SALMON FISHING RUSSIA, ASR, KHARLOVKA, RYNDA, LITZA
KHARLOVKA FISHING REPORTS – 2016 SEASON
KHARLOVKA; 28TH MAY – 3RD JUNE
Springtime on the far northern coast is for believers only – and this season, with some hard work, determination, and a lot of luck, all their dreams came true!
Last Thursday we packed up the helicopters in St. Petersburg with all the secret flies and kit to start the season. We flew 1015km for a total of 7 hours, stopping the first time to rendezvous with our fuel truck on the only highway going north in the middle of the vast forest, then again in Umba after crossing the White Sea. It became obvious when we stopped to stretch the legs on the southern Kola surrounded by lush birch with bright sunny skies and temps of 15C, that we would soon be arriving back to the far northern coast with prime conditions to start the big season.
Last Saturday we got the party started welcoming back two Danish friends that were returning to settle the score with the springers, two Americans who ended up giving lessons on how to cast, along with four crazy Fins that were followed by three more crazy Finnish TV crew. With opening day water temps of nearly 10C and low water levels that started at 46cm and dropped over the week down to 28cm, it was Rock and Roll all day and much of the night from start to Finnish!
Honourable mention goes out to Ulrik for behaving so well and also for returning again to persevere including that memorable day on the Litza before the storm started to roll in that resulted in back to back to back salmon of 14, 15, and 20 bright fresh pounds. Allan, his partner in crime also makes the headlines for breaking one of his double hooks off in the mouth of a 30+ pounder. The next day he redeemed himself with a cracking 27 pounder even managing to press the button on his chesty video confirming this feisty fish took him to the limits of his 300 meters of backing. Tip – next time start running after it earlier or hold your ground and gamble with more backing! Then on the final day, after landing a couple of 15 pound beauties from the Kharlovka Falls, a great wind seemed to gust just as Allan was making a mighty backcast with his own rod – the line wrapped around our Loomis camp rod-reel-line sitting on the bank behind him – as Allan swung forward with everything he had launching the entire lot into the center of the rapids – never to be seen again..
While Chuck and Peter could both cast like a golf pro hit a drive, Peter had the magic touch last week landing 15, 17, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 20, 28 pounders. That’s a lot of silver! We wouldn’t be surprised to see Peter back again next year.
In addition to nearly setting a new beer drinking record, heading off each morning with backpacks that outweighted the guides, the Fins also seem to have the knack of finding the big salmon!
While all four of the fishing Fins (as well as the 3 TV crew) had their succusses, its looks like young Klaus will be the star of this episode landing 11 salmon averaging 16 pounds with a 21 pounder as icing on the cake. Unfortunately while there were many cameras present, they forgot to leave us any photos of Klaus. And speaking of cake – Happy Birthday again to Sampsa the video man who also seem to be able to cast with the best and needed to call in the rest of the crew to take over filming the film man for 8 salmon including a couple of 23 and 24 pounders. Even the programs legendary producer Mika was able to get in on the big show when the sun came out with a 24 pounder from the Kharlovka Falls. Kikkelii!
We had a lot of fun last week landing a total of 53 salmon – 14 were over 20 – with an average weight of 17 pounds for the week.
Year after year, it is always an enormous pleasure to return to Russia’s far northern arctic coast back to the mighty Kharlovka! Spring is that special time of the year that marks the beginning of a 45 day cycle of polar days with 24 hours of light when everything noticeably switches back into high gear on the tundra. The salmon are rolling back in – reindeer herds are on the run – birds chirping through the long white nights, the tundra turning green before your eyes. The bonus is being greeted by the same Russian staff that has called the ASR home for more than 25 years. For me personally and I’m sure many would agree, there is no greater contrast or escape to the hectic pace of the big city life back home.
KHARLOVKA; 3-10TH JUNE
Last week was amazing! There were 12 guests from 9 different countries who were mostly returning Kharlovka veterans. The team had to endure absolutely nasty conditions that included super winds from the north gusting to 70km/hr, cold rain sleet and snow with temps of about 3-4C along with rising rivers of 20-25cm which took the level up to 54cm which was 8cm more than we had to start the season 2 weeks ago. In addition, river temps went from a balmy 10C back down to a more seasonable reading of 5C.
Despite the gear testing weather, big spring salmon seemed to be showing everywhere. From the first frosty evening to the last epic vodka party on the final night (or should we say morning) – the boys played hard from start to finish!
