Kitchen Party

Last night went just a little bit, slightly Turbo! An overcast day certainly created some action but mainly for Sean M. He landed 2 fish, one from Clark’s and one from Green Bank.

 

Sean M with a great fish at Clark's

To celebrate Sean decided that he would create a kitchen Party and with little resistance from anyone else he took down Gordon B with him. One thing I can be sure of is he won’t catch any fish where he is this morning!

Another for Sean M

Despite tough fishing conditions we have had a wonderful week here at middle. We have a reduced team but the team is still working hard.

 

Middle Camp by air

Jana, Natasha and Ura were set to painting detail yesterday. Millie and Luda have separated the over stock and Mischa has now taken the last of the extra supplies back to Varzuga.

 

Painting detail

It’s easy to think lightly of all these jobs but without our wonderful Russian team we would literally have no way to look after our clients. It’s a heavy debt we owe these hard working and ernest people.

 

The morning after

Today we have rain, the river has only dropped 2 inches and is down to 13 degrees. Let’s hope to end on a high.

 

Over stock

Jack Selby

Stumped by the sun

Yesterday remained true to it’s 4am start with building heat and bright sun. Never a great mixture for fishing. The water temperature came up and the fish had sun in their eyes all day.

Paul P hard at work

The Fantastic Four seemed less than fantastic when they arrived back last night having fished very hard indeed all day. They had covered pretty well every pool they could and were very keen to double check today’s forecast still remained.

 

Dedication

Despite a blank day Paul P and Sean M headed out into the cooler evening air and fished hard after supper. Sadly it was not to be.

 

Floors and doors up for repair

This morning we have cloud, a little rain, air temperatures below 20 degrees and some impressive confidence. Fingers crossed for a change of fortune.

 

Cabin 5 with a new shiny floor

Mischa and Ura 1 have been busy repairing the client cabins with renewed floors where needed, repairs to doors and they have rebuilt the guide team’s deck area. Previously if I leant on the balustrade it was all I could do not to go over. Now it’s a work of art.

 

New guide quarters deck area

Hopefully the cloud will make all the difference today and the dedication of this intrepid team will be rewarded.

Jack Selby

Another Scorcher

Yesterday was again roasting hot. The day started with an air temperature of 18 degrees but the sun was streaming down from 4am. There was a great debate as to whether changing fishing hours might help.

Paul P with a lovely fish at Pasha's

It was decided that, as generator had been the best chance of some action, normal hours would remain and if early morning conditions were good it was best to fish generator rather than be out on the river and similarly in the evening.

Captured on the GoPro

Paul P had a nice fish from up river and a few others were lost. Paul has a vast number of GoPro cameras and has footage of almost all of the week’s fishing. As long as he keeps catching I will get Images for the blog.

Ura happily doing what he loves best

 It’s easy as a client staying on the island for a week to forget about what happens outside of that short week. Equally as a manager it’s easy to forget about what happens outside my 8 weeks here.

Winter caretaker accommodations

Of course the supplying of engine parts, kitchen equipment, drinks orders etc. play a big part of my winter but when it comes to the island it’s easy to imagine it just left to the wild.

All paths lead to the water or ice

This of course could not be further from the truth with a full time security detail provided by the village. They have a cozy little cabin, a banya and a small boat. Once the river freezes they can collect supplies from the village and receive delivery of firewood. I know a lot of people who would thrive on this kind of roll.

 

Miniature Banya for once

Today is again jolly hot. The river is down 2.5 inches again and the water temperature is 16. The forecast for tomorrow is showers and rain on Friday. Let’s hope that materialises early.

Jack Selby

Casting Salmon

Yesterday the weather started off well with overcast skies and light showers. The fishing on paper was better with 4 fish landed and Gordon B landing 2 on a fly tied by previous Middle Camp client and his brother Ian B. However for these 4 fish there were less takes and lost fish.

 

Sean M's fish from Clarks

Clarks performed well though and 3 of the fish were taken there. Red is starting to form a bit of theme in fly choice now and I’m sure this will slowly be self fulfilling.

