On a crisp Sunday morning while the city still slept, nearly 100 fishermen walked across the frozen Dnipro River in hushed anticipation.
Rays of the morning sun glistened upon untrodden snow and misty fog hovered over the white plateau. Dressed in thick snow suits and even thicker rubber boots, the anglers gathered to compete for the title of Kyiv’s best ice fisherman.
Hosted by Kyiv’s fishing organization Dom Rybaka, this annual contest encapsulates the best parts of this peculiar, but beloved tradition: the escape from routine into nature, the thrilling possibility of a good catch and the warm camaraderie of fellow anglers.
On a reserved section of ice in Obolon, the contestants carefully followed the rules by setting up their folding stools and seat boxes a minimum of three meters apart from each other. Each received a numbered plastic bag and had four hours to fill with fish.
The one with the heaviest bag would be declared Kyiv’s finest winter fisherman.
Despite being a full-fledged competition with judges and prizes, the competitive spirit is far from cutthroat. Being on the ice is its own reward.
“It’s stunningly romantic and beautiful, especially during sunrise. It’s a distraction and escape from reality,” says Maksim, a logistics worker in his 30s who goes ice fishing every weekend but is too shy to give his last name.
“Fishermen have a proverb ‘We’re not going for the fish.’ That’s how I am.”
Others disagree.
For 77-year-old Yaroslav Fyodorov, nature and peace are only ancillary; a good catch is the ultimate accomplishment.
Fresh fish soup made out of the day’s catch is a nice perk to ice fishing. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
“Every time I hope to catch something I haven’t caught before. It requires risk taking; it’s like gambling,” says Fyodorov, who drills a new ice hole every 20 minutes in search of the best spot. For him, ice fishing resonates with primal masculine instincts of hunting and exploring.
To stay warm, he favors a traditional kozhukh made of sheepskin and galoshes over valenki (felt boots).
Ice fishing is a straightforward process. Using an auger, usually a manual drilling device, fishermen drill a small hole in the ice. Next, they use a skimmer to scoop the floating ice out of the hole.
They then take their ice fishing rod, only about 12 centimeters long, bait the hook with a small worm, and drop the line down the hole, occasionally jigging it to lure the fish.
Once they get a bite, they carefully reel it up and hope it’s a decent size, since they have to release it if it’s too small.
Despite such simplicity in the process, some surpass others in talent.
Oleksiy Strashny, a 21-year-old law student, placed fourth in the World Ice Fishing Championship in the US last year. Born with a fishing pole in his hand and trained by his father, Strashny is now a member of the Ukrainian national team and regularly travels abroad to compete in what for him is a “serious sport.”
Finding the best spot to drill a hole is one of the challenges, and serious anglers often use a fish-finder, a sonar device providing information about the depth and presence of fish.
“I am just lucky,” says Strashny humbly, who unlike casual fishermen wears kneepads allowing him to peer in the ice hole kneeling. “I read academic articles.
There is a lot of theory on fishing: how fish behave, the geological structure of riverbeds, the kinds of currents, the effects of climate and much more.
Ice fishing may look dull to observers, but for fishermen it’s as exciting as it gets. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
Then, you need a lot of practice on the ice.”
Abroad, he says, ice fishing is a lucrative sport, unlike in Ukraine.
Outside the competition area, fishermen prefer to fish in meditative solitude. One aging angler says he comes to escape “the four walls of his chaotic home.” For him, fishing is where freedom is.
Outsiders who consider ice fishing strange and dangerous might be surprised that such an obvious hazard as falling through the ice rarely occurs.
Fyodorov says that ice at least 6 cm thick is safe and it’s best to fish in the bay where the currents aren’t strong and warm. He once fell through the ice, but says it didn’t frighten him: he followed the saving technique of throwing as much of your body as possible on the ice.
A less obvious danger on ice is drinking alcohol, which can cause severe frostbite by preventing fishermen from knowing how cold they are. Although drinking is strictly forbidden at the competition, it is common among amateur fishermen.
Despite being a predominantly male activity, ice fishing does attract some brave females. Lena Kalashnik, the only female participant in the competition, fishes three meters away from her husband. In fact, only moments after signing their marriage registration, the Kalashniks went fishing for their wedding celebration. “Most men wish their wives would fish with them too,” says Kalashnik.
The competition ends with the weighing of bags and feasting on freshly made ukha (fish soup). Unsurprisingly, reigning champion Oleksiy Strashny came away the victor, catching two kilograms of perch. But judging by the smiles, everyone left satisfied.
