THE ATLANTIC SALMON RESERVE
The Atlantic Salmon Reserve was founded in the year 2003 by Peter C. Power who was appointed “Adviser (Sovetnik) to the Governor for International Tourism” in June, 2007. The ASR is the world's first conservation area for Atlantic Salmon, Sea Trout & Wild Brown Trout and Arctic Char. Fly fishing is available on the Kharlovka, Eastern Litza, Rynda and Zolotaya rivers through the Northern Rivers Company in Russia where the territory is known as: Дом для лосося
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or telephone: +44 (0)1865 883063 KHARLOVKA AND EASTERN LITZA
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Dear Peter,
In those plastic boxes. So I can not find anything to improve !
Regarding the trout, this was my 12 year and as you can imagine, I have seen a lot of hatches and rising fish during these years, and I thought I had seen it all, but what we saw these too weeks will for ever be very deep in my mind. Think of this : Despite of the wheather with cold winds from the north, rain and fog, I have never seen that much hatchings, in fact the hatches lasted from we arrived untill we left, except the last two days, and this was for two weeks ! And so much trout, I caught 9 trout bigger than 3 kilo ( 6,5 pounds ) with the biggest one 4,8kg. Unfortunally I have no picture on that one, because I was all alone fishing at 3 o klock in the morning. I caught most of the fish on my “leggynymf “ and small CDC dryflys, and that is what you always dream of as a true trout flyfisherman, and that is also why I want to spend my weeks on your rivers, because no where else in any river there is that much hatching and big trout feeding on them. I also noticed the fish were extreamly fat this year, I dont know why, maybe the rivers this season had a lot more of snails to feed on. Also I am very sure your conservation program already has effected the trout area. In particulary the Scones area, we saw a lot of more trout than ever before, and at the Mystic area with just a few pools there were trout behind every stone. And this year was the first year we did not se any pouchers. So I believe , those criminals now realize they will be caught if they try. It is an excellent idea to protect the rivers during the winter season , because I know what damage a net can do under the ice. So now you can understand, I really want to come back next year Kindly Peter Wulf |
Week 32A Big Trout Kharlovka – Dream Pool Litza ending Friday 10 August
Kai Finbråten (Group leader)
Anders Wennevold
Finn Amundsen
Peder Oppegård
Ola Brandt
Roy Idar Brandlistuen
Volodja (Chef)
I have to say, The Kharlovka Company know how to organise trips to Russia. Everything went exactly how it should from the first minute –all the way from Oslo and back!
Volodya is a man who needs all the credit he can get! Great guy, great chef, great humour!! The food he makes is excellent, and he does everything to make our stay out in the Tundra as enjoyable as possible.
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Day 1 - Saturday
After a nice lunch at Rynda camp, the helicopter landed at Big Trout Kharlovka. The first evening Roy and I went upstream to the big lake. After fighting many bush, tree and shrub, it soon dawned on us that boats are a definite must in this area………a few lost fish as a result! Anders, Finn, Peder and Ola ventured downstream from camp to the riffle areas and rapids. After a few casts Anders landed a 2.2 kilo trout. Ola had a couple of followers. A “slow” start, but we did manage one and a half hours of fishing before dinner. After a late but nice dinner Roy and I decided to fish a few more hours. Finn told us about some active fish he had seen feeding down stream, and that we had to give them a go. The result was simple! We caught 6 trout between 1,6 and 2,3 kg on klinkhammer’s that night, do I need to say we had a blast……………?
Day 2 - Sunday
What a splendid start to the day after such a fine breakfast. Finn started with a 2.6 kilo trout, I had a couple which weighed in at 1.9 and Roy had a couple more at 2 kg a piece! Anders lost a big one and Peder caught a nice 1.3 kg fish. With Ola having broken his ankle five weeks before hand, he was forced to be a bit more careful when wading, but there is something about that guy. He is always smiling, and was really quite content with fish being landed all around him! We had a great day, although the fishing was difficult at times. Finn Anders, Ola and Peder decided take the boats upstream after dinner. After a couple of hours they returned – with smiles and many spotted stories to boot. Finn landed a 2.6 kilo fish and then there was Ola with an undeniably huge smile spread across his face…….. He caught his first trout that evening – 3.5 solid kilos – a Kharlovka beauty!
