Fishing at Michailovka

On Thursday morning, October 17, 2019, I take a walk around the block with Rango and then enjoy breakfast at the Dom Hostel in Karakol. Then we pack up, check out, and buy food for the next few days. It's around noon when we head to Issyk Kul. Along the way, there is a detour to the local animal market, but it's closed and empty. Schrotti starts making an unpleasant noise again, so I decide to investigate the issue at the lake. We refill our drinking water reserves in the dacha settlement near Michailovka and continue to the lakeshore. We settle near the Dzhargalan tributary to the inland sea. After setting up the fishing rods and tents, I focus on our Russian car. I expose the rear left shock absorber mount and immediately discover the problem. The dome is broken and the shock absorber is rattling. With Marcus' help, I manage to fix it temporarily (with some found steel wire), then I clean our fuel filter and we have a cup of coffee with some pastries. Otherwise, we relax at our campsite in the late afternoon and wait for bites. For dinner, we have salad, bread, and a sip of vodka that I found while dismantling Schrotti behind the trunk trim. According to the label, the bottle is as old as our car, unopened, and only 4/5 full. The vodka is accordingly mild. Some wind picks up in the evening, so we retreat to our tents early.

In the night towards Friday, I have to get up several times and decide to reel in our fishing rods around half past three in the morning. It was just too windy. We can have breakfast in the morning with sunny and calm weather. Afterward, I cast our fishing rods again, and Marcus gets some tips and a small bait fish from a local angler. It seems that the guys here mainly fish for pikeperch. Shortly after putting out the headless dead fish, we get the first bite. Unfortunately, the potential dinner didn't hook properly and manages to escape. I have to wait until late afternoon for the next bite, but once again, I can't land a fish. At least we had some contact with the prey. In between, there's time for a cup of coffee, and later in the evening, we can sit by the fire for a while. The wind remains relatively calm.

Saturday (October 19, 2019) starts again with breakfast at the sunny lakeshore. Presumably, there was no activity on our fishing hooks overnight and not much happens for the rest of the day. So I use the free time to listen to podcasts and write a travel report. In the meantime, I prepare bread dough and wash the Dachaheepdog in the cool lake water. After coffee, I take a leisurely stroll with Rango to the nearby dacha settlement and refill our drinking water reserves. We spend the evening by the warming wood fire again, Marcus has been busy gathering fuel throughout the day.

Just like Saturday, we spend Sunday relaxing at our campsite. I tinker with my mattress, work on a travel report, and bake bread in the afternoon. The first attempt resulted in a fire that was too big, this time just hot coals alone are not enough to fully bake the dough in less than an hour. Somehow, I manage to prepare it palatably and we can enjoy fresh onion bread in the evening. In between, I also do a little tinkering on Schrotti, so our last day at the fishing spot near Michailovka quickly comes to an end.