A trip to Pana

I went to Pana yesterday to take some supplies and to see how the river was looking. The clients were having a picnic lunch down river but I was there long enough to see that the camp pool was alive with fish and it was hard to look at the river for any length of time without seeing one jump. The 8 rods up there had 94 for their day and they are going to break all of their records for the week. Barrie W had a 21lbs fish which is the biggest that he has had from Pana in all the years he has been coming whilst Christopher L and Keith H had a bonanza day of 16 apiece.

Hippo Rock is now almost part of the bank

After we landed back here at Lower, Christopher and I got in a boat and went up to Middle for dinner which turned out to be a very good idea as Jemima cooked us a delicious dinner and all of the clients there were in excellent spirits. The fishing has been nothing short of extraordinary all season and it shows no sign of stopping at the moment. 156 fish were landed to the 10 rods with Laurence L doing particularly well and he has already landed over 100 fish to his own rod for the week. All of the clients remarked on the size of the fish and it is clear that wherever they have been feeding they have done exceptionally well as they are all in perfect shape and fight like things possessed.

Philip W with one of 13 he had for his day

We got back to Lower at about midnight to find a serious party in full swing. Everyone here was celebrating yet another amazing day as they had finished with 69 fish for their group. Steve W and Jenny C had a day to remember with 13 and 10 respectively whilst Howard E landed 6 out of the Larder pool for his morning session. With fish being landed across all the beats it was great to see everyone swapping stories and laughing and joking long into the night.

The midnight light at Middle

Kitza is also fishing incredibly well and the 8 rods had 57 for their day with Malcolm K and Julian P leading the charge with 12 fish each . It was a bit of a struggle to hear Tom this morning as he tried to tell me the full story of almost every fish that was landed but suffice to say that I gathered that they were having an excellent time.

Greg K with one safely in the net

It seems entirely wrong that we should be closing this camp tomorrow evening as the fish are still running through here in huge numbers but it does bode very well for the rest of the season in the other camps. However, it is very bright today which might not be the best for the fishing but at least it almost certainly explains why most of the clients felt the need for sunglasses at breakfast this morning…

Charlie White

More personal milestones

The weather yesterday was exactly what you would hope for on any fishing day – overcast, a light drizzle and very little wind. A day to improve your casting for sure but it also proved to be a day for catching a lot of fish.

Jenny C with one of 8 she landed yesterday

At Lower Varzuga, Jenny C landed 8 fish for her day which is the most she has ever landed. Andy B continues to impress and had 11 to his rod whilst Terry H went from landing his first ever salmon on Sunday to landing his biggest fish of around 12lbs. Eoin and Bill also picked up a rod yesterday for an hour or so and showed all of us how it should be done within a short space of time and we finished the day with 60 fish in the book. Dinner was delicious and great fun with smiles all around the table.

Eoin Fairgrieve during a rare "off duty" moment

At Pana they did have another record day as we had hoped they might. Jack M had 26 for his day whilst Dick B landed a further 19 to go towards a total of 106 fish to the 8 rods. Phenomenal fishing which is as we had dared to hope for given the amount of fish we have seen all season in the lower beats.

Terry H with a good fish from the boat

The team at Middle Varzuga continues to land a staggering amount of fish and the 10 rods had 167 silver bullets for their day. Hugo M and Rob M were fishing Party pool in the morning and Beach pool in the afternoon which sounded promising in the morning but no one would have dared predicted that they would land 27 and 26 fish respectively for their day. I am going up there for lunch today and it will be very good to catch up with them all.

Kitza is fishing beautifully and the 8 rods there had 58 fish for their day. David P and Julian P were the days top rods with 14 and 13 fish but everyone had several fish during the morning and afternoon sessions.


Andy B and one of his 11 for the day

Stephen W and Henry G went out this morning before breakfast and had 2 fish apiece whilst seeing a lot of fish showing all the way down the home pool here and there is every chance that today will be as good as yesterday as we have similar weather and an increasingly able team.

Charlie White

Another day in paradise

When the weather is good, our daily routine is to take Maryke and the lunch out to the river and set it up before the clients arrive. At 1pm yesterday, all of the boats converged near our picnic spot and before I could ask how their morning had been, Eoin simply beamed at me and said “another day in paradise”


Terry M with a fish from Moscoi Rapids

It transpired that he had been with Terry M for the morning session and he had landed another fish to add to his growing total. The encouraging aspect was that they were at the bottom of our beat and reported seeing masses of fresh fish entering the system which indicates that the run of fish continues in its strength. We finished the day with 43 fish and it was great to see the casting and fishing confidence improve in all the rods as Bill and Eoin rotated around the beat.