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Day 3 - Monday
The day started with nasty winds which made the fishing difficult. Anders lost a good fish, and Ola and Peder managed a couple of 1.5 kilo fish. After lunch Anders caught a 3.1 kilo fish and lost an even bigger one. Roy and Idar caught a beautiful 2.5 kilos and I caught 2 weighing in at 1.9. Somehow the 2 kilo fish just weren’t interested in my flies……….. Another great yet challenging day on the river!
Day 4 – Tuesday big trout
One fish landed on the last day in the Big Trout area, weighed in at 1.9.
Big trout “gave” us 23 fish over 1 kilo. With an average of about 1.8 kilo’s!
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Day 4 – Tuesday, Dream Pool Litza
After landing in Dream pool Litza, we set up camp in a hurry and after a short look at the river we understood why they call it dream pool – because it simply is a Dream Pool!!
Anders was a bit faster than the rest of us and he landed 3 nice brownies on dries before the rest of us had even got waders on! I landed a 2.3 kilo fish after a few casts, at last…. YES!! Roy landed several nice fish in no time. Peder managed a great 2.1 kilo fish and lost a “lunker”! All in all, we landed 19 great fish – what an evening’s fishing!
Day 5 – Wednesday
This day started like Tuesday ended for most of the guys, great fishing! Anders and I went for a long walk to the rapids way upstream, and the rest fished downstream towards the camp. We caught “only” three fish that session and lost some really nice ones. Anders caught a beautiful 3.5 kilo fish and so did I!! We had a great day, but the wind was unrelenting! The other guys had great fishing, and the total of the day was around 20 fish landed! That night I managed another great fish on a cast shorter than my leader! I was wading out to some rocks, and a fish rose 1 meter in front of me, and so I quickly flicked the fly in front of me and wham! What great fun!
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Day 6 – Thursday
Roy, Finn and I decided to take a walk to Pina. About an hour walk from Dream pool. When we arrived, the river was as beautiful as I had imagined. I caught a fish after a few casts around 2 kilo, Finn caught a good fish and lost several others. After a couple of hours fishing we decided to grab something to eat. After a lovely break, Roy asked me if we should go upstream and I answered: “I don’t think It looks very tempting up there, so I think I will go down stream instead”…… Roy made 3 casts………. 3.2; 2.3; 2.1! He shouted to Finn: Get over here, this is a great spot. Finn made a cast and was immediately rewarded with a great fish just under 2 kilos! Let’s say I made a dodgy decision about going downstream...J But hey, you can’t have it all! And anyway, I caught a great fish later of 2.7 kg!
Pina delivered what I think was the best day fishing I ever experienced! We caught 16 great brownies that day, with the average well over 2 kilo! Back to the camp, and the other guys had great fishing once again.
Day 7 – Friday
Like all good things in life….our adventure came to an end and the faithful MI-8 arrived on Friday afternoon.
However before it arrived, we managed to squeeze in a few more great fish between 1.5 and 1.9! A herd of 50-60 reindeers joined us while packing up – what beautiful animals!
In Total, the Dream pool gave us 61 great trout with an unbelievable 2 kilo average!
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Top flies this week: “Elk hair caddis”, “suck on this”; “kola killer”, “muddler minnow”, “klinkhammer”, “streaking caddis”.
See you again next summer J
Tight lines !!
Kai Finbråten
Week 30B report Mystic Litza - Big Trout Kharlovka, ending Friday 28-July-07.
The fishermen were Johnny Liveroed, Karl Tore Steen, Jim Lid, Joern Lid, and Fredrik Fredriksen.
