Wednesday 28 May 2014

Changeover day

We had another really cold day yesterday with the odd snow flurry and a biting wind.  We all came back to camp for lunch where we enjoyed a few glasses of warmed and spiced red wine – very welcome and got the circulation going again.

Yet again, it did nothing to dampen the fishing despite the water temperature dropping to 6c.  On their last day before flying to Kitza, our 10 rods at Lower landed a further 87 for the day to put their 3 day total at 242 fish – an excellent result.  Mark M put his extensive knowledge of the beat to good use and was top rod with 21 but Tim J proved that he could pick up a thing or two quite quickly and landed 12.  Michael G had what he described as the best days fishing of his life whilst also finishing on 12.  We lost an awful lot of fish yesterday as the colder water seemed to make the salmon take quite short.
A close up of one of Brendan's fish - they are in great shape this season
In the evening we flew over to Kitza where we met a very happy team of rods.  They had added 44 to give them a half term tally of 143.  Peter H had 10 to his rod yesterday whilst Brendan G is putting in the hours and is being regularly rewarded.  The river is still quite big but is dropping by about 6 inches every day and it is becoming more and more defined as time goes on.

Rhod D on Morskoy Island, the first time it has been out of the water this year
Middle Varzuga had another stellar day and landed 237 fish to the 12 rods.  This puts them on a running total of 852 for the week; amazing stuff and they are on course to break their own record which they set in in 2012 which was an eye watering 1,377.  David C and Chris C were the top performers in a pretty high achieving team and they each landed 31 in the day.
Val J on Morskoy in the afternoon
Our team at Pana are sadly not having the fishing we would hope for them.  At the risk of bemoaning the weather at every turn, the combination of a late ice break, followed by a heat wave and then followed by a cold snap has ensured that the fish are moving up river quite slowly.  They are boating a long way downstream to try to intercept them but so far they have had no luck.  It will change and when they do hit fish they will surely hit quite a lot as the run seems very strong and they must be stacked up somewhere.
Hamish Mackie studying the Arctic Terns
I spent the morning on the coast of the White Sea with sculptor Hamish Mackie.  He is out here to study the Arctic Terns and the other Kola wildlife before collating an exhibition in 2016.  Having taken over 1,300 photos of terns yesterday, his mind is running wild with possibilities and it will be very exciting to see what he can come up with. 
Charlie White