Monday 18 June 2012

Learning


We had a really bright, warm day yesterday, the wind was just enough to keep any mosquitoes away but annoyingly just strong enough to make the casting less easy on the more exposed pools. The water temperature rose a smidgen to 19⁰C which is warm enough to make the salmon a bit dour.

Lunch on the rocks yesterday
Pana reported around 60 fish landed yesterday, I will try and get a fuller report from them tonight, the radio reception being poor at the moment. Our Spanish friends got off to a keen start at Kitza and when I spoke to Tom last night at 19:45 they were still on the river and our cook, Donna, was fretting about the soufflés she always does as a starter for dinner on Sunday. Tom reckoned that they would have about 30 salmon in the book for their first day.

Wonderful light at mid-night
At Middle we landed 34 with Anthony C leading the way with seven fish. Hugh S continued his good run and by the evening had landed three salmon having only caught one before he came here. Jamie G came very close to landing his first salmon unfortunately losing three during the day, after supper I went out in the boat with him to see if the next fish would hold on. Sadly it was a quiet evening for him, but we enjoyed the peace of fishing under the wonderful midnight light and returned late to camp sure that today would bring success.

Jamie G and Hugh this morning
After breakfast Hugh held a brief refresher casting session by the boats and our novice fishers headed off with their guide Sergey full of confidence. A number of people raise an eyebrow about novice fishermen and ladies coming to such an amazing river as the Varzuga, however I can think of no better place to start your fishing career. Casting can be taught on any river, but you can only really learn about fishing if you are catching fish. On Varzuga there is every chance of that happening, mistakes can be made and lessons learnt in the pretty certain knowledge that you will have a chance of another take from a salmon and the opportunity to get it right next time. Where else does that happen?

Anticipation
Cloudy today, a nice breeze and a chance of rain, a much better day for fishing and I will let you know how we get on tomorrow.

Christopher Robinson