25/09/2006 - The Varzuga Review 2006

The 2005 Season saw us release 5,047 salmon to 181 rods, an average of 27 salmon each whilst 2006 on the Varzuga saw catches of 7,144 to 160 clients and an excellent average of 44 salmon per rod per week.
This certainly gives weight to the old adage that a bumper year follows a lean season, though it would be difficult to stand on the banks of most of the world's Atlantic salmon rivers and lament a week of 'only' 27 salmon landed to your own rod. This season was also encouraging in that we saw a very good number of bigger fish with many salmon in the middle and top-end teens.

We timed our arrival to the river perfectly, opening our Lower Varzuga and Middle Varzuga camps on the 12th May, barely a day after the last large floes had passed through and holding the promise of a very successful start. We were not to be disappointed.

We had only three rods at Lower for this week, a great pity as 163 salmon fell to these three including a clinking fresh 16.5 pounder to Gareth Craze. A similar sized hen at Middle heralded the start of the season for David Whitren and his group went on to release 455 with the Killian brothers, Derick and Karl adding a 15.7 and an 18 pounder to the bag whilst James Leitch released a 43 inch kelt from Clarks, a hen that would have hefted in at 34 pounds when at her fighting weight.

With the water dropping slowly but steadily and the temperature hovering upwards of 6 degrees this second week was the ideal time to open Kitza and we began fishing this smaller, colder river on the 19th May. She was soon off to a flying start, returning fantastic catches that never wavered throughout the season.

Our first team on the Kitza, a very experienced group led by Sean O'Donoghue found the fish immediately, releasing 138 salmon in their three days, followed by a further 68 salmon following changeover to the Lower Varzuga. Michael Evans, who knows the rivers better than almost anyone and who has led countless groups helped his team to 109 salmon on the Lower, including a lovely 16 pounder to Derek Coles, and 133 from their three days on the Kitza, finishing the week with 242 salmon.

The lucky rods at Middle, fishing with Brian Fratel of Farlows, had an epic week, notching up 831 fresh, strong-running fish including an 18 pounder to Tim Railton out of Party and three fish hovering at 15 pounds to Neil French on the 24th May.

The third week of the season, starting on the 26th May, saw our Pana camp welcome her first clients, a French pair who had the camp to themselves for this week. We would have expected the bulk of the salmon to hit these upper reaches of the river towards the middle of the week but, as their flies swung in the river for the first time it was clear that they were already there in excellent numbers. Our two rods took 141 salmon from the Pana and Indel, suitably crowned by an 18 pounder from Ponsoi to Pierre Coursaget, one of eight that afternoon.

With all of the camps now up and running, and with stable water and weather, the fish reports came flooding in. A predominantly new group to the Lower Varzuga took 85 fish for the start of the week, led by John Lawrenson and added 225 to the score cards at Kitza; wonderful results. David Cosh's highly experienced group began in fine form on the Kitza with 191 and an 18 pound highlight, caught on a 9 foot rod, 7 pound line to Brian Anderson and went on to release 109 more at Lower Varzuga. Middle Varzuga also saw many rods new to her beats this week, though the catch statistics suggest otherwise with 858 banked including a lovely 14 pounder to Andrew Templeton, followed by two 12 pounders that afternoon and a superb 16 pound hen to Duncan Feather on the 31st May from Generator, our Home Pool at Middle. Neil French also landed a paint fresh 18 pound hen from the beautiful Blue Rock, one of 27 salmon he landed that day.

The onset of June usually heralds the start of summer on the Southern coast of the Kola Peninsula but this year we were greeted with a storm; hardly ideal for the fishing on that day, though, in the longer term, a great result for the river and restoring the river to its height of weeks before. Whilst, on the downside, this did mean that the salmon had more river to run the increased height did bode very well for the remainder of the season and gave a steady pour of running salmon.

With the season flying by this was the penultimate week for Lower Varzuga and she released 138 salmon in total, split to 84 and 54 for the two groups including a 15 pounder to Ashley Levett out of Lower Varzuga's glides at Coconut. Kitza meanwhile was showing scant signs of slowing and scored 116 for the first three days to a group led by Mike Hutchinson, followed by 183 to our group on the Kitza for the second half, fishing on sinking tips following the heavy storm rain.

Middle Varzuga counted 495 salmon this week, supported by a 17 pounder to Malcolm King on the 3rd June from Peartiha and a 16 pounder falling to James Macpherson from Clarks the next day. Pana was also in fine fishing form with our very experienced rods banking 332 salmon, with 30 of these skated to the bank by Jack Meredith whilst Dr John Rano added a 15 pounder from the beautiful Indel on the 5th June.

Lower began her final week on the 9th June with high temperatures and rapidly falling water. These fluctuations in level and temperature, not to mention the significant swings in the barometric pressure pushed the salmon's heads down as they ran determinedly upriver. Lower Varzuga caught 40 this week with almost all taken on the surface by hitching small doubles or riffling flies across the mirrored and calmer water. Kitza was still in full swing, adding up 276 for the six days, split very amicably to 143 for James Bowdidge's group of seven and 133 for the six rods from Lower Varzuga.

Middle welcomed our experienced Belgian team back to her beats and they enjoyed another record week. Eleven rods caught an excellent 475 salmon with many of a very good size, including a 16 pounder to Richard Lamarche and an eleventh hour 16 pounder taken by Tim Percy on the last morning from Generator in his swimming trunks; his waders safely packed away in the helicopter.

Records continued to fall this week. The eight rods at Pana, one of our most experienced groups, released 785 salmon, with one rod taking 50 salmon on the 11th June Ð surpassing even the prodigious benchmark set by this river.

With Lower Varzuga now closed we began the final week of the season with Kitza running with a group for the whole week and a split week between the Pana and Middle Varzuga. Our four rods at Kitza certainly hit a jackpot. Kitza is a much smaller, and yet higher and colder river than the Varzuga and these conditions pulled many of the fresh salmon waiting in the estuary of the White Sea into the river mouth. The result was an excellent 313 salmon in seven days with Damian Dwerryhouse and David Hugh Smith each notching up over 100 fish, all on floating lines and with most smashing flies on the surface.

The Pana continued to fish very well with the fish still running the long stretch from the Yovas Rapids above Middle Varzuga to the camp pools. Ralph Congreve led the first group to the Pana for the first half of the week, a very productive start and one which yielded 160 salmon in three days, many of these to fishermen new to the camp. The Congreve group then flew down to Middle Varzuga on the Monday for the remainder of their week and added a further 48 to the books, an admirable score in very difficult low water and high temperature conditions. Nigel Hawkins's group then switched from Middle, where they had taken 120 salmon, to the Pana where their luck continued with a further 157 salmon to record a fantastic last week total of 277 to seven rods.

Varzuga 2006
And so we finished our 2006 Varzuga Season. With an average of 44 salmon to each rod our thanks go to all of our fishermen and women who fought and brought these salmon to the banks of these wonderful rivers and, of course, to Mikhailovich Kaluzhin and his team on the river, in the kitchens and in the cabins who are such important factors in our ongoing success.

Varzuga 2007
For next season we will again be following on with our policy of continually upgrading and improving this operation of which we are so proud. New cabins at Middle Varzuga in 2005 following on from the new cabins at Lower Varzuga for 2004, we have renovated and extended the cabins at Kitza and also at Pana and, for 2006, the addition of six brand new boats at Lower Varzuga has added a great level of flexibility, and with it success, to our fishing and access to the beats throughout the system as a whole.