With the experience from other "fantastic" rivers and lakes holding big trout, I was careful in keeping expectations realistic and avoided telling the rest of the group that it was going to be trout heaven and that large 2-3 kilo trout take dry flies and give you the time of your life (Talking fly fishing). It just seemed too far-fetched. With eager anticipation and open minds, we left Arlanda airport Stockholm six o clock Saturday morning with Kharlovka`s charter flight.
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Everything went well through passport control and Victor met us at the airport in Murmansk. They took care of our luggage and we had to wait for about 30 minutes until we could take place in the bus. After about two hours on Russian roads we arrived the place where we had to wait for the helicopter. After a 15 minutes flight we arrived Rynda Camp where we got a nice lunch and information for the rest of the week.
It took about an hour and then we took off for Mystic Litza. Sitting in the helicopter I could now see a smile on everyone's face. Suddenly I knew this was for real and we were about to experience something really special.
We arrived at Mystic at about five o clock that afternoon, got everything out of the helicopter and together with Volodya we got the camp set up and running. Volodya turned out to be a very good chef indeed and prepared excellent food and always with a smile! We're all very much looking forward to seeing him again!
Shortly after we were ready for some fishing. We went down to the river and stood there like first grade students waiting for our name called out. Suddenly I saw the back of a large trout, is it possible? How big was it? Then, another one further down! Which one to go for first? I went for the one I saw downstream. After the third attempt the trout took the fly like Norwegian ski jumper. 2 kilo, everything came true, I got what I came for. Ok, what about the rest of the group, did they …..Then I saw Kalle with a big smile on his face and with a rod close to breakdown. Kalle have fished a lot and got a experience from different type of trout fishing. But this was his first trout on a fly rod. After 20 minutes a 3.1 kilo trout laid in the net. What a record, over 3 kilo first time fly fishing for brown trout. After this Kalle changed, he stopped drinking coffee with vodka, got to bed early, and stopped talking about worm fishing. At least for a day. The rest of the group did well that night, Johnny caught seven, Jim three between 1- 2 kilo, Joern started a little bit slow but caught up and took a lot of brown's between 2 and 3 kilo.
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Litza and Mystic gave us everything we hoped for. We went downstream with the boats and fished a lot of spots. We found fish everywhere, small streams, behind rocks, close to the grass, shallow water, and deep pools. Most of the fish were caught with different caddis flies, some with madam-x, woolly bugger and streamers. Totally we caught over thirty here, and most of it between 2 and 3 kilo! What more to expect?
The next stop was Kharlovka and Big trout. The helicopter picked us up at time and took us there after 3 days fishing Litza.
Then we arrived at Kharlovka and Big Trout in beautiful weather, nice place to have the tents and everyone was relaxed. After the the camp was in place we went for fishing and found some nice spots. But we didn't see any rising fish which gave us some hard time finding it. I remember what Vegard Veberg told me about Big Trout and after we had some food we got the boats on the river. That helped a lot and we got some nice trout's, the biggest was 65 cm long and was a heavy fighter (30 min fight), unbelievable!
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Wednesday the weather changed with North east wind and fog in the afternoon. I guess that was the main reason that fish stopped feeding in the surface. The weather stayed like this for the next days and of course it also affects the fishing at Kola like somewhere else. But again after we started to get around and changed tactics, flies, we got fish. Everyone got their record trout and we wished that we could stayed here for some more days. The week ended and the days just passed by. It is always like this when you have a great time doing what you like best. The group was excellent to be together with, everyone was happy without any complains. Good fishermen who know the good and the difficult sides of fly fishing for big trout. They knew to take care of the moment and placed it in their memories.
Thank you for a great week.
Best regards
Fredrik Fredriksen
Group leader
Kharlovka Trout report week 30 ending Friday 27 July-07 Kharlovka Dream pool to Bush pool Litza
By Morgan Evans
Group members; David Evans, Peter Alexandersson, Claes Grimslätt, Björn-Martin Sörensen, Jan-willy Bakke and Morgan Evans as Group leader.
