Of Mice and Men

We have had a mouse invasion here at Middle Camp. Donna hates mice and has a real phobia about them, consequently some meals have been delayed while we shoo’d one of the little fellows out of the kitchen and declared it safe for her to venture back in.

I ordered mouse traps from Murmansk last week; Sasha kindly offered to send three cats on the helicopter on Saturday which she thought was a thoroughly practical, Russian solution to the issue. Last night one of the mice ate a huge hole in the landing net on my veranda and by some unfortunate quirk of fate managed to get its head stuck in the mesh thus strangling itself. One down.



One down

Of men – Freddie P is, without doubt, our most enthusiastic guest of the season. If he could have changed into his waders at Murmansk airport he would have done so. He was in them before the helicopter left, and has not removed them since. Such is his infectious, boyish enthusiasm Donna has shelved the ‘No Waders in the Dining Room’ policy. Mrs P (Emma) is well advised to acquire a pair of those heavy duty scissors you see the nurses in A&E using to cut patients out of their clothes – we are pretty sure Freddie will arrive back in UK in his waders and will need cutting out of them.

Ollie L with another fresh salmon from Birthday Pool

On to the fishing – Kitza had a great day and our Spanish friends landed 90 salmon in their first 24 hours on the river. Francisco had the largest fish so far from Kitza this year, a silver 21lber from Beaver Pit. Tom reported the water level still slowly dropping, the boating is fine at the moment but in a day or so they may leave a boat upstream of Third Island and walk up to it past the shallows below.

Bear Pool yesterday

The Pana team did not quite equal the amazing numbers of last week but had a great day of 84 salmon to eight rods with Alexander M-B landing a 20lber from Inspectors. Here at Middle Hugh S waded boldly, got wet and made the most of the fishing up in the wonderful Yovas canyon recording his best day’s salmon fishing ever with 12 landed and quite a few lost. All were very happy to see 66 salmon in the book yesterday plus 19 landed on Saturday evening.

Hugh S drying out after his 12 fish day

The weather looks on the cool side for this week, possibly with some rain. Good fishing conditions. The water temperature is back to 10⁰C and although the river continues its slow drop to summer height we are getting the boats to all the beats and should be able to do so for the remainder of this week.

More tomorrow.

Christopher Robinson

Jack Frost Makes a Return

Friday saw the helicopter buzzing about the camps re-supplying us for the coming week whilst our guests made the most of their last day on the river. The Pana team of eight landed a further 133 salmon for the day to take them comfortably over 800 for the week. I am sure that Anthony T who, after fishing with us every year since 1991 has now handed the reigns over to Charlie T, will be chuffed that Charlie and the team made the very best of what has to be one of our finest weeks on Pana.

Sonya and Danya moving supplies from the helicopter

Kitza too had a remarkable week, Richard G and the team of seven caught over 390 salmon for their week – they may have made the 400 mark, but with poor radio reception this morning I cannot be exact on the score.

Our team at Middle also made the most of it with 813 in the book to 12 rods. I mentioned last week just how perfect the conditions were – we landed at least 2,050 fresh, silver salmon to 27 rods. I’m sure you can do the maths; it is ‘quite a few’ per rod.

James D with one of his five salmon from Gennerator last evening

I arrived back in Middle Camp with our new team of nine rods at 5 p.m. Donna’s tea and home made cakes were ignored as our enthusiastic guests tackled up and decided to ‘have a quick cast’ in Generator before dinner. Terry and I dragged them out eventually and we had 19 salmon in the book before canapés. Up at Pana Rollo reported the same problem – they had a very late dinner, but had 25 salmon on the bank.



The view from Middle Camp last night

Last night the air temperature plummeted, James F went out to Bear Pool after dinner but was soon back in by the fire reporting the air temperature to be -2⁰C. Donna, Julia and Luda started early in the kitchen as usual this morning, I joined them at 7 a.m. to find our water system frozen up, the normally warm kitchen was freezing cold and the girls were well wrapped up as they prepared breakfast. I went to look at our water height marker and the margins of the river had a rim of frost. The water temperature was back down to 9⁰C, no bad thing really as the last conditions we need this week are a repeat of the 2013 heat wave.

Donna, Luda and Julia well wrapped up in the kitchen this morning

I look forward to updating you tomorrow on the first full day of fishing this week. I do not expect we shall repeat the extraordinary bonanza of last week, but I suspect it will be pretty good.

