The Last Boat In

Another season here on Varzuga has flown by. It seems only yesterday that we opened up the camps, kicked the mice out of their winter quarters and prepared for our first guests. It is just seven very short weeks fishing on this remarkable river.

Middle Camp on 14 May

Fishers back at home find it difficult to believe when I say we are closing Middle camp tomorrow - until the 14^th of May next year. Lower Camp will stay open for tourists and we will fish there for the autumn run of salmon for a week or two. But other than that, all the camps, Pana, Kitza and Middle (Pond Ostrov) are now closed. The boats and engines are secured out of the way of any spring flood, the doors of the log cabins will be padlocked tomorrow and the guards are now here for their long, lonely winter.

Terry and Donna on the last lunch run

Charlie will summarize the season next week, in the meantime a brief glance at the figures shows that we have landed 5,190 salmon so far - and with eight keen fishers out there on our last day, plus Finn the Fish, we should get over the 5,200 mark. It has not been a bonanza year like the vintages of 2012 and 2014, but better than 2010. It is quite a lot of salmon landed. 

One can never have too many rods

And now peace returns to the river - for 10 months – no more fishing - the salmon are left to complete their life cycle.

Up here you get a ear for helicopters and boats – I’m as deaf as a post as my family will readily tell you – but I can hear a helicopter from miles away and can tell, by the sound, which boat is coming in. I was lucky last night to catch a photo of our last boat coming in (Gordon S had had a lean day so Terry took him out after dinner and they avoided a blank). It was nearly midnight and a huge, full moon was rising from the South, contrasting against the midnight sun lighting up the stand of fir trees opposite us. Quite surreal. I guess one of the reasons this river gets under your skin.  

Sonya selecting wild flowers for her dining room arrangements

As always a huge thank you to all our Russian friends on Varzuga. Here at Middle Camp, Big Misha, Vova, Anton, Danya, Ivan, Sasha, Uncle Vova, Luda, Genna, Natasha, Arina and young Sonya.


The last boat coming home

I hope you might join us for our 25^th year on Varzuga in 2016, either here on this magic river, or just via the blog.

Farewell until next year.

Christopher Robinson

Rocks

With the water now dropping towards summer height we are having to sharpen our concentration when driving the jet boats. A week ago the river was high, those of you who know Generator Pool will understand the height when I say that the pyramid rock at the top of the pool was fully under water.

 

Middle Camp 'phone rock

 For me this was slightly alarming, the rock is such an obvious marker as to the route through the shallows and without it showing it was easy to become disorientated. Now, a week later, the rock is out of the water by over a foot and with shallow, ripple’ly water it is much easier to read the route, albeit skimming through the skinny sections on the plane might temporally concern those guests not used to the drill.

Ivan and Michael H in action

Rocks in camp play a part in our lives too. We get mobile phone reception, only just, from the huge mast in Varzuga village 15 kms down river from here. Having a decent conversation involves balancing on a rock. The best place is just behind the banya – in fine weather this is sort of OK, if it is pouring with rain or if it is a still, mosquito’y evening the call can be short. After a few weeks here you get quite good at balancing on a rock, mobile in one hand and swatting flies with the other. Taking notes can be challenging.

Middle Camp Tundra Art

A couple of years ago I started my Middle Camp rock collection. Each day I try and find a rock or two to place on the sloping, wooden surrounds of the log cabins. Most of the guides think I am daft; however Big Misha seems to understand my concept of Tundra Art and will nod in approval if I find a particularly interesting rock. I normally take a few home to Wiltshire to place strategically in the garden or in the house. Last year I took a whopper home, a beautiful smooth rock, shaped by centuries of river water and ice. It weighed 5kg – (Finnair – my apologies!). This year Tiffinie has banned me from bringing rocks home, and I understand from overheard idle gossip in the kitchen that she has put Donna on full alert to make sure I do not smuggle any rocks home at the last minute.

Steen P and one of his four salmon yesterday

Enough of rocks – onto the fishing. The weather pattern repeated itself yesterday with a good fishing morning and then a bright, sun filled afternoon. We had a long, lazy lunch at Snake Pit and Anton amused us playing with the big boat and firing a vast spay of water across the river from the jet engine. We ended the day with a further 14 salmon landed to take us to exactly 100 for the week so far. This morning Gordon B could not repeat his normal feat of a salmon before breakfast, but his fishing partner Paul R landed good one of about 9lbs before the bacon and eggs.