Just came back from a amazing week on Dream pool, Kharlovka and Bush in the beautiful river Litza. Amazing bit of water with heavy rapids. We landed many nice fish for the week. In those fish we had 4 over 60 cm. We hooked a few bigger that were lost in the rapids and between crucial rocks. As many fish were taken at a full cast’s length it was a total blast, very strong fish that struck hard as h*ll and run quickly downstream with most of the backing. This was heaven.
Saturday the 21st of July Sunny with mixed of rain 12-14°c
After a long time waiting for helicopter and busses ETC. we finally arrived 17:30 at Dream pool and could start with the things we came for ;O) First at arriving we realised very high river because of heavy rain the week before. We had some really nice weather the first days with a temperature of 18-20 degrease perfect conditions for hatching! We caught our first fish on Caddis flies. We fished until 0230 first night with couple of nice fish with 2,0 kg as a result.
Sunday the 22nd of July Sunny with mixed of rain 16-20°c
We split us up in groups of tree. Björn-Martin and Jan-Willy went with the boat and fished upstream the other side of the river. It was really slow this day without seeing any fish rising what so ever (of course there wasn’t any hatching either) I and Peter went upstream towards the lake. We tried with heavy streamers and large tubes in the rapids and bang! I hooked a big brownie who took almost all my backing out from my reel. 10 minutes later I broke my personal record Trout of 65 cm. David and Claes hit the down stream with less luck. Jan-Willy had a trout chasing 3 times after his mouse imitation, it was a petty he didn’t manage to hook the fish, but there was a nice scene. Night fishing was great with a lot rising of caddis. Peter caught 6 fish were the biggest were 2,6 kg.
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Monday the 23rd of July Sunny with mixed of rain 16-20°c
Again we split us up and David and Claes went downstream Dream pool with good fishing. Claes landed 4 nice brownies with the “Torills Killer” he got from Morgan. But unfortunately a rather proper pike took it later ;o/ David lost his first big Kola trout who took his Caddis fly in the rapids. Me and Peter did the upper parts again. Peter strike his biggest trout ever, he fight the fish for an half of an hour trying to scream to me who standing 300m downstream from him. Finally I see him running towards me with a super bend rod in his hand. I run up to him and picked my camera out suddenly the hook just pop out from its mouth. Peter was totally furious, feeling totally empty loosing a huge fish like that. What a bummer. Later Peter told me about the story: Right after he struck the fish it did a high jump half of an meter up in the air and run upstream like a freight train, he couldn’t stop it what so ever. After that the fish just stood still in the calmer part and wouldn’t move for couple of minutes suddenly the trout fish decided to go downstream. This was approximately a + five kilo fish!
At night time the fish started to show them self with rising for caddis, a heavy rain got us all totally soaked and stopped us from more fishing that night.
Tuesday the 24th of July Sunny and cloudy 19-20°c
Time to pack the camp for leaving to Bush in Litza, to get some more time to last fishing we did the camp in less then an hour, no time to waist ;O) Today I lost a one of Kharlovka’s real beauties. It just snapped my leader of in the first run I even had time to think what happened when it took my black Woolly Bugger. But that’s life on Kola some you manage to land some don’t. The helicopter picked us up right on time at 14:00 and we heading to Litza. Raised our tents and started to fish immediately I started to fish upper lake an landed 4 nice fish within an hour of fishing, We thought, wow! This is going to be great. We heading back to camp for supper, suddenly Peter stopped me and stood pointing towards the mud and asked what the *** is this? After a closer look we realised it was fresh track from a bear that probably following the lonely Reindeer we been seen earlier this night.
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Wednesday the 25th of July Rain 12°c
Bush Pool Litza River
Beautiful morning with sunny weather which later turned over to heavy rain and hail big as beans, (good they really hurt when they smashing your head and shoulders)
Later that day Björn-Martin caught on a Streaking Caddis a beautiful Kola Trout of amazing 65cm. Do I have to say he broke his personal record ;O) Peter landed a super 3,0 kg fish in the current on a heavy Zonker fly. We all got little bit tiered with hard core fishing so it was time to rest for social talk in the mess tent with nice supper and lots beer.