Christopher Robinson

Managing Great Expectations

Gradually the sky clouded over yesterday and the afternoon session proved far more productive than it had the two previous days under the bright sun. We lunched again at Snake Pit, Olivier D skipped out of his boat whooping with joy, he had had a remarkable morning wading the mid river bar in Snake Pit and Bomber Ally landing 14 salmon including a wonderfully deep cock fish of 13lbs.

The fly of the week - a Percy Special tied by Ian S

Across the whole river it was another remarkable day; at Middle Camp we landed 154 salmon. Pana had 126 with Michael C landing an 18lber in the Camp Pool. Over at Kitza Arthur J also had an 18lber, from Beaver Pit and the team there put a further 58 in the book.

We have a nice cloudy morning today, the team at Middle Camp set off early to make the most of their last 24 hours here in salmon heaven. I suspect some might get onto the departing helicopter tomorrow in their waders. The forecast indicates rain this evening, but I suspect not a great deal, and into next week it looks like it should remain reasonably cool.

Olivier with his 13lber from Snake Pit

We have been recording some extraordinary numbers of salmon in the past few weeks and inevitably the expectations of each new group are high – very high. We chatted again last night over drinks on the veranda about the consistency of some fishers’ scores and why that should be. How experience counts, how some fishers have a six sense, and above all how some fish unnervingly well in all conditions. Hugo M and Ian S stand out for me this week, each fishes a different style, Hugo with a single handed and Ian with a 15’ double handed. Ian wades boldly, but Hugo is an extraordinary wader – he took on Eagle Rock this week, in quite high water, and lived to tell the tale. But what sets them apart is not just that they cast long, but each cast lands straight and the fly fishes immediately. Combined with an innate sixth sense as to where in the pool to concentrate their efforts they top the leader board almost every day.

Rob McK - a study in concentration

What has been also notable this week is the lack of competition and indeed the congratulations for those who have done well. Everyone has had a less productive session or two and rather than blame the beat or the guide there has been a shrug of the shoulders and the odd mutter about ‘not having fished well’. The Varzuga is unique in that takes the luck out of fishing, it is not the salmon lottery that it can be elsewhere; it really is not a numbers game - you have to consider Varzuga a salmon river where you can, if you want to, improve your skills and be rewarded as you do so.

Middle Camp

Next week we have 26 fishers in three camps, Pana, Kitza and Middle – all have fished the river before and we look forward to seeing them in Murmansk tomorrow. We should be onto true summer fishing conditions, floating lines and small flies, and a chance to try fishing Bombers and skated flies. However many salmon we land next week I know it will be great fun and highly rewarding fishing as we approach mid-summers night on the edge of the Arctic Circle.

I go to Murmansk tomorrow to meet the new arrivals, so I will update you on Sunday morning.

Christopher Robinson

Sun and Salmon

Another really bright day yesterday, we had some puffy clouds in the afternoon for a few hours to give us the odd bit of duller light, but overall our guests fished under a harsh, glaring sun. Not ideal for fishing, but after Monday morning’s return to almost winter conditions no-one was too fussed.

Today has dawned very bright too – not a cloud to be seen – sunscreen was slapped on after breakfast and, the team undaunted by the conditions were in the boats and out of camp before nine (great to have such a keen group here).

Doug U in action below Clarke's

To date the myriad of small streams and springs that feed the Varzuga from the tundra bogs and taiga forests in this huge watershed have kept the river water temperature pretty stable. Slowly they are reducing their flow and their influence as summer approaches. Yesterday we started to notice the change, the water level dropped 3" and under the sun the water temperature rose during the day from 11⁰C to 16⁰C by close of play. Changing conditions; and that probably accounted for our slightly reduced catch.

Arriving at Snake Pit for lunch

All things are relative on Varzuga and the team were delighted with their score of 104 salmon here at Middle Camp. After a tough day for some reason on Tuesday Rodolphe C landed 16, doing notably well in Birthday which continues to fish well, better than Party Pool at the moment. Gregoire de S had an excellent morning but then lost five in the afternoon – not content with a blank session he asked for a late dinner and fished around the Island, landing three grilse to earn Donna’s delicious Tai Prawn Curry.