Anton amusing us at lunch

Two more days to go – I’m off to Yovas where the rock selection is the best (and the fishing is not too bad either!).

Christopher Robinson

Finn The Fish

Some say he eats lemmings for breakfast, others say that he can survive on river water alone – who knows? – all we know is that we call him Finn the Fish.

 

Finn the Fish

He set the bar pretty high yesterday; one salmon before breakfast, then six in the morning – and he allowed himself a Diet Coke at lunch to celebrate.

Michael H at Scotts

The weather repeated the pattern of the past few days and, after a dull start, by mid-morning it was bright and clear; in the afternoon the sun beat down on the river and it became pretty quiet and sleepy. A few rods changed tactics in the afternoon swapping floating lines for intermediate tips and smallish brass tubes and Michael H and Gordon S found that worked for them up at Scotts.


Fortress yesterday

Between the team we managed 14 salmon to take us to 86 at the mid-week point. Finn the Fish is comfortably ahead on the score sheet, as indeed he was last year (by ‘comfortably ahead’ I mean double that of any other rod). We do not know quite how he does it, he seems not to fish that much out of office hours but when he does fish the salmon just give themselves up.

Gordon S and Ivan

We have a much cooler morning today, it is 7⁰C and quite chilly in the breeze, certainly not mosquito weather. Gordon B repeated his daily routine of a salmon before breakfast from Generator, Paul R filmed a bear swimming the river and we watched the video over eggs and bacon.

I’m off to watch Finn the Fish today – I feel I can learn something.

Christopher Robinson

Counting Waders

We are lucky this far north to have 24 hours day light for most of the season. In early and mid May, when the sun dips down towards the horizon in the evening, it can get quite cold after dinner and the fishing can go off. However from early June, when we can expect warmer nights, we can have some of the most productive fishing in the evenings and early morning.

One fisher out

At Middle Camp the veranda of the main lodge looks out over the 6 guest log cabins, each accommodating two fishers in single rooms with a bathroom. My routine in the morning is to start fairly early, grab a large mug of coffee and from the veranda I can count the waders hanging up outside the bedrooms. In the evening too we can see, by the gaps in the waders, who is still out fishing.

Looking South at midnight

The team this week is pretty keen and this morning there were three pairs of waders missing. Finn, Paul and Gordon came back in for breakfast with five salmon landed between them in Generator – a good start to the day. I mentioned yesterday that I thought it felt ‘dour’; and so it turned out to be. The grey morning soon transformed into a really bright, almost painfully glare’ish day. Sunscreen was applied at lunch and in the afternoon we persevered knowing that it was not going to be an epic fishing day.

Looking North at midnight

After dinner I took Stewart and Dominic out in the big boat to fish Generator, both with single handed rods, Stewart fishing a Bomber, Dominic a small skater. Just before midnight a rain shower came through and the most extraordinary rainbow appeared over us. To the North was a setting sun, glowing bright red, to the South a rainbow arch, the like of which I have never seen before, right over us. Magic stuff and the fact that we did not land a salmon became unimportant.

Gordon B with a good salmon from Yovas

We had 18 salmon yesterday, well down on the day before, and I think part of that was due to the heavy rain we had on Sunday night. The river rose an inch or so and it just did not feel settled to me. We have had a much better start to today so let’s hope for a productive day – it feels better to me.

I’ll give you an update on the wader count tomorrow.

Christopher Robinson

　

Sartorial Elegance

As any fisher girl (or man - Ed) will tell you – it is not easy to look elegant in waders. Why do they not make decent, tailored waders? And what about the colour choice? "Yes ‘mam, we have a wide choice of colours – from light grey to dark grey."

Dressed to fish the Varzuga

I can always trust on Paul R and Michael H to set the tone here – if there were a choice of colours in waders they could cut even more of a dash. As it is they do pretty well. Paul this morning in a fetching pink shirt and The Hat. Michael in a bright checked shirt and his newly ordered tweed cap.