Again this was mostly a veteran team of friends who arrived equipped, well trained, and ready for action. Last week the highlights were big and often with the team landing a total of 144 salmon included 6 personal bests with 27 over 20lbs. – 10 salmon were greater than 25 pounds – the largest being 34, 31, 29, 29 pounds.
Honourable mention goes out to the entire team last week. Even our good buddy Johannes found something to smile about nearly everyday. Next time we will try to snap a better photo.
They all left with some great silver memories promising to return again. To help tell the story – here are just a few of the best photos of the week.
Special thanks to our Swiss friends for the endless laughs and well done the brace of 29 pounders. Unfortunately Ulrik managed to escape with leaving us the photo on the final night however we did manage to snaps some others of the duo in action.
It was pleasure to have the Canadians Greg and Ernie on board for the first time. With 19 salmon including a 25 pound P.B for each, we have a feeling that we will see them back again for round II.
Always great to see Chuck back again and again. Please send us the photo of your 29 pounder on the last day!
The big prize went to Dave for landing 22 salmon with 4 over 20.
KHARLOVKA; 10-17TH JUNE
It seemed pretty obvious from the moment Jamie paraded off the helicopter in his kilt followed by the rest of team Scotland along with our friends from New Zealand, America, Japan, Austria and England – that we would be in for another actioned packed week with all the silver bells and whistles. The team arrived to bright sunny skies and mild temps in the mid-teens over the first weekend before the wind, rain and fog settled in delaying Litza flights on Monday morning. Then by Wednesday the storm had cleared with rising temps to 20C and mostly sunny skies through the remainder of the week. We finished off with water temps of 14C and good water levels of 37cm on the home pool scale.
The variable weather conditions forced the boys to be creative and to pull out all the tricks from heavy sinking lines with flashy big baldies and Jock Scotts to floating shooting heads with hitched sun ray shadows. Although the warm sunny days made the going challenging, the team did exceptionally well again to land a total of 184 salmon that included 23 over 20 pounds with the largest being 33 and 29.5 pounds.
Again the entire team deserved credit for sharing the total catch more or less evenly between the 14 rods. There were 6 personal bests that included the first salmon ever for Michael and Mark in addition to this whopping 33 pounder for Paddy that more than doubled his previous P.B. landed the day before.
And joining Paddy, our good friend Simon was back again for the 12th year to receive his ASR veteran ring. In addition to landing many nice salmon to 25 pounds, we also managed to extract a Golden Killer that had completely pierced his ear. His fishing partner Simon also managed to landed a dozen salmon to 25.5 pounds. Apparently veterans only pull out the camera for serious fish over 30 pounds.
Despite losing a couple of really big salmon, Gerald had a wonderful week catching salmon everyday with his special 12cm Black Samurai including several 20+ pounders.
Chris and Ben who were on their first trip to Russia from the USA did exceptionally well learning how to cast double handed rods within hours, going to landed 32 salmon that included 5 over 20 pounds.
After travelling half way around the world from New Zealand, it is always a pleasure to see Philip back on camp.
And Ken just couldn’t stop smiling until we loaded him on the final helicopter vowing to be back again for round II.
Also great to see Karl back again who after seven years on the mighty Kharlovka seems to have learned a trick or 2 landing 22 salmon on the week including this big fat honest 29.5 pounder from the Litza Snowbank.
Special thanks to team Scotland for all the laughs, tom foolery and great stories. In addition to bringing the Lock Ness monster hat which was proudly passed around and wore every night to celebrate the big fish of the day, Team Scotland also improved international relations by honouring Volodya with his very own kilt, black collared shirt, tartan stockings, and sporran with silver chain. We are already looking forward to seeing the entire clan back again next season when Jamie offered to do the wake-up rounds in full highland dress playing the Kharlovka anthem on a new set of bagpipes.
KHARLOVKA; 17-24TH JUNE
It was another fantastic week here in paradise!
Last week we had it all from bright sun and warm temps of 20+C on the first weekend to cool gusts from the north dropping the temps back down into the single digits with fog and rain – then back to perfect partly cloudy skies to finish things off. Despite the inconsistent weather being all over the place again, it didn’t really matter much as the salmon seem to be splashing about everywhere this season.
There were 9 guests here last week including 5 Kharlovka veterans who each had between 14-18 years here on camp with an incredible combined total of 105 weeks between the lot. In fact, Sugai has fished a staggering total of 34 weeks here over 18 years and was one of the very first lucky guests to open the camp way back in 1992. Sugai recently published his amazing Salmon Dance book and while he definitely catches plenty of silver, he seems to be saving all his best shots for his next masterpiece.
