The last day of the season at Lower Varzuga

The season at Lower Varzuga is normally just 4 weeks long.  Most clients, when they see the lodge and set up that we have here for the first time, cannot believe that we would have such infrastructure for just 4 weeks.  This year the season has been just 2 weeks - simply crazy and only emphasises the extraordinary spring that we have had.

The river, whilst dropping, is still very high and I would reckon has about 4 weeks of decent fishing left in it but time waits for no man and leave we must.

Bill Drury with one from Upper Sviats

We landed 33 fish yesterday with Jonny C having a fantastic session on Beach with 7 fish and whilst I was in the office all I could hear were the radios going with the guides comparing scores.  Our morning was actually much more productive than our afternoon but I am not quite sure why that was.

Best pic of the season. Mum with one of four she landed from Bearlets in the morning

Middle Varzuga had a much more even day with fish across all of the beats and throughout the sessions. They finished with 79 landed, the top rods being father and son team of Michael and Colton with 9 each. Bigger fish were again very much noted and Doug U had a cracking 15lber from Picnic.

We have barely seen a summer grilse yet and it bodes well for the next few weeks.

David K-W and Eoin Fairgrieve with one from the boat

Kitza and Pana are two different stories at the moment.  They are both much narrower than the main Varzuga and essentially they remain too high for decent fishing.  All of our snow has now melted and assuming we don’t get too much rain (we very rarely do once summer comes) the two rivers will drop away quickly and reveal themselves.

William G with a fish from Lower Sviats

The run of fish we have had through Lower and Middle indicates that there probably are quite a few fish in the other two but getting to them is currently proving tricky.

Our season ends. The river is still up in the bushes but at least we have blue skies

I fly home tomorrow and Jack Selby, manager of the Kitza camp, will be taking over blog duties on Sunday.  My thanks as ever to all of our UK and Russian team who make everything work so well.  It has been a very tough start to the season, in the office and on the river, but everyone has pulled together brilliantly and I hope that the next few weeks see them get their just rewards.

Charlie White

This is more like it!

Well it seems that finally winter has relented and Spring is really here – more to the point so are the fish.

After a comparatively tough start to the week (all things being relative with this river) yesterday felt much more like a normal day on the Varzuga.

Colton C with what was almost a "normal" fish from Middle yesterday

I spent a large part of the day at Pana where the river is still really big.  For those of you who know the beat, Hippo Rock is still submerged by at least a foot and places to wade are tricky to find. However, they started to see more yesterday and had 6 on the bank – small steps but it is going the right way and it was in a way encouraging (although disappointing for them) to hear that James H-B and Jack M both lost very good fish after a decent fight.

Bertrand K with another from Middle

Very good fish was the subject of the day at Middle when I went up there to see them for dinner. After a slowish start to the week, they had a fantastic day and 113 were put in the book with some fabulous salmon in amongst them.

Ian C, who has been coming to Varzuga from the very start of our time out here, said it was by far the biggest average size of fish he had ever seen and he landed a cracking 17lbs fish from the pool named after him which was more than fitting. Doug U and Ian S landed 19 fish between them on the morning session at Peartiha and everyone had tales of 15lbs fish as well as excellent numbers to go with it.

Jonny C and Igor

At Lower Varzuga we started to see much better numbers as well.  35 fish to our 9 rods (my mother was riding shotgun on the helicopter so we cannot count her!) was a great result and just what we wanted to see.  Julian G was top rod with 10 fish and David B and David K-W landed 5 apiece from Beach and Bear Corner.

Kitza is equally going the right way.  The river, much like Pana, is still too high for this time of the year and most of the fishing is from the boat but Joe M and Bill P landed 6 each whilst Jan H, heroically fishing with a seriously painful shoulder, landed 2 from 2nd Island and their final score was 19 for the day.

Blue skies and leaping salmon - much more like it

Stewart  H and Jonny C have both been out before breakfast and landed 2 apiece whilst also losing another couple and our day looks set fair.  Closing Lower tomorrow seems almost a crime but after the coldest winter for over 100 years, the following weeks look as though they could be superb.

There are still rods available for the final week at Middle Varzuga and I would urge anyone who can fit in a last minute trip to contact the office as soon as they can as these should be epic weeks at very much shoulder season prices.

Charlie White

Back online!

