Tuesday 22 May 2018

Off to Pana

We had a really fun day yesterday here at Lower with Alex A landing his first ever salmon in the morning followed by two more at Beach in the afternoon. 

Bill Drury having guided Alex A into hooking his first salmon
Peter V also landed his first Russian salmon and as a result there were many celebrations on the river as well as a very good party last night.  A total of 24 fish were landed but perhaps a better example of the action we were having was that Marc W landed 4 in the afternoon as well as losing 8 more.  It was the first time that we have really seen Beach come alive and it felt very much as if the grilse run had arrived.
Jim A with a lovely fish from Beach
At Kitza they landed 22 and it is encouraging to see their scores heading in an upward direction.  Ollie said that the river is dropping nicely but then said they have still hardly been able to properly wade so I guess it must still be very high.  We are flying over there at 7pm tonight for the weekly changeover and so I should be able to get a better handle on things.

Matt and Beanie - manager and cook at Pana
Many of you who have been out here or have spoken to the office about coming out here will have, at some point, dealt with the legend who is Lynsey Mair.  She handles all of the administration of everyone’s trips and is entirely unflappable.

Lynsey getting ready for a boat trip to Middle
She has come out here this week to refresh her memory of why this place is so special and last night we both went up to Middle for dinner.  A beautiful, warm and sunny evening was the perfect time to do it and we had a stunning boat trip up there. 

John R with a "half a fish"
We found a very happy team of clients but they had had a rather difficult day of fishing compared to the norm up there.  29 fish were put in the book and a combination of a building run of fish, very high winds and simply “fishing” were to blame for their slightly disappointing numbers.

Today we are off to Pana to set up that camp for the forthcoming guests whilst also swapping the Kitza clients with Lower this evening so it looks like a busy day in the helicopter – I hope when I get back it has been a busy day on the river.

Charlie White