Mr. M from Moscow is certainly very serious and passionate about his fishing however finding the free time to get away from the big city seems to be his biggest challenge. Calling ahead each season to reserve 4 primetime rods for himself and possibly his 2 sons, Mr. M unfortunately got called back to the office after only 6 hours of fishing on the very first night.
Honourable mention goes out to everyone else who was here with us last week for the umpteen time! All the boys had a wonderful time and did extremely well to catch 140 salmon of which a record 90+% were landed on Sun Ray Shadows – many many many of them were hitched!
Always nice to see our great friends David, Gerald, Jeremy back again for some much needed tundra therapy away from the big city.
Stewart and Nick enjoyed the long picnic lunches and needed nightly massages to relieve the stress and tension from all the fish they were hauling in.
Special thanks to our good friend John from the USA who was back again this year for round II. After landing many nice salmon in the mid-teens and losing a couple monsters, in addition to the fact he speaks Russian and Japanese, we have a feeling John is already dreaming about round III.
Having fished 19 weeks with nearly all the guides between the two camps over the last 8 years, the big boss Vladimir has definitely learned a trick or two. Now able to read the water like the back of his hand, Vladimir led the way with his secret array of Sun Ray variants landing 26 salmon on the week including this fat 27 pounder from the Home pool that simply would not pose for the paparazzi!
And last but not least there was Big fish Matt with the kung fu grip – who is not a Kharlovka veteran yet, with only 8 years on the trot – he landed 19 salmon including a few of the best fish of the week at 26 – 36 and 37.5 pounds. Welcome to the Kharlovka big fish club!
They are forecasting bright sun and warm temps for the next week.
KHARLOVKA; 24TH JUNE – 1ST JULY
Last week High summer arrived to the far north coast bringing with it bright blue skies and temps to 30+C in the shade. It all began on the previous Saturday afternoon when Vladimir and his son Vladimir, along with eight more of their good Russian friends, together with Richard from Ireland and Big Andrew from the USA – all landed into camp with perfectly mild temps and dark overcast skies. By the time the sun popped out on Monday night the boys had already noted 52 salmon in the fishing book.
The last 4 days of the week were some of the hottest and brightest that we can remember. As a result the water temps soared to 21C by the end of the week. Despite the cruel conditions the boys persevered fishing early mornings and late afternoons with delicious picnic lunches that were followed by long siestas in between. Upon arriving back to camp it was GT’s for everyone = gin and tonic time (plus lots of ice)!
Fishing techniques ranged from bouncing snealdas down along the bottom to stripping sun rays and twitching Bombers across the surface to using long leaders and micro flees with red and green butts however it was the Golden Killer that took the vast majority of the silver. All things considering, including the nighty saunas, rejuvenating massages, and late night Euro cup football matches – the team had an exceptionally jolly time going onto land 126 salmon with 3 personal bests that included 14 great salmon over 20 pounds.
Again everyone in the group had plenty of fishy highlights. Honourable mention goes out to Vladimir Jr. who not surprisingly seems to be getting to know all the best places – landing 19 salmon on the week. Vladimir Sr. also deserves credit for bringing the group together and for landing the big fish of the week at 27 pounds.
Always nice to see our good friend Gregory back every year. Big congrats for breaking his P.B with this 25 pounder and also for introducing his friend Jenya to the mighty Kharlovka who not surprisingly broke his P.B. as well with a pleasing 20 pounder.
Honorable mention also goes out to Richard and Andrew who as the only foreigners invited in on the club week were starting to speak and dream in Russian by the end of the week – Nastarovia! In addition, Andrew had one of the best salmon fishing days of his life landing 5 including his new P.B 24 pounder up at the Kharlovka Falls.
Andrey and Vadim had a magical time on the Litza with Andrey landing 6 to 20 pounds in the Tent pools while Vadeem had back to back to back to back 20, 20, 21, and 24 pounders!
Igor and Sergey know how to have a good time where ever they go. Taking it easy during the long hot day over at the Litza Tent, Igor managed to sneak out early to find a couple of 20+ pounders while Sergey took care of business the following day with a couple of 20+ers up at the Kharlovka Falls.
Despite the abnormal arctic heat wave, we had a lots of fun here last week. Great friends and good fishing – along with a slick operation with tasty food and icy cold drinks – are all the ingredients for a memorable experience.
