It seems hard to believe that only 4 weeks ago we took the
sad decision to cancel the first week of the season due to a late ice
break. During those 4 weeks, the river has
risen over 20ft as the snow and ice melted as a result of an extremely early
heat wave and since that peak, it has dropped over 25ft – all of this on a
river that is around 250-300 yards wide.
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| Summer levels on the Varzuga |
Whilst it is undoubtedly true that most people come here to
catch more salmon than they can dream of, it is the whole experience of being
in such a harsh and wild environment that tends to draw everyone back.
The team at Lower finished with a further 46 fish recorded
yesterday. Douglas B showed the younger
members of the team how to do it and landed 7 whilst still finding time to
allow his guide, Roma, to fish for a while who also landed one. Jim C had 6 to his rod and in the evening Bill
and Eoin took our cook, Maryke, to fish in front of camp and she landed a
lovely fish from the boat.
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| Maryke in the midnight sun |
Kitza continues apace and they added 60 to their mounting
total. They are averaging over 40 fish
per rod with a day to go which is a great weeks fishing. Malcolm K and Julian P were the top scorers
with 16 and 14 fish respectively whilst Chopper Island and Goldmine were the
most productive pools.
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| Success for Jim C on Duck |
Pana is beginning to move through the gears and they had
their best day of the season so far with 54 landed to the 8 rods. As is often the case, Jack M was the top rod with
14 from Ponzoi and Lunch. Their water is
not falling as fast as it is here and boating remains very doable across the
whole beat.
Middle Varzuga carries on racking up the totals and an additional
130 fish were put in the book yesterday.
This takes them to a weekly average of 65 fish per rod – exceptional
fishing and Terry reported a very happy camp.
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| Ditch W with a chunky one from the Wires |
I am returning to the UK tomorrow so this will be my last
blog and Christopher Robinson will take over for the rest of the season. Whilst always great to get home, it is a
difficult place to leave and as ever, my huge thanks goes to all of our Russian
friends who make this work so well and I will look forward to seeing them all
in September when I return for an exploratory trip to find the Autumn run.
Charlie White
