Welcome to the Yokanga Blog 2017!
As many of you will have heard from the circulating news, it
has been a winter with a lot of snow on the Kola Peninsula. In conjunction with
that it has been an exceptionally late spring. The combination of these two
things has meant that we have had to cancel Week 0 (3-10 June) and also Week 1
(10-17 June). It is the first time that Week 1 has ever been cancelled on
Yokanga and indeed in over 20 years of experience in Russia, none of us have
ever seen a spring this delayed.
All rivers have been affected by the unusually late spring
but we had hoped that Yokanga would be fine given that it starts later than
other river systems. In the event, the weather has remained cold and winter has
yet to fully give up its icy grip. No two seasons are ever the same on Yokanga.
It is incredibly disappointing to have to cancel fishing
that our clients have been looking forward to for many months now. It is,
however, the right thing to do. While the river is flowing, there are ice
blockages and significant snow and ice along the riverbank making bank fishing
impossible. It is simply unsafe to have our clients there right now. All the
staff and ourselves are equally disappointed to put things on hold until
conditions change.
View down to Lyliok a couple of days ago
There has been some change in the last 24 hours with air
temperatures of 5-7C during the day. It has been rather warmer in reality than
the forecast has suggested. The bright sunshine has made it feel considerably
warmer than the temperatures have suggested and one of the kitchen helpers got
badly sunburnt yesterday!
These warmer temperatures should start the snow and ice
melting and the resulting lift in river levels should see the remaining ice
leave the river and take a lot of the bankside snow with it too. There is still
a good amount of time before our first clients of 2017 arrive on 17 June so a
lot can change between now and then.
Looking into our crystal ball we predict high and cold water
for the season ahead and those booked into the later weeks may well get lucky.
It could be a very interesting start with fish creeping slowly through the
system and perhaps being close to the bank if the water remains high. It will
certainly be different from some seasons where water temperatures have been closer
to 10C at the beginning and salmon have speeded past us in a day.
Fishermen will likely need to adapt to the very different
conditions. Rather than focusing on favourite spots that have produced on other
visits, it may well be a case of fishing slower water above or below the rapids
and trying a few casts in pockets close to the bank to find a resting fresh
fish.
View across Home Pool today
Right now it looks like it will be big tubes (pack your
Temple Dogs, Willie Gunns and German Snaeldas!) and sinking tips. On that note,
remember that while the temptation is to put on your biggest and heaviest
sinking line, unless fishing from the boat or in certain spots, this will
ensure that you will almost certainly land up snagging rocks. If not, it will
certainly mean that you pick up your line early to cast and do not fish close
in to the bank. Experienced early season Yokanga fishermen often do well on a
more regular line and sinking tip and slowly retrieve the fly all the way into
the bank. Big fish can lie very close to the bank!
Given the current conditions, we are going to operate the weeks
of 29 July-5 August and 5-12 August. These weeks will be limited to a maximum
of 10 rods per week instead of the usual 16 rods. The only slight difference to
the normal programme is that we will fly people out in the helicopter in the
morning and they will drift back to the lodge after fishing which keeps costs down as
much as possible. The cost will be £4,000 per rod from Murmansk. Given the
extraordinary late season, we are hopeful that these will be excellent weeks.
To ensure the best possible experience for each fisherman,
there will be a single room for every fisher in the lodge. There will be five
extra-long beats using the best areas of the river. At this time there will be
fresh fish running from 5-15lbs or so. Then of course plenty of fish up to and
over 30lbs that will be in the river already. You never know when you are going
to hook one of these monsters but you will certainly be casting over them! Please
ask for details.
Pasha, the Russian Camp Manager, is at the lodge and we are
in regular contact. All the guides and staff are standing by and we look
forward to seeing what the season brings when we start on 17 June.
Henry Mountain and Peter Rippin
