Well it seems that finally winter has relented and Spring is really here – more to the point so are the fish.
After a comparatively tough start to the week (all things being relative with this river) yesterday felt much more like a normal day on the Varzuga.
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| Colton C with what was almost a "normal" fish from Middle yesterday |
I spent a large part of the day at Pana where the river is still really big. For those of you who know the beat, Hippo Rock is still submerged by at least a foot and places to wade are tricky to find. However, they started to see more yesterday and had 6 on the bank – small steps but it is going the right way and it was in a way encouraging (although disappointing for them) to hear that James H-B and Jack M both lost very good fish after a decent fight.
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| Bertrand K with another from Middle |
Very good fish was the subject of the day at Middle when I went up there to see them for dinner. After a slowish start to the week, they had a fantastic day and 113 were put in the book with some fabulous salmon in amongst them.
Ian C, who has been coming to Varzuga from the very start of our time out here, said it was by far the biggest average size of fish he had ever seen and he landed a cracking 17lbs fish from the pool named after him which was more than fitting. Doug U and Ian S landed 19 fish between them on the morning session at Peartiha and everyone had tales of 15lbs fish as well as excellent numbers to go with it.
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| Jonny C and Igor |
At Lower Varzuga we started to see much better numbers as well. 35 fish to our 9 rods (my mother was riding shotgun on the helicopter so we cannot count her!) was a great result and just what we wanted to see. Julian G was top rod with 10 fish and David B and David K-W landed 5 apiece from Beach and Bear Corner.
Kitza is equally going the right way. The river, much like Pana, is still too high for this time of the year and most of the fishing is from the boat but Joe M and Bill P landed 6 each whilst Jan H, heroically fishing with a seriously painful shoulder, landed 2 from 2nd Island and their final score was 19 for the day.
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| Blue skies and leaping salmon - much more like it |
Stewart H and Jonny C have both been out before breakfast and landed 2 apiece whilst also losing another couple and our day looks set fair. Closing Lower tomorrow seems almost a crime but after the coldest winter for over 100 years, the following weeks look as though they could be superb.
There are still rods available for the final week at Middle Varzuga and I would urge anyone who can fit in a last minute trip to contact the office as soon as they can as these should be epic weeks at very much shoulder season prices.
Charlie White
