Trip to Congo, Africa, fall 2010 - Part 1

In October-November 2010 I have visited Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville).  This was a business trip, not aimed at fishing.  The area where we were working in the field is populated; it does not have fish stocks interesting for sport-fishing.  

Atlantic Ocean near Pointe Noire (the only sea-port of the country).

 Thunderstorm at night

 The upper part of the Loutete River has big gradient

 Lots of creeks of the area have waterfalls. 

 The area of the town of Loutete is too dry for jungle forest; it is covered by savanna type vegetation.  Gallery-forests are found in some creek valleys. 

 One of the mountains has a through hole near its top.

The same cave - the view from inside

Local ladies with kids are going home ofter working in the fields

 Processing fish

 Our helper Mabala with a small seine

 In the Boko-Songho village

 Dugout boats made of mahogany wood (Niari River)

 Dense vegetation along a creek

 Traditional, home-made chair

To be continued ...

At the dike - part 3 (Amur River near Khabarovsk, July & August)

 Fishing below the dike requires technical wading and ideally - boots with good studs.  It is very unusual in Amur where one normally wades on the sand & silt.

 By July we have learned how to catch Mandarin bass with flies.  It is rather easy if you are able presenting the fly close to the rocky bottom, and move it slowly, with stops.

 This is one of the flies invented for the bottom presentation.  

Such ones are also lost on the snags and rocks, but not as easy as regular streamers. 

One more Mandarin bass

 This fish is true ambuscador; on some days it is attacking your lure or fly only after it stops for several seconds.  

 Mongolian redfin is often caught in the same areas with the bass, but in the upper or middle layers.

 A school of skygazers is always holding in 9-meter deep hole 100 meters below the dike.  

On some days these predators (called Korean tarpon) come close to the dike for feeding. 

The name "skygazer" is given not without reason

In Amur some non-predatory species (like this white bream Parabramis pekinensis) sometimes feed on small fish - and bite streamers (photo of Andrey Bondarenko).

This common carp had also decided to swallow a streamer  (photo of Andrey Bondarenko).

At the dike - part 2 (Amur River near Khabarovsk, June)

When the water level in the Amur goes down, the top of the dike becomes visible.  This period it is possible to reach it by boat, and to fish powerful streams flowing through the dike.  This habitat is unusual for the Amur River, but many of the local fish like it.

In strong current it is necessary to use heavy rods and sinking lines

Chinese perch (Mandarin bass)

Chinese perch should be fished near the bottom, among the rocks, with a streamer with upright hook

Mongolian redfin is often caught in the same place, in middle layers of the water

Mongolian redfin

Good size Mandarin bass

June is time of flowers

At the dike (Amur River near Khabarovsk, May)

Huge side channel of the Amur River, Pemzenskaya, in 2000-2006 was growing and becoming bigger and deeper every year.  There was a threat that Pemzenskaya will become the main channel of the Amur, so the river will go away from the city and its river ports.  A new dike was constructed out of big rocks at the upper part of the Pemzenskaya channel. This had created an unusual, mountainous type habitat at the river flowing through huge plain.  After a day spent near roaring water a fisherman has buzzing in his ears - as if he was fishing for salmon near big falls.

 Many fishermen use spinning rods with a heavy spoon or sinker at the tip of the rig and 2-3 primitive flies as droppers.  With this tackle you can catch many species of fish, including Mandarin bass (Chinese perch).  Siniperca chuatsi is the only freshwater rockfish (Sebastidae).  

 Amur ide is among those carps which often eat small fish.  It was caught with a tiny wobbler-fly on a flyrod. 

 Skin-carp (Hemibarbus labeo, in Russian - horse) also eat small fish.   

The head of skin-carp is horse-like.

Andrey had landed a good size Mongolian redfin  (Erythroculter mongolicus)

 Amur catfish (Parasilurus asotus) is normally small

 Lookup (Culter alburnus) is one of predators which are numerous around the dike in spring.

Banded catfish  (Pseudobagrus fulvidraco) has relatives in tropical rivers. 

Mustangs in the Russian Far East

Everybody knows that mustangs are horses which have become wild.  Big herds of those used to live in the American prairies. Horses can survive in the wild in much more severe climate, for example, in the Russian Far East. For example, I met these very handsome horses at the mouth of the Koppi River near Sovgavan. They did not let me to approach, and in general behaved watchfully. I’ve got info from local fishermen, that this pair lives here already a few years. Their owners, geologists, had gone long ago, and the horses still live at the meadow between the forest and the Sea of Japan.

Sakhalin Island looks like an enormous sturgeon: it has the nose (Shmidt Peninsula) directed north, wide opened mouth (Sakhalinskiy Bay), long and sharp dorsal fin in the east (Terpeniya Peninsula).  The tail of the fish is almost reaching Japan. The western blade of this caudal fin is named Krillion Peninsula. Here I met the Sakhalin mustangs. A few horses were living for many years near an abandoned settlement at the mouth of the Naychi River. In June, when is this picture was shot, the horses feel good, but how do they survive the long Sakhalin winter, when the island is heaped up by deep snows?

Into the tundras of north-western Kamchatka the horses got not by chance. Someone suggested to utilize them for herding the reindeer, and the idea appeared successful. The Yakutian breed of horses feel fine in a strange climate – not as harsh as in yakutia, but windy and damp. The whole year round they graze in tundra without every care or additional feeding. The Koryak reindeer herders mastered a new mean of transportation. It is much easier to work with the semi-wild herds from the horseback than on foot.  

Late autumn; the horses are crossing the freezing Utkholok River

 It is not Texas and not Mongolia. The Yakut horses graze in tundra of western Kamchatka.

Some of the native Koryak reindeer herders now ride horses as well as the Mongols.   

Feklistova Island (Shantar Archipelago, Sea of Okhotsk)

The shallow western part of the Sea of Okhotsk between the Shantar Archipelago and the mainland is called Shantar Sea.  This is the coldest part of the sea (this image was shot in July).  The best streams to catch trophy Siberian taimen, Uda & Tugur Rivers, are flowing namely into this part of the Sea of Okhotsk.  

 Shantar Archipelago has 15 islands longer than 1 kilometer, and many separate tiny islands & cliffs. 

 The bigger islands are covered with dense forest

Cliffs of red jasper at the north-western shore of the Bolshoi (Big) Shantar Island. 

Feklistova Island is the second biggest of the archipelago.  It is about 40 km long.

 In the first days of July the banks of Feklistova Island were covered by huge pieces of ice (low tide). 

Lebyazhia (Swan) River is the biggest stream of Feklistova.  Near the sea it is slow & smooth.    

This Dolly Varden charr is was wintering in the river.  Now it is preparing to move out into the sea for feeding.