boulders, but here the shores themselves pose a danger. The gorge is not straight, it is winding, and the stream pressed me first against one wall, then against the other. Therefore, we had to constantly and promptly work with our fins and move away from such pressure, trying to stay in the middle of the flow.

If you cross a boulder or swim in its immediate vicinity, you can end up in a cloud of bubbles that make visibility zero. In these cases, I put my gun and my free left hand farther forward, so as not to crash my mask into an invisible stone. The body hitting the rocks, despite the numerous warm clothes under the dry suit, is very noticeable. Some of us received bruises on our bodies, while others had both rubber gloves and a thick cuff on their dry suit pierced by the blow. One local hunter had a plastic insert of a new fin shattered in front of us, and another had a piece of his hand torn out of his wet Beuchat wetsuit. From hitting the rocks, the waist band was torn off and we lost our diving flagella. Luckily there are always spares.

And yet, rafting on a mountain river, with a cautious and serious approach to it, is possible in both wet and dry wetsuits. For example, during a week of hunting, in our dry suits we received no more holes and micro-holes than in lowland rivers with their underwater bushes, snags and branches. When comparing the ease of use of dry and wet wetsuits in these conditions, the following should be noted. If you don’t have a minibus or a ZIL-131 with a kung, in the warm bellies of which it is convenient to put on and take off a wetsuit, then in winter conditions a dry wetsuit is certainly preferable. There are also no great depths on mountain rivers, you don’t have to dive deep, and this is again in favor of dry water. Frequent walks along the shore, bypassing shoals and riffles, are also not good for a wet wetsuit, since water heated by the body is squeezed out of it, and during the next dive, a new portion of cold river water will take its place. Which, alas, must again be warmed with its own warmth. On the other hand, when it becomes possible to stay in the current (for example, after a waterfall or over a deep hole), it is much easier to flail and dive in a wet wetsuit than in a dry one.

Having become acquainted with all these recommendations, it is reasonable to ask the question: “What about hunting, if all you know is that you are dodging?” It turns out that it is quite possible, and sometimes very successful.

The main and typical inhabitants of Russian mountain rivers can be considered trout, salmon, whitefish, trout, grayling, and in Siberia also taimen and lenka. All these fish are very beautiful, strong, and such fish as taimen and salmon can weigh 20, 30 or more kilograms - real colossuses both in weight and strength. Some of them live permanently in rivers, only migrating along them, others go to seas or lakes and return at a certain time. Let's consider the most general ideas about “how?” and where?".

That is why the named fish are typical for a mountain river, because they thrive only in fast water or in close proximity to it. It’s also not easy for them to stay in the strongest stream, but under the stream in a hole, or behind a stone, where there is always at least a small countercurrent, it’s just right. Therefore, “flying” such a promising area, you constantly turn your head left and right. As soon as I raised my head for a second and made sure that there was no stone ahead, a large brown trout darted right from under me. Bad luck.

But even if you notice a standing fish in time, it’s not at all easy to point a gun at it and shoot. It's even more difficult to get there. At the same time, it is almost impossible not to damage your tip, because there are only granites all around. It is also impossible to pump the gun too low or use a river, low-power modification, since you also have to shoot at the escaping fish from a long distance. Do not forget that water transparency of 8-10 meters in mountain rivers is not uncommon. In order to hunt in such conditions, long guns with a handle at the back are completely unsuitable, because it is impossible to turn it quickly and in the desired direction.

The bottom of a mountain river is usually covered with stones. After the shot, you continue to be carried by the current, and the arrow drags along the bottom, and in 9 cases out of 10, with the open petals of the tip, like an anchor, it gets firmly stuck between the stones. The chain arrow-line-gun-hunter stretches into a tight line. Someone is trying to pull themselves up to a stuck arrow, relying on the strength of the blades of the tip. Someone throws a gun, goes upstream and, using a new raft, tries to catch and pull out the stuck arrow. To avoid getting into such a situation, it is better to pull the line towards you immediately after an unsuccessful shot and not allow the arrow to drag along the bottom.

