Wednesday 25 May 2016

Pana and Kitza

As advertised, yesterday was a busy one.  After our team had started fishing here, we loaded up the helicopter with the supplies that we bought over from the UK for Pana camp and then flew to the village to meet the Russian staff who will be helping us up there for the next 4 weeks.

Loading supplies at the village - Toby was delighted to see Carlsberg on the menu
We are lucky in that the core of that team has stayed pretty much the same for a few years now and whilst it was early in the morning, it did not stop the home brews coming out to celebrate meeting up again.
The Pana team reunited
We then put on all of the food and drink that will be required for the opening week and as a result, my flight to Pana was cancelled as there was simply not enough room for all of us to fly.  I waved goodbye to them and the resulting dust cloud perhaps best illustrates how dry it has been here.

Dust bowl
Following a nice walk back to camp it was soon time to get everything together for the weekly changeover.  It was a very happy team that we found over at Kitza which was no surprise really as they finished their 3 days on the river with just over 200 fish to the 10 rods.  Yesterday was another good day as they put 56 in the book with Geoff F, Knut A and Paul P all finishing with 8 fish to their name.

The happy team at Kitza
Middle had another solid day and they recorded 59 by the time Donna called them all in for supper. Mark J hit a purple patch and landed 8 from Clark’s in the morning whilst Peter W was also amongst the high scorers.  Terry reported some really decent fish being landed across all of the beats and in common with our rods here, saw plenty of fish all day.

Steve B with one from Kitza
Lower was not exactly brilliant in terms of landed fish yesterday as 13 were recorded but in fairness, we lost more than double that and there was quite a lot of action throughout the day.

The new team have started with a bang and Craig C has already had 5 before meeting his new guide whilst John M has also joined him on the score sheet.

Looking upstream at Kitza last night
Whisper it quietly but there is just a hint of a change in the weather.  I spoke to Terry this morning and it is currently raining at Middle whilst it is overcast here.  I am not sure it threatens floods but just to be out of sun for a nano second will be more than welcome.

Downstream at Kitza - plenty of water over there
I am due to boat up to Middle tonight to have dinner with them and normally I try to find a dry and warm evening to go up there but if I end up soaking wet and freezing by the time I get back here tonight, no one will be more delighted than me.

Charlie White