My apologies for the lack of blog yesterday.   A combination of a trip to Umba to deliver new boats and slow internet speeds meant that I ran out of time.

Back here the news is that finally, finally, we have seen the sun.  I had almost forgotten what it looked like and the whole river feels like a different place with a bit of warmth on it.

A lively fish on Bear Corner

The fish are responding in kind although it does feel as if they are making up for lost time and are running very hard.

I have just spoken to Toby at Middle who said that yesterday was the first day that they have seen lots of fish moving, jumping and generally getting on with how we would expect them to behave.

And landed...

They have landed 62 fish for the past couple of days and again they have had some really good ones.
Phillip T landed a cracking 15lbs fish from Fortress whilst Ian H landed 6 from Peartiha and lost a further 6.  Keen blog watchers will note that it is the high water pools that are still the most productive.

Here at Lower we have seen great strides in the casting of everyone and whilst 24 fish for the past couple of days is not quite as many as we would have liked, we have had great fun in getting them.
With the water now, eventually, steadily dropping, there are more and more places where we can ambush the running fish and news of fish showing at Middle is spurring everyone on to intercept more of them before they get there!

The Arctic Terns have only just started to arrive

The fish may be showing at Middle but they are not yet at Pana.  We do need to water temperatures to warm up a touch to help them make the distance faster but I am sure that any minute now they will be there.

Kitza has slightly gone in fits and starts with John E having a great session on Sasha’s with 4 fish but some of the beats being rather more stubborn. They have banked 25 fish to the 8 rods over the past two days and again, dropping water will make the whole beat more fishable.

Our first picnic lunch of the season 

It is a warm morning today and it really does make putting on the waders a much more appealing prospect than it was when looking out onto snow showers.  More tomorrow when I hope we have dropping water, increasing temperatures and rising numbers of fish.

Charlie White

A tough day

Yesterday was a funny one in that we didn’t catch nearly as many fish as we were hoping but at the same time there were signs that things are beginning to happen as we would expect.

At Lower we only landed 4 fish for the day.  We lost a few others and there were various encounters but the truth is that it was a slow and yet another cold day.  Eoin Fairgrieve and Bill Drury were on the river working their magic and we saw an improvement in everyone’s casting.

Jonny C on Bear Island

It is difficult, with the high water, to get away with just overhead casting and spey casting is a new thing to many here which is as we would expect with this being the tuition week.

Pana saw the first fish of the season landed by the guests.  Just 2 but welcome signs that fish are there, particularly as the 2nd fish was landed at Rockface which is halfway up the beat.

Igor reaching for Stewart H's fish

Kitza landed 5 fish with Joe M landing 2 from Sasha’s in the morning.  Jack, the camp manager, reports that finally the river is dropping away from being bank high and there are more and more places that are easily accessible to wade.

Middle does what it always does, which is to blow everyone’s theories out of the water.  They landed 61 between the 12 rods with Hugo M and Rob McK landing 6 apiece from their session in Peartiha. Colton C managed to outfish his father by 6 to 1 which, as he is only 16, was a very good effort.

Is Spring finally coming? Birch buds just showing this morning

It is at last a bit warmer this morning although the water temperature is still only 3 degrees but Stewart H went out at 6.30 this morning and landed 1 from Heli whilst also losing 2 more which has given everyone encouragement and we hope for more of the same as the day goes on.

Charlie White

A new week but the same weather

Yesterday was a busy day at Murmansk.  Changeover day is always hectic but it is also great fun as it gives the chance to catch up with the many people who come year after year.

We were actually through the airport in record time and everyone was in camp by at least 4pm. Murmansk airport is now a pretty comfortable experience but the sheer tension and excitement levels mean that any wait feels forever.

Brendan - giving it his all as ever

Once in camp it was time to set everyone up, find out which bits of kit were required and discuss the past week’s events.

Those events were perhaps inevitably dominated by talk of Middle Varzuga where the 12 rods finished their week on 408 fish for the week.  A superb weeks fishing with some specimen fish landed.

Stewart H with his first Russian salmon last night

Lower Varzuga started to really pick up in the last few days and the team of 8 who came from Kitza landed 89 for their 3 days here which was a good effort.

At Kitza it is taking longer to get going but some fish are there and the same can be said at Pana.  It is hard work and very cold but the old adage of “you cannot catch a fish if your fly is not in the water” was never truer.

