Slowly, slowly

I hardly dare say it for fear of jumping the gun but slowly, just slowly, spring is coming and so are the fish.

Having seen very little bird life, signs of new growth or anything much in the way of warmer temperatures, yesterday felt as if we were getting somewhere.

Brendan on Heli last night

We saw the first cuckoo of the season and the birch buds are just beginning to show.  Also beginning to show are salmon.

After a tough morning here, Jamie K fished Beach in the afternoon which is our bottom beat and not only landed two fresh fish but most encouragingly saw plenty more coming into the beat.

Philip L-J at Kitza

The feeling that fish have eventually got here was backed up by the fact that before we flew to Kitza to swap parties, we had landed 6 for the day but the new team here landed 6 more after dinner in just a couple of hours, all in the home pool of Heli.

At Kitza, before we flew over to pick them up, they had 8 for their final day there – not epic but going the right way.

Kitza camp looking stunning yesterday morning - the snow has now all gone

The most curious aspect of the whole week has been Middle.  We have fished hard here at Lower and all eyes have been pealed for the first inkling of a run of fish but somehow, an awful lot have got past us without being sighted.

Their 12 rods landed 117 fresh fish yesterday.  Extraordinary really and whilst we are delighted for them, it has made all of us scratch our heads, question ourselves and endlessly theorise.

There were inevitably some high individual scores with Paul C landing 19 and David and Stephen C taking 17 from Clarkes in their morning session but by far the best fish of the day was Jeremy H landing his first fish as a grandfather - huge congratulations to all.

A fresh one from Kitza

The team at Pana went down to the junction of Varzuga and Pana but found only ice walls.  They are going to try again today as we know that the fish have got to Middle in numbers and it will only be a matter of time before they hit Pana.

It is raining hard this morning but that hasn’t stopped Brendan G going out and landing another fish before breakfast and with thoughts of spring firmly in mind we head out with high hopes.

Charlie White