Thursday the 26th of July Rain 12°c
Couple of nice fish was taken downstream the lake We didn’t see any fish rising but Streamers like the Kola Killer worked well in the deeper parts of the river. This day was really foggy and cold maybe that’s why the fish wasn’t in the mood. I hooked my biggest fish on the trip I did a cast upstream and let the fly go with the rapids and bang it hit hard and did a long run over the pool and stood absolutely still for couple of minutes I couldn’t manage to move the fish. This fish suddenly changed its mind charging downstream between two larger rocks placed in the middle of the pool my leader stuck on one of them I tried to run upstream to loosen the line of the rock. Finally I manage and the fish did a fast run down stream and broke my leader. Well that’s fishing!
Later that night David caught some nice fish on dry flies. 60cm, 55cm.
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Friday the 27th of July Foggy 12°c
Last day of our wonderful trip at Kola peninsula unfortunately there always have to be.
We tore down the camp for last time and tried some fishing without any results, to foggy and cold I guess. The Helicopter picked us up right on time and we heading back to Rynda for lunch. Thank you for a memorable week at the Tundra a good service and nice food from our guide Vasili.
Flies that worked best for us this week were: St. Caddis, Caddis pupa, Torills Killer, Large Dry flies, Heavy Zonkers, Black Tube flies (8-10 cm long)
MORGAN EVANS
The Kharlovka Report: Week 29B – Sconnes Kharlovka – Dream Pool Litza, ended Friday 20-Jul-07.
By: Johnny Liverød
Group
Geir Pedersen ( Norway ), Peder Figenbaum ( Norway ), Christian Kulberg ( Norway ), Harald Tøsti ( Norway ), John Ivar Liverød (Kølla) ( Norway ) and Johnny Liverød ( Group Leader Norway )
We had a wonderful journey and everything went according to schedule. We had heard some rumours about fish large fish over 4 kg taken by the last group and so we was really excited to start fishing. We hardly tasted the lunch at Rynda and before we knew it, we were alone out on the Tundra.
We landed at Kharlovka Scones where we set up the first camp in a hurry. After this, we rigged our rods and went and had a look at the river. After 2 minutes we saw the first Kharlovka Trout, and it was a really big one waving his beautiful fin. Everyone had a go at him but he was just outside casting reach because of heavy wind and a tricky currents. Kølla went downstream and we heard him hooking a really big one. He worked the fish really hard for 4 minutes but unfortunately the fish got the better of him breaking the 0.20 tippet. We decided to split the group and John, Harald and Peder went with the boat to “Bjørnebrekket” Christian and I went to “Odden” where Geir landed the first fish (1,4kg) before we had walked barely 50m.
John, Harald and Peder had a nice fishing trip to “Bjørnebrekket” were they managed several great fish over 2 kg.
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After dinner we switched places and the weather become rather nasty but the fishing was good anyway and everyone was satisfied with several new records.
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During our stay in Kharlovka we caught 23 fish over 1 kilo
On Tuesday, the helicopter transferred us to our new camp- called Dream Pool Litza. It is only one thing to say about this place, it is really a dream pool.
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We started fishing straight away, with Kølla and Harald venturing upstream. We all managed a few nice fish before meeting up for lunch, well except Kølla, he was still high upstream. After a while we heard him making his way downstream waving his arms with a big smile. He had hooked his biggest Brown Trout ever, which had taken him right down to the bottom. He estimated it at well over 3 kg. We could only dream of how big he was!
Harald and I went upstream to the place Kølla hooked his monster. We were really keen on catching a big one after Kølla’s story. We saw no sign of this big fish, but we had a great time and both caught nice fish over 2 kg.
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At Midnight on Wednesday, I went upstream to try again for the big one. The weather changed and during a bout of heavy rain I hooked a big fish. Oohwee It was the really big one! And so Kølla's story was true after all. It was a great pity that I too lost this great fish and never did managed to weigh it! Maybe next time.
During our stay in Litza we caught 34 fish over 1 kilo.
