Wednesday 30 May 2018

“Little problem”

The Lower and Kitza changeover is a pretty straight forward exercise.  Everyone packs their bags in the morning so that the girls can clean the rooms for the new guests, we fish until 6pm and then we have a few drinks in our waders before getting on the helicopter and swapping over; simple stuff usually but not yesterday.
George S on Beach
An almighty and very impressive lightning storm put an end to the fishing at 5pm but it also blew the power in the village and the surrounding area.  Not a major deal although it certainly made it harder for Ceri to prepare dinner in the gloom before we could set up the generator.  The helicopter took off at 6:15 to be refuelled and we waited for it to come back and pick us up.  It was then I heard the dreaded phrase “Little Problem”
One for Keith Liddle - the old generator still works when needed!
A “Big Problem” is normally trivial stuff but “Little” indicates a degree of severity that means you should take it seriously.  It transpired that with no power, the fuel pump in the village for the helicopter wouldn’t work and therefore it was stranded until the electricity was restored which could be in any time frame from 30 minutes to 12 hours.

We decided to call it quits there and then and it was out of waders and everyone stayed in their existing camp for another night.  Fortunately, power was restored at 5am and we have just flown to Kitza to swap over this morning.
Philip B about to land one just outside of the office
We have picked up a really happy team who landed 22 yesterday with John D having a great day with 7 fish.  I did Fred G an injustice on Monday.  He has actually fished for 4 weeks in Scotland but this was the first time he has landed anything – hopefully many more to come.

Hamish M on Kitza
Middle had a very slow day – just 20 to their 12 rods.  Hard to work it out as we had a good morning at Lower followed by a very slow afternoon.  We finished with 23 here and it is not very usual for Lower to outfish Middle at this time of the year.  We are seeing pods of fish come through which provide instant action but then it goes quiet – just have to hope for more pods.

Kitza this morning
Pana landed 13 to their 7 rods with Alvaro S landing his first Russian salmon from Rockface followed by a second at Ponzoi.  Domingo P and Carlos M had a good morning on Ponzoi landing 6 between them.

We are going to be late on the river today given the changeover and I think this may be the last time we can use boats to any great extent here at Lower, despite yesterday’s rain.  It is very bright this morning but with a really cold wind and I suspect a banya may be called for tonight.

Charlie White