Do the salmon notice? – Maybe. We had a much better day, the best since 18 June and put a further 36 salmon in the book yesterday to add to the 18 of the first evening. The results were really evenly spread, everyone did pretty well. Smaller flies and floating lines were working well, but a few guests stayed with the safe option on an intermediate tip.


Michael H and the new tweed hat

Paul and Gordon B came into breakfast this morning after their customary hour on the river before Donna’s scrambled eggs with a salmon each and the chatter over the breakfast table was about trying surface fishing today. It is quite still today, warm’ish, and it feels a bit dour to me. We had really heavy rain for a few hours last night and the river has not dropped – I could do with a few more inches off it yet.


Party Pool and a Kola sky

Last week at Middle the team of 10 rods landed 119 salmon – great fishing in most places but not epic by Middle Camp standards. We had one really odd day, as did Pana. On 25 June we only landed eight, and up at Pana the team of six only had four salmon. The Pana team really do know what they are doing, Guy R, the team leader has only missed one year in the last 24. So it was not ‘operator error’ and I have no idea why the fish were so off that day. Pana finished with 123 for the week. Guy and the team mentioned that although the numbers of salmon compared to the record year of 2014 were down a bit there were many more large fish - something we are seeing too here at Middle Camp.

Benjamin G-B and a chunky Pana slamon

Kitza too had an unusual week – normally it fishes really well in late June being a later river than Varzuga. They recorded 69 for the eight rods – something to celebrate elsewhere but not up to our usual standards here; however it is the most delightful river to fish, probably the prettiest on the Kola and the team seemed content and happy with their week when I saw them on Saturday at Murmansk.

The salmon do seem to have responded to the brightly dressed team here this week. Let’s hope it continues in the same vein.

Christopher Robinson

Changing to Floating Lines

We got back from Murmansk with the new team in reasonable time yesterday and there was the usual flurry of activity, waders were unpacked and rods put up. Terry and I offered our advice as fly box after fly box was presented on the tables we use for tackling up. The river has continued its steady drop and everyone was keen to use a floating line if possible and I feel it has now got to the height at which we can have some confidence with smaller flies.



Paul R at Bear last night

Paul R got the group swiftly off the mark with a grilse from Bear Pool, followed by new-comer Stewart M who caught three salmon in Generator. Gordon S fished down Bear after Paul and had a further three; there was quite a lot of activity in all the home pools and by the time we called it a day there were 18 salmon in the book. An encouraging start and each one of our nine rods had caught a salmon in the ‘bonus evening’ before we start our six days fishing this morning.

The Pana Team last week

The river has dropped over a foot in the past week, and although not quite down to summer level it is slowly getting there. It is easy to fall into the trap of not adjusting the tactics we use or pools we fish if we are not alert to the fact that the river is constantly changing - even though we may not notice it day to day. We have been keen to start fishing a couple of key pools from the centre of the river on the gravel bars, Bomber Ally and Robinsons Folly; but to date the water has just been too high. Terry and Ivan went up river yesterday afternoon to have a look and it does now seem that we should be able to start fishing those pools in the next day or so.

Tom R on Pana last week

Tomorrow, once I have had a chance to go through the record books I’ll summarize last week. In the meantime we have a much cooler day, about 10⁰C, grey and it feels damp. With the river just coming right the last thing I need is rain so let’s hope that it stays away. After the success of the first evening both Paul R and Gordon B had a salmon each before breakfast – on floating lines and smallish flies - and at 9 a.m. on the dot the boats set off. I’ll join them for lunch at Snake Pit and look forward to updating the blog tomorrow.

Christopher Robinson

When Lunch Becomes Important

I’m not quite sure what happened yesterday – the river just seemed to be very quiet. The weather was fine, we had quite a strong south wind all morning which made the lower beats at Middle Camp tricky to fish but apart from that it was wonderful Kola day. A blue sky and quite bright with puffy clouds; the margins of the Varzuga are now turning bright green as the water level drops and the river is beginning to look at its best.

Archie R taking a relaxed approach

The team here at Middle Camp fished hard for nine salmon, two of which were really chunky cock salmon of between 12lbs and 14lbs landed by Lars B and James F. Undaunted Freddie, Ollie, Archie and Lars set off after dinner, once the sun had dropped down, to try Bear and Generator and they finished about one thirty last night. At breakfast this morning they reported only the odd pull from a lethargic salmon or two. Not one of our greatest days at Middle Camp.

