34lb First Atlantic Salmon

Date: Evening 30 June and 1 July

Air temp 8C-16C
Water temp 11C

Water height -16cm

Number of rods: 15

Number of fish caught: 41

Biggest fish: 34lb Jim Cochran

No 30lb+: 1

No 20-29lbs: 8

No 8-19lbs: 25

Grilse: 7

Weather:

It was a drizzly start to the day with an upstream wind and becoming sunny during the course of the day.

Manager’s Comments:

Daniel B landed his first ever first Atlantic salmon in Lyliok in the morning. In the afternoon on Crow’s Nest he then hooked another fish but dropped the rod in the water just when I was about to net the fish! Guide, Andrey, and Jim C chased it in the boat and grabbed the rod! With the fish still on it was landed downstream. It was his second ever salmon and it weighed 20lbs!

Dan B's second salmon at 20lbs

Jim C also landed his first Atlantic salmon in Crow’s Nest in the main draw right in front of river watcher’s cabin. It was a great fight and took him through the rapid into the pool below. The fish weighed 34lbs! Is this some sort of a record for a first Yokanga salmon? We think it probably is.

34lb first Atlantic salmon

Tono P had an excellent day on Lower Norcamp landing four fish. They weighed 24lbs, 18lbs, 14lbs and 12lbs which is an incredible average weight. He also lost a further five.

Tono P with 24lber

Tono P with 18lber

Another highlight of the day was when Brian W landed a grilse on a Bomber in Lyliok. A great achievement to take a Yokanga salmon in that way.

It has been a great start to the week.

Bill Drury

Week 23-30 June

Date: 23-30 June

Air Temp: 9C to 21C

Water Temp: 13C to 14C to 13C

Water height: +3cm to -12cm

Number of rods: 17

Number of fish caught: 187

Biggest fish: 32lbs John Bresnihan

No 30lb+: 2

No 20-29lbs: 22

No 8-19lbs: 131

Grilse: 32

Weather:

As is ever the case on the north coast of the Kola Peninsula it was a mixed bag in terms of weather. We had a warm day early on in the week but then a couple of cool ones with winds swinging around at the end of the week.

Returning from fishing

Manager’s Comments:

I have been hosting this particular week for some years now and certainly the final score of 187 is right up there among the best in recent years. The timings of spring and the ice melt were consistent with what we remember as ‘normal’ from years gone by and consequently the Yokanga delivered.

Team photo on Sunday morning

We had a great start with some beautiful weather and very solid fishing. The cool weather for the final two days of the week saw people scrambling for their thermals but the best fishing of all was on the last day with some impressive scores. Notably Bill W with seven to his own rod. Other than one grilse, his fish weighed 14lbs, 16lbs, 17lbs, 19lbs, 21lbs and 23lbs. That is one incredible day anywhere. It is always nice to finish on a high.

Typical June Yokanga salmon

Looking at the scores it was certainly noticeable that the colder weather was when we put more big fish over 20lbs in the book. As ever there some seriously big fish hooked which came unstuck. There were straightened hooks, fish that snagged on rocks, knots that did not hold and some that simply got away for no particular reason.

One that did not get away

Despite what I mention above, we had two terrific fish over 30lbs landed. One a 30lber and personal best for Paulo H and a 32lber to John B, also his personal best. Congratulations to both of you!

Paulo H's 30lber

John B and his 32lber

With an additional 22 fish in the 20-29lb bracket that makes nearly 13% of fish caught over 20lbs. What the figures do not show is the number of clean quality fish caught in the high teens. Subject to where you hook them in a pool and how fresh they are, these fish can go ballistic, jumping like crazy and tearing into your backing. There were plenty of stories to attest to this statement.

Quality salmon that punch above their weight

This was my final week on the Yokanga. It is always a sadness to be leaving and I would love to be there to see how the coming weeks pan out. Judging by the number and quality of the fish we are seeing this season and the collective action that people have had, I feel there will be plenty more good fishing to come this season and no doubt some more big fish will be landed.

More of these to come

I am handing over to veteran Roxtons host, Bill Drury, and wish everyone tight lines in the weeks to come.

Roxtons host, Bill Drury, taking over

Henry Mountain

Final Flourish

Date: 29 June

Air Temp: 9C

Water Temp: 13C

Water height: -12cm

Number of rods: 17

Number of fish caught: 41

Biggest fish: 30lbs Paulo Hoffmann

No 30lb+: 1

No 20-29lbs: 6

No 8-19lbs: 26

Grilse: 8

Weather:

It was a cool mostly cloudy day with an upstream wind.

