Pana and Kitza

As advertised, yesterday was a busy one.  After our team had started fishing here, we loaded up the helicopter with the supplies that we bought over from the UK for Pana camp and then flew to the village to meet the Russian staff who will be helping us up there for the next 4 weeks.

Loading supplies at the village - Toby was delighted to see Carlsberg on the menu

We are lucky in that the core of that team has stayed pretty much the same for a few years now and whilst it was early in the morning, it did not stop the home brews coming out to celebrate meeting up again.

The Pana team reunited

We then put on all of the food and drink that will be required for the opening week and as a result, my flight to Pana was cancelled as there was simply not enough room for all of us to fly.  I waved goodbye to them and the resulting dust cloud perhaps best illustrates how dry it has been here.

Dust bowl

Following a nice walk back to camp it was soon time to get everything together for the weekly changeover.  It was a very happy team that we found over at Kitza which was no surprise really as they finished their 3 days on the river with just over 200 fish to the 10 rods.  Yesterday was another good day as they put 56 in the book with Geoff F, Knut A and Paul P all finishing with 8 fish to their name.

The happy team at Kitza

Middle had another solid day and they recorded 59 by the time Donna called them all in for supper. Mark J hit a purple patch and landed 8 from Clark’s in the morning whilst Peter W was also amongst the high scorers.  Terry reported some really decent fish being landed across all of the beats and in common with our rods here, saw plenty of fish all day.

Steve B with one from Kitza

Lower was not exactly brilliant in terms of landed fish yesterday as 13 were recorded but in fairness, we lost more than double that and there was quite a lot of action throughout the day.

The new team have started with a bang and Craig C has already had 5 before meeting his new guide whilst John M has also joined him on the score sheet.

Looking upstream at Kitza last night

Whisper it quietly but there is just a hint of a change in the weather.  I spoke to Terry this morning and it is currently raining at Middle whilst it is overcast here.  I am not sure it threatens floods but just to be out of sun for a nano second will be more than welcome.

Downstream at Kitza - plenty of water over there

I am due to boat up to Middle tonight to have dinner with them and normally I try to find a dry and warm evening to go up there but if I end up soaking wet and freezing by the time I get back here tonight, no one will be more delighted than me.

Charlie White

Umba

Well that was interesting.  135kms west of here lies the town and river of Umba which we have kept a close eye on for a long time as it owned by our partners here on the Varzuga.  In February, for various reasons, the lease became available and we agreed to take it on.

Umba Lodge

Bill and I went over there yesterday and were seriously impressed with what we saw.  A really dedicated and enthusiastic guide team, a gorgeous and really comfortable lodge, 18kms of double banked fly water to die for and it was much, much prettier than I had imagined.  Photos of big fish adorn the walls and at almost every pool and fishy spot we saw, the guides competed to tell us of fishing adventures that they had there in the past.

Umba dining room

It has a reputation of having a poaching problem and there is no hiding from the fact that this has been an issue in the past.  However, we had excellent discussions with the military and our partners over here and with an increase in man power on the river and better relations with the locals than the previous lease holder, it does seem as if we can make a real difference.  We are nearly sold out for this season but if you do want to fish one of the nicest rivers I have seen for a long time, at a really good price then please contact the office.

Miles and miles of perfect fly water

Now, back to why you are more than likely to be reading the blog…!   Need I say that yesterday was another staggeringly hot day?  Water temperatures are now around the 13 degrees mark and we are fishing floating lines here with flies in sizes 6-8 as well as Sunray’s and hitched flies.

Boo V on Beach

On Kitza, their lake system is doing as we would expect and their water temperature is nearer 9 degrees.  Whilst water levels are dropping like a stone here (I don’t think we will be boating all the way down the river by the end of this week), levels over there are holding up well.