Olivier and Donna at lunch

Pana continues to excel and the eight rods landed 141 salmon for the day, the largest, at 15lbs, taken by Charlie T on the float trip. Kitza too is proving remarkably consistent even under these bright skys and they put a further 68 in the book yesterday, their largest also weighed 15lbs and fell to Arthur Jardine.

Sun and salmon

On any other river we would be praying for some cloud cover, however we have a huge head of salmon here and although the fishing might be tougher than it was at the beginning of the week it is still more than excellent. Raphael C put it well at dinner last night, "What a privilege to be able to enjoy both sun and salmon".

Christopher Robinson

Master Class

Yesterday I mentioned just how wonderful were the fishing conditions on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday proved trickier. We had bright, bright sun all day and in the afternoon, with the sun heading around to the North West and lowering a bit, it was straight into the eyes of the salmon.

That said, at Middle we landed 145 salmon for the day, Hugo M was top of the board with 35 fish, and the team were rightly pleased with a well-earned result. Jean V, here on his first ever fishing trip, kindly poured me one of his famous gin and tonics and we sat on the veranda in the evening sun discussing the day. An inquisitive learner Jean wanted to understand just what made the difference and why the scores between the rods varied so widely. Even with only three days fishing under his belt he had quickly understood that all the beats are loaded with salmon at the moment and that it was the way people fished that made the difference.



Terry annd Raphael C in Madonna's

The Varzuga really is the place to learn fishing, Terry is a wonderful instructor and I guess I can add some help as well after one or two years up here. And there is also a vast pool of experience amongst the team to glean nuggets of advice from. It is really rewarding for Terry and I to have fishers like Jean who do not blame the guide, their kit, the weather or the beat rotation but who simply want to improve their fishing skills.

Even the best ask for advice, I guess that is why they are the best. Hugo M is by nature a single handed rod fisherman, he his always top rod and is vastly experienced. Yesterday he took out his new, light #7 double handed rod and fished well enough but was frustrated with his casting. He asked Terry to watch him after lunch and quickly Terry had pointed out a minor fault in technique that Hugo soon corrected.


Anticipation

Pana had another excellent day, inevitably less productive under the sun, however 122 salmon was not in any way a disappointment. They are still fishing right down to Ponzoi and should be able to do so for quite a few days yet.

Over at Kitza Richard G and his team had another excellent day landing 60 salmon with Charles W accounting for 15 of them. Benefiting from the lakes upstream the water temperature at Kitza remains stable at 12⁰C; the height has dropped some 6" this week and last night the guides marked the route through the shallows at Tricalore. We should be able to get the jet boats to all beats on all three camps into the beginning of next week at least; a day or two of rain would be handy and would probably see the current water height maintained until late June.

Dominique M with a 10lber from Robinson's Folly

It is another bright day today, a little more hazy than yesterday – but with few mosquitoes, the wild flowers coming out and the river full of salmon no one is complaining.

Christopher Robinson

Recognizing Good Fortune

Sometimes, but only sometimes, does a dedicated salmon fisher find him or herself presented with totally perfect conditions. When it happens some recognize it, others do not. We are lucky this week to have 27 fishers with years of experience, many of those years here on Varzuga, who recognize the current conditions are as good as they possibly could be.

 

Dominique M with one from Pasha's Rest

The water height is about one foot above summer level and dropping slowly. Summer level is a somewhat subjective judgement so I can best describe the current water height for you as being over the grass edges by a foot or so. The water temperature is ideal and steady too, between 11⁰C and 15⁰C, this morning we have started with 11⁰C. The winds have been light and the weather kind to us albeit on the cool side.

Combined with the perfect river height, and the stable temperatures and weather conditions, we have had a really strong run of spring salmon this year, and now the grilse have arrived in big numbers too. It just does not get any better than this and the three groups, realizing that Nature has gifted them a unique chance, are making the most of it.

Gregoire de S in action with the single handed rod in Simmons

Currently an intermediate tip is the best bet, it is still a tad too high to do well throughout the river with a floater.  Flies in the size 6 to 8 range are doing well, or a 1” tube. Colours tend to be combinations of red, orange and black. Personally I do not think the colour is that important, fishing the fly well is the key to success.

If you are coming out on 14 June I would recommend you bring a floating line with a selection of tips, most likely you will use a floating or intermediate tip. Bring good selection of flies; no doubt conditions will have changed by then, most likely it will be warmer and we can try more fishing right on the surface.