Pilots standing by

Manager’s Comments:

Well what a day to finish the week on. While fishing can be unjust and there were sadly a few people who returned blank, for many there was a final flourish. Indeed, it was the highest score of the week, especially considering there were no evening fish to add to the tally on account of the traditional Friday night party.

Morning transport to the river

Fishing Sand Island and Cliff, Geoff B had two of 13lbs and 16lbs and Anna K had a nice 9lb fish on a small Black Francis conehead.

Anna admiring a salmon

Yury D took four fish 7 Islands, all mint fresh and 15lbs in weight. He reported that they all fizzed around when playing them and went airborne numerous times. Salmon of this size are simply fantastic to catch and punch well above their weight.

One from earlier in the week for Yury

Jasper P and the FFN team had an incredible last day with 10 to their two rods on Upper Norcamp. Jasper finished with another salmon north of the 20lb mark this time one of 21lbs. Alex K had four weighing a neat 16lbs, 17lbs, 18lbs and 19lbs. There were some antics with fish disappearing down rapids again! Paulo H hardly got to cast a line but had two and he finished on a high with his second personal best of the week at 30lbs. What a way to finish!

Paulo H's 30lber

Just a word on tactics. The default position on Yokanga is often to try and fish as deep as you dare without snagging (there are a lot of rocks) and to use a large weighted tube but these guys (and a few others) proved that that is simply not necessary. Jasper fished a size 10 double most of the time and used the hitch to some effect. Paulo stuck with his float/intermediate for most of the week and Alex did similar. There is a time and a place for fishing deeper, but it should not necessarily be the standard unless perhaps in the very early season with colder water temperatures.

The Lower Norcamp team of Lance R and Jean G had a fish each, weighing 16lbs and 15lbs respectively. John B had three from Nahodka and Golden Reach and Matt H had three, two of 12lbs and a sea liced hen fish of 20lbs when finishing up at Poachers. Again, a good finish for them.

The last patches of snow

Arni B (also a floating line advocate) took three from Home Pool and Lyliok, one of 19lbs and two smaller ones. Sadly Manuel L returned with a blank and lost a very big one. Surely you will get lucky next time Manuel.

Manuel on a luckier day

It is a common myth that those of us hosting weeks on Yokanga do plenty of fishing! Pat B very kindly let myself and Bill Drury fish his rod on the last couple of days as at aged 87 he was feeling justifiably tired after two week’s fishing in Russia. We are all in awe at your stamina Pat! Bill had a 25lber from Lyliok in the morning (it could well have been bigger as he was on his own) and your faithful blog writer had a weighed 27lber from the tailout of the Lyliok rapids in the afternoon. Both were hen fish. Interestingly this cooler weather seems to have stirred up some of the older and larger hens.

Camp Manager has a cast

Henry Mountain

Mixed Fortunes

Date: 28 June

Air Temp: 13C-9C

Water Temp: 14C

Water height: -8cm

Number of rods: 17

Number of fish caught: 30

Biggest fish: 26lbs Paulo Hoffmann

No 30lb+: 0

No 20-29lbs: 5

No 8-19lbs: 18

Grilse: 7

Weather:

Settled weather earlier in the week.

It was a cold night but temperatures soon warmed up to ideal fishing conditions in the morning. Low cloud and a moderate downstream wind was how the day started. During the afternoon the wind switched upstream and the air temperature dropped and it felt distinctly cool with rain showers.

Manager’s Comments:

It was a day of mixed fortunes and mishaps on the river. William M and Bill W continued to pick away at them. William with a 22lber and a smaller one and Bill with two from Golden Reach, 8lbs and 10lbs.

Slight mishap but lucky he was fishing barbless

Paulo H had his biggest Yokanga fish of 26lbs from Island. He has been fishing a float/intermediate and caught his fish a smallish Flamethrower.

Paulo with his 26lber (photo credit the Fly Fishing Nation)

Arni B took two from Poachers but then had a short afternoon. Leaving Beach after lunch, Arni left his rod in the boat and the guide disappeared down to Lake with it. Without his rod to go fishing, Arni took the time to check out the riverbank flowers and is now a leading expert on Yokanga flora.