Despite the fact that the fish of mountain rivers are very strong, they also have very tender meat, soft bones and small, weak scales. Both of these circumstances allow them to fall off the arrow more often than other fish, especially with a bad hit or bad hooks on the tip. Our local colleague caught his record 10-kilogram salmon on his fourth try. The previous three hits were ineffective.

The last example clearly characterizes another feature of “fast water fish”: they are very reluctant to leave their chosen reach, pool or riffle. And this is not in their favor. Experienced Kandalaksha hunters spend several hours chasing one fish on some 50 meters of the river, and often such perseverance is rewarded.

We cannot ignore the fact that fishing (and therefore spearfishing) of some fish is licensed, and at certain times and in certain bodies of water is completely prohibited. Therefore, before going to the north, to Siberia or Primorye for such a hunt, you should first obtain complete information on the selected body of water. This can be done through societies of hunters and fishermen or the Russian Underwater Fishing Federation. When all the formalities are completed and you taste all the charm and unusualness of hunting in a mountain river, you will probably regret that you have not experienced this before. There will be more than enough adrenaline! And one or two beautiful fish caught during the whole day of hunting will be the most generous and memorable reward for efforts and bruises.

Concluding the conversation about hunting in small rivers, I would like to remind you once again that this hobby is regulated by the Rules of amateur and sport fishing of the region where the river you have chosen flows. Almost all small lowland rivers are public water bodies, and hunting on them, like fishing, does not require a license or permit (this is another argument in favor of small rivers). However, to avoid any trouble, you should familiarize yourself with the Rules of the given area or region before picking up a gun and getting into the water.

Well, and the very last thing. I urge all hunters to take care of our Russian rivers. A true hunter and fisherman is certainly a great lover of nature. But to love is not only oohs and sighs and endless delights: “Oh, how beautiful!” This is study and research, analysis of each phenomenon, compassion and, if necessary, help. A true nature lover seeks answers to the countless questions asked by the surrounding flora and fauna. And these two “Fs” are great masters of puzzles for the king of nature.

The little-studied underwater world is perhaps the leader in terms of unsolved natural mysteries and misunderstood processes. Moreover, if the sea shelf has been actively studied by scientists and is well described, then fresh water bodies and their inhabitants, especially small rivers, are of little interest to anyone. The scale is not the same, and, obviously, they do not see any serious usefulness for humanity. Maybe so, but this does not make the underwater world of thousands and thousands of small Russian rivers any less interesting, mysterious and necessary for each of us.

Walking on a hot summer day along the banks of the Moscow River, Istra or another similar river, you see some plants in the water. We, underwater hunters, observe them from root to crown, summer and winter, day and night, but few of us can identify and correctly name at least a tenth of what we see. And the reason for this is not a lack of curiosity on our part, but a complete lack of popular science and relevant reference literature. I was personally convinced of this when I was collecting material for my first book and contacting various scientific organizations, including the relevant departments of Moscow State University.

That is why, when communicating with each other and retelling episodes of underwater battles, many call the white water lily “lily”, the egg capsule - “burdock”, out of 20 commonly encountered pondweeds, they cannot distinguish even two or three, and everything else is simply called “grass” or "seaweed". It is both shameful and offensive to realize your inferiority and illiteracy in this matter. It’s not for nothing that they say: “If you don’t recognize it, you won’t love it.”

Being engaged in underwater hunting in all four seasons, over the last quarter of a century we have observed a constant deterioration in the ecology of Central Russian rivers. Let's not remember pre-Soviet times, when they were all transparent and abundant in fish. Just ten years ago, for example, the upper reaches of our Moscow River were distinguished by very clean water, and its transparency deteriorated, perhaps, after heavy rains. This is in the summer, and in the winter, there is no need to say. Now, not only in summer, but also in winter, when, it would seem, nothing prevents the water from completely clearing, you rarely find visibility of 2–2.5 meters. And such a depressing picture for all the small rivers of central Russia.

What is the reason? And is it possible to reverse this terrible trend?