The colours of choice

The teams fished hard yesterday, and with remarkable results. Kitza landed 80 salmon; Sasha’s Pool fished really well in the afternoon as another big run of fresh salmon came steaming through from The White Sea.

Here at Middle Camp we had 168 salmon and grilse, all the beats are in perfect order at this height and the only real problem is knowing where to start!



Ian S with another from Pasha's Rest



Pana had a bonanza with 184 landed by Charlie T and the team of 8. Paddy V led the score board with 30. We are now just over 800 salmon to 27 rods in two days. For me the statistics matter much less than watching everyone making the most of our very good fortune to be on the remarkable Varzuga this week. 

Christopher Robinson

Summer postponed

Yesterday I thought that today’s blog would be about summer salmon fishing - surface flies and all that. This morning it is 3⁰C, windy and grey; we lit the fire early and pre-breakfast coffee and the usual discussion on daily tactics took place close to the warmth, not as yesterday on the sunny veranda.

 

Tactics by the fire

Although the summer fishing blog has been shelved for a few days the water temperature yesterday was 15⁰C and a few rods tried fishing flies right on the surface with encouraging results. Overnight the water temperature has dropped back to 12⁰C and with the cold air and a chilly feel to the day almost everyone has opted for intermediate tips and a fly that will get down a bit.

We had an excellent day at Middle, Jean V is our new rod this week and Terry soon had him casting well, he lost three salmon almost at the net before landing his first. A cause for celebration last night, not that we needed any excuse as we landed 143 fish for the day which in itself was reason enough to raise a glass or two.

Jean V and Terry with Jean's first salmon

Hugo M and Gregoire de S are dedicated fishers of a single handed rod and yet again showed us that you need not be intimidated by a large river. They landed 32 between them, all on single handed rods. Top scorers for the day were Doug U and Ian S who had 49 between them by dinner, with Clarkes Corner yielding the lions share. Getting to the 50 milestone became important so after dinner we took the boat down to Party Pool where I have to admit we struggled a bit to get that last salmon as the air temperature at that point had started to drop like a stone. Doug finally picked one up right on the tail of the pool and we motored home a happy and content team.

The 50th fish for Ian and Doug

Over at Kitza Richard G and his group of seven had a cracking day with exactly 70 salmon on the bank, Ian B had his best day ever with 19. Tom reported the water temperature at 11⁰C and intermediate tips are the setup of choice at the moment on Kitza.

Pana exceeded all expectations; Charlie T and the team of eight had a bonanza landing 141. The salmon are now spread right through this long section of river and on the float trip David C and Paddy V caught 26. The salmon are continuing to pour through here at Middle Camp and prospects for Pana, some 60 miles above us, continue to look encouraging.

Christopher Robinson

Half Way

Last week the whole river really settled into wonderful fishing conditions. The water height was perfect, the water temperature varied between 10⁰C and 15⁰C, and the run of fresh salmon steadily built up. It was perhaps a touch bright - and Murmansk airport yesterday was full of well-tanned fishermen’s faces with ‘panda eyes’ – but it was a joy to enjoy both the good weather and phenomenal fishing.

I need only say that we landed just shy of 2,100 fresh, silver salmon to 39 rods in six days. With our fishing curtailed to six weeks by the late snow melt we are now half way through our season and with over 5,100 salmon landed so far and the run still coming in we seem set for a very good result.
 

Bill Drury with a real cracker on Friday

All camps fished exceptionally well last week; the fish arrived into Pana in force on 1 June and the eight rods there had 332 for the week. The run got stronger as the week progressed and their last day accounted for 87 fish. I dropped the incoming party off there yesterday afternoon and the anticipation of the fishing was self-evident as they landed and walked (very fast!) to look at Camp Pool and rig up their kit.

Over at Kitza, between several legendry Kitza ‘birthday parties’, they landed 407 with one extraordinary day of 92 salmon. Julian P reported the water level getting better by the day and possibly the best yet to come; we had to drag the team onto the departing helicopter.

Lower Camp yesterday

Middle Camp, of course, did well and at dinner on Friday night they were at 993 salmon landed. John C, who likes neat statistics, took upon himself the arduous job of rounding up the number and by 1 a.m. had landed seven to make it exactly 1,000 to 12 rods.