My mother meeting Feorder - I am not sure what she said but it has me worried

The new week always brings fresh enthusiasm and the team at Middle had 13 before the cold got to them last night.  At Lower, Stewart H went out almost as soon as the helicopter landed and on his second cast caught his first ever Russian salmon.  He had another one before we beckoned him into supper and we have got the week off to a good start although it is still really cold and it has snowed all night.  Surely it will warm up soon…?

Charlie White

Supply run

A quick blog today as Friday is the day when we resupply all of the camps with provisions for next week so it will be a long day on the helicopter.

Yesterday was more of the same across the camps in terms of catches and weather.  It is still really cold and we had driving rain for most of the day.  Full credit to the team here who all put in a full shift and not one of the boats came back early.

Adrian D on Bear Corner

That was probably because they were all catching fish.  We finished with 31 fish for the day to our 8 rods.  Predictably Brendan was the top rod but he was closely followed by Bruce B and Andrew W-D who had 5 each.

At Kitza there was better news as Brad B hit the first of the pods to run the river and he landed 4 from Gold Mine – things are starting to happen there and I suspect that next week could be pretty good.

Middle continues apace and they had a further 76 fish to their 12 rods. Jeremy B landed 6 fish from Fortress including one of 16lbs whilst Brian W had 12 to his rod from Upper Fortress and Birthday.

Andrew W-D on Beach

I am off to Pana in a minute with their supplies and I understand that another fish was caught just outside of camp by one of the guides yesterday so it will be interesting to see what I find when I get up there.

There will be no blog tomorrow as we fly to Murmansk to say goodbye to these guests and welcome our new ones and I hope that on Sunday I can report some better weather – snow was not really what we wanted to wake up to this morning…

Charlie White

They’re here

Thankfully, yesterday’s confidence was not misplaced.  We had a much better day at Lower Varzuga and it is clear that the main run of fish has now started to arrive.

It was very evident that fish were running in pods and you had to be there at the right time but when you were, the action was electric.

Adrian D on Upper Sviats

This was best shown by Adrian D who had a red letter session in Upper Sviats and landed 8 fish in the afternoon.   John G had 6 for the day whilst Brendan G continues to fish all hours he can whilst also catching fish during them.

We finished on 33 for the day which is by no means a big day when it comes to Lower catches but it is a very big step in the right direction.

Paul C with a good fish from Middle

I went up to Middle Varzuga for dinner which is a journey I normally really enjoy (about 50 minutes by boat) but I have to say that it was utterly freezing last night.  There is still a lot of ice on the banks and snow on the ground so any wind has a real bite to it.

They had a very good day and landed 80 fish to the 12 rods.  Everybody had contributed equally but the interesting thing I discovered was that the home pools have not yet started producing in a major way.

The new dining room at Middle

Middle normally scores very highly thanks to these home pools and the out of hours fishing that the team do but practically all of the fish they have caught this week have been in the guided hours.  This is very encouraging for the strength of run as it implies that they have caught the first run of the bigger fish and the grilse will start to stack up from here on.

David C on Clarkes

Sadly, Kitza and Pana did not fare so well.  The cold spring has affected their catches and without reward it is increasingly difficult to motivate the team to fish hard.  Kitza finished with 4 fish and one of the guides at Pana caught a fish just outside of the camp last night so some fish have got there and we hope that today brings them better fortune.

It is another bitterly cold day but Brendan has landed 2 fish this morning from the Heli pool which got everyone going and it was a prompt start here this morning.

Charlie White

Slowly, slowly

I hardly dare say it for fear of jumping the gun but slowly, just slowly, spring is coming and so are the fish.

Having seen very little bird life, signs of new growth or anything much in the way of warmer temperatures, yesterday felt as if we were getting somewhere.

Brendan on Heli last night

We saw the first cuckoo of the season and the birch buds are just beginning to show.  Also beginning to show are salmon.

After a tough morning here, Jamie K fished Beach in the afternoon which is our bottom beat and not only landed two fresh fish but most encouragingly saw plenty more coming into the beat.

Philip L-J at Kitza

The feeling that fish have eventually got here was backed up by the fact that before we flew to Kitza to swap parties, we had landed 6 for the day but the new team here landed 6 more after dinner in just a couple of hours, all in the home pool of Heli.

At Kitza, before we flew over to pick them up, they had 8 for their final day there – not epic but going the right way.

