3 of our teams had a great day yesterday but trying to work what is going on at Pana has us scratching our heads more than ever before.
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| Ditch W with one of 4 he had yesterday |
At 8:45 all of our clients here at Lower Varzuga were boarded onto the helicopter and flew a short distance to a beat above Middle Varzuga. Lower has been very quiet all week in terms of numbers landed and a couple of fly outs seemed to be the right thing to do.
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| Glynn D with Sergei ready to pounce |
The team landed 29 fish between them with Glynn D the top rod on 7 for his day. It was great to get people into real action and for them to see the fishing as we know it can be. Everyone had a really enjoyable day and the celebratory party carried on way, way into the night. I am not sure how many people will fish today as our vodka supplies were dramatically diminished.
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| One of 7 for Glynn yesterday |
Middle Varzuga continues to be the model of consistency with 54 put in the books. It was a very even performance across the team but Andy B just shaded it by landing 7 to his rod. Young Colton C is having a great week and yesterday recorded his 10th Atlantic salmon – not bad given that he is 5 days into his fishing career.
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| Igor at the ready |
Kitza had a much better day and totaled 21 to the 7 rods. Malcolm K and George R made the most of their knowledge of the beat and finished with 5 apiece. They are now walking to their beats but we have had much cooler weather recently (water temperature is now 9 degrees) and it has made any form of walk much easier.
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| "Get the net!" |
Whilst Middle did well and our rods also caught fish above them, the mystery of Pana’s season continues. They landed 5 fish yesterday which is beyond extraordinary. Somewhere there must be a whole heap of fish in between Middle and Pana and at some point someone is going to have a bonanza up there but why that hasn’t happened already is something we can’t answer.
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| Richard S with another one |
Today marks the end of the season at Lower whilst Kitza and Pana will fish for 2 more weeks and Middle for 3. It has not been a record breaking season and we have had tough conditions but we have also had some fantastic teams fishing with us who all “get” fishing and know that sometimes nature conspires against us.
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| Phil T and Peter |
It has been, as ever, superb fun and all of us working here know how lucky we are to be able to call this our office for a month. We couldn’t do it without tremendous support from our Russian friends but don’t underestimate the impact of having someone as efficient and caring as Lynsey Mair back in our Hungerford office to ensure it all runs smoothly. It truly is a team effort and one I am very proud to be part of.
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| See you next year |
I will fly home tomorrow and Ollie Shuldham will take over blog duties. I will be back up here in September for a week at Lower Varzuga and then onto Umba for our first season there – exciting times ahead.
Charlie White
