Mike Pehanich is a probing journalist known best for his decades of writing on fishing, outdoor travel, the tackle industry, and conservation and environmental issues. His work has appeared in more than 30 national and regional outdoor publications including Bassmaster, In-Fisherman, Outdoor Life, Bass Times, Fishing Tackle Retailer, Game & Fish and MLF’s Bass Fishing magazine.
He is former editor of The Redbone Journal and creator of the award-winning Small Waters Fishing website, to be re-released this year. He has built a reputation for sparkling storytelling, how-to angling instruction and penetrating insight into topics of wide-sweeping importance. He has served as an industry consultant and has produced instructional fishing videos, often contributing to outdoor radio and television, sharing his knowledge and experiences from waters around the world.
A Story of Fishing, Culture, and Change
The year is 2010, one generation removed from the dissolution of the Soviet empire. Mike Pehanich joins globe-trotting angler and tackle innovator Patrick Sebile to cover Zander Troffee, dubbed the “Bassmaster Classic of Russia,” the nation’s largest and most prestigious sportfishing tournament.
In the company of Russia’s top anglers, he will fish the legendary Volga and Akhtuba rivers for zander, Euro-Asian cousin to the walleye, and other river denizens and witness an angler crusade to instill awareness of a burgeoning conservation crisis…
But what begins as an assignment soon transforms into a deeper journey in a nation still navigating its post-Soviet identity, revealing the beauty and the vulnerability of its fisheries, the burden of its past, and the complexity and fragility of newfound economic and personal freedoms.
Travel the historic Volga and Akhtuba rivers. Sample their remarkable fisheries.
Gain unique perspective on Russia and its departure from Soviet communism.
Even freedom adds to the pressures that progress and prosperity put on natural resources, a fact most evident in Russia’s vulnerable fisheries.
Relive that brief forgotten period between the Cold War and the Ukraine War, when global peace seemed there for the taking!
World-class fishing for zander (Euro-Asian cousin to the walleye) and Wels catfish forms the heart of this journey into a Russia not yet 20 years removed from its Soviet past. Top anglers have gathered near the Volga River, vying for top honors and prize money at the nation’s biggest fishing event. But that’s just the beginning.
Through vivid storytelling and detours into Russia’s near and distant past, Mike Pehanich reveals a side of Russia rarely experienced by outsiders. From the grey-plank homes lining the roads of rural Russia, through the ghostly gloom of Astrakhan to the vibrant energy of a reborn Moscow, he illuminates a nation at a tipping point, trying to balance its past with its future, on the verge of joining the free world on a promise of peace and progress.
The Soviet Union passed away in 1991, departing from the global stage and making way for a new Russian Federation. But what was that abrupt transition like for the Russian people? What would happen to the jobs, vodka and food lines? And what scars, habits, and hurdles would the USSR leave behind?
From a unique fisherman’s perspective, River at Risk offers a compelling look at a nation reshaping itself in the decades following the fall of the USSR.
Readers have praised River at Risk for its compelling storytelling and rare perspective on Russia during a pivotal historical period.