Kitza camp looking stunning yesterday morning - the snow has now all gone

The most curious aspect of the whole week has been Middle.  We have fished hard here at Lower and all eyes have been pealed for the first inkling of a run of fish but somehow, an awful lot have got past us without being sighted.

Their 12 rods landed 117 fresh fish yesterday.  Extraordinary really and whilst we are delighted for them, it has made all of us scratch our heads, question ourselves and endlessly theorise.

There were inevitably some high individual scores with Paul C landing 19 and David and Stephen C taking 17 from Clarkes in their morning session but by far the best fish of the day was Jeremy H landing his first fish as a grandfather - huge congratulations to all.

A fresh one from Kitza

The team at Pana went down to the junction of Varzuga and Pana but found only ice walls.  They are going to try again today as we know that the fish have got to Middle in numbers and it will only be a matter of time before they hit Pana.

It is raining hard this morning but that hasn’t stopped Brendan G going out and landing another fish before breakfast and with thoughts of spring firmly in mind we head out with high hopes.

Charlie White

Happy Christmas!

I haven’t, yet, gone completely mad but this morning looks and feels like Christmas.  As we ate a delicious dinner last night it started to snow and someone joked that we would get 6 inches by the morning – it turns out that they were wrong, we had 7 inches of snow.

Lower Varzuga this morning

Quite extraordinary to think that it will be June tomorrow and perhaps sums up the most bizarre start to a season that any of us have seen.

The fish haven’t really kicked into gear yet and it was hard work across most of the camp yesterday.  It is possible that they are waiting for the river to warm up before leaving the White Sea but the truth is that none of us really know and we are just looking forward to the first major run of fish to hit us.

Igor with a fresh fish from Beach

At Lower, Phil B continued his run of winkling one out and Brad B joined him whereas at Kitza,
Bruce B and Phil L-J had a double hook up at First Island but apart from that it was slim pickings.

Middle, as is often the case, went against the trend and they had a great day of 61 fish.  Father and son team of David and Stephen C had 6 apiece from their session at Fortress in the afternoon and all of the other rods chipped in although Brian W and his fishing partner topped the scoring charts with 15 between them in the morning.

A winter wonderland

The fish haven’t got to Pana yet but the team up there are keen and no doubt they will head as far downstream today as they can.

There is no denying that it is beautiful here right now and it is actually very warm today so I would imagine that all of this snow will be gone by this evening but we could do with a few more fish to really get the season started in earnest.

Charlie White

“Maybe tomorrow”

It seems that winter won’t let go just yet.  A really cold wind and some very heavy snow showers made fishing pretty tough and it was no surprise that a few called it off before the allotted guided time was over.

The mantra for the past three weeks has been “maybe tomorrow” as everyone here prayed for the ice to break, the river to clear, for guests to be in camp and now it seems for the main run of fish to arrive.

What we have all been waiting for

We did catch fish and at Lower Varzuga, Phil B and Will D landed 5 springers between them but it was hard going for everyone else.

At Kitza it was much the same with the metronomic Brendan G landing 3 of the 6 they had for the day.

Brothers in arms - Will and Rhod with a good fish from Jannaways

The team at Pana fished hard for the morning but with no luck chose to have an extended lunch with red wine to the fore.  The fish will reach them but we could do with the water temperatures to warm up a bit to get the whole system moving.

Care still needed when wading

At Middle Varzuga the very experienced team of 12 rods landed 37 fish for the day with one regular rod landing 14 of those.  Paul C landed a specimen springer of somewhere between 18-20lbs which put up the kind of fight you would expect from a solid bar of silver. 

Feorder and Michael G ready to go

A bear was seen on the island which is the first sighting of the season but whilst that is fun, what we all want is to see a few more fish and that the mantra can become “today”.

It is much warmer this morning and there is noticeably less ice coming down the river so things look promising.

Charlie White

The season has started

It is a fantastic feeling to be back on the Varzuga.  After the coldest spring in living memory, the river is now fully open and we have all of our four beats up and running.

Whilst I have seen the river higher for an “opening” week there is no doubt that a lot of the snow has already melted into the system and my guess is that it will consistently drop away from these levels.

The frozen Kola river yesterday

One of the unexpected benefits of the other rivers on the Kola having to cancel their opening weeks was that Murmansk airport felt like a ghost town yesterday.  38 clients went through in record time and we were all in camp by 3pm.