So often fishing courses or casting instruction take place on rivers at a time of year, or on beats, where there is precious little chance of actually catching any salmon and putting the theory into practice. For the third year Eoin Fairgrieve joined Bill Drury at the Lower Camp on a week designed to provide the finest instruction on the finest salmon river. Besides learning a great deal and taking their casting skills to a new level the 11 rods landed 319 salmon - that really is putting it into practice!
 

Lower Camp guests and staff on Friday evening

The new teams arrived in really warm weather yesterday, 22⁰C here at Middle Camp, luckily today has started much cooler and overcast, good fishing conditions, and it looks as if we should maintain this weather pattern for a few days. With the Lower camp now closed we have 27 fishermen in three camps, Kitza, Pana and Middle; of those 27 only three have not fished here before, and with the river in perfect order we ought to be set for another excellent week.

Christopher Robinson

Lower's last day

It seems hard to believe that only 4 weeks ago we took the sad decision to cancel the first week of the season due to a late ice break.  During those 4 weeks, the river has risen over 20ft as the snow and ice melted as a result of an extremely early heat wave and since that peak, it has dropped over 25ft – all of this on a river that is around 250-300 yards wide. 

Summer levels on the Varzuga

Whilst it is undoubtedly true that most people come here to catch more salmon than they can dream of, it is the whole experience of being in such a harsh and wild environment that tends to draw everyone back.

The team at Lower finished with a further 46 fish recorded yesterday.  Douglas B showed the younger members of the team how to do it and landed 7 whilst still finding time to allow his guide, Roma, to fish for a while who also landed one.  Jim C had 6 to his rod and in the evening Bill and Eoin took our cook, Maryke, to fish in front of camp and she landed a lovely fish from the boat.

Maryke in the midnight sun

Kitza continues apace and they added 60 to their mounting total.  They are averaging over 40 fish per rod with a day to go which is a great weeks fishing.  Malcolm K and Julian P were the top scorers with 16 and 14 fish respectively whilst Chopper Island and Goldmine were the most productive pools.

Success for Jim C on Duck

Pana is beginning to move through the gears and they had their best day of the season so far with 54 landed to the 8 rods.  As is often the case, Jack M was the top rod with 14 from Ponzoi and Lunch.  Their water is not falling as fast as it is here and boating remains very doable across the whole beat.

Middle Varzuga carries on racking up the totals and an additional 130 fish were put in the book yesterday.  This takes them to a weekly average of 65 fish per rod – exceptional fishing and Terry reported a very happy camp.

Ditch W with a chunky one from the Wires

I am returning to the UK tomorrow so this will be my last blog and Christopher Robinson will take over for the rest of the season.  Whilst always great to get home, it is a difficult place to leave and as ever, my huge thanks goes to all of our Russian friends who make this work so well and I will look forward to seeing them all in September when I return for an exploratory trip to find the Autumn run.

Charlie White

Up to Middle

Every season it seems as if we close the Lower camp too early but this year it will be especially true.  As we stood on Beach yesterday, which is at the bottom of our beat, watching fish after fish head and tail and jump clear of the water, it was clear that there are still a huge number of fresh fish coming in and to close this camp on Saturday will be a real shame.

Jim C on Wires in the morning

After fishing, I went up to Middle Varzuga to see the team there and they are making the most of this year’s very strong run.  A further 158 were added to their total which now amounts to over 650 fish to the12 rods over the past 4 days.  JP Camozzi landed 17 of those and his father, Achille, had a great fish of around 17-18lbs which was yet another one of these bigger fish that we have enjoyed seeing this season.  As ever, Clarkes has fished really well and the home pools of Generator and Bear are wonderfully reliable.

Matthew R at Middle

After a delicious dinner we boated back in the midnight sun and I arrived to find the camp pretty quiet as the previous night’s activities had eventually taken their toll.  We finished with 44 for the day with Jonathan K having a great couple of sessions and he landed 12 to his rod.  It has been great to see the improvement in everyone’s casting and fishing ability as they pick up tips from Eoin Fairgrieve and Bill Drury.  Eoin and Bill have an uncanny knack of diagnosing faults and seem to be able to put them right with just one or two small adjustments.  They are great people to have around camp and the chance to actually catch fish whilst also benefitting from expert tuition does make the week a lot of fun.

Douglas B with one from Feorder's Place

Pana had another very good day and had another 39 to the 8 rods.  Jack M was the top rod on 9 fish and they also reported losing roughly the same number again.  We have had days like this all season when fish just don’t seem to stick, you can’t win them all is probably the message.