Hugh S

Kitza too did not hit the jackpot and managed to put 11 salmon in the fishing records. Ahead of Middle for the day, which I would expect at this time of the season, but the numbers of fresh salmon coming in this year seem to be well down. On Kitza the last poor run was in 2009 and this week may echo that.

Archie, Ollie and Freddie setting off after dinner - note Archie's hat which we call the Ascot Hat

Pana had a tough day as well with only 4 landed by the afternoon – they were going out after dinner once the bright sun was off the river and I’ll hear this evening how they got on.

When the fishing gets tougher Donna knows she has to pull out every stop on the cooking front – it is always excellent I know, but there are times to go the extra mile or two. We loaded the boat full of food and drinks and she produced a delicious poached fresh salmon on the bank for us with salad and all the trimmings.

Donna setting up lunch on the river bank

Today is another Kola day – a high sky, quiet bright again but with enough cloud about to feel confident in the fishing, we have a stiff wind from the SW which might be troublesome on some beats – but not a mosquito in sight! I’m not sure that the numbers of salmon landed will pick up enormously – but here is hoping for a few more than yesterday. The water temperature is up to 16⁰C and the level has dropped a good deal this week. I suspect we will make the change to mostly floating lines next week.
Tomorrow we go to Murmansk and back to reality outside this wonderful wilderness. I look forward to updating you on Sunday.

Christopher Robinson

Breakfast in Waders

Each week amongst our guests there will be one or two irrepressible enthusiasts who, whatever the fishing conditions or results, will remain ever optimistic. Last week it was Ian S and Chris M, the latter broke the record and was tackled up and in his waders exactly 15 minutes after the helicopter planted its wheels on our pad.

James D with one of his 5 salmon yesterday

This week we have Freddie P and James D. Varzuga blog readers might recall that last year, through this blog, I warned Mrs P back in England that she would need a strong pair of garden shears to cut Freddie out of his waders when he arrived home. Our salmon numbers are down this year, inevitably so after the record of last year – so it takes people a little time to adjust to having to work a bit harder and maybe fish better to make the most of it.

Peter D fishing Generator

But born optimists such as Freddie and James seem to attract the salmon and they are both joint top rods at the moment. James, wanting to make the most of his six days fishing, went out late last night and had two salmon from Bear – which in this dropping water is beginning to take on that lovely defined, easy to read look to it. Freddie came to breakfast in his waders, ready for action – and then stayed out late while Donna kept his and Ollie’s supper warm on the hot plate.

Breakfast in waders

We had a better day at Middle and landed 26 salmon, it might have been more and Ollie L had a ‘mare of a day losing three apparently well hooked fish. Kitza struggled and I’m not sure why as often in late June it will fish the best of all the camps, they managed nine in the book. Pana reported in with 21 – their middle beat, normally a banker seems not to be fishing that well. However Tom R and A M-B hit several pods of really fresh grilse coming through Ponozi and managed to lose 11 of them!

Fishing Party Pool

If you are coming out to Middle Camp on Varzuga next week here is an update on conditions. The river is dropping in nicely; the water temperature is pretty steady at around 14⁰C. The weather looks reasonably settled. The mosquitoes are here, but not too bad and the Middle river is open enough to attract any breeze. However you do have to be prepared for them if the wind drops. The top beats, which have not fished that well in the high water should be much more interesting next week.

I’m off to dry out the dining room chair cushions – Freddie in his wet waders again. More tomorrow.

Christopher Robinson

Bigger Fish

Although it felt more ‘fishy’ yesterday it did not pan out quite as expected. Freddie P had an annoying morning landing two but losing four, a theme that was to be repeated for several of the team. We met up for lunch at Snake Pit, James F had landed a really good fish, measured at 32.5”, at Fortress using the Dee Sheep and Tim S had lost a couple, one also seemed to be a large fish.