KHARLOVKA; 1-8TH JULY
Arriving into camp with bright sunny skies and record high temps of 30+C and 20+C in the water, it seemed pretty obvious from the very beginning that we would be in for an extra challenging week. Unfortunately the heat wave would continue straight through with the water reaching a record 24C by Tuesday afternoon on the Litza before the air started to cool back down into the teens. Nevertheless it was too little too late for even though the breezes finally shifted back to the north, the water temps remained above 20C for the remainder of the week.
With fresh silver memories of the 211 salmon the team had last season on this same week (207 salmon the year before) – the boys did everything possible to keep the numbers up again this time around. Electing to start an hour earlier – then resting in the shade late into the afternoon before hitting it hard again early evening, somehow the team managed to land 93 salmon before we rang the bell for dinner on the Friday night. Thankfully the catch was well dispersed amongst the group with the veterans catching good numbers of fish.
Honourable mention goes out to Ben for jumping off the helicopter on the first evening and running down to the Home pool to land his new P.B. 25 pounder with an additional 10 pounder as cream on his arrival cake. Too bad Ben forgot to unpack his camera before making his first casts.
And then there was our good friends Mikael and Michael who have been back for the last 6 – 8 seasons and have seen it all before. With their guide Volodya leading the way, along with their box full of micro cone heads blue charm variants, this experienced team went on to land some nice salmon everyday totalling 20 on the week. Again if you fish as much as these two you only take a photo when you catch the 30+ pounder. See you again next year and bring the camera!
Special thanks also goes out to Dr. Vyacheslav with the magic healing touch who besides laying his hands on two of the other guests who were healed overnight from nerve and ligament damage and able to return back to action – the good doctor went on to land a half dozen fish including his new P.B. 24 pounder.
Honourable mention also goes out to John who at 74 years of age still casts like a champion. Visiting us on his first trip (but not his last) to Russia, John was delighted with the seven salmon he landed that included the fish of the week at 29 pounds.
And Congrats to our new Swiss friend Alexander who had 7 nice salmon and even though he didn’t land the big one seem to be having the most fun of all.
With the water heating up and dropping fast, that special window opened up and the conditions came just right for the salmon to jump for 6 consecutive days and nights through the Kharlovka Falls.
And while they didn’t manage to take any photos, we would also like to thank Yuri and Gerhard for letting us taste their special wines, Alex and Matthew for returning each year with a small team, and Alexey and Maxim who fished hard and enjoyed every minute!
Despite the harsh conditions, we had another very enjoyable week all in all and are looking forward to seeing the same team back again next season under mostly cloudy skies with temps in the low teens…
KHARLOVKA; 7-15TH JULY
Number of Rods: 12.5 (Alex had to leave half way through the week) Nationalities: Russian, British, Austrian, Swedish.
Number of fish: 138
Largest fish of the week: 2 fish (30 pounds each).
How many things in this world may unite people together and make them friends? Here on camp we know at least one and that is SALMON FISHING.
Last week the fishing united the British, Austrians, Russians and one Swedish guy. It was not an easy fishing week with more warm temps to 20+C in the water but it was a week full of laughs and crazy stories.
There were two personal bests during one week – same pool, same weight of the fish, two different anglers and two absolutely different stories. This rarely happens, but sometimes anything can happen here;)
The first memorable story came from Christer who had to come to our lodge together with his friend, but things happen and Christer ended up arriving alone. Don’t worry, nothing bad happened! So alone with his guide Jenya he started fishing from Litza. On the Dream pool Christer landed his first fish of the week (grilse). “Well, now we are ready for a bigger fish.”- said the guide. Every next fish that Christer landed was bigger than the previous. Finally, they reached the Ledge pool. Few casts after Christer landed 9 pounder. “Well, now we are ready for a bigger fish.”- said the guide. So Christer made few more casts and fish has pecked. It was a perfect 30 pounder. “Well, it will be difficult to beat that – at least today.”- said the guide when Christer landed the fish. Unfortunately no photo of the big one however thankfully one of the other guests managed to snap a photo of our viking friend.
That night Christer came back to the lodge. After telling the same story 3 times he added: “Lady Caroline is my new wife.” We all were looking at him with astonishment. “Who?”- they all asked. “Lady Caroline. The fly.”- Christer answered.
