The 12 rods ended with 1,309 fish recorded in the book along
with countless other battles that did not end with the fish in the net. It was not their record total but it was
extremely close and after 2012, we never really expected to get near that
figure again – to do so was a real testament to the strength of the run this
season.
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| Lucy M with a fabulous fish from Bear Island |
Inevitably some personal records were broken but you did not
need to be at Middle for that to be the case.
The rods at Lower and Kitza (3 days on each beat with 10 rods per beat)
finished with 749 salmon on the bank with personal bests being broken every day.
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| Joe M with a pretty good one of his own from the Mall |
Perhaps unusually in a year where we have had such a late
break, the rods who started at Kitza tallied more than those who came to Lower
first. Kitza is lake fed and that colder
water tends to mean that their main run is 3 to 4 days after Lower (which is
why we fish Lower only in the first week of the season) but last week that was
not the case. One of those strange
anomalies that simply reaffirm that strong predictions about salmon fishing are
never a safe bet.
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| Roma in the bright sun which was a feature of part of last week |
Pana steadily improved throughout the week but a final total
of 23 to the 7 rods was disappointing.
Speaking to the rods at Murmansk it was clear that they had enjoyed
their week but that the high water had simply made it very difficult for them
to fish the beats properly and for the fish to reach them. It has dropped markedly in the past couple of
days and to prove the point, Karen R had one from Hippo Rock (just outside
camp) and Dick B had 2 from Ivans last night so their week is off to a very
good start.
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| Tom S raring to go this morning |
Fog near the river caused us to be delayed in Murmansk
yesterday and we did not get here until quite late so most rods had dinner and
went to bed but Glynn D got up at 6am this morning and has landed 5 fish before
coming in for breakfast. It is not hard
to imagine that this news meant that all of the rods were very prompt for the
guides at 9am and with a bright sunny day to kick us off we are all looking
forward to another excellent weeks fishing.
Charlie White