 

Paul P with one from Clarks corner

Yesterday Paul P had a good battle with a fish that was almost at the bank when everything went slack. Resigned to the loss Paul made an attempt to recast and found his fly had snagged the bottom. He made a few more powerful attempts before the snag woke up again and took off out to the deeper water once more. I feel slightly bad for telling this story but Gordon B has the whole thing on film.

 

Golden Eye ducks at Party

With the change of the season we have seen the bird life evolve with Barrow’s Goldeneye, Wigeon, Scoters and Mergansers arriving first as the ice broke.

Goosanders over Generator

 Soon after the Ringed Plovers, Greenshanks, Sandpipers and Ruffs appeared.

 

Ruffs at the top of the island

We now have a number of juvenile Goosanders, a Red Throated Diver and a White Tailed Eagle keeping us company.

This morning the sky is blue but there is a nice breeze to keep the bugs moving and the water temperature is 15 degrees. The river has dropped by 2.5 inches making certain wades much easier and longer.

Jack Selby

Scorcher

Thankfully this morning we have some cloud cover as yesterday was utterly scorching. The sun beat down and the wind blew. Both boats headed up river to fish opposite banks.

A fish from upriver

Paul P and Sean M fished hard in the bright conditions to lose a few and land 1. This added to Sean M’s fish first thing put him on 2 which was the total for the day. Paul R and Gordon B also reported a number of lost fish but Gordon managed to land a pike.

Whilst wading opposite Gordon B, Sean M slipped in for a dip and looking over to the far bank saw Gordon also having a swim. I never encourage swimming here let alone synchronised. Luckily the sun soon had them dry but not before the Mosquitoes had taken their fill.

Sean M on Generator

Last night everyone headed out after dinner and Gordon and I went down to Party to skate a sunray and a bomber. Sadly the only thing interested was a grayling only marginally bigger than the bomber but it was a beautiful night.

The team at Middle

In Murmansk on Saturday I was told off (indirectly) by Lucy as her mother had declared the blog to be “all about fishing”. With this in mind I am going to aim to do a section on other topics each day this week.

Meadow Crane's Bill

There are an amazing variety of wild flowers here and as the globeflower and forgetmenots go over we now have wild raspberry, violets and crane’s bill starting to come in. Sadly we won’t see what comes next or the beautiful colours of autumn that always splash the tundra with yellow, red and browns.

Jack Selby

The Fantastic Four

Yesterday in Murmansk we said goodbye to the Pana team and the Kitza team. Both were looking a little worse for wear but not nearly as bad as I had expected. Matt, Beanie, Ollie and Lucy are all now safely back to their respective home countries (well Matt is probably in transit still) and we are the last remaining camp here at Middle. We have a reduced Russian team having said goodbye to Ivan, Vova and Sasha on the helicopter yesterday.

 

A lovely Kitza salmon from last week

Last week here at Middle the river continued to rise and we landed only 3 fish on Friday leaving us with a total of 48 for the week. Jon P had one from Bear… again and Gordon M had one on a 1 inch Willie Gunn. Despite tricky fishing conditions with bouts of heavy rain, howling wind and flat calm mosquito time everyone fished hard by day and played hard by night. Certainly the largest dent in our beverage stocks of the season and some hilarious jokes to claim as my own!

 

Kitza camp in full bloom

Pana finished up on 56 fish with a respectable 12 on the last day. Everyone seemed pretty up beat in Murmansk as they had enjoyed a really fun week with a few fish each and some great memories as ever.

 

Kitza grilse

Kitza ended up with 94 to 5 rods, many of which came from Paul R’s rod effort. The last day they landed 16 fish with Jose M getting 9. The Kitza team were very happy with their week’s fishing and they reported landing sea-liced fish even on the Friday. Whilst Kitza is very much a later river, on account of it being colder water from the lake, it’s nice to see the run still coming.

 

Final change over of 2018

We are down to 4 rods here and 4 very determined and skilled rods they are. Paul R had a fish from the pot above Bear before we arrived back to camp (especially impressive since we made it back in double quick time). Everyone set out to fish last night with Gordon B heading to Bear and Sean M and Paul P coming to Generator with me. They fished hard before supper and Sean had hold of one.

