On Saturday 11th May 2002 a group of seven anglers met at Heathrow Airport at 07:15 to start the long journey to the Ily delta in Russia’s largest independent state Kazakhstan. We were going for two weeks to try and catch the giant catfish that live in the Ily River.
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The seven angler’s were Joe Taylor, owner of J & K Tackle in Bicester and an angler who has been to Kazakhstan many times. The group leader, Paul Clarke from Maidenhead, who was going on his fourth trip to the region. Then there was Jason Bee from Bicester, who was going on his second trip to the region, Bryn Gosney from High Wycombe, Martyn Hill from Tonbridge, Peter Gaunt from Church Lawton, Staffs, and myself, and I’m from Sandbach, Cheshire. We were all going on our first trip.
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| A long but wondrous journey The journey consisted of a short flight from Heathrow to Amsterdam, and then a two hour wait for the connecting flight to Almaty, Kazakhstan’s capital. At Almaty we were met by our interpreter Adil, who took us to the large Unimog type vehicle and loaded all our equipment onto this for the four and a half hour drive through the desert to the river. And then the final leg of the journey was a four and a half hour boat ride down the Ily river to the Kan Tengri fishing camp, which would be our base for the next 14 days.
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| Although everybody was exhausted, this final part of the journey was absolutely marvellous, due to the vast amounts of bird life the delta supports. We saw White Tailed Fish Eagles, Pelicans, Storks, Cranes, Marsh Harriers, Bitterns, Night Herons and an incredible amount of wading birds of several species, as well as the usual birds such as Herons, Cormorants, Crows and several different species of Terns and Gulls and a multitude of smaller birds too numerous to name. Later in the week wild boars swam past. We would learn over the next fortnight just how big the Ily river is; it is truly massive and there is an incredible amount of tributaries leading into it, some of them crystal clear, as they were spring fed, whilst others were very murky.
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| We eventually arrived some twenty-six hours later at around midday on Sunday, as Kazakhstan is six hours ahead of UK time. Alexander, the camp manager, met the group, along with the other guides and Olga the cook and several others of the camp staff. A well organised camp The camp was very well organised with two rows of tents covered over with a timber and bamboo framework, to keep the tents cooler and protect them from the sometimes strong winds. There was a large mosquito-proof eating area with a table and benches and also a large ice box for keeping the beer cold – an absolutely essential item after a long days fishing in high temperatures. Satellite television too, although we could not get any English channels on it.
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| You would think that after such a long journey, with very little sleep, that everyone would want to go to bed, but after some refreshment we were all as keen as mustard to get out onto the river and fish. But first we had to catch some bait in the shape of roach and carp, which you can catch at the camp, or you go off in the boats with your guide to catch some asp which appear to be the preferred bait. After a discussion we were allocated our boats and guides for the fortnight. Joe was on his own in the boat named after him with his guide Andr  When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission, which supports our community.
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