James D playing his lunch time salmon

We compared notes, Freddie had been using one of my small’ish but heavy Red Frances tied on a tungsten tube and it was agreed that getting down a bit to the salmon was probably the answer. There was a degree of re-rigging tips, James D put on a 10’ medium sink tip and went on the rocks in front of us having lunch to try it out. He pretty soon hooked a nice salmon of 10lbs which was dually netted by Sasha.

Archie R and Hugh S

My box of Red Frances and Dee Sheep was looking fairly bare by the time we finished lunch and I joined James F and Lars B on the lower pools. Party and Birthday seemed very quiet, not many fish showing and it proved to be a dull afternoon for all except Hugh S who landed his biggest ever salmon which was estimated at around 14lbs. We ended the day after dinner fishing Party from the boat where Lars lost one on the tail – it was one of those days and we could only put 15 salmon in the book to take us to 52 at the mid-point of the week.

Hugh's biggest salmon

Kitza too had a dull day with only 13 recorded and eight of those fell to Richard M and John H who hit a pod of fresh fish running through. Pana had a very good day and Toby called in this morning to report 26 salmon yesterday to the six rods including another big fish from Ponzoi – an 18lber for Andrew C-M.

The smile says it all

We were a bit slow off the mark this morning due to the International Relations Gathering that finished rather late I hear.

More tomorrow

Christopher Robinson

Sunshine

We enjoyed our first really warm, bright day yesterday. The sun shone down all day, there was a light breeze to keep mosquitoes away and it was proper shirt sleeve weather. The bright sun did not help the fishing much but after two weeks of poor weather it was a chance for the staff here to enjoy a taste of summer.



Freddie P fishing Scotts

Ollie L, Freddie P, and Peter and James D fished the top beat and landed eight salmon between them in the morning. The afternoon session was tougher although not for Lars B who had his best day salmon fishing ever with four to his name. James Fox, who normally is close to the top of the leader board had a blank day, most unusual for him. After dinner I took him out in the boat down to Party Pool and he soon hooked and landed a salmon – like Archie on the previous evening he was using my recommendation of a Dee Sheep on a ½" brass tube fished slowly and deep on a slow sinking tip.

Sonya, Genna, Natasha and Arina enjoying the first day of summer

With the water temperature up to 14⁰C after yesterday’s sun the text book would indicate floating lines and smallish flies but with the current water height we feel at the moment you need to get down a bit to the salmon. And with a smaller run of salmon this year no one yet is really experimenting with surface flies. With the river level on Varzuga dropping in now we might be able to change tactics later this week.

Hugh S yesterday

Over at Kitza Ollie reported that the river continued to rise most of yesterday and it was not until the evening that he felt that the rise had peaked. It made for another tougher day there and the team landed 12 for the day, with Richard S catching his first salmon on a fly.

James F at Party Pool after dinner

No news from Pana – the radio reception is poor to non-existent. Last week the team of eight at Pana landed 277 salmon. Here at Middle we had 194 with four people catching their first salmon ever. The eight rods at Kitza had 173, sadly they were missing Jonathan G who was hospitalised at the last moment – all of us here wish him a speedy recovery and we look forward to having him back on the river next year.

Nice cloud cover today, a medium breeze – it feels like a better fishing day.

Christopher Robinson

Midsummer Birthday Party

Midsummer! I can hardly believe that just seven short weeks ago we were navigating our way through ice bergs to open up the camps. Yesterday was our first still day for quite a time, warm too and the air temp climbed up to 19⁰C. Time for the sunscreen. The Varzuga has steadied off and dropped a fraction, but only a fraction. Over at Kitza the lake system delayed the rise and it was not until yesterday that it really kicked in and their river height rose 6" over the day.


Midnight - Midsummer

It was a tougher days fishing in all the camps; but there were bright spots and happy experiences. Archie R caught the first salmon of his life, followed shortly by a really nice pike which disappeared into the Russian kitchen faster than lightening. Pana reported 21 for the day; they had landed 15 on the previous evening on their arrival and the difference in scores tells you that for some reason the salmon were just not co-operating. Kitza struggled in the rising water and finished with 18, Ollie reported a happy team and I think there is a good degree of relief that they will be able to boat right up to Rackmanns all week. Along with Yovas the top of Kitza ranks as quite the most magic place to fish for salmon.