Now, after, as a result of “perestroika,” many enterprises that poison the water ceased to exist, and the stockyards along the river banks were empty, the main reason, in our opinion, is silting, overgrowing and shallowing of all water bodies. Reservoirs have been formed on many rivers, which, in particular, prevent large spring floods and powerful ice drifts. Namely, fast water and ice floes carried out a natural, annual cleaning of the beds of shallow rivers and streams.

In addition, in the old days, peasants, of their own free will (or more often, at the will of the landowner), as a whole village, cleaned the adjacent section of the river in the summer, preventing it from becoming overgrown. Now, unfortunately, no one needs this. Therefore, when you float along a river that flows near a road or dacha plots, you see literally all the objects of human life under the water: from car bodies and refrigerators to teapots, buckets, spoons, etc. I am sure that if Mosvodokanal or Mosrybvod really cared about the cleanliness of our reservoirs, and at least took some measures to save them. For example, it is quite possible to attract divers and underwater hunters to this good deed. There are many of them now, a whole army, and, for sure, many would go towards such a good initiative. It’s not at all difficult to agree with them on operational information from reservoirs for a quick response. This is in the general interest.

River inhabitants are the first to suffer from unfavorable conditions. Crayfish, once found in all rivers and lakes, are now found in some relatively young quarries that have not yet been poisoned by humans. In past years, every 5-10 meters at the bottom of non-freezing sections of rivers we observed wintering lake frogs. Individually and in whole groups of 5–6 pieces. And now, after a three-hour hunt, I saw a couple of frogs - that’s already good. Accordingly, in the summer, instead of cheerful frog concerts, an oppressive silence hangs over the river. And, after all, the same frogs in nature are not themselves, but a certain niche, a link, without which the living chain breaks...

The fish is saved by its natural vitality, ability to quickly migrate and fertility. Otherwise, we would have lost most of their species today irretrievably. But she also suffers from the spoiled ecology. And then there was the fashion for electric fishing rods. What a scourge for small rivers and other shallow bodies of water! So much has been said and discussed about this that all censored words and thoughts have ended. And, despite the evidence of enormous harm to water bodies as a whole, an electric fishing rod is considered by law to be the same violator as a fisherman who uses three hooks instead of two in the spring, or who catches a couple of roach more than the established norm. And it would seem to us that special, most stringent measures should be applied to them, because the electric fishing rod is deliberately going to kill the river. This, using the terminology of the criminal code, is no longer petty hooliganism or theft, but armed robbery.

Poaching nets, compared to electric fishing rods, are now perceived as harmless fun. Of course, only if they do not completely block the entry of fish into small rivers for spawning in the spring. But the trouble is that “network chaos” has set in. Wherever we hunt, there are endless, sometimes kilometer-long nets everywhere. And their owners, without waiting for darkness and not embarrassed by anyone, go out on boats and check their gear in the middle of the day.

The Volga, Dnieper, Don, and mighty Siberian rivers to some extent slow down the process of dying of the water system as a whole. With their mass and depth, beyond the reach of most poaching gear, they provide temporary shelter for the fish tribe. But these giant rivers do not last forever. In the end, they themselves are the sum of those same hundreds and thousands of small rivers and rivulets. And for fish to thrive, not only shelter and temporary shelter are needed, but also an annual opportunity for successful reproduction. And here we again come to the enduring role of small rivers, in which the vast majority of fish species spawn, hatch and feed their young.

Every year, international hunting and fishing exhibitions are held in the capital and other cities of the country. Countless companies producing and selling fishing equipment and gear, travel agencies and fishing bases are represented there in all their glory and power. There is a lot of money in this industry. So I’m thinking, don’t all these people understand that in our country their business is under threat, that soon there will be no one to catch? Isn’t it time to allocate some money and get serious about saving small Russian rivers - the basis not only for the well-being of fish stocks, but also for their further business prosperity?

Underwater hunters see trouble more clearly than others, and are the first to sound the alarm. We are ready to help with our own hands whoever takes on this problem. All that remains is to find out who loves their country, their small homeland and that river that flows beyond the fence of their country cottage more than others?

Source: “Handbook for an underwater hunter” Author: Vitaly Vinogradov

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