We caught the majority of our fish on Streaking caddis, super pupa, CDC caddis and kola killer
We all had a wonderful trip with great fishing and really good food made by our chef Andrea and Igor, who took very good care of us. When the group went home I stayed for one more week at Mystic and Big trout.
We are all looking forward to returning as soon as possible.
Very Best Wishes from Johnny and the rest of the group.
The Kharlovka Report: Week 29A – Big Trout Kharlovka – Saami Kitchen Litza, ended Friday 20-Jul-07.
By: Martin Berglund Jensen
Group
Morten Pettersen ( Norway ) , Rune Ekmo Olsen ( Norway ) , Vera Larsen ( Norway ) , Aleksander Larsson ( Sweden ) Martin Berglund Jensen ( Group Leader Norway )
After flying from Stockholm (Arlanda) Saturday 07.20 local time we landed in Murmansk (Russia) 12.00 am local time.
We were well taken care of by a representative from the Kharlovka Company.
We had to wait two hour before the bus was ready to take us to the helicopter 17 miles away. It takes about thee hours. The entire group was quite relieved when we heard the helicopter the air. It take us to Rynda camp where we met our guide and cook.( Very good we must say. ) Upon arrival at Rynda camp we had a lovely lunch and we were fortunate to have met Peter Power. We then packed tents, boats, food and drink for the whole week in to the helicopter, and were ready for takeoff to Big Trout Kharlovka. It was interesting to see all the nice rivers from the air.
Well landed at Kharlovka Big Trout where we set up the first camp. After this, we were eager to rig rods and go out fishing. It was difficult to begin with because of the thick bank-side vegetation. We only got one pike before dinner. The air temperature was approximately +18 c. After dinner we took the boats and ventured upstream. It was here that we saw our first Kola trout! We caught some lovely specimens on this first night, including a personal best!
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The second fishing day Morten and Alex went upstream with a boat and the rest of the group headed downstream. The weather got really nasty with lashing rain and strong wind. We did not see any fish this time. But there was one fish that could not refuse Morten’s black ant. The fish took the fly and went across to another island and tried to swim around it. There were many snags including many large boulders, so it could have been a short lived life for the leader. But everything ended in big smiles as Morten landed his biggest trout ever!
 Morten’s biggest trout ever! 4.2kg ( Black ant size 12 ) |
 Vera’s biggest trout 2.7kg on black woolly bugger fished floating dead drift. |
We did quite a bit of fly-tying in the tent (Morten’s black ant fly for example).
Morten and Alex went downstream and saw some really good fishing moving.
Morten got low and stalked carefully resulting in a solid hook-up, but alas it broke his leader on the take. This was a seriously big fish.
Morten went a little further down and tried for some other fish. Alex opted to persist in the area where Morten was broken by the big fish. Alex’s patience paid off, resulting in him catching his biggest trout ever with Morten’s fly in his mouth!!!!!!!!! The fish was 3.2 kg
 Alex with another fish taken on super pupa 2.5 kg |
 Rune with personal best 2.6kg. ( super pupa size 12 ) |
During our stay in Kharlovka we caught 25 fish over 1 kilo. What is exciting is that we all caught new personal best’s!!!
On Tuesday 17-07-July, the helicopter arrived and transferred us to our new camp- called Saami-kitchen. When we saw the place from the helicopter we became very excited.
It was a dream-place for us!
After all the tents were up and ready, we literally ran down to the river to begin fishing. Martin immediately hooked what was possibly his biggest trout ever on one of the first casts, but the trout had other things on its mind and wouldn’t play the game. The fish rushed off downstream and after a couple of minutes Martin lost his fish. (Martin saw the fish, and thinks it was 5 kg++!!!)
We all caught good trout that day. A really good day i think:-)
On Wednesday Morten caught 11 trout from the same pool. All of them were between 1 and 2 kg.
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A massive hatch of caddis in the rain!