At last! A good picture of the bear we have seen pretty much every day

They landed a further 52 fish yesterday with Findlay F proving that youth is no barrier to success as he led the way with 8 fish.  John M and Steven Brand were close on his heels with 7 apiece and it was a happy but rather tired team over dinner last night.  They are still on intermediates and half inch tubes but if this weather carries on then we can expect that to change before too long.

Craig P on Bear Corner

Here at Lower we had 22 for the day but actually a number of those came from fishing after guided hours.  That was the first time the sun had been off the water as the beat is quite open and exposed (Kitza and to some extent Middle are in tighter valleys and so the sun does not have quite the same impact) so it made sense that the fish would be slightly more obliging given a bit of shade.

Middle Varzuga finished on 52 fish with Ralph and Stephen C having 8 and 5 respectively with the rest fairly evenly spread.  Good numbers for sure but in truth we have seen this beat produce many more fish at this time of the year and it is a bit patchy.

Jeremy V on Upper Beach

It is yet another blisteringly bright and hot day and those of you coming later in the season should pack mozzie protection as they are already making an appearance – ridiculous to be typing that on 24th May.

Today will be fairly busy as we will fly to Pana to set that camp up and this evening will fly to Kitza to do the mid week changeover – I might have a job persuading the Kitza rods to get on the helicopter…

Charlie White

Kitza rules the waves

Back in the “good old days”, when nothing worked, we would crowd around the HF radio set and strain to make out what the camp managers were reporting every evening.  It was often tough to understand everything and memorably, we once sent a pair of blue jeans to Middle Varzuga instead of the requested aubergines.

Now however, we have mobile signal in the three camps that we are running and whilst it is less romantic, it has to be said that it is much more efficient.  This was amply demonstrated last night when Ollie rang in from Kitza to report on their first full day of fishing for the season.

Craig P, in the bright sunshine, at 8am this morning

There was no mistaking the excitement in his voice and there was fortunately no time restriction on his reporting.  A good job as it turned out as they had a superb day.  93 fish were recorded to the 10 rods with some fantastic individual scores.  John M was the top rod with 18 fish, Craig C had 14, Paul P 11 and father and son team of Geoff and Findlay F finished with 19 between them.

The new dining and sitting room at Kitza - it probably looks a bit less smart this morning

Geoff and Findlay volunteered to go upstream and caught fish all the way up to Beaver Pit but the majority of the fish were landed from First Island down – an indication that the run is just beginning over there.

Ollie probably wishes we were back to radios this morning as his voice very obviously betrayed that they had celebrated in some style.

Sergei with one of Boo V's fish

Middle Varzuga also had a good day with a returning team of some very experienced rods.  72 fish were put in the book by supper.  One of our regular rods had 14 of those whilst Keith B had a lovely fish of around 15lbs amongst the 9 he landed.

Joan G on Bear Island

Here at Lower we had many firsts.  Colin D landed his first ever salmon, one of 3 he had during the day, Jeremy and Boo V landed their first Russian fish,  finishing with 13 between them and we had our first fish of the season on a hitched fly, landed by Ken B.  We also had Mark’s birthday to celebrate and a delicious chocolate cake washed down with the obligatory vodka was a good way to end the day.

Our starter last night - really very good

We ended with 28 fish between us which was a good start in soaring temperatures and 3 rods have been out this morning and all landed fish from the Heli pool so we look set fair for the day.  Bill Drury and I are going over to Umba today to have a good look around and I will report more tomorrow.

Charlie White

Forecasting

Saturday changeovers are always the busiest day of the week and yesterday was no exception.  We left here in glorious sunshine and arrived in Murmansk to be greeted with temperatures of 26 degrees and it seemed as if the heatwave was here to stay.

Terry and Tony C on Clark's

After saying goodbyes to the departing rods, it was not long before we got the call from the immigration officers to let us know that our new clients were coming in.   It is always a good sight to see everyone coming through the customs doors and catch up with people who have been coming here for years and also to see some new faces.

