I thought that we really might get fully under way on the fishing front yesterday, however the river is proving amazingly stubborn this year. With a cold Spring we have not had the usual big clear out of ice and very gradually and slowly the river rises, releasing more ice and snow off the banks. The frustration is that we know the salmon are here, hunkered down just off the main current.
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| Graham M fishing Duck Pool |
At Middle Varzuga they had a respectable, if not an epic day, with 21 salmon to eight rods. I boated up there last night to find four of them still fishing Generator Pool at 8 p.m. Julian T had used his previous Varzuga experience to work out that conditions were improving and he had six fish late in the day which raised the camp spirits considerably.
At the Lower Camp it was, I fear, a bit of a struggle. The weather was much better, quite mild in the afternoon, but the salmon had their heads down and we managed to land two sea trout before calling it quits and retiring for another of Maryke’s delicious dinners.
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| Kitza, First Island from the air yesterday |
Normally we get this blog posted first thing in the morning – I’m a bit late today as I got diverted earlier on to go up to the village to bring a repaired boat, engine and some stores back down river to the Lower Camp.
I returned to the good news that Middle Camp had landed 40 salmon this morning, I think with Simon P and Julian T leading the way with nearly half the catch from Clarkes. Brian A had two fish from Green Bank, right outside camp here at Lower Varzuga just before lunch and this afternoon everyone is back on the river with renewed enthusiasm hoping the Varzuga is now going to ‘switch on’ – I have probably made myself a hostage to fortune!
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| Kitza Home Pool |
Really mild today, the air temperature is around 10⁰C and the water is up to 2⁰C. Good fishing conditions, we just need the river to settle down a touch more and I think we could be seeing some really interesting fishing.
I went over to Kitza with Tom and Donna yesterday - the river was loooking really good. I'll hear from Tom this evening no doubt, they have quite a bit to do over there but I'm sure Tom will find a moment or two to cast a line. I'll let you know when I have news.
