Date:
15-22 June
Air
Temp: 6-10C
Water height: +20cm to -5cm
Number of rods: 12
Number of fish caught: 60
Biggest fish: 43lbs Colin J
No: 40lbs+: 1
No 30-39lbs: 8
No 20-29lbs: 17
No 8-19lbs: 34
Grilse: 0
Weather:
The
weather remained cool the entire week. Winds were changeable but predominantly
upstream and at times pretty strong. Days were mostly overcast with the last
day being the only entirely sunny day.
A sunny day at last |
Manager’s Comments:
Scores
were evenly spread through the two halves of the week. The outstanding feature
of the week was the continued high percentage of large fish that the team
landed. 43% of salmon were in excess of 20lbs.
It
was a week of multiple personal bests. In fact seven guests caught their largest
salmon ever. And these were experienced fisherman!
The stock of 30lb caps is now running low! |
On
Wednesday Pete W landed a cracking 36lber from Crows Nest. He then bettered
that at the end of the following day with a 38lber. Sadly no photo of Pete with this one as
yet as we are trying to figure how to get the images from an old Sony camera
with an unusual size memory card and seemingly unique cable connection!
Young Vova with Pete's 38lber |
John
H and Steve T had an excellent day on Thursday when they caught five between
them. One of them, caught by John from Home Pool opposite the blue container,
was a super fresh 27lber. Steve’s two for the day weighed 24lbs and 22lbs.
27lber from Home Pool for John H |
Mark
E also collected a coveted Yokanga 30lb cap when a 33lber from the tail of Island
made it into the net.
A 33lber for Mark E at the tail of Island |
Also
collecting a grey cap was Marc C who caught his personal best, a 32lber from
the Pots. Marc’s fish for the week averaged a staggering 25lbs!
A 32lb cock fish for Marc C |
Ivan
K had a terrific finish to his week with a 36lber, also his largest ever. The
stock of 30lb caps has been heavily depleted during the course of this week!
A 36lb personal best for Ivan K |
It
is impossible to put into words what it is like to feel a take, knowing that
there is a strong likelihood that it is a significant fish on the end. A few
people have reported very aggressive takes on the surface but there again some
of the takes have been delicate, perhaps due to the still cool water
temperature.
The
largest of the Yokanga salmon landed this week have given people a tremendous
battle, taking anything from 20 minutes to an hour to subdue. Having said that,
there have been occasions where the salmon have won… Colin J lost a big one in Lyliok
after 20 minutes when the hook straightened out and Valery N had a large one on
for 15 minutes on the last day before it came adrift.
Lower Norcamp |
The
team have been using a range of tips and a wide variety of flies so there is no
magic setup. Colin J has been using an intermediate and sparsely dressed double
all week and that has worked well and John H has similarly been on a 5 ft fast
sink tip and smallish double and that seems to have done the job too. Others
have been using tubes which appear to have worked equally well.
These will do the job |
The
week has flown by and it seems like only a moment ago that, gathered around the
bar one evening, we tweaked the Yokanga cocktail to create the Denkanga. You might
think that you are drinking your five a day but beware…
On the right: Den creator of the Denkanga cocktail |
The
forthcoming week looks like it will remain cold for at least a few more days and
possibly further but there is some rain due so I suspect that we may have a
rise of water at some stage. I would hate to try and predict what happen this
week but fingers crossed there will be more of the quality salmon that we have experience
so far.
Gremikha
Camp, Lower Yokanga
The
8 rods at the lower camp finished with 54 although we think a handful of fish
caught in the evening were missing in the record book. The largest of the week was
35lbs.
Henry
Mountain