Be careful what you wish for

After nearly three weeks of praying for warmer weather it has now come with a vengeance.  As Christopher rather predicted, having warned our rods to prepare for very cold temperatures, it is now over 20 degrees, we have bright blue skies and we have all shed any cold weather gear we may have had.

That is the good news.  The bad news is that the sudden uplift in temperatures has meant that all of the water in the tundra seems to be coming down at once.  A very rapidly rising and dirty river made life extremely difficult for us here at Lower and those at Kitza.

Eric W - successful yesterday, hoping for more today

At Middle Varzuga, above a lot of the feeder streams and smaller tributaries, the water has risen as quickly but it is not so dirty.  This meant that they had an excellent day and they finished with 102 fish landed to the 12 rods.  Peter W had 27 and somewhat unusually out-fished his fishing partner who had 22.  Tim I had a fantastic session at Pertiha landing14 salmon for the morning.

Ice on the river - note the semi-submerged bushes in the foreground

Lower was a different story and whilst Joan G managed to land 4 fish and Eric W also had 1 in the morning that was sadly our lot.  A few were lost here and there but it was pretty hard going.  The guides worked hard but not in their usual way of netting fish as they had to keep an eye out on what was being washed downstream – ice, logs and bits of debris that have accumulated on the river bank over the long winter. 

The river this morning in the same spot - all the bushes fully submerged

Kitza is rising and colouring in equal measure and they had a very tough day.  Tony S managed to save the blank by landing 1 but it was a day where we were reminded that being given what you want is not always the best case scenario.

Beanie, cook at Pana, with her onion chopping goggles

It is another stunning day today and the river has risen about 6 inches overnight but in fact it does appear to be clearing relatively quickly so with any luck, today will be a better day all round.

Charlie White