The second story is about Mark. Mark was fishing on the Ledge pool together with his friend Peter. After fishing half a day, they were ready to start lunch. “Ok. One more cast before lunch”-said Mark. One cast and Mark hooked the fish. The fight started. After 15 minutes, Peter started to scream from the other side of the river: “Leave it Mark. I’m hungry. I want my soup.” However, Mark knew it was a big fish, may be even the biggest fish of the week. He could not and did not want to lose that fish. “Soup is already cold”- Peter kept screaming. Neither Mark nor the fish were ready to give up. The fight was continuing 45 minutes before Mark could land the fish. What about Peter? He finally got his soup and landed nine fish.
The next story is about Rashid, his son Timur and Timur’s friend Mike. This story is a great example of continuance of traditions from father to son. This fishing on the ASR Rivers was not the first for Rashid and Timur. However, Mike came to our camp for the first time ever. During the week Timur and Mike landed 2 Personal bests and proved, that age has no affects on fishing results.
KHARLOVKA; 15-22ND JULY
Last weeks group consisted of 12 Russian friends who all joined together with with brave Brit to make the week international and unforgettable. It should also be noted that 4 of our Russian friends were complete beginners, while another 4 were on their second trip ever. Nevertheless, despite the challenging warm conditions, our latest team bonded together to prove that fishing on the mighty Kharlovka is always enjoyable – landing nearly 100 salmon along the way.
It was another scorching hot week on the ASR! Despite being located some 500kms north of the Arctic Circle along the far coast of the Barents Sea, we survived one of the longest heat waves anyone on camp can remember. For the fourth week in a row, water temps were again near the 20C mark. More dry hot southern breezes also caused water levels to slowly recede down to -10cm on the Home pool scale.
“Luck loves beginners”. In fact, all our new anglers managed to land their first salmon ever by early week – with new P.B.’s and many celebratory toasts all around! I promised never to tell this story but on the second night Vitaliy came to dinner happy and smiling. “How are you? How was your fishing?” – I asked as usual. “Well, my dad caught a big fish and I kissed that fish for a good luck”- he took his phone and showed me a picture. “Did you know that fish is a boy?”- I asked. Vitaliy stopped smiling. “Are you sure?” – He asked. I smiled as an answer. Over the week Vitaliy wanted to learn everything possible about the salmon including how to understand if fish is a boy or girl, why 99% of grilse are male and 1000 other details. Well done!
Vitaliy had a wonderful time fishing together with his father Vladimir. They finished the week with two personal bests: 18 (Vitaliy) and 10 (Vladimir) along with 9 other pleasing entries in the big Fishing book.
Our two other beginners Mikhail and Sergey were also successful in fishing. Neither the warm weather nor anything could else could really stop them from catching the fish. During the week these guys caught 9 fish, including their personal bests of 12 and 12 pounds.
And if we weren’t already having enough fun – our special wishes go out Denis, Vladimir and Aleksandr again as each of them celebrated their Birthdays here with us during the week – Congrats from friends – drinks – and birthday cakes all included with the program! We are happy to mention that Denis caught the biggest fish of the week at 21 pounds. Unfortunately, good guide is not always a good photographer, so instead of 21 pounder we had to add some other good pictures.
It must also be mentioned that many Big salmon were hooked or touched and lost. This reminds us of the day our friend and group leader Maxim returned back to camp with a sun burned face and crazy eyes after fishing above the Kharlovka Falls going on to lose 4 salmon between 20 to 30 pounds. Thankfully he did manage to hold onto a 17 pounder that day for consolation. With the warm temperatures if was not surprisingly that the vast majority of the fish that did come to the net were bright silver grilse however thanks mainly to the Golden Killer fly – they had some big chances along with a concerning number of complete break offs!
KHARLOVKA; 22-29TH JULY
Number of Rods: 14 (plus French host) Nationalities: French, Swiss, Russian, British Number of fish: 111 Largest fish of the week: 23 pounds
Every season about his time we traditionally welcome our French group back into camp. This time around they joined together with one Swiss, one Brit and a young Russian fishing addict to just make things more interesting. Our friends all eagerly arrived into camp on the first Saturday afternoon to yet more hot sunny conditions. However, the guides have been doing their rain dances for weeks and after two final days of scorching heat, all our prayers (and rain dances) were finally answered. The winds switched back to the north. Dark clouds covered the sky and 2 days of steady rain changed everything. Although the tundra soaked up the moisture for the first day, the rivers went up fast raising 10cm. By the end of the week the temperatures of the water and air were almost back to equal or perfect again at about 12C.