Jenny C with one from Bear Corner

At Kitza they are dealing in round numbers and the 8 rods had 50 fish for their day. Bill O-Y was the top rod with 14 for his day but otherwise the catches were evenly spread. Their water temperature is now 10 degrees and it is dropping all the while which will help open up yet more of the beat.

At Middle the fishing continues to amaze and the 10 rods had 126 fish for their day. Laurence L had a superb afternoon on Party pool (which has fished incredibly well all year) and he landed 18 fish in about 4 hours. Many of the rods are repeat guests and they have all commented on the sheer strength of the fish this year.

Sam B who landed 8 yesterday

It is raining heavily this morning which sometimes affects the clarity of reception on our radios. As a result I could not totally hear Mungo but from what I could gather, the team of 8 rods at Pana had an excellent day. They landed 80 fish with Dick B leading the way with 22 to his own rod.  This is the highest number of fish this very experienced group have ever had in a day and it is the best day of the season at Pana so far but that is unlikely to remain the case for too long.

Glenn, on the left, with his first ever salmon

Christopher Robinson took a boat up to Middle Varzuga yesterday with Glenn, our mechanic. They were there to fix an engine but it soon became clear from the grin on Glenn’s face that they had spent the return journey having much more fun and his first ever salmon has been celebrated in style.

Maryke at 11pm last night

Not content with guiding Glenn to his first ever salmon, Christopher took Maryke out for an hours fishing after dinner and she also landed her first fish. Breakfast this morning was a quieter affair but there is a definite sense of achievement in the air from clients and staff alike.

Charlie White

First fish and many more

As we had slightly hoped and expected, having Bill and Eoin with us here at Lower has already paid dividends. The strong upstream wind of the morning remained a feature of the day but with expert tuition, the clients were soon casting beautifully.

Terry M was the first story of the day as he went with Bill to Bear Island and after a few pointers, landed his first ever salmon. He went on to land 2 more to give him a dream start to his fishing career. Not all of our rods are beginners and this was amply demonstrated by Stephen W who has already landed 17 fish to his rod. We finished with 67 to our 9 rods and the week could not have started in a stronger fashion.

Stephen W with a nice fish from the Larder pool

Kitza is really fishing very well now and the 8 rods there had 46 for their day with David P the top rod having landed 15 fish. They had a couple of good sized fish of around the 13-14lbs mark from Beaver Pit and Sasha’s pool and it appears as though there are fish all through the beat.


Jenny C in to one on Bear Island

Middle Varzuga shows no sign of slowing down and the 10 rods have had 156 bars of silver already. Phillip W and Nick M had the day of their lives on Clarkes and Party pools and landed 54 fish between them during the guided hours.  They have caught fish all along their stretch of river and with water levels remaining at an excellent level, all of the pools are in the rotation which gives them a huge area to cover and being only 10 rods gives them even more flexibility which they are making the most of.


A dangerously good pudding last night

At Pana the 8 rods had a great start to their week with 48 fish in the book. Dick B and Jack M were the top rods with 10 apiece and Mungo reported seeing more and more fish in all of their beats. As ever at Pana, they are catching some bigger fish and a 15lber was the best that they had yesterday.
Summer is definitely here now and floating lines are the favoured choice. Christopher Robinson took 2 of our rods out in the boat last night and they raised 10 fish to a skated fly in about an hour and the Sunray Shadow is beginning to find its way to the top of everyone’s fly boxes. 


Barry H with a fresh fish from Duck pool

A new day has bought no change to the weather as it is very bright and the strong upstream wind will put the odds in the fish's favour but we have everything else going our way and the team here are determined to make the best of it.

Charlie White

The records continue to tumble

Yesterday was a busy day in Murmansk as most of the Kola rivers are now open and as we all share the same charter from Helsinki the immigration hall was packed but within a couple of hours we were on the helicopter and ready to start a new week.

We can only hope that this week starts in the same way that last week finished. We had superb fishing across all of the camps and Kitza is now dropping in perfectly for the new group. The departing team had their best day of 45 fish from the river on Friday and David P went out last night to land 2 before dinner and they should have an excellent week over there.

Henry P on Moscoi Rapids

At Lower we had one of our best days on Friday with 52 fish landed to the 10 rods. We welcomed Eoin Fairgrieve and Bill Drury with their very keen team of rods and supper last night was a quick affair as everyone was keen to get on the river. Stephen W was the one to get off to a flyer with 6 fish in a couple of hours from Wires but everyone who went out managed to land fish and the enthusiasm levels this morning are great to see.