At Midnight on Tuesday, Alex, Rune and Martin found a place in the river where the trout were going totally crazy. Fish were everywhere.:-) And so were the people trying to catch them! There was a blur of lines and fly-rods everywhere!!! The fish were extremely selective, feeding on chironimids and snails. Martin was extremely lucky to catch three of them using ‘buzzers’ (mosquito emergers).
In the last traveling day, Morten got one last fish of 2.4 kg while waiting for the 14.00 helicopter pickup. A good last effort!
During our time at Saami kitchen Litza, we caught a very respectable 42 trout over 1 kilo.
A little bit better than Kharlovka but then so were the weather conditions.
We caught the majority of our fish on Streaking caddis, super pupa, CDC caddis and woolly bugger’s!
A big thank you to our great guide and chef!
We had delicious dinners everyday!
Best Wishes Martin
The Kharlovka Report: Week 28A - Scones Kharlovka and Dreampool Litza ended Friday, 13-Jul-07
By: Rune Andre Stokkebekk
Group: Arve Stokkebekk (Norway), Bjørn-Roar Krog (Norway), Flemming Wilberg (Norway), Kenneth Sveen (Norway) Peter Wulf (Sweden) and Rune Andre Stokkebekk (group leader, Norway).
After waiting an extra day at Arlanda because of fog, we got to know the place. Finally we went into the bird and flew to Murmansk. Some of us had started to believe that we never get there and where humming on Coolios “I see You when you get there”, the refrain goes:
“If you ever get there, see you when you get there
I'll see you when you get there if you ever get there
See you when you get there”
Other found that rather bizarre, but still kind of funny. What was not so funny was that we had to go to the passport control a second time the day before. Some of the guys had spirits in non sealed bags! Guess what happened? The customs threw fine cognac in the thrash can. What a waste. Note for next time: Seal all and save the receipts. After a bumpy sightseeing we arrived at Tumani for the hocus pickup. Then we flew out to Rynda camp, picked up stash and more men and sat the course for Kharlovka and Scones. After 15 minutes of putting up tents and getting into warm clothes we where ready. But a little sceptic, the river was quite high and the temperature was +4,5 C. We used the first day to fish around the camp and caught some nice fish on streamer. There was very little bugs on the water and few rising fish so we checked into Vassilievs tipi (Lavvu) early for beer and nice hot soup. Plans where made for the next day and we divided us into two groups for the next day. One group to fish near camp, and another up at Koian. If the wind had not blown like hell we would have gone down to the neck downstream across the lake. Good place down there, but it was too windy to cross that lake.
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Day two came and we went out for a long day fishing. Luckily all of us where of the same kind: Now we fish. We can eat and sleep when we get home. The group that went up to Koian had the best fishing before supper. At camp very little was happening on the day, at Koian it was an inferno of hatching mayflies. At least tree different types on the river at once: The Yellow mayfly or Heptagenia Sulphurea, Baetis Rhodani and a smaller Baetis. Flemming and Bjørn-Roar where at Koian and caught over 20 nice fish that day. Later on the afternoon the rest of us went up there and enjoyed the same great fishing. A lot of fish where rising, most of them between 1,0 and 2,0 kg. The hatches improved during the afternoon and around 7 the caddis started to hatch. The trout went rapidly over to eating caddis and now even bigger fish started to show off. The other group down at camp had also the same caddis hatch. At the beginning of the hatch most of the fish where “tailing”, eating rising caddis pupas like mad. If I had a camcorder I could easily filmed enough rising trout to make a nice long “fish porn movie” for those long winter days!
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After long hours fighting fish, day two ended with 41 caught fish for the group. Later on that night we got the message that we where probably stuck because of fog. This time we where not exactly crying over the message. And yes, we stayed in Scones for another day.
The third day at scones was a copy of the 2nd . Even better caddis hatches and more rising fish. In fact, too many rising fish. Now the trout almost ignored the mayflies and concentrated on caddis. First the caddis pupa, later on adult freshly emerged caddis resting on the water. The madness started around 5 and kept going on until midnight. We all got the feeling that enough is enough and went back to camp, despite big trout with waiving tail fins. We caught fish on caddis pupa, emergers and adults. The natural caddis had dark almost black body with hints (rib) of dark green. The wings where light gray with a shiny olive stroke. We used a cdc caddis with black body and natural brown cdc wings. Super pupa in green/dark gray worked well and a dark brown elk hair caddis.
