Friday 23 June 2017

What a day

Whilst yesterday was not spectacular in terms of numbers it was a stunner for George L. He was equal top rod with Gordon B and they landed 3 each. George returned from the river as if he owned it and celebrated well at supper. The team had landed only 3 by lunch and no one expected much for the afternoon but we ended on 11 fish despite only 6 rods venturing out.

George L at 3rd Island

Pana is still rising but despite this they managed to land a very respectable 19 fish for the day. It’s nice that after a tough season Matt gets to see the river performing at least somewhere near it’s potential.

George with a lovely fish from Sashas
King of the river
Middle had good fishing with their intrepid anglers putting in serious out of hours fishing. They landed 44 fish for their day with Craig C landing 14, Geoff and Findlay F landing 10 between them and everyone reporting a really strong showing of fish throughout the beats. Really encouraging for next week. Luckily my Visa allows me to stay… Maybe I should do a further week from Middle.

James D with a properly fresh fish
It seems almost ridiculous that 8 weeks ago I landed in snowy Murmansk to start the set up process and here I am a day away from heading home and it’s still only 4 degrees outside. Yesterday we clad Lucy in full waders and goretex jacket to brave the wind and rain and try for a salmon on Heli pool. Amazingly within 45 minutes she was shooting line with a perfectly executed double spey and by the end we had her firing out a long line with a snake roll. I could not have been more proud.

Lucy wadered up...
Perfect double spey
Here at Kitza we are finally on a dropping river and soon we will be back to where we started at the beginning of the week. Middle has now plateaued but they are at the same height as they started the season and Pana reported the river was still rising. We can only play with what we are dealt but it’s sad that we don’t have a few more weeks ahead to really see how the fishing fares once the rivers define themselves.

Seal damage
This is my last post from here and on Sunday morning I will be reporting remotely from home with updates supplied by middle manager Toby. It’s almost frightening to think I will have to readjust to “normal” civilisation and not travel everywhere by jet boat. It’s been emotional and quite educational this season and I will truly miss the camp, guides, staff and river here at Kitza. However I am no longer sure what “normal” means. I have heard this word used many times by repeating clients to describe the pools and where they have traditionally fished. This has not been a “normal” year on so many levels but we have all had a blast and really made the most of the opportunities we have been presented with.

Master of all he surveys
Lucy is once again wadering up and we are heading to Heli to try and get her a fish. She might even give me a casting lesson.

Jack Selby


Thursday 22 June 2017

Brighter outlook

Yesterday was a good day here at Kitza. Some of the party headed out with the expectation of a bonanza after it was clear there were numbers of Grilse running in. Interestingly we once again mainly caught bigger fish in the 6-8lbs class. Paul R still heads the leader board with another 6 fish for his account. What seems staggering is the quality of these fresh bright fish and the fight they offer is way above their pay grade.

Bright beautiful fish
Over at Middle they had rain in the morning whilst we were bathed in sun. However the afternoon brightened and they then caught more fish. They landed 27 for the day with 11 fish to Craig C. Many of the rods took to the water at midnight to celebrate summer solstice and enjoy the “sunset”.

Paul R's infamous hat
Pana had a slightly tougher day on the back of the rising river landing 22 fish. Of these 11 were landed by George S. The D of M managed his first fish of the week at midnight last night. Let’s hope it will spur him on to fish hard for the last two days.

James D's lovely fish
Today we were forecast great rains. This information was gleaned from the internet and as we know the internet never lies. Paul R and Gordon B made a pact last night to go out at 5:30 if it was not raining. Paul R admitted at breakfast that he was secretly a bit disappointed to find it clear and quite mild. We can let him off as he is doing 2 weeks and needs to pace himself.

Celebrating George's fish
The mild, clear morning is only a little hampered by a stiff breeze but I have little doubt on the fast dropping river we have there will be some good success on the river today.


Jack Selby

Wednesday 21 June 2017

Up up up

Today the river is up. Maybe only 8 inches but it’s certainly up. My marker is once again in deep water in the main flow. Despite a rising river we had good fishing yesterday with 8 fish landed but Paul R carelessly lost 6 in a row in the afternoon right at the net. And James D also failed to complete on several connections.

Sergei ready to net
 Pana caught 34 fish with Jonathan catching 10 fish for the day. 9 of which were from the Pana/Indel junction pool. The river is rising on a par with us but still the fish don’t seem to have been told this and continue to take the fly.

Richard G with a fine specimen
Middle had 23 fish for the day with strong catches from Craig C and also James F who landed 3 in quick succession in the afternoon. Middle had not risen like we had to begin with but the rise has finally made it to them and they are up about a foot.

Another fine fish ready to return
Whilst today the air temperature is a balmy 8 degrees yesterday started at 5 degrees and added to rain and a downstream breeze really felt cold. Middle had some snow even last night. We have a brighter outlook today with the sun sneaking through the clouds whilst middle has drizzle and heavy cloud. It’s amazing what a difference there is between the two camps.

