Sunday 26 May 2013

Changeover day

Yesterday was a busy for day us and clients alike. We flew out of the camps at 8am and it was great to catch up with all of the clients before they flew home. It is always fun hearing the experiences that everyone has had throughout the week and it was particularly gratifying that so many people are already looking forward to returning next year.

All of the camps fished well last week with Michael E and his team, who started here at Lower, finishing with 386 fish to the 10 rods. We picked them up from Kitza in the morning and it was not long before one or two were fast asleep having had a particularly good and particularly late party on the last night.

Alan M on the Wires on the last afternoon
The team who started at Kitza and then finished at Lower recorded a total of 295 to their 10 rods. Our last night was not quite as wild as many of them fished late into the night to make the most of their time. After supper we were fortunate enough to have Valentine come down from the village who entertained us with his accordion before waders were donned for those final few fish.

Valentine and his trusty accordion
The team at Middle finished the week with 556 salmon for the 12 rods. Peter W landed over 100 of these with his fishing partner also doing very well. Peter A hooked a huge fish on Pashas on Friday which took him 200 yards into the backing before a rather violent “ping” signalled the end of the affair. A great week was had by all and we hope to see many of the same faces this time next year.

With the Heathrow incident we have had clients arriving from all sorts of different directions but everyone is now in their respective camps; tired but happy to be here.

Mark B on Middle
It was very good to see our Spanish team, who are returning to Pana, as we always look forward to seeing them. They normally relax on the first evening and don’t fish but having spoken to Damian this morning it was clear that the temptation of seeing fish moving just outside the camp was too much and they made an exception this year. 9 fish were put in the book to give them a great start to their week.

Having dropped off the very experienced team at Middle, who went straight out onto the water and had several fish before dinner, we then picked up the clients going to Kitza and Lower. We got to camp later than expected but Simon J went out straight away and landed his first ever salmon on a fly. To prove it was no fluke he got up early this morning and landed another bar of silver before breakfast.

"Your license please" - meeting the guides this morning
It is a different day altogether today with a cold wind and high cloud cover. With water temperatures creeping up to 10-11 degrees everyone has gone out armed with small intermediate tips and a fairly light fly. We can only hope that the fishing this week starts in the same fashion as we finished the last.

Charlie White