Playing another on Clark's

The talk was of the unseasonably warm weather and jokingly I said that, not to worry, the blog prediction was for the weather to change given that we had new clients coming.   Two hours later we arrived to the camps in pouring rain and a really cold wind!

It seemed to herald the longed for change but sadly it was fairly short lived and this morning things are back to normal with soaring temperatures and blue skies.  The prescience of the blog, lauded last night, has now been given short shrift.

Tim T on Duck

On speaking to the departing rods it was clear that their week had been full of fun and action.  Middle Varzuga finished on 342 fish for the 10 rods and Lower recorded 253 for initially 10 rods and then we dropped to 9 as Yuri had to leave.

It was a great week with lots of laughs and it was sad to see them go but as ever, things move apace up here and it was not long before new rods, new waders and seemingly millions of flies were being scrutinised, weighed in hands and held up to the light.

Jeremy, Boo and Sergei in the bright sunshine this morning

Stephen T was not too fussed about all of that and simply went out and caught 3 fish before dinner whilst Craig P has landed 2 fish on his new 18ft, beast of a rod before breakfast so we are looking in good shape for the week ahead.

Over at Kitza the best news was that the first fish of the year was landed by Findlay F who is over here for his 21st birthday present.  A great way to christen the season and they went on to land 8 fish before Fiona called them in to dinner.

More tomorrow when no doubt we will have lived through all four seasons in one day.

Charlie White

Last day of the week

I am not sure how it works in a metaphysical sense but somehow the time here seems to race by and yet, it feels as if we have been here for ages.   Regardless, after a blisteringly hot week we are now into our final day and the team here are determined to make the most it.

The hot weather is beginning to affect some...

Yesterday saw a slight shift in the fortunes of the two camps that we are currently running and it was Middle Varzuga that definitely came out on top.  The 10 rods finished with 68 fish recorded and again it was Duncan and Kevin F who were leading the way – they landed 15 and 13 by the close of play which, unlike Headingly, was not ever going to be because of rain.

Again, the fish were running through the middle of the river and so those in boats or those that were comfortable wading and casting a good distance were the ones most likely to be successful.

Not the best photo but a lovely fish

Here at Lower we “picked away” to finish on 27 for the day.  Fish were landed in all of our beats but no one really had a bonanza.  The highlight of the day was undoubtedly a two to three year old bear that decided to treat us to a long viewing at lunch as it grubbed around for berries on the other side of the river.  Everyone took photos but the river there is sufficiently wide that all we can see from the millions of pictures is a brown blob that could well be a rock so they are not much good for the blog.

Jonathan B on Larder

It was yet another very hot day with an increasingly warm upstream wind and today offers more of the same.  It is amazing to consider that we have had a week where most people would tell you that the conditions were hopeless for salmon fishing and yet we have so far landed over 500 fish in 5 days of fishing.

The freshest sashimi you are likely to find - delicious last night

There will not be a blog tomorrow as we will leave here at around 7am to fly to Murmansk for the changeover and Saturday is always a busy day.  Normally the changeover day seems to herald a change in the conditions so no doubt all of next week we will be bemoaning how cold, wet and miserable the weather is, although that seems some way off at the moment.

Charlie White

Dropping water

As we contemplated another bright, cloudless day yesterday morning, thoughts turned to the river levels. The river is dropping around 6 inches per day which is a lot given its width.

Combined with a rising water temperature (it is now hovering around 10 degrees) we took off the last remaining sink tips and switched to intermediates and in some cases to straight floaters.  We are now fishing with ½ inch tubes as the norm.

Yuri D with a cracker from Moscoi

Here at Lower we have now moved the boats to their “summer mooring” which is slightly further downstream by the heli pad, to enable easier access and departure without the dreaded sound of engines clunking rocks.

None of which meant any difference to the fishing and in fact we saw more fish moving yesterday than we probably have so far this season.  They are not “gimme” fish and the longer casters are those being most rewarded.

