First week of the season
For the first time ever we had to
cancel the first two weeks of the Yokanga Lodge and Gremikha Camp seasons for
safety reasons and with the quantity of snow on the tundra slowly melting, the
water was exceptionally high and cold throughout until early July. Levels were
2m over what might be considered normal and water temperatures were lingering
around 5C most of the time. With that extra volume of water, without seeing it
first hand it is hard to imagine how the river can transform normally slow lake
sections of water into a torrent where you can barely consider throwing a fly.
The fishing was correspondingly tough from Yokanga Lodge in those early weeks.
As one guest summed it up, you are looking for a very small needle in a very
large haystack.
21 June 2017
21 June 2016
While conditions did not favour the lodge in the first part of the season, the Gremikha camp, which fishes the lowest 8kms of the river, did much better than usual. It was hard to find fishable water, but fish were entering the system and the early fishermen contacted them in small pockets. The comments below from one client give you a flavour of what was happening down at Gremikha.
I had a truly amazing afternoon
yesterday. There were 7 fish caught by the camp. I had 4. 18lbs, 18lbs, 20lbs
and 29lbs. I lost another 3. One was lost after a few minutes, another after 25
minutes and another after 45 minutes which we never even saw. I spent 4 hours
playing fish between 2pm and 7pm...only spent about 15 minutes casting...the
remaining 45 minutes was spent watching Arni play a fish. It was only a 20 yard
pool! I connected with another 10 fish, almost a connection with every cast.
Quite simply the best afternoon's fishing I have ever had. I actually got cold
because I spent so long standing still playing fish! Crazy to think that, in
years to come, when someone asks me about my bonanza day and where was the lie,
that I am going to have to point 10 feet up the hill to dry land!
One of four fish from the Lower Yokanga
30lber in early July
Our last week of the season at the
lodge was 29 July-5 August and in some ways this was the best week of the
season for Yokanga’s largest fish. Three fish over 30lbs were actually landed
and a further half a dozen or so of a similar size were hooked and played for
some time before they were lost – one very notable fish estimated at nearer to
50lbs than 30lbs. Judging by their colour, these excellent condition,
predominantly cock salmon appeared to be June fish but for one reason or
another it was seemingly not until early August that they were populating the
traditional prime middle river lies.
32lber in the last week of the season
In terms of numbers, the Yokanga
Lodge fishers landed 458 for the short 7 week season. By way of comparison,
Yokanga Lodge’s long term average catch is 900-1200 fish in a 9-10 week season.
2017 saw 46 salmon in the 20-29lb bracket landed and 5 in excess of 30lbs.
Whilst it was generally a very disappointing season for the Yokanga fishers,
guides, lodge staff and of course for us, it is important to keep these things
in perspective. On average more than half the fishermen who fished Yokanga this
season left having landed a fish over 20lbs. An enviable statistic even in a
poor year.
Classic fat Yokanga hen fish
Lyliok river in full flood
There remain compelling reasons for
choosing the Yokanga. It remains one of the world’s great rivers for truly big
Atlantic salmon. Over the previous five seasons we have seen an average of close
to 140 fish over 20lbs caught every year to just over 100 rods a season. Those
are pretty decent odds. The fishable water from Yokanga Lodge is extensive and
indeed it is rare to cover all the available water on your daily beat. The use
of boats, both for fishing and for movement downstream, makes the Yokanga
accessible to many and the lodge, set in wilderness location, has a commanding
position overlooking the river with comfortable bedrooms with ensuite
bathrooms.
Comfortable Yokanga Lodge
Of one thing we can be fairly sure,
2018 will be different to the one we just had and likely different to other
seasons in some way or other. We, along with our Russian partners, will do all
we can to ensure the river is well protected and that the guides, staff and
lodge are ready to welcome Yokanga’s fishermen. Whatever nature then delivers
us, there will certainly be some good fishing and, as always, a number of
fishers will land the salmon of their lifetime. We look forward to welcoming
back old friends who have been there before and to introducing some new guests
to the experience of fishing a river such as the Yokanga.
Henry Mountain and Peter Rippin