At Wednesday the 11th we fished until lunch and where picked up by the copter. Our results in Kharlovka after 3 whole days:
Scones Kharlovka - water temperature 10-11C |
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Date |
1 - 2 kg |
2 - 3 kg |
3 - 4 kg |
4 - 5 kg |
5 - 6 kg |
> 6 kg |
08.07 |
10 |
|
|
|
|
|
09.07 |
31 |
12 |
2 |
|
|
|
10.07 |
22 |
14 |
7 |
|
|
|
11.07 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
Total |
66 |
30 |
11 |
1 |
|
|
 |
 |
We arrived in Dreampool at the 11th around 3 o’clock. The weather had improved and we where all drooling as we flew over numerous lakes and rivers between the two camps. So many good looking places! We putted up the tents in a hurry and went for a quick recon before lunch. As we sat by the river a reindeer suddenly appeared, and then another and another. It must have been hundreds of them, wanting to cross the river. If it wasn't for those odd looking fellows on the opposite river bank.
Camp pool is a just as tempting as it looks. This time very few fish revealed their positions. The best fishing was upstream.
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Eastern Litza – Dream Pool
The conditions in Litza where very different from Kharlovka. Very few insects where hatching and not many trout where seen. It looked like we had come in the middle of something. A lot of adult caddis flew up and down over the river. Mayfly spinners where in the air, but very little on the water. And yes! We caught some of them during their mating "process", to bad not more of them where in the "mood". A few Sulphureas and some gray/brown caddis where hatching, just enough to lift up a fish or two in the hour. And i am almost sure that we caught all of those who where stupid enough to rise. I bet the six of us had 25 hours in the river those two whole days we fished. It gave us 1,36 fish pr. hour. It was a unofficial Nordic championship in waiting the fish out. But, hey! You can fish for years in most other places without even getting close to the size and looks of those fish we caught. But it was a little drawback after the "Kharlovka party".
 Camp pool is a just as tempting as it looks. This time very few fish revealed their positions. The best fishing was upstream. |
On the fifth day something strange happened! No, it was not Adam & Eve, that was day 6. Midnight sun happened! Good to see You again! What took you so long? With sun all night we really hoped on some serious caddis hatches and stayed up waiting. And waiting. Nope, that was definitely not Litza's plan that last night of ours. Around 4 we went to bed for a "little nap" before departure.
 |
 |
Dream Pool Litza - water temperature 12C |
||||||
Date |
1 - 2 kg |
2 - 3 kg |
3 - 4 kg |
4 - 5 kg |
5 - 6 kg |
> 6 kg |
11.07 |
7 |
4 |
|
|
|
|
12.07 |
16 |
3 |
1 |
|
|
|
13.07 |
5 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
Total |
28 |
9 |
1 |
|
|
|
Our total catch during the trip was 146 fish above 1,0 kg. We caught around 25 smaller ones and 5 pikes. A couple of the fish we caught had almost got half of their backs bitten of by pike. It's a tough life living in the tundra, they where still rising for drifting mayflies as their time where running out. All in all we are a very satisfied group, already looking forward to our next trip to these great rivers.
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Top 5 flies during our trip:
| 1: | Cdc Caddis | Natural brown cdc and a version with black body and an extra green cdc underwing. |
| 2: | Super pupa | Size 10 & 12. Green/Dark Olive worked well. |
| 3: | Parachute Mayfly (sulphur) | Yellow and light olive parachutes fished well in size 12. |
| 4: | Caddis Pupa | Green caddis pupas, fished with hand twist in front of fish did the trick many times. |
| 5: | Kola Killer (wooly bugger) | A classic for rough weather, fished good between hatches. |
The Kharