Sunday 23 June 2013

Mostly Cloudy

We were into camp pretty quickly yesterday and the new team were out on the water by 5 p.m. Hot, very bright and a nasty upstream wind kicking up waves which made explaining the ‘draw out’ on Generator difficult. Not an ideal start but everyone settled in and got into the casting rhythm. Rob W landed a nice salmon before dinner, Chris and Gerry C soon worked out what to do, paced themselves a bit and then fished through to the early morning when the light was at its lowest and best. Chris had four salmon , although two fell off as he was dragging them onto the gravel and Gerry one. Bob was up early and landed two salmon before breakfast. So not a bad start really.

Rob with the first salmon of this week
I had a squint at the forecast on the internet first thing, “mostly cloudy” said the experts. I did as instructed by Tiffy - “just look out of the bloody window” – bright blue sky, blazing sun and I’d be surprised if there was a cloud between here and Murmansk. Good job Noah did not rely on the forecast; it would probably have said “possible chance of light drizzle”.

"Mostly cloudy" this morning
I fear we have another hot and bright spell with us again. We will see how it goes today, our first day, and then adjust from there, I suspect we will alter the fishing times and make the best of the low sun and cooler temperatures at night.

Gerry C at 3 a.m. this morning
Yesterday I flew out to Murmansk with the Kitza team, Tom, Donna and our Spanish friends. There were huge smiles in the helicopter, lots of thumbs up and I was able to download the photo of Jaime and his big salmon – a very happy young lad. Tom was delighted with the season but was sad to close down with fresh fish still running. However he was justifiably very proud to have seen 1,349 salmon landed in just five weeks, each of six days fishing. An average of 45 Atlantic salmon per day for eight rods – makes you think a bit if you are fishing elsewhere doesn’t it?

Jaime with his salmon of the season at Kitza
I’m about to post the blog a touch later than normal as the helicopter dropped a massive load of supplies for us this week. With everyone else out Big Misha and I carted it all from the pad to the store and freezer, muttering like grumpy old men; the young and fit are never about when needed.

Now off to find Maryke and see if she can do another rain dance.

More tomorrow

Christopher Robinson