Our anglers were ready to make the best of the rapidly changing conditions and they took no prisoners going on to land 111 fish on the week.
During one of the rainiest day, Gilles was lucky to catch his personal best. He returned back from fishing wet yet calm. He did not tell us any crazy story, but we could easily understand he was more than satisfied. “You have go above and beyond, but don’t miss the photo.” – he told me. “This is one of the most important photos ever” – he added. Of course, I did not miss it. Thanks to our guide Alex for this nice picture and Gilles for expressing his emotions on it.
The most talked about person during the week was Maxim. He was the youngest but definitely not the least experienced. During the week Maxim showed off his skills going on to land 22 fish or 20% of the overall catch for the week. Not all that surprising as young Maxim signed up for 2 weeks this season and will probably lead the way again next week on the Kharlovka youth programme. Stay tuned…
Anglers advice: Double Handed Fly Rod (eight class) worked brilliantly in these extreme low water conditions. Experienced anglers will enjoy fishing with Switch Fly Rod (7/8 class). Using a floating line is the best option. However, always keep intermediate and sinking lines under your belt. Fill your fly box with small double hook flies (#10), single hook flies {Golden killer, Willie Gun (green body and V-fish)}, add few dry flies (bomber, green machine) and don’t forget the new hit – Matrasik.
RYNDA FISHING REPORTS – 2016 SEASON
RYNDA; 28TH MAY – 3RD JUNE
The first week started in the low water conditions. Therefore fishing was comfortable in most of the pools below the First Fall. Upriver is still too high.
In a very first day we landed 5 first salmon ranging 12 to 22 pounds. Two of them from the Home pool were sealiced. Early start for Rynda!
The weather was unusually pleasant for the early arctic spring. The air temperature sometimes reached 15C in the morning, and the water temperature stayed stable around 8C.
A great start to the Rynda season only got better on the 2nd day with a wonderful fish for our good friend Ivan, a regular visitor to ASR and Rynda.
With a take that gave no initial indication of the wonderful fish that would come to the net 45 min. later Ivan with his guide Yura landed a magnificent sealiced 28.5 pound fish at Rock Island.
At the dinner table Ivan was awarded with the commemorative Big Fish Ring.
Congrats, Ivan!
We tried to fish Zolotaya couple of times but didn’t manage to find a fresh run yet.
Every evening after dinner our team escaped from the camp to fish Rock Island and Home Pool. Sometimes they came back with a good catch.
Sinking lines, Willy Gun and Snelda were common at the first week.
Having the low water and the promising start, we are excited of what next spring weeks might bring!
RYNDA; 3-10TH JUNE
As we say good-bye to another group of happy anglers we await our new group to kick of week 24 at Rynda.
For once the weather forecast was spot on predicting North Westerly winds up to 20 meters per second dropping the air temperature down to as low as 1 degree. The wind, combined with rain as well as scattered snowfall was going to make this week rather special to say the least.
This week we welcomed four new guests from different parts of the world who will be joining two guest that is staying another week. With good fishing reports for week 23 all the guests were eager to get their lines wet. After a delicious soup we were ready to take on the cold together with Atlantic Salmon.
Our Danish friend Anders didn’t hold back and kicked of his second week in great style by landing a beautiful 14lb fresh sealiced fish on his infamous “Jerk” fly fishing at Rock Island. Probably one of the most unique flies we have seen at Rynda, but the fish seem to agree in a very positive manner.
After a cold day out on the water there is nothing better than discussing the day’s fishing tales over a glass of red whine in the very cozy dining area with a central fireplace.
As the week went on we experienced somewhat similar weather for the first couple of days with the sun slowly starting to make an appearance every now and then. By now everyone has found their groove and landing some special fish.
Our Scottish friend Neil, under the guidance of highly experienced guide Yura, caught one fish in particular worth mentioning on the 3rd day. Yura had seen a big fish move in Croy pool and decided to spend some time in this area. Finally after a couple of casts the line went tight, fish on. For those of you who don’t know Croy pool, well, this pool is just above a shoot of Rapids that stretches for about 500m. Not the easiest of places to land a big fish.
As the story goes Neil had to try and stop this fish and decided to hold his reel in a final attempt to slow the bid silver fish down. After a serious tug of war Yura managed to slide the net under the fish. High fives all round confirmed it to be a true fish of a lifetime. After quick measurements calculations confirmed the fish to be 27lb’s.
