Lake Malakhovo (Malashka)

Lake Malakhovo, also known as Malashka, is located 0.8 km northwest of the industrial site of the Sakmara Thermal Power Plant in Orenburg. It is a floodplain reservoir of the Sakmara River, an oxbow type, with an area of ​​31.45 hectares. The predominant depths vary from 1.0 to 5.0 meters, the width of the lake is from 50 to 150 meters, and the length reaches 5 km. The bottom of the lake is sandy with an admixture of silt.

The lake is home to such fish species as crucian carp, small perch, roach, bream, rudd, and crayfish. Lake Malakhovo is of fishery importance and belongs to the floodplain lakes of the oxbow type. It is located in the left-bank floodplain of the Sakmara River on the territory of the city of Orenburg and belongs to the Ural River basin.

Characteristics and Hydrological Regime

Lake Malakhovo is located 800 meters northwest of the end of the industrial site of the Sakmara Thermal Power Plant and 400 meters east of the left bank of the Sakmara River. The length of the lake along the flooded bed during low water is 2.76 km. The width of the lake varies from 50 to 100 meters, and the average width is 70 meters. In the sections of the ends of the lake with the names "Lake Kamyshevoye" and "Gnilaya Malashka", the width of the lake and its water content decrease significantly, reaching values ​​of 32-10 meters in width and 1.0-0.2 meters in depth.

The average depth of the lake is 1.7 meters, and the depths vary from 1.0-2.5 meters to 4-5 meters in pits. The lake is equipped with a hydraulic engineering system (HES) in the form of a reinforced concrete overflow, which determines the area of ​​the water surface during low water. The overflow is organized from the side of the Sakmara River in a natural depression in the terrain at the junction during the flood. The area of ​​the water surface of Lake Malakhovo during low water does not exceed 20.5 hectares, and during the spring flood when it joins the waters of the Sakmara River it is more than 35 hectares. The water flow during low water is weak and barely noticeable.

The shores of the lake are made up of loams, the bottom is loamy, in places sandy loam, with silt deposits. The vegetation near the lake is typical of the floodplain forest-steppe zone, and along the shores of the lake there is a coastline in the form of a terrace from 0.3 to 1.5 meters high. The shape of the lake along the coastline is horseshoe-shaped.

Fishing on Lake Malakhovo

Fattening of young fish begins in mid-April and continues until mid-June. The first to fatten are young pikes, actively consuming zooplankton organisms and young fish, primarily carp. Fattening of perch family fish (pike perch, perch and ruff) begins in the third ten-day period of April and continues until mid-May. Young carp fish fatten in April - early May. At the same time, bream and roach larvae fatten en masse.

Active migration of young fish from the lake to the Sakmara River is observed in the second half of April. Spawning grounds and places of mass fattening of young fish alternate throughout the entire water area of ​​the lake. There are no spawning grounds in the drainage area 20 meters from the drainage channel.

Wintering of fish occurs throughout the entire water area of ​​the deep-water sections of the lake. In winter, deep-water fish approach the drainage channel, attracted by warm waters.

Lake Malakhovo is an important element of the region’s ecosystem, supporting biodiversity and providing conditions for fisheries activities.