Viktor wears GoreTex's spring collection
We had a small party for Lucy’s birthday yesterday which culminated in my offering to cook breakfast this morning. With help from James D we managed to bring it all together and Gordon B admitted my porridge was” the best I have ever made”. Not tricky as it’s the first time I have made porridge but everyone seemed happy. Now in the kitchen I am no longer big boss number 3 but sous chef.


Jack Selby

Tuesday 20 June 2017

Heavy rain

Despite heavy rain early yesterday morning and then showers all day we had a pretty good day at Kitza yesterday. George L caught his first Atlantic Salmon, James D had four for the day and lost a further four. The river has risen by about 3.5 inches and this certainly made some spots tricky to wade again. That being said all beats produced fish and we ended the day on 15 fish.

Paul R at Spey bank
Over at Middle camp they had a reasonable start to the morning but quite a few clients decided to hang out at the camp after lunch meaning the afternoon did not produce the goods. Toby and Craig C went up to Bears in the afternoon and had three fish so the fish were there but not many fisherman. They ended up on 22 for the day. The river has risen little at Middle despite the rain.

James D with a lovely fish
 Pana on the other hand has a rising river like Kitza. Despite this they landed 30 fish for the day. The information from Pana was a little lacking last night because the team were much more interested in getting the Lions score and the cricket. Today the focus is on the forecast which seems to be changing it’s mind a lot.

George L making friends with his first Atlantic Salmon
This morning it is raining gently but overnight it rained very hard indeed. Consequently a lot of the bank at clay view is in the river so we have about 25% of the true right bank coloured up. Non the less with a bit of persuasion everyone headed out on the river to face the day. I think we will still see a few fresh fish landed today.


Paul R's taken on this morning's conditions
Jack Selby 

Monday 19 June 2017

Kitza wakes up

Yesterday we saw what Kitza is about. With the river still dropping and pools really starting to show their features the river produced fish all through the beats. We landed 20 fish for the day although we ended the fishing day on 19, Angel  HR bounced us over the line in Heli before supper.

Paul R's largest fish
Unfortunately the fish were not completely divided equally across the rods with 2 people still yet to catch. Consequently 8 of the fish were caught by Paul R. It’s not been very easy to put all fish pictures on the blog this season so far but today I actually can. He had a coupe of really cracking fish and all shiny bright. The only drawback with Paul catching so many is trying to remember what they are all called. He names each fish.

Another fresh one
Pana also shared a similar fate with 34 fish for the day. It’s nice to know there are fish arriving up there now and with properly fishable water they can be caught. Matt as camp manager has had a tough few weeks but at least now he should have a sense of what Pana is all about.

Deep shoulders
After a strong start to the morning for Craig C at middle things did not really materialise as expected. They landed 34 fish including a lovely post supper fish for Findlay F at bears.

Ready to return safely
Today it has begun to rain and Kitza has come up a little this morning. Hopefully all the snow melt has washed any rubbish and earth in already so we wont see the river colour too much. Middle were still dropping but I think it takes a lot of rain to make a difference there. Non the less our team were out to their beats quick smart this morning and are raring to go.


Jack Selby

Sunday 18 June 2017

A lovely start

Last week had ups and downs. Whilst Kitza and more over Pana increased catches steadily throughout the week Middle had a consistent run of it until the last day when only 8 were caught. Middle finished their week on a respectable 155 fish whilst Pana caught 83 and Kitza 54. Nothing spectacular but everyone had fish and certainly everyone had a good time. I think maybe Pana had rather too good a time, they all looked pretty green on the Helicopter on Saturday morning.

Last weeks Kitza team enjoying the sun
Last night started well for us with Paul R teasing a lovely fresh fish out of Heli pool pretty soon into the evening. It was like the start of a wader clad race as everyone took to the water extraordinarily quickly after we landed. It was a lovely evening but no more fish came to the bank.

Paul R's fish from Heli
Over at middle they had a strong start and there were 18 fish ion the book before breakfast this morning. Last night Geoff and Finlay F had fish as well as Craig C who is already on 10 with 4 added first thing this morning.

Paul R into his fish
Pana started well also with 6 fish up to breakfast and the water dropping into fine condition. The team were certainly jolly excited on the way in and I am glad they are taking advantage of the conditions.

Angel HR putting in the hours
Today is warm and but a little overcast. Both Paul R and Gordon B out early but the fish did not want to play the game sadly. It was a little cold last night and the water temperature had dropped to 7 degrees again this morning. However to look back about a week we would have given an arm for 7 degrees. Hopefully we will see another push of fresh fish like we had on Friday. Yesterday was Viktor’s Birthday and was not exactly quiet in camp. I think everyone is a little jaded today but luckily the clients are bright eyed and bushy tailed so should bring back some fish.

Jack Selby