Last night I went up to Middle Varzuga for dinner which was a good call as a) dinner was delicious and b) it was the most glorious evening to be on the river. The morning cloud had burnt off by lunchtime to be replaced with bright sunshine but a strong upstream wind made things slightly tougher than we would have hoped for.
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| Midnight on the way back from Middle Varzuga |
At Middle they had finished with 124 for the day but perhaps the most extraordinary thing is that all of the rods reported losing as many fish again if not more. With the water temperature climbing all day it appeared to make the fish incredibly aggressive and slashing takes and grabs led to many of them dropping off halfway through the fight.
Mike B showed me his fly of choice from Sunday, which had caught 12 fish from Clarkes in about two hours and it is fair to say that it amply demonstrated that heavily dressed flies are not a necessity out here as it was chewed to pieces and yet was still catching fish.
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| Joan G with a nice fish from the Wires |
Here at Lower, our four rods had 27 for the day and again lost fish were a feature. Andrew M, our finance director who is out here to see the programme, had 9 additional fish after going out for a couple of hours in the morning. If there was ever a time to get a sympathetic hearing regarding a pay rise it was surely just as he came in for lunch with the world’s largest grin!
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| Sue C with one from Bear Corner |
At Kitza there was great celebration after Robert H landed his first ever salmon. In fact it was his first fish full stop as he has not picked up a rod before, so it was appropriate that it should be celebrated in style. After their 15 fish on the first day, things were tougher yesterday and they landed 4 fish with the wind making casting very difficult.
This morning is a much calmer and warmer day so it should make life easier for everyone. I have already seen Michael E land two fish after 30 minutes of fishing so I hope it is a sign of the day to come.
Charlie White