Robin M on the jumble of rocks that is Bear Island

Yuri D definitely counts in that category and he had 12 fish for his day which was sadly his last as he had to fly back to Moscow today.  Whilst we have some lovely pictures from yesterday there were numerous other good fish landed and Peter C-G was broken on a really decent fish having played it for 20 minutes.

Those scores counted towards a total of 40 fish here at Lower and it was a happy but tired team last night.

Ken L with one from the boat

At Middle they had a better day.  54 were put in the book with the brothers Duncan and Kevin F doing the most damage.  They had a fantastic day and landed 15 and 11 fish respectively with one of Duncan’s fish being a cracking 15lber.

East Generator was the most productive pool and again, Terry reported lots of fish being seen over all of the beats.

Boats at the lunch spot

Much as I would like to report different, it is another bright day today but we had 3 early morning risers going out before breakfast and all of them have landed fish before coming into their bacon and eggs so we look set for another good day.

Charlie White

P.S. If you are flying out tomorrow, please look out for an email today from Lynsey Mair which will explain the new procedures in Murmansk – they love a new procedure..!

Lost fish

Yesterday was yet another day of bright skies, a strong upstream wind and plenty of action across both beats.  However, between us we contrived to lose a vast amount of fish which was really the feature of the day.

Neil C on Beach

Our final total at supper was 49 fish, a good score but when one rod told me he had lost 12 fish and another remarked that he could beat that, I realised that the scores in the book might not fully reflect the action we collectively had.

Jonathan B was our star performer with 9 fish from the Mall and Bear Island but apart from that everyone chipped in fairly equally.

Feoder with one of David H's fish

At Middle, the team of 10 rods finished with 33 salmon landed.  Not bad really but there is a feeling that despite the low water and the unusually warm start to the season, the fish are running as per the calendar rather than on conditions and there probably is not quite the head of fish up there yet.

Graeme Y on Bear Island

That looks likely to change as Bill Drury decided to see what he could do with a rod in his hand and landed 5 within 40 minutes from Green Bank last night (we don’t count fish caught by staff so they are not included in the above records) which led him to declare that the run was really starting in earnest.

An impressive double rainbow over the heli last night

A big storm rolled in during supper which dumped a good amount of rain in a short space of time but that was short lived and this morning we awoke to another very sunny day.  That has not stopped Ken L going out before breakfast and landing 4 fish from the Heli pool, as well as a very good sea trout, so we hope we have started the day as we mean to go on.

Charlie White

A busy day

Yesterday was busy day with a lot of traveling around.  After watching our rods leave for their morning session, a few of us flew to Kitza to see how the setup of that camp was progressing.  Very well was the outcome with the new dining and sitting room looking really smart and it will be a big boost to this wonderful camp.

The new lodge at Kitza

The water levels over there are holding up really well which is not unusual with the two big Kitza lakes providing a steady and reliable source.

Looking upstream at Kitza - it looks pretty much perfect

Whilst flying over there it was interesting to get an aerial view of our beat here at Lower and I am not sure that I have seen Moscoi Island so obviously out of the water by the 16th of May before.

Moscoi Island clearly visible in the bottom left of the picture

After dropping off various supplies at Kitza, our pilots announced that we were to go on a rescue mission.  It transpired that in late April, one of our Russian friends had managed to ditch a skidoo into a river which was being hidden by a snow drift.  Completely stuck they had to walk out and leave the skidoo where it was.  The tundra is a big and featureless place but after 30 minutes of flying roughly where they thought it was, we spotted it and tried to land on the boggy marsh.  After a few attempts we hovered near the skidoo, jumped out (which made us all very wet) and hauled it into the back of the helicopter.  Riding a skidoo, inside a helicopter, is not something I have done before and I was not going to miss the opportunity!

Just another day in the office

After which I went up to Middle Varzuga for dinner to find a very happy team.  It had been a slightly slower day than it had been the day before and they finished with 43 salmon to their 10 rods.  Mark G, on his first trip here, landed 9 of those and had a smile a mile wide.