Pana fished beautifully by the end of the week and the team of 6 finished with exactly 150 fish for their 6 days fishing. There is no doubt that their fishing got better and better each day and with a few fish already in the book from our new team, we hope that this trend continues.

Howard E last night

At Middle the unthinkable happened. I did not believe that it was possible to catch more fish than the previous group had done as that was a record for the river in itself. I was wrong. The 12 rods finished their week with 1,377 bars of silver and amazingly, 8 different clients landed over 100 fish to their own rods. It was great to catch up with them all in Murmansk and it was clear that they all recognised that they had been part of something very special. “We will never see it like that again” was the overriding comment and I think that they have a point but I rather hope that they are wrong!

Bill Drury and Stephen W ready for action this morning

The 10 rods who are there this week have already landed several before breakfast and there seems no sign of the run slowing down. However, we have a very strong and cold upstream wind this morning which is going to make life tougher for everyone but it will give Bill and Eoin ample opportunity to put their tuition skills to good use.

Charlie White

Back to Murmansk

As per last week, it will be a short blog today as we are just about to head off to Murmansk to say goodbye to our clients from this week and welcome our new arrivals.

It has been another excellent week with fish caught across the board.  It has been superb to see Pana improve all the time and having flown up there yesterday I was surprised by how much it has dropped which bodes well for next week. 

Hippo Rock at Pana

Kitza remains a little high but is still fishing perfectly well without quite being on the kind of form we know it can be.  I am quietly confident that the team going in there this evening will have a very good week.

Middle Varzuga has fished like a dream all week.  I keep saying it - time and skill on the water make a huge difference to the statistics across the camps and the 12 rods up there this week would stroll into any Premier League fishing team.  They have fished very hard and very well and the rewards have been immense.

Peter H with a nice fish from Upper Sviats Pool

Lower continues to fish extremely well, I was with Bruce B yesterday morning on the Wires pool and we saw masses of fish continuing to pour in.  This evening we will have the first ever Ultimate Salmon Course attendees who are going to be tutored and guided by Eoin Farigrieve and Bill Drury.  To have top class casting tuition all day from some of the very best in the business on a river that is full of fish should provide a lot of fun and really help everyone leave here a better salmon angler than they arrive.

A bear we saw from the heli yesterday

It is hard to believe that we are about to enter our fourth week of the season and as ever, it all goes too fast.

Charlie White

The last day of the week comes too quickly

After a bright and sunny start yesterday, we were soon helped by perfect cloud cover and kinder fishing conditions. It was noticeable that as soon as the weather changed, our fishing fortunes improved.

I spent an excellent hour with Bill R in the Heli pool and in that time he landed 3 fish which meant that he had landed 10 fish to his rod in the day. Bill has fished pretty much everywhere and yet this was the first time he had ever landed 10 in a day and it was great to be with him for his own milestone. His fish contributed to an overall total of 54 for the day at Lower and there is no doubt that we lost as many again.


Richard P with a perfectly formed fish

The cooler weather did not deter the Kitza team going to the White Sea and after a quick dinner they took a cooler of drinks and boated the 30 minutes to the beach. They got back at some time past midnight having all enjoyed this magical spot. The Arctic Terns have started nesting down there and the clients had to be careful where they walked if they wanted to avoid being harried by these brave birds. On the fishing front, the 9 rods had 27 for the day with Harry M showing his father the way as he landed 5 fish to his rod.

Andrew WD at 39 Steps pool

The team at Pana had a slightly tougher day due to a very different weather pattern up there. A cold and strong upstream wind did not help their cause but they still landed 26 between the 6 rods. Jose F-M continues to be the star performer and had a further 10 fish to his own rod. As ever, they are landing bigger fish up there and several fish of over 15lbs were landed yesterday with the biggest being weighed at 18lbs.


Bill R landing one of his 10 for the day

At Middle there is a dawning realisation that today is the last day of what will be one of the best fishing weeks we have ever seen. We did not think that we would be able to repeat last week’s figures but we are very close to it and they landed a further 188 fish to the 12 rods yesterday. Paul C landed 30 fish to his own rod which is the first time that he has done that and the team have now sailed past 1,000 fish for the week. It is a reminder of what the river is capable and we are all sad that the week seems to be coming to an end so quickly.

"Not yet" - guide Vova waiting to land one of Rob H's fish

With one more day to go, the rods have set off this morning with great purpose and we hope that their last day is as successful as the rest of the week has been.

Charlie White