Pana and Kitza

Yesterday was a busy day in the helicopter. We first took Toby and Beanie up to Pana and as ever, it was great to catch up with the team of guides and camp staff who have been there for so long.

The river looks perfect up there with Hippo Rock just showing, they had got five boats ready to go, the cabins are up and running and now we just need to add rods.

Pana from the air

Following that we took the team who had been fishing here at Lower over to Kitza and swapped over with the 10 rods who have been fishing over there. We try to do the changeover quite quickly as otherwise it can feel as if everyone is hanging around a bit but there is inevitably some delay as tactics are swapped, beats discussed and advice freely given.

Alicia, Arlena, Toby, Natasha and Beanie at Pana

There was much advice to go around as the 9 rods at Lower put a further 63 fish in the book yesterday with Stephen T having his best day of 13 from Sviats and Moskoi.

At Middle Varzuga they seemed to suffer from a mid week lull and the scores during the guided hours were not that spectacular but the home pools of Generator and Bear saved the day and the 12 rods finished with 62 recorded. Jim F, having not been out here for 7 years, remembered what he was doing and finished with 14 for his day.

Eric W with one of 28 fish he landed in 3 days at Lower

Kitza had a slightly slower day and they finished with 22 and a lot of those fish came from Reel and Spey. As soon as we had landed at Lower the team had their rods up and were fishing the home pools. It was clear that dinner was going to be delayed so we had a staggered evening as everyone came in when either tired or sated.

Marc W made the best of it and landed 10 fish from Wires whilst also losing a further 9 more. His shell shocked expression when he came back in is the kind of reaction we are all hoping to see.

Kitza last night, still quite high

This morning is bright but there is a tough upstream wind. Not that that mattered to Craig C who went out before breakfast and took 2 fish from Heli. Everyone was bang on time for breakfast and the enthusiasm levels are as high as I have seen – let’s hope for more of the same today.

Charlie White