This is the second biggest for the season, biggest being a 28.5lb fish also caught under the guidance of master guide Yura. Anders also managed to keep his rhythm in constantly landing fish throughout the week. His best for the week being a 20-pound fresh fish in Home pool. Well-done Anders.
Despite the harsh conditions after dinner each night half the group would head out once again to try and make the most of their week.
It wasn’t uncommon to find another couple of fish entries in the logbook the following morning. Neil decided to take on the mighty Rynda with his 7wt single hander and had great fun when hooking into a fresh sealiced 10 pound fish. During the last day of fishing the power pair of Roger and Neil once again delivered the goods by landing a fish each over 20 pounds. A truly memorable day for them.
With all the rain and snow the water level has gone up from 1.06cm to 1.28cm throughout the week. The water temperature is now at 7 degrees, with the stable weather predicted we are expecting water levels to slowly go down as well as temperature going up. We are very excited to welcome 10 eager anglers tomorrow as fish have now started appearing above the falls.
RYNDA; 10-17TH JUNE
With the droning sound of the MI 8 approaching over the tundra we say goodbye to yet another group at Rynda. It’s always great to have return guest as they have already identified this as a special camp and a deeper sense of appreciation is evident. What better way to say goodbye to the tundra with 1000’s of Reindeer surrounding camp.
We have fond memories of some great fish caught this week. Peter managing to repeat history by getting yet another 20Lb fish on the dancing platform while Brian was keeping himself busy with a 19lb fish.
We were delighted to welcome David to the camp for he was going to do an article for Country Life magazine.
David got a firsthand experience of this incredible fishery landing a couple of really nice fish, one worth mentioning was a fresh sealiced fish of 17lb from Home pool. We even had some visitors in the form of two bears across the river from camp one evening which is always a great sight.
The weather this week has been somewhat all over the place with bright sunny days as well is windy cold days. The spirits was high throughout the week and it was a very pleasant atmosphere at camp.
Timo managed to land the biggest fish of the week a strong fish of 22lb, unfortunately the weather conditions wasn’t favorable for the camera but the memory will last forever.
The water level is now 1.22cm, which is still fairly high for this time of the season. With water temperature rising to a very comfortable 11degrees we are expecting more fish having a look at Hitched flies during next week.
Although the falls are still raging and strong, we have been catching fish consistently above the falls. All in all a fantastic week once again in the very special tundra.
RYNDA; 17-24TH JUNE
Joining us this week were a wonderful mix of rods from all over the world. It was great to have a full camp this week.
Daniel and Amelia made the journey to Murmansk via Train because in their opinion, the flight is just too short and one doesn’t take in the scenery. With an outlook like that we were excited to have father and daughter Daniel and Amelia here with us.
What we didn’t realize is that Amelia would end up catching the biggest fish of the week. In a lot of cases there is a thing we call ‘Ladies Luck’ but this was far from it. I have very fond memories of seeing Amelia and guide Gena running down home pool as her 26.5lb fish was screaming downstream into the lake. Finally managing to get the fish after a 25min tug of war. Apart from this fish her determination and passion for fishing saw her catch a couple of memorable fish throughout the week.
Adrian and Nigel always took care of the humor side of things around dinner table to ensure everyone leaves the dining area with smile filled faces. For Nigel this was a first fly-fishing trip. Determination and hard work saw him catch his personal best Salmon at 16lb from home pool, Well-done Nigel.
Adrian on the other hand also got a personal best fish of 26lb later in the week.
The combination of people in the group made sure that there was never a dull moment. With the home pool producing some great fish throughout the week Pete made the most of his time and fished most evenings after dinner more often with the success.
The river is now just right; the water level has dropped to 1.15cm a level where it is real comfortable to fish and also identify all the holding spots. This week the weather was fairly stable bringing the water temperature up to 13C. The first Grilse have also started to show and we are still getting fresh sealiced fish throughout the river.
This week was fun. We caught some fish, and we shared great memories with our old and new friends. We would also like to thank Marc our French friend for all his patience and understanding, as we do not speak French at all. His appreciation towards the fishing and tundra is very noticeable in facial expressions. The tundra has its own language, one that everyone understands.
RYNDA; 24TH JUNE – 1ST JULY
As fisherman and nature lovers we are always up to the elements, elements such as rain wind snow and sun. Not only do we get affected by it but so do the fish, the river and the countryside. With summer now in full swing in the far north coast we are faced with bright blue skies. Air temperature pushing high 20’s and water temperature raising daily, and so the water level also dropping at an alarming rate.