It is fair to say that it was pretty obvious that all of our team were keen to see new faces after weeks of confinement and our arrival had a celebratory feel to it.

Snow in camp this morning

However, winter has not let go entirely; it is still very cold and in three of our camps the first thing everyone did was to head for the fire and a cup of tea/glass of wine/whisky – pretty much in that order.

At Middle Varzuga no such indulgence was tolerated and pretty much everyone went out.  A score of 12 by supper was a good effort but I suspect the fact that the river has stopped rising this morning will have a very beneficial effect on their numbers by this evening.

A high but dropping river

It is snowing hard this morning and it was not hard to take the decision to have lunch back in camp. This normally leads to a certain amount of dissent as there is no doubt that coming back, as opposed to having lunch on the river bank, cuts into the guided fishing time but no one murmured and as everyone put on indecent amount of layers this morning I think it will be a cold bunch that we welcome back in a few hours time.

Sunset at Kitza 

Fifteen feet of T-14/17 with short leaders, heavy flies and thermals are the order of the day and although it is chilly, all of us are delighted to have the season under way.

Charlie White

Quick update

There is precious little to add this morning as all of the managers, cooks, guides and helpers are busy clearing out the camps, setting up boats and ensuring that everything looks spotless for our first guests arrival on Saturday.

Boats at Lower waiting to be launched

At Middle and Lower, nether Toby nor Bill have fished yet as there is still substantial ice coming down and fishing on your own in those conditions is not a good idea.

Picking a moment to launch a boat between the ice

Frustratingly, Toby cannot send me pictures of the river at Middle as he has a problem with his connection but I understand that the ice has left behind substantial ice walls on Generator pool which we have seen before.  When the water rises, as the snow around the tundra melts, this will all go but it sounds as if we will need to exercise caution for the time being.

Luba at Kitza preparing lunch for the guides

Jack, over at Kitza, has been getting to grips with the new rubber boats that we have purchased for this season which will be a real boon in low water.  Ironically, this is one season where we almost certainly won’t see low water before we leave but such is life on the Kola and it is always good to make progress.

One of the new rubber boats at Kitza

I am heading up to Helsinki tomorrow and am hugely looking forward to typing the next blog beside the river.  It has been an extraordinary couple of weeks and it will be great to see some fish on the bank and the operation up and running.

Charlie White

Blog by proxy

As Jack mentioned yesterday, all of the camps are now fully staffed and are beginning to get up and running after the endless winter.

Lower Varzuga this morning

I understand from Bill that it was a whirlwind of activity with the helicopter going non-stop all day as it was loaded, unloaded, refuelled and re-positioned time after time.

Upstream at Kitza yesterday

Yesterday also bought us the news we had been hoping for as there was a serious amount of ice floating past Lower all day.

Home pool at Pana last night

In a cold spring it can take time for the main ice sheets to get moving and after the initial thrill of seeing the ice break up, it can dispiriting to be at Lower and not see much happening.  It just takes time and yesterday bought us much more of what we are looking for.

Ice sheets going past Lower at lunchtime yesterday

The river beside all of the camps is now clear of ice and things can start in earnest.  More tomorrow when I hope to have photos of Middle which for some reason keep getting lost in the ether this morning.

Charlie White

The Last Supper

It's finally upon us. The day we start to split off for each camp. Initially our set up week(s) consisted of buying provisions in Murmansk and then moved into dividing them among Pana, Kitza, Middle and Lower Varzuga.

A little higher this morning

Now finally it is time to load all the laden bags into Helicopters and set off for our camps. With all the time in the world to get things ready it would stand to reason there was nothing left to do but somehow yesterday seemed to be a whirlwind of printing and packing.

A quick cast

We all sat down to our last supper together for a while. Despite extreme cabin fever I have become rather fond of the people around me and am actually slightly sad to be leaving. We have hatched a plan to meet up for supper together post season.

Sushi last supper

This will be my last post for a while as Lucy and I head out to Kitza to unpack our provisions and get things ready for our first guests. It has not been the easiest thing to write the blog at times but mother nature is a far more powerful entity than I and we have made the best of what she has been giving us.

Set up and ready to go

Thank you for putting up with my ramblings and I look forward to seeing many of you on the river shortly.

Jack Selby