However at Kitza, winning practically everything appeared to be the order of the day.  The 8 rods landed 92 fish between them with top scorers being Julian P, Chic McS, Robin B and Malcolm K with 18,15,11 and 11 fish respectively.   As if their day could not get any better, they then saw 3 bears just opposite camp which hung around for 10 minutes to thrill everyone and to round off a memorable day.

Martin F on Duck

Almost inevitably it is another very hot day today but just as inevitably Glynn D has landed a fish before breakfast and with a slightly steadier night behind them, all of the rods were on the river at 9, conscious that the week is going far too quickly.

Charlie White

A trip to Kitza

It is not every day that one of our cooks celebrates their 40^th birthday so yesterday saw me going over to Kitza for Kate’s big day.  To get there from Lower requires a combination of two boat trips, a walk and a 40 minute drive along the White Sea coast – it was probably one of the most beautiful journeys I have ever taken.

It was great to catch up with the team over there and a combination of wonderful fishing and practically perfect conditions led to a very happy camp.  They landed 68 fish to their 8 rods with Julian P accounting for 13 of those.  Chic McS had 11 to his rod whilst Malcolm K had a cracking fish of around 17lbs from Boggy Bank. 

Douglas B on the Wires

I got back to Lower at around 3am expecting everyone to be in bed but a few hard core souls were still putting the world to rights and this morning is a little slow in camp.  We put a further 45 fish in the book yesterday with catches evenly spread across the rods but Ditch W landed 5 fish which was comfortably his best ever day.  Tom S and Jim C hit gold at Feorder’s Place and had a very busy afternoon as did Martin F on Beach where he had 4 fish in a frantic hour. 

Joe E on the Beach

The 8 rods at Pana are making the most of the main run of fish getting to them and they landed 53 fish.  Alan M, on his first trip up here, landed a 20lber from Ponzoi which is the biggest of the season so far whilst Jack M had a great session on Ivan’s and landed 9 in just two hours.

The fishing at Middle Varzuga continues apace and 141 fish were put in the book.  Normally two or three rods do rather better than others but yesterday was  a very even day and the highest individual rod catch was 14 which demonstrates that fish are equally spread across all of the beats.

Martin F on 39 Steps

Whilst some struggled to get up this morning, Jonathan K was on the river at 7am.  3 fish before breakfast showed what was possible and on a day where we have yet more clear skies, even the most tired of rods have gone out with a determination to make the most of the river whilst it is in perfect shape.

Charlie White

Perfect conditions

“If I don’t catch another fish all week I will still have had the best week of my life” was one comment at lunch yesterday.  When the fishing and the weather combine as they have over the past two days, all you really want it to do is to carry on without any form of change.  It is really warm, the fish are still piling in and the numbers of fish being landed are truly excellent.

At Pana, the team landed 47 with Karen R and Jack M sharing top rod honours with 9 apiece.  They had quite a few fish from Rock Face and also from Ivan’s stream so this morning we discussed the possibility of soon trying the float trip whereby two rods and their guide are dropped off high up river to fish their way back to camp with a small inflatable to do the hard work.  I suspect this will be tried in the next day or so as more and more fish get above the camp.

Mark A with one of 6 he had from Bear Corner

Kitza had another really good day with the 8 rods finishing on 56.  Julian P and Chic McS led the way with 13 and 11 respectively but perhaps the best day was had by David P and Tom, the camp manager.  They took a boat all the way up to the first lake (about 8 miles above camp) and fished their way back.  They landed a couple of fish at Rackmans but it is so beautiful up there that numbers of fish were slightly irrelevant.

Glynn D with a deep fish from Bear Island

Middle shows no sign of slowing down and another 161 have been put in the book in the past 24 hours.   Again, it was Lawrence L, Ian H and John M who were the stand out performers with 22,21 and 20 fish but James MacP was not exactly out of the running having landed 15 to his rod for the day.  They are fishing hard but when the fishing is this productive it seems only sensible to make the most of it.

Michael K on Larder in the morning

At Lower we had a great day and finished on 61 between the team.  Mark A had a purple patch and landed 6 from Bear Corner in the morning whilst Glynn D consistently picked up fish all day to finish on 9 and Jim C had 7 for his day.  A few bigger fish were amongst our tally yesterday, a theme across all of the camps.