As Salmon fishermen we are prepared to spend hours at end just to have another tug with a fresh salmon. Unlike some of the rivers in other parts of the world encounters with fresh sea liced fish is a common thing. And for that reason, despite the summer conditions we head out every day with high spirits.
This week we are delighted to welcome back five of our veteran anglers Peter, Roger, Richard, Christopher and Hugo. These weeks are always special as the appreciation for the tundra is evident in the fact that they keep coming back.
Richard has been fishing these Northern Rivers since 1998. We absolutely love hearing stories from the past as it paints a picture, and reminds us of how little the rivers have changed since. Stories of big fish, stories of lost fish and just stories about Rynda in general. Experienced Richard started of his week by landing two beautiful fish at 2nd fall during the first afternoon session.
Another one of those experienced anglers joining us again was our good friend Hugo, who is part of the Rynda family. Hugo kicked of his week with 4 fish the first afternoon. Well done.
Hugo is no newcomer when it comes to catching big fish and has many hair-raising stories of fish he has hooked and seen. Thursday afternoon after fishing there was yet another big fish story from Hugo. A monster fish that he hooked in the tail of Power pull that he fought hard for 15 minutes before the leader parted. Not able to write it in the logbook, but one that will remain in his memories forever.
Our little neighbour river Zolotya has consistently been producing fish throughout the week. Russian pull is believed full of fish and Tim and Richard managed to hook five fish between them Thursday afternoon.
Despite the clear blue summer skies we had a great week with a great bunch of guys. Yes we had tough days but we also had good ones to keep the logbook on track. In all honesty this is the best place to have tough fishing days as the scenery makes any day out on the river worth it.
RYNDA; 1-8TH JULY
+34C in the shade – it’s the least expected when you are in the tundra but it’s exactly what happened here last week! As the result of the hottest and brightest weather, the water temp reached 19C. Speaking of the hard fishing conditions, it’s worth to mention the great spirit of our anglers! We started fishing earlier in the morning and everyone was trying to do his best on the river.
The most common fishing techniques were ranged from snealdas down along the bottom to stripping sun rays and twitching Bombers across the surface to using long leaders and micro flees with red and green butts, however it was the Golden Killer that took the vast majority of the silver.
Vladimir joined us for this week, and despite of only 3 days fishing because of the bad shoulder he managed to add 9 fish to the Rynda Fishing book. One evening Vladimir invited all the guests to his house, and we spent a wonderful time all together with lots of fishing stories around.
In spite of the hard conditions, our team managed to land 89 salmon, and we had lots of fun here last week!
RYNDA; 8-15TH JULY
Last week the great team of our old and new friends was fishing here at Rynda. This team managed to land 131 fish for the week and God knows how many salmon were lost.
Orange Bomber, White Bomber, Sunray hitch, and even Chernobyl Ant and Bomber Bee. Those flies you will find quite often in the last week Rynda Log Book.
From the very first day, Graham put this fly on his single-handed rod and not much else came out of his fly box for the rest of the week! Wonderful 28 pounder from Zolotaya was the biggest reward for his faith in this fly. Well, Bomber Bee was a new discovery for us. Thanks, Graham!
The fishing varied from day to day and different parts of the river. Low part from Red Creek and down was the most reliable. Upper beats were more difficult but sometimes brought a good-sized salmon.
RYNDA; 15-22ND JULY
This week a multinational team from UK, France, Slovenia and Iceland fished here at Rynda. Fishing conditions were not easy, the most influencing factor now is very low water. However, our anglers still managed to land 105 fish, and many others were lost!
Because we didn’t have any rain for quite a long time, water continuously was dropping from 0,66 to 0,61 cm, and it’s almost the minimum level. In general, the weather was warm with water temperature around 16С.
The fishing results spreaded not equally among the rods and most of the anglers found their way to catch salmon. For example, Hubert and Yves enjoyed themselves fishing on a White Bomber, sometimes loosing 7 fish in one day. Sean and Andrew were successfully using tiny 10-12 Jeamie fly, landing fish up to 18 lbs on it.
Generally saying, fishing had a variable character. One day Cedo and Yann were fishing from Tolstoy down, and they managed to land 10 fish for the day. Very next day the upper beat delivered them only one fish, and it was quite a common pattern for the week.
SALMON FISHING RUSSIA, ASR, KHARLOVKA, RYNDA, LITZA
CONTACT AND MORE INFORMATION
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