After supper Paul P and Sean M headed back out and landed 4 fish making a Saturday total of 5 to 4 rods. Paul P had 3 of them. This morning before breakfast Sean M landed one more fish so we are already doing pretty well for one afternoon and evening. This morning everyone is off up river splitting the beats left and right and allowing for the whole of the rest of the river down to the island should things be slow up top.

Despite Friday evening blowing a howling gale and nailing it down with rain the river only came up another inch and is now pretty clear. The water temperature is 16 degrees and we have blue skys and hot sun. Small flies and long leaders are this team’s special skill so I am hoping we should see a reasonable return this evening.

Jack Selby

End of an era

Last night, despite a 9 inch rise in the water here, the HMS Pizzed Up was carefully dismantled and put in position for it’s winter birth. Whilst we can still go fishing from the boats in the evening it won’t be quite the same.

Matt P with one of the two from the day

Yesterday the fishing was very slow as the river came up. Gordon M had a good size fish from Snake Pit and Jon P and Matt P had 2 each from the upper river. Whilst a rise in the river keeps us boating it does give the fish every chance to run and this reflected in our 5 fish for the day.

 

Caught and released

Up at Pana they had 10 fish for the day on account of sterling work from George S with 7. Matt took to the water with Guy R on the float trip and did not touch a thing showing that even seasoned professionals need a bit of luck when the fishing is tough. Over at Kitza they landed 11 fish for the day.

Jon P's second fish

The river has remained clear and is currently at 16 degrees so we are still fishing full floaters and long leaders with small doubles in size 8,10 and 12. The weather is still unpredictable with regular showers and cold winds. The most important things to have for next week are bug spray and a sense of humour. We’ve had a tremendous week for jokes and laughs despite very difficult fishing.

Matt P's second fish up river

Tomorrow we close Kitza and Pana and I am off to Murmansk to collect the last of the Middle clients. I will give a week round up on Sunday morning.

Jack Selby

Rod Snapper

This week has involved some heavy and late nights. So it was very welcome to get a little snooze yesterday morning. Less welcome was being woken up by Phil who had snapped his second rod tip of the week. He was looking to exchange the broken tip for a new one. At this rate he may well be going through a rod per fish.

Phil not breaking a rod

After yesterday’s thunder storm and down pour the river has risen and we had a mild and over cast day. Having made the call of lunch at camp the sun came out briefly but proved that sticking to the plan works as it hammered down during lunch and everyone was thankful of a roof under which to enjoy their sausage rolls and soup.

 

Up River lunch team

Matt P had misjudged his capacity for white wine and took the day to recover meaning Jon P and I fished Fortress in the afternoon. All the water we fished felt perfect both in height and speed but sadly nothing showed interest in our flies.

 

Beach

At Pana Guy R got 1 in the tail of Lagoon, Peter P had 2, Alexander M had 1 from Ponzoi, David H landed 1 from Grannies, George S and Willie G had 1 each on the float trip. Matt also reports lots of mozzies like here.

 

Fish from Bear

Kitza stats were pretty amazing but the detail show’s it was a little one sided. They landed 20 yesterday. Paul R landing 13 of them: 3 at Red Cliffs, 3 from Beaver Pit  and 4 in rock pool! Francisco had 2 one from Sasha’s and one from Kitchen. Reynout K had 3 from Sasha’s, Reel and Green Glide.

 

Dodging rocks

This morning we have more showers and the river has risen another 3 inches. My big boat was due to be removed from the water last night but seems to have had a short reprieve. I’m glad as I’ve become quite attached to the old girl.

Jack Selby

Thunder and Lightning

Yesterday was cooler and overcast. There was enough of a breeze to keep the mosquitoes at bay most of the time. Here at middle we had a better day with 11 fish landed. Jon P had 2 before breakfast and lost a very good fish in the day. Caleb S had 3 from the upper river including a fish of about 12lbs.

 

Catch of the day

This morning Daniel B proclaimed that all the action he and James have had has been in the afternoon. This is almost certainly down to the fact they have not yet fished in the mornings.

 

Phil W with a lovely fish up river

Ian B had the catch of the day. He suddenly spotted the smaller camp dog swimming towards him and stripped in to try to avoid a disaster. He unfortunately hooked the dog in the process which proceeded to take 300 yards of backing and land itself on the top of the island where it unhooked itself and was safely released.

