Wednesday, 1 June 2011

Mid week changeover on a scorching day

Yesterday was the hottest day of the season so far and whilst the downstream wind made casting slightly harder, it did keep us cool.

After fishing here at Lower Varzuga we all got into the helicopter to go across to Kitza camp. It was good to see those clients we had dropped off on Saturday and it was obvious from the large smiles we saw as we came into land, that the 8 rods there had had an excellent three days.

Upstream from Kitza camp on a stunning evening
They finished their time at Kitza with 136 fish whilst the 10 rods that were fishing at Lower Varzuga tallied 156 – remarkably even fishing across the two camps. Kitza is a beautiful camp and is hard to beat and so it was nice to see the reaction of those rods, arriving here last night, to the new lodge. One of our clients, who has fished pretty much everywhere, confirms that it is certainly the most comfortable accommodation he has seen on any of the Kola rivers.


The new lodge at Lower - it is amazing how fast the grass has grown
At Middle Varzuga the camp manager, Hugh, decided to take action to negate the effects of the strong downstream wind. The wind tends to die down in the evening and they decided to have a very early dinner and take advantage of the softer conditions later. The plan paid off with a beautiful evening of fishing in great conditions and the 12 rods took 97 fish for the day with over 20 of those coming after dinner.

Karai enjoying the late evening sunshine
At Pana our Spanish friends continue to catch fish and to catch big fish. They had 39 for the day with Jose F-M again the top rod with 9 fish as well as a stunning 18lber.

Those bigger fish run through Lower and Middle Varzuga just after the break in the ice but they are strong enough to be able to run the middle of the river and so are too far out for us to reach them. When the river narrows, as it does at Pana, we are able to cover them which is why this camp is known for its bigger fish.

The view from my office - Hywell E into one yesterday
It is another very hot day today but I have just seen Alistair W take a fish out of Larder pool and so it does not seem to be affecting the fishing. The weather men said it would rain very hard this morning – it is good to see that they are as accurate here as they are at home..!

Charlie White