Down below Anna K caught a nice 11lber in the morning from Lyliok. Geoff B landed two, 12lbs and 18lbs from Crow’s Nest.

Anna with one from earlier in the week

Fishing Lyliok in the afternoon Pete T landed two cracking fish. A 20lb cock fish and a 20lb hen fish. He then followed them up with a grilse and a 16lber from the Lyliok right bank (just above the Lyliok stream) in the last 20 minutes of the afternoon session bringing it to a total of five for the day for him.

Pete with his 20lb cock fish

20lb hen from the same spot

It was a fun filled after dinner session on Lyliok too. Yury landed a nice fish in the high teens from the left bank. Jasper P and the Fly Fishing Nation (FFN) photography team were on the right bank. Jasper was the first to hook up and landed a super 22lb hen fish. The wind had dropped totally in the evening and it was silky smooth water with a perfect swing on the Lyliok right bank. He had at least a handful of follows, boils and bow waves that did not result in a hook-up but he did land a further two fish bringing his total for the day to four.

FFN team in action

In the final minute before midnight Alex K hooked a fish in the bottom section of water below the Lyliok stream on the right bank which took him into the rapids. There was some shouting which sent the rest of the FFN team (and your faithful blog writer!) running to see what was happening. It turned out that Alex’s backing had jammed so he had to follow at high speed. The end result was a fish in the high teens in the net some 200m into the rapid which brought a successful day to a close.

Salmon landed in the Lyliok rapids for Alex (not FFN photo!)

In terms of mishaps, the big fish definitely won the day. There were three very large fish lost. Having played a large fish for some time, the line went slack for no apparent reason and Arni lost one of them. An anonymous lodge guest then broke when into another large fish. These things happen reasonably regularly here. There is an always an element of good fortune in hooking one of the really large Yokanga fish in the right place at the right time to succeed in landing them. Fingers crossed there will be other opportunities when lady luck is on the side of the fishermen.

Lodge manager's favourite

Henry Mountain

Temperamental Weather

Date: 27 June

Air Temp: 19C-12C

Water Temp: 14C

Water height: -5cm

Number of rods: 17

Number of fish caught: 20

Biggest fish: 22lbs Manuel Lopez

No 30lb+: 0

No 20-29lbs: 2

No 8-19lbs: 14

Grilse: 4

Weather:

We had at least three seasons in one day! It fluctuated between sunny skies then half an hour later would change to black clouds and cool temperatures and then back again with a rain shower thrown in for good measure. It was a strong upstream wind for a short period then would blow downstream. Certainly a very temperamental weather day but we are in the Arctic Circle where things do change rapidly.

Rainbow over the lodge during dinner

Manager’s Comments:

It was a relatively tough day on the river with people reporting pulls and takes which then came to nothing. There seemed to be an unusually high rate of losses.

Colour in the Kola Peninsula

Jasper P deserves congratulations for landing a salmon on a hitch. It is so seldom used here but he selected his pool carefully on 7 Islands where he could get a nice slow drift and landed a lovely 16lber. He then hooked another fish briefly on the hitch which was considerably larger and estimated at about 100cm or high twenties in pounds.

Jasper P's 16lber on a hitch

Yury D continued to lead with way with eight fish on Lyliok and Crows’s Nest. He also had a lot of other pulls and action where fish simply did not stay on. The general feeling is that there must be a good number of fish running but as is almost always the case on the Yokanga we do not see lots of fish rolling and jumping. It is not unusual here to see no fish yet have a very successful day.

Yury D's 20lb hen fish from Crow's Nest

The tackle that people are using is varying enormously. Arni is still on a full floater, others are using intermediates with success. Others are on light and occasionally heavy sinking tips. With fresh fish running as they are, the simple fact seems to be that what you are using will work if you keep using it. Flies are varying between sparsely tied tubes (brass and plastic) and many are using doubles on hook sizes 6 to 8 predominantly.

William M with a lovely clean hen fish

In the late evening there was a heavy rain shower and the lodge had a double rainbow right over the roof. The temperature continued to drop after dinner and significant mist was rising off the river. The weather looks more settled for the remainder of the week so everyone is keen to see what will happen.

