Great to be back

It is great to be back on the Varzuga and thank you to Christopher for setting up the camps and ensuring that everything is running so smoothly.

The Friday night in Helsinki is very much the beginning of the trip as everyone catches up and discusses the reports from the river. Excitement levels were high and after last week rightly so.

The 10 rods at Lower Varzuga finished their week with 409 salmon to the bank – a superb week of fishing and many of the rods caught their first salmon which is always wonderful to see. Bill Drury was on hand to offer advice to the team and he will be back with Eoin Fairgrieve at the beginning of June for their tuition week which we are much looking forward to.

Caleb S with his first Russian salmon last night

There was a combination of experienced hands and new rods in the team at Middle Varzuga and they had an excellent week, landing 392 fish to the 8 rods. As ever, they worked hard for their fish and were handsomely rewarded.

Our arrival into camp could not have been smoother. A pretty quick customs and immigration queue followed by the short bus ride to the helicopters meant that all of us were in our respective camps by 4pm.

Here at Lower, there was a blur of activity as everyone rushed to set up rods and race down to the river. 6 of the 10 rods landed a fish whilst all were connected at some point or another and we had 13 salmon in the book before dinner – not a bad start.

JP M on Heli yesterday evening

At Middle there was, perhaps for the first time ever, more of a leisurely approach with most of them electing to put their rods up and relax after the journey. However, Peter W was not for stopping and landed 5 before Hugh called him in for supper.

The 10 rods at Kitza also had a fairly leisurely start but had landed 6 fish by the time I spoke to Tom at 7pm.

The land of the midnight sun - 11pm last night

It is a stunning day here today with a light upstream breeze and bright skies. The only blot on the horizon is that the mobile mast is down and this is being sent by satellite phone so don’t panic if you do not hear from your loved ones here – everyone is OK! I am not sure when mobile signal will be restored but will keep you updated.

Charlie White