THE WAY TO THE RED FISH DAVATCHAN

 People had been coming here since olden times. Frolikha appeared on the first map of Lama lake (Baikal) composed by Semion Remezov in 1701. And of course the lake was traced on the first published Baikal map, produced by the great traveler I. Georgi in 1772 - 1773.
During the Great Patriotic War, fish was taken to the front from here, like at all large taiga lakes of Siberia; there were some attempts to start industrial fishing. Geologists and forest specialists were working, hunters were checking their territory.
There are about ten routes through Frolikha for mountain and raft tourists. The itineraries are different - from easy ones (leading south to the nearest Baikal resort Khakousy) to quite difficult of the III - V category that lead to the passes of the Barguzin mountain range.
Frolikha landscapes under the bright sun can make a novice freeze in astonishment. And in bad weather or in twilight the lake sometimes makes alert or even frightens visitors with the fog and dark water, or sometimes with a bear's track over the footprint of one's own boot.
There is one distinguishing feature that comes to mind to almost everyone who heard at least something about Frolikha - 'red fish' with the local name davatchan. The word is from the Evenk language and it means the same 'red fish'. This fish is considered now to be arctic goletz.
Many hundred thousand years ago before the era of the great glaciers, arctic goletz spread on large territories inside our continent. When the ices were gone and it got warmer, the fish disappeared from most reservoirs. It survived only in a dozen of isolated mountain lakes where the living conditions rest unchanged. Moreover, goletz from Frolikha is the most western and southern population from the whole group of relict fish of Zabaikalye, and is not found farther to the south. It has been living in this isolation by itself for 11 thousand years already. People gave it the status of glacier relict, justly considering that it is worth of overall protection.
In the mean time, goletz is not very impressive - the largest fishes weight normally a bit more than a kilogram, and it is hard to call it a delicacy - it is gaunt and tasteless in mountain lakes poor in food. However, just one name of 'red fish' is enough to attract attention.
Frolikha golets has one special trait. In all the other Zabaikalye lakes this fish spawns in autumn and in winter right in the lake, whereas in Frolikha spawning goletz goes up the rivers in September.
The nutrition of goletz comprises larvae of water insects, small crustaceans, bugs and ants that fall in the water. The favourite food of adult species - Baikal shirokolobka and galian.
Goletz grows slowly, never gets big - rarely weights a kilogram, breeds late - on the seventh year of life, and its population is, of course, less numerous than that of roach, perch or pike.

MAN'S TRACES

On the map of Baikal, at its northern extremity, there is a place looking at which one can get names dancing before one's eyes: Frolov cape, Frolikha bay, lake Frolikha and even three rivers with the same appellation! Nobody knows today which of the places was named the first, but the most famous Frolikha is, of course, the lake.
Long ago two powerful ice currents had plowed deep valleys on their running down to Baikal and, after having united, had left a dam before which the lake formed.
The lower part of the lake is a low peninsula Valounniy with two surrounding bays. Undistinguished Hobot lies in the north, and in the south there is shallow, but quite large Okunioviy. This very peninsula has brought to Frolikha the lion's share of the popularity among fishermen. For the spoon bait lovers there is always the reward - even if there is no chance with pike, a dozen of grand perches is guaranteed.
The depth of the main part of Frolikha is impressive enough - 80 and more meters in spots. The water, usual for mountain lakes, is transparent and cold (4 degrees Centigrade in the depth and in August).
The Medvejiya mountain reigns over the lake - it can be seen both from the foot covered with boulders, and from Alpine clearings at the summit.
The road to Frolikha (8 km) begins in Baikal bay Ayaya. Broad and dry path leads from the shore to the very depth of the bay through ancient ridges with which the glacier fenced off the lake.
All of a sudden, you get to a place, miraculous for every tired walker - to a long open sand bank. Most of the coming people stay here and at the sandy beaches of the Okunev bay on the other side of the lake. The lake is rarely calm - either winds come down from Baikal, or it starts blowing from the higher parts of the region. It gets calm only by the evening, closer to twilight.
River valleys are much the same - bushes of swamp bagoulnik and pine undergrowths, fields of small waist-high willow (both are a real problem for travelers!) grow up to the shore. Between them lie the tongues of stone accumulations - kouroums, each block being decorated with lichens.

Based on publications from "Wanderings time"