Ditch W on the Wires in the afternoon

The water temperature is 10c this morning and although we are not quite on floating lines yet, it surely won’t be long.  In the meantime, intermediate tips, size 6 flies and longer leaders are the best combination.  Clear blues skies, a light breeze and a falling river are what greet us this morning – not exactly a bad way to start the day so we hope for more of the same.

Charlie White

A great start to the week

Yesterday was one of those days you hope for.  Glorious weather, camps full of enthusiastic fishermen and serious numbers of fish being landed across all of the beats.

Here at Lower we finished on 77 fish for the day.  Martin F had his best ever day and landed 9 although cruelly lost his 10^th fish after playing it for quite a long time.  Glynn D built on his 5 fish before breakfast to finish on 12 for the day and his fishing partner, the young at heart Douglas B, had 6 to his rod.  Justin Miller, visiting us from the Fly Shop in America, landed his first Atlantic salmon and went on to land 5 more.  Lunch and dinner were very noisy affairs and we carried on long into the night to celebrate such a good day.

Douglas B with a perfect example of a spring fish

Kitza has also got off to a great start and the slightly odd lull of last week appears to be over.  The 8 rods had 43 to the bank with George R landing 10 of those whilst Chis McS accounted for 9.  David P was the first to really experiment and was rewarded with a fish to a skated fly from Sasha’s. 

Almost inevitably, changeover day bought a total turn around in Pana’s fortunes and the 8 rods there had 49 salmon between them.  As the water warms up, it is now 11c, the fish will get there in bigger numbers and with the amount we have been landing down river, it won’t be too long before we would expect them to have some even better days.  They landed a lot of fish from Ponzoi but also had 8 fish from the Camp pool.

Mark A with his first fish of the week

Middle continues to be quite extraordinary.  It is slightly hard to keep up with the numbers but Terry is doing a great job in catching people as they come off the river before they invariably head out again.  Since they arrived on Saturday evening, the 12 rods have landed more than 200 fish.  John M had 28 to his rod yesterday, Lawrence L had 24 whilst fishing partners Ian H and Hugh M landed 23 and 19 respectively.  There are fish up and down the beat and they had a really good session from the top at Scotts and Pashas to show that the fish are running Yovas in numbers.

"Ditch" W with one from Morskoy Island

Glynn D has had another 2 fish before breakfast and it is yet another very bright day – that combination served us well yesterday so hopefully today will bring more of the same.

Charlie White

A new week

Last week saw some simply incredible fishing.  Flying up to Murmansk yesterday with the team from Middle was great fun as we shouted to each other over the helicopter noise about their fishing and the overall experience that they had had.

The 12 rods ended with 1,309 fish recorded in the book along with countless other battles that did not end with the fish in the net.  It was not their record total but it was extremely close and after 2012, we never really expected to get near that figure again – to do so was a real testament to the strength of the run this season.

Lucy M with a fabulous fish from Bear Island

Inevitably some personal records were broken but you did not need to be at Middle for that to be the case.  The rods at Lower and Kitza (3 days on each beat with 10 rods per beat) finished with 749 salmon on the bank with personal bests being broken every day.

Joe M with a pretty good one of his own from the Mall

Perhaps unusually in a year where we have had such a late break, the rods who started at Kitza tallied more than those who came to Lower first.  Kitza is lake fed and that colder water tends to mean that their main run is 3 to 4 days after Lower (which is why we fish Lower only in the first week of the season) but last week that was not the case.  One of those strange anomalies that simply reaffirm that strong predictions about salmon fishing are never a safe bet.

Roma in the bright sun which was a feature of part of last week

Pana steadily improved throughout the week but a final total of 23 to the 7 rods was disappointing.  Speaking to the rods at Murmansk it was clear that they had enjoyed their week but that the high water had simply made it very difficult for them to fish the beats properly and for the fish to reach them.  It has dropped markedly in the past couple of days and to prove the point, Karen R had one from Hippo Rock (just outside camp) and Dick B had 2 from Ivans last night so their week is off to a very good start.

Tom S raring to go this morning

Fog near the river caused us to be delayed in Murmansk yesterday and we did not get here until quite late so most rods had dinner and went to bed but Glynn D got up at 6am this morning and has landed 5 fish before coming in for breakfast.  It is not hard to imagine that this news meant that all of the rods were very prompt for the guides at 9am and with a bright sunny day to kick us off we are all looking forward to another excellent weeks fishing.

Charlie White