Fishing report 15 - 19 JUNE 2015

The 15th – traditional date of the new  fishing season on Belousiha river. This year though, the salmon would appear to be running late on all of the rivers within the Kola peninsula. 

Weather this week is cold and wet. It feels as if, after the winter, Autumn has come for a visit. The river remains high, and the water temperature below expectations for the time of year at seven to ten degrees.

This week, is not for guests. It is for the guides to work out where the salmon are residing, ready to pass this information on when the guests arrive. To assist them with this, we also invite local people who possess the skills with the fly rod, as at this time of year, with the big water, there are many pools for salmon to lay up in. The more eyes, and rods, the more information we have for when the guests arrive.

First fish of the year was a beauty. Four and a half kilos, and, quite appropriately, it was to head guide Sergey Pavlovich , from the ever consistent Glinka 1 pool. A fresh run fish, it was very aggressive to the Willy Gun. This pool usually favours the angler in the battle, as the flow is moderate, and the pool without places for the fish to snag up the line. Despite this, the fish battled the very experienced Sergey for a full five minutes, leaping several times. Finally, the fish tired, and was carefully measured, photo’d, recovered and released.  The season is open! Ten minutes later, in the same pool, camp guide Maxim managed another, just half a kilo lighter. With the excellent news that the fish are in the pools, the guides decided to not bother any more, and instead returned to the camp to spread the word, and toast their excellent results.

In the next four days the river was visited by four skilled local fishers who have fished the Belousiha for many years, even before the river passed into the protective care of the camp. Two of them landed three fish, another two managed four fish. A further fourteen were lost, in part due to the big water, and fast currents.  The size of fish varied from sixty to seventy nine cm. Most fish landed were females, which is usual with early season fishing here. According to these locals, and angler would do well to heed their advice, fly choice is critical, but get the choice correct, and the early fish attack aggressively. . Willie Gun and Collie Dog were the biggest fish takers. Fish are beginning to disperse through the river, but significantly, the smaller pools are yet to receive their resident fish. . The best early season pools being  Glinka, Obkom, Three steps and the Swedish table.

The season begins. Every day now into the river comes more and more salmon. Local fishers are happy with the results, after waiting so long through the inactivity of the long, cold Arctic winter.

Results for the week:

4 Anglers

Landed: 16 Atlantic salmons

Lost: 14 Atlantic salmons

Best fish: 79 cm on a single handed #7 with the fly, a Collie Dog.