 

Pre-lunch snooze

Kitza had 18 yesterday, Francisco caught 5, with 2 from Beaver Pit, 2 from Rock Pool and one from Green Bank. Jose caught 4, 2 from Chopper Island one from Toms and the other in camp! Paul R had 6, 3 of which were from Old Dam, he also lost a fair number in there too. Pana landed 5 fish with Guy R landing 2.

 

Ivan releasing a fish from the boat

This morning we awoke to a massive thunder storm that seemed to rock the cabin. With it came fairly heavy rain though this has had the effect of cooling the river and a slight rise. Everyone this morning agreed that it was the largest and longest storm they’ve ever witnessed. Luckily it has blown through but the forecast is for more rain so we will see what happens today.

 

Sunset during evening fishing on the party boat

Late into the night last night we fished Party to no avail. Matt P, Jon P and Phil W were all upon the boat and we fished hard. As Daniel B pointed out there was a mist rising off the water and our chances were low but we had a jolly good time, a few beers and many laughs.

Jack Selby

An unusual mix

We had scorching sun all morning yesterday and then things started to cloud over and the wind got up. With the wind came some heavier clouds but none of us predicted rain showers. The fishing was definitely better as the cloud came in.

 

Philip W with his first Russian Salmon

We had 8 fish for the day with Rob L catching 2 from the same spot. As ever Alan E and Jim S caught one each. Ian B had a nice fish at Picnic. Philip W caught his first Russian salmon at Simmon’s.

 

Daniel B with a hard fort fish up river

Pana landed 10 fish for the team. George S had 2 fish as did Alexander M. Willie G had 3 fish for the day and 1 each for David H, Charles M and Peter P. Much more important to Pana were the football results!

 

Into the net

Kitza have yet to confirm but it sounded like they were on 10 before supper with Paul R having the bulk of the sport again.

 

Much debated Forget Me Nots

Here at middle there was much debate regarding the name of the little blue and yellow flowers that are growing everywhere between the cabins and Generator. James S went with Forget Me Not but Daniel B was having none of it. A photo was quickly dispatched to Mrs Anne for confirmation and James S was declared the winner!

 

Azar taking the lazy crossing option

This morning the sun broke through briefly but the cloud cover seems to be rolling back in. The forecast was showers but I fear they actually arrived last night so we will see what materialises today. The water temperature is 16 degrees and the river only dropped 1.5”. Jon P had 2 fresh grilse from Bear before breakfast which has spurred everyone on. Well almost everyone.

Jack Selby

You never really know what's coming...

Yesterday we had roasting hot sun and hot water temperatures. Millie finally had her swim in the river which gives an idea of just how warm it was. At 4pm the river was at 18 degrees and dropped by 2 degrees by 8pm. This has certainly had a detrimental effect on the fishing with only 4 fish caught during office hours and 4 caught in the early morning or late into the night.

Jon P with a Grilse from Bear

Kitza held up it’s run of good fishing by landing 15 yesterday. Paul R had 7, 3 from Red Cliffs, 2 from Beaver Pit, one from Tom’s and one from Green Bank. Jose M had 2, Sasha’s and Gold Mine. Francisco P had one from Gold Mine also. Antony B had 3 out of Sasha’s, Piddling and Gold Mine.

Nice Grilse from Generator

Up at Pana fortunes were slightly better with 12 fish landed. George S got 3 up on the float trip, Charlie M got 2 from Rockface and Ponzoi, Willie G had 2 from Pontoon and lost a fish estimated to be 20lbs. Peter P and David H landed 2 each. Whilst the conditions did not effect Pana as much the report was that there were not many takes or loses for the 12.

 

Beautiful view down river

Today has started hot again but there is a breeze and the forecast for tomorrow is cloud and Wednesday rain. As with any wilderness you never really know what’s coming but the change from last week has been staggering. Our water is at 14 degrees this morning and the air is 20 degrees.

 

Caleb S with a nice fish from Robinson's Folly

There has been no sense of urgency from 2 of our guests this week who seem to relish a late start as the sun really gets hot. This seems to be contagious with 4 guests still having breakfast at 10:15. Let’s hope those who have headed out early have done the business.

Another for Jon P

Jack Selby