Birthday Party

At Middle Camp we had two Birthdays to celebrate. Young Sonya was nine (she has been on this remote Island Camp with her grandmother, Luda, for the past eight summers!). Natasha too had her birthday, she is the wife of Pasha who now guides on the Kola river but who used to guide first at our Lower Camp and then was head guide here at Middle when I set the camp up in 1995. Luda made a delicious cake, Donna wrapped the presents brought out from UK and we had a proper birthday tea party – supplemented with a Georgian red wine for the grown-ups supplied by Igor (Sonya’s grandfather).

Birthday Pool

Birthday and Party remained the theme. I joined Ollie L and Freddie P on Birthday Pool where they had a double hook up and Freddie landed a really nice salmon right on the tail. After dinner I took young Archie and Hugh out in the boat to fish Party Pool and also to experience midsummers night just a few kilometres short of the Arctic Circle. And what a wonderful sunset/sunrise it was, the sun just kissed the tops of the fir trees way up the river at the top of Generator Pool and above us a massive high sky developed. On cue Archie hooked the second salmon of his life, it was netted by Hugh and we returned to the Lodge content and delighted that we had made the most of fishing under the midnight sun on midsummer’s day.

Party Pool

Happy Days

Christopher Robinson

Rising River

We welcomed our three new teams yesterday at Murmansk, and headed of for Kitza, Pana and Middle Camp. I was able to spend a few minutes at both Kitza and Pana on the way through and both rivers looked in peak order. There is plenty of water to get the boats to all the beats and it should stay that way this week.

The very damp Varzuga watershed

Flying over the tundra on the way in I was struck by the amount of standing water in the Varzuga catchment area; acres and acres of damp bog glistening in the sun and the feeder streams all running. Up at Pana the river level steadied off over night and this morning it had dropped a fraction. Further downstream here at Middle Camp the level was up again this morning by a couple of inches. The forecast is not too bad and hopefully we will see the level drop off this week.


Preparing the pic-nic lunches this morning

Yesterday we were later into camp than usual and we did not have quite the normal time of bonus Saturday evening fishing. Hugh S and Peter D both landed a nice salmon each from Generator Pool and after a long days travelling most (but not all!)went to bed reasonably early. Lars B from Norway started us off well with a salmon before breakfast.

Lars and James setting off with Danya

It is fairly still and muggy this morning and the wind that dogged us last week is absent and all got under way pretty promptly in the boats at 9 a.m. Four rods will fish the very top beats in Yovas canyon; Terry will go up there this morning and will join them for lunch at Royal Dee. Donna and I will take the main lunch out to the rest of the team fishing the lower beats and we will meet at Snake Pit.

Tomorrow I’ll try and round up last week’s results.

Christopher Robinson

The Champagne Shrimp

One of regular guests, Ian S, is both an excellent fisher and a canny designer of flies. Last year he introduced the Percy Special to Varzuga with great success. This year his new fly is called The Champagne Shrimp. In my view it is just a variant of the Percy Special, in his view a masterful new creation crafted after hours of deep thought.

The Champagne Shrimp

Well, whatever the creativity behind it, it works – very well – and rare copies of the Champagne Shrimp are much in demand at the moment. Unusually Ian did not top the leader boarder yesterday, Gregoire was top rod with seven salmon, and our total for the day of 48 was pretty evenly spread amongst the team. A much better days fishing overall, the wind was down for once and it felt much more settled and calm.


Harry P at Pic-Nic

Sadly that cannot be said of this morning – we have a strong upstream wind again and there was quite careful consideration of the beat map at breakfast as we tried to work out where the most sheltered pools would be. Ian and Chris had both caught salmon before tucking into their scrambled eggs which at least gave us hope that even in the wind we should have another pretty good day.

Bear Pool yesterday

Richard G and his team over at Kitza yesterday had 26 salmon, and up at Pana they landed 41. The water height is still steady, no sign of it dropping – yet. And with little sun this week the water temperature remains at 11⁰C. A very steady river just now and I think that accounted for our improvement in numbers landed yesterday.

The Middle Camp guests

This week seems to have flown by, tomorrow we depart for Murmansk and in the evening there will be the Saturday evening rush to get into waders and down to the river. The cooks know the form; you do not plan soufflé on first night.

More news on Sunday!

Christopher Robinson