Smoke on the water

Henry Mountain

Working Hard for Fish

Date: 26 June

Air Temp: 15C-21C

Water Temp: 14C

Water height: -1cm

Number of rods: 17

Number of fish caught: 26

Biggest fish: 27lbs John B

No 30lb+: 0

No 20-29lbs: 2

No 8-19lbs: 18

Grilse: 6

Weather:

In the morning it was a bright sunny day with a strong downstream wind. Clouds built up during the day and at 2.30pm the wind changed 180 degrees and the temperature dropped. The sun then came out again and we enjoyed a balmy summer’s evening.

Sunny start

Manager’s Comments:

Up at Sand Island Paulo H had two, a grilse and a 12lber. Alex K also had two, a 12lber and 14lber.

Alex K with his first Russian salmon

Matt H and John B landed a fish each, a 25lber and 27lber respectively. John again landing the biggest fish of the day.

Matt H with a 25lber

Arni B has been fishing a floating line all the time and fishing on Lower Norcamp today he had three. He reported quite a lot of action with grilse and found great success fishing in the pocket water in the rapids.

Bill W and William M had a couple of fish each. William persevered til late after dinner and having blanked on the right bank of Lyliok he headed down to fish the pockets in the Lyliok rapids and was rewarded with a 12lber.

Manuel with a nice one

Geoff B had a couple of grilse from Poachers but Anna K had nothing until mid-afternoon. Very sensibly she gave her rod to the guide to hold and took a short 15-minute siesta. Waking up refreshed, she put on a large Red Francis in Beach and almost first cast she was into a fish. In the end she finished on a high with three.

Yury D had a very solid three from Lyliok in the morning, all in the teens. Anthony B and Nout K landed a fish each after 5pm at Crow’s Nest.

Yury D with a 19lber

Expectations were high but the day was not as productive as everyone had hoped. Lyliok was completely blank in the after dinner session. One of the fascinations about salmon fishing is that we simply do not understand it all. Other than perhaps a little too much sun and wind, there was a dropping river and things looked pretty decent. Was it a little thundery? What was going on with this about change in the wind?

Football takes precedence over fishing when Iceland and Russia are playing

Whatever the reason the fish were simply not as enthusiastic about taking! Still a total of 26 was a good score but the team worked very hard to achieve this.

Henry Mountain

32lb Salmon

Date: 25 June

Air Temp: 16C

Water Temp: 13C

Water height: +3cm

Number of rods: 17

Number of fish caught: 31

Biggest fish: 32lbs John Bresnihan

No 30lb+: 1

No 20-29lbs: 2

No 8-19lbs: 24

Grilse: 4

Weather:

There was little or no wind and cloudy skies.

Manager’s Comments:

It looked like the perfect fishing day. And indeed for some it was very good day indeed. Jasper P landed three from Lyliok in the morning including a 19lber and 23lber. He then followed it up with two from Crow’s Nest, an 18lber and 19lber.

Jasper P with fish on

William M continued his good run with four from Island, the largest 17lbs and 19lbs. He then added another one to his tally after dinner with one from the Pots which has been fishing very well. Unfortunately, his fishing companion Bill W blanked. Good luck tomorrow Bill, it will happen!

19lber being released at Crow's Nest

Yury D landed a more modest two compared to his incredible eight the previous day. Two is always a good score on the Yokanga where we have less numbers but much higher average weights. Yury’s largest was a 25lber from Poachers.

25lber from Poachers for Yury D

Antony B and Nout K blanked on Home Pool in the morning but the glass of Chardonnay at lunch must have helped as they went on to land one each from Lyliok in the afternoon.

Picnic lunch at Lyliok

The story of the day was John B who landed a 32lber from 7 Islands. He was using his 13’7” 9 wt travel rod when he hooked this fish. Congratulations John for a personal best.

John B with his 32lber

30lb+ cap awarded to John B for his 32lber

We have had a 24-hour period of small disasters. Pat B lost a huge fish after a long battle which was won by the salmon. Old Sasha saw the fish clearly and Pat had a good look at its tail. Old Sasha estimated it at over 40lbs. Jean G had a run of bad luck and straightened out hooks on two separate occasions. Lance R lost the head of his line in a pocket above Pump. We will try and retrieve that later today with a boat. Then to top it all William M lost a rod overboard! They did manage to retrieve it though.

Dinner at the lodge

Fish are clearly entering the river in some numbers even if we are not seeing them show themselves. Evening sessions on Lyliok have seen fish porpoising through the tail of the pool and there have been sea liced fish caught up as far as Sand Island. Long may they continue to keep coming.

June 2017 drifted snow

June 2018

Henry Mountain