It is tempting to laugh at the customs and immigration set up in Murmansk but the truth is, that if Heathrow was half as quick then we would not be so concerned about hosting the Olympics. Within an hour and a half of our charter landing, we were on the helicopters and heading to camp.
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| Graham M with his first ever salmon |
As Christopher has alluded to, last week was a tale of two camps and Middle Varzuga started the season exactly as we would have hoped. 329 bars of silver were landed to the 8 rods with some superb specimens amongst them. Julian T was the top rod but everyone had a good share of the action.
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| Martin L with one from Middle last week |
As we know, our team at Lower had a tougher week but from what I gather, they had all enjoyed the experience and I hope that we will see many of them back here next year to show them how this camp really can fish in the first week. The refund was the hot topic of conversation in the Helsinki Hilton and several clients agreed that they thought it was the first time that they had heard of this type of gesture.
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| Gareth C with a cracker |
Our new teams have been eager to get going and despite arriving to what can only be described as a huge river; the early indications have been excellent. Kitza has welcomed its first guests for the season and Bill P was the first on the score sheet with a fish before supper last night. Having stayed up late to listen to the football and celebrated even later, the morning radio call was rather delayed and it sounded unlikely that anyone had tried to catch a fish before breakfast. Their river was bank high last night but it has dropped 4 inches overnight and they are setting off with great enthusiasm and greater headaches.
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| Jaime S during his first time at Middle |
Lower Varzuga is also dropping and clearing which is just as we had hoped. Chris J was the first to catch a fish last night with Phil W also opening his account. 3 rods have gone out this morning and landed 4 fish between them with Sue C losing one as well as landing her first of the week.
At Middle, the very experienced team has got off to a flyer and one of our regular guests has landed an astonishing 35 salmon since he got off the helicopter yesterday evening. John R had a cracking 12lber to kick off his week and with their water also starting to fall away, hopes are high for an excellent day.
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| Head guide Feoder with Joan G this morning |
The Lower Varzuga guides have just arrived from their night off in the village and with a clear sky, dropping water and plenty of fish already in the book, the scene is set for a first class start to the week. As ever, it is great to be back and I am looking forward to reporting on the action for the next 3 weeks.
Charlie White
