Yovas Rapids are at the head of the Middle Camp’s beat, 2½ miles of white water and wonderful ‘lay-bys’ for the running salmon to rest in on their haul up the steepest section of this long river. Early in the season the fish pause at Clarkes right at the bottom of the rapids, making Clarkes probably the most sought after spot on the beat rotation. Now, with the water temperature above 10⁰C, they tend to run through Clarkes pausing in the myriad of perfect pools throughout Yovas.
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| Lunch at Yovas |
The jet boat ride up the rapids gives the day a feeling of expedition, you pull into the bank, the engine is cut, and suddenly you realise you are genuinely in the middle of nowhere, just a mile or so south of the Arctic Circle, in the most beautiful place on the Varzuga with more fantastic fly fishing water than you can possibly cover in the day. Truly fishing heaven.
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| Graham B and Anton with another silver salmon from Yovas |
I ran my boat up Yovas to meet Graham B, David KW and Ian S for lunch, a fresh salmon barbequed by Sasha; we relaxed on the bank and soaked in the silence of the wilderness. In the afternoon Anton guided Graham down the bank while I took David in my boat. I made a couple of indifferent decisions about where to fish and by mid-afternoon, much to Anton’s delight, Graham was well ahead on the score board. Eventually we got it right, just above The Slabs, and in an hour of mayhem David landed four, lost four and had numerous aggressive and splashy takes.
We sat in the boat quietly contemplating the day, David said “I wonder if people realize that it is a privilege to fish Yovas”.
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| A very happy Sebastien R |
At Middle Camp we ended the day with 103 salmon in the book, Kitza reported 55 with Joshua C landing 15. Pana had a cracking day with 136, one guest fished late to get to a remarkable score of 50. It was a bright day and the water temperature rose to 15⁰C; floating lines are now the best choice and flies of 1” or less are working well.
More tomorrow from the wonderful Varzuga.
Christopher Robinson
