Baikal omul. Where is the Baikal omul? Cooking recipes

Passengers of trains running along Lake Baikal watch a curious picture in the winter. On the ice shell covering the lake water, a plump face falls down many people dressed in warm overalls and hooded jackets. Sometimes one of them jumps up, as if alive and begins to wave with his hands. It's the fishermen-the submarines. Some of them were lucky, and the Baikal omul - a wonderful fish from the Salmonidae family - came from the depths of the centuries into the traditional cuisine of the Siberians. On the ice fishermen lie because they observe what events occur under it. Baikal water is so transparent that it allows you to view the most hidden depths of the lake and observe the life activity of its inhabitants.

Features of winter fishing

Men lying on a clear ice, like glass, came not only from neighboring places, but also from various regions of the country, and even from abroad. Inveterate anglers know all the features of winter fishing on Lake Baikal. They know in which reserve the Baikal omul will be available for fishing and where it is possible to buy a ticket before it. Having obtained permission for fishing, they spend hours on their stomachs, laying under themselves a cardboard or a tarpaulin, and holding gear in their hands. After seeing the fish in the water column, they begin to swing the fishing line so that the nozzle attracts her attention. As soon as the Baikal omul gets hooked, the angler jumps up and, quickly moving his hands, pulls the fishing line with the fish on the ice. The cleverest pierce in the ice is not one, but just two wide holes and install in them two fishing rods. Moreover, each of them has a different length of fishing line, designed to ensure that the bait was not at the same depth. When biting on one of the fishing rods the lucky fisherman quickly puts aside the other. He does this very controversially and skillfully, trying not to mix up their lines with each other. Then he quickly starts to get the omul, deceived by artificial flies.

Fishing Curiosities

With fishermen who find it difficult to keep watch on the holes, curious stories happen. Having sprinkled plenty of lures, they leave many fishing rods and go to bask in the hut in the hope that the omul is caught and itself. It happens that one of the fish, hitting the hook, begins to resist and entangles all the neighboring lines. Then she swims away, taking all the fishing rods with her.

Experienced fishermen, in order not to lose tackle irrevocably, heavily fasten them to the ice, hoping that the Baikal omul caught on the hook will not drag them more under the ice. Returning, they even find the fishing rods in place, but the lines in the water are confused in a huge lump. There was it because during their absence on one hook the fish has got. Trying to free herself, she began to walk in circles and grab all the lines that are in the nearby holes. Their unraveling takes a lot of time for men. But they patiently stand on the Siberian frost and untie this tangle in order to know exactly which of them was lucky to catch this fish.

Ear from omul on ice

Another weighty reason for increasing the activity of anglers on the ice is the case when someone is hooked by a large individual weighing 5-7 kg. It is difficult to pull a giant out of the water on a thin fishing line. Despite the fact that the Baikal omul, which has got on the hook, never fights and does not beat, but simply hangs, it is impossible to pull it out without the help of neighbors. Thin line can tear. Therefore, those who pick up the valuable cargo, and those who comment on the event, also flee to the rescue. Of the fish caught here on the ice are prepared for the ear. I've gobbled up my abdomen, it's gutted. Cut into pieces along with scales, put in a pot, pour the purest Baikal water, straight from the ice-hole, add spices and cook on the lamp of the blowtorch. As a result of cooking, the scales settle to the bottom, and the curative broth and tasty meat warm the frozen men.

Autumn spawning

Unlike other races of whitefish, which live in the Arctic Ocean and are only spawning in the river waters, the fish of the Baikal omul from fresh water never goes out. In the autumn, it also rises in the river in three streams. But after spawning comes back.

• The Angara omul sails to the upper reaches of the Angara, enters the Kicher and into Barguzin.
• In the rivers of the eastern coast, Selenga and ambassadors subsided. They are the largest and most delicious.
• Another population spawns in the waters of Chivyrkuya.

In the rivers, the fish will stay until the ice age, and after returning to Lake Baikal, it will descend to a depth of more than three hundred meters, where it will feed on crustaceans and young, rest in the warmest water layers. In the depths of the pack spread throughout the Baikal. The fish is beautiful in appearance and very tasty. Some large whitefish reach a weight of 7 kg. Intensive industrial fishing in the past years significantly reduced the population, so nowadays the catch is strictly regulated. With the onset of spring, the fish rises from the depths and comes out into shallow water.

Wise nature

If in winter the Baikal omul goes to the depths, then in the summer in calm weather it rises to the sun to get its energy. His packs are for a long time at the very surface of the water in shallow water. This is the period when the Baikal omul is most vulnerable; The photo attached to this article demonstrates how easy it is for a bait to catch it at this time. It's amazing how nature takes care of him. After all, "sunbathing" in the sun the fish could become an easy prey for the many gulls living in these places. But this does not happen. Some higher power lifts the birds from the surface of the water and directs them in whole flocks far, far beyond the forest into the sun-scorched steppes. Here thousands of white feathers walk on the scorched earth, loudly scream and chop it with hooked beaks, searching for half-dead grasshoppers, while the tasty omul is sporting in the water. At Lake Baikal at this time there are only weak, sick seagulls, which do not have the strength to fly. Only they can gain strength by eating a valuable fish from the family Salmonids.

Traditional food of native Siberians

Every indigenous Siberian appreciates the taste and nutritional properties that Omul Baikal possesses. Recipes for its preparation are simple and preserved the tradition of ancestors, who liked to regale in the winter with a stroganne or chop. Dishes differ from each other only by the way of processing. For stroganina, frozen fish on the ice are scraped with a knife right on the table, and for rasolotki taken out in the yard, put on a stump and beat logs until the icy fish does not fall apart.