Jonathan B with a lovely fish from Moscoi

Donna cooked us a delicious supper and we got back to Lower just after midnight following a stunning drive back in the bright sunshine.

Given all of that I was hardly here yesterday but gather from Bill that it was a similar story to Middle in that it was a good day but not quite as productive as before.  47 fish are recorded in the book with Graeme, Yuri and Ken being the top rods.  Peter C-G had a cracking fish of around 15lbs from Bear Corner and the lower beats are still the most productive which indicates a building run of fish which is as we would expect.

Ken L on Heli

This morning offers no change in the weather with cloudless skies and high temperatures.  We are still fishing quite heavy sink tips but if this keeps up it will not be long before we start to move up the water column and decrease the fly sizes.

Charlie White

A great day

Yesterday pretty much summed up why we look forward to coming back to the Varzuga every year.

Bright skies, enthusiastic fishermen, keen guides and numerous fish.  Our first full day proved that everyone had got rid of their rustiness and people fished well from the off.

Jonathan B with one from Bear Island

Here at Lower we finished with 68 fish put in the book but I am not sure I have ever seen a day where we lost so may fish either.  These were not just knocks and bumps but fish that were fully on and then simply were not.  Proximity to the sea and fish with soft mouths will be one reason but luck will be another.

Graeme Y on Moscoi Island

Graeme Y had a fantastic day and landed 12 but Yuri D had a superb session on Moscoi and Beach in the afternoon where he grassed a further 12 fish to take his daily tally to 18.

At Middle they also had a very strong start to their week.  Duncan F and Kevin F were the first to really find the fish and they had 20 between them for their morning session on Fortress - not bad for two people who haven’t fished the river before.

The definition of happiness?

Simon R, who knows the river well, was not going to waste his first opportunity of the year to fish Clarkes and he made the most of it in taking 10 for his afternoon session.

A total of 74 fish to the 10 rods was a top result for the opening day.

A happy team at Lower last night

We are planning to fly over to Kitza this morning to take some new boats and a new generator before opening up the camp in earnest and I hope to bring you pictures of the new dining room and kitchen tomorrow.

It is really very bright this morning and beginning to warm up but we hope for more of the same on the fishing front as the water temperature is holding steady at 8 degrees and there appears to be plenty of fish around.

Charlie White

A good start

It is great to be back.  We look forward to the season starting as much as anyone else and it is always fun to kick the trip off in Helsinki with a few beers and mounting excitement.

Boarding the new Titan jet - very comfortable, quiet and fast

We got to Murmansk in blazing sunshine and with just two camps open it took very little time to get through immigration and customs.  By 3:30 we were all in camp after the long heli ride; during which we did not see much snow but did notice that most of the lakes on the tundra were still frozen.

One of the many frozen lakes we flew over yesterday

Everyone was keen to get going but with a strong upstream wind it was not the easiest of starts and for most people it was simply a chance to get on the river again and iron out any rustiness.

Ken L with his first fish of the season

Graeme Y however has clearly been practising at home as he made the whole thing look very simple. 5 fish before we sat down to dinner and 1 afterwards was a great start to his week and showed everyone the way.

Neil C, tackling up moments after the heli got to Lower

At Middle it was a similar story with the team raring to go and they landed 10 fish before Donna called them in.  Duncan F had 3 of those from Lower Generator and Simon R was up before breakfast this morning to land 1 from the same place.

The river is low for this time of the year and the water temperature is about 8 degrees so we are fishing sink tips and on occasion just intermediates with ½ inch tubes.

Mike H and Feorder, fishing together for the umpteenth time

It remains very bright this morning and I could have made a lot of money out of sun cream sales as none of us were expecting it to be this warm but there is no doubt that the levels of anticipation at breakfast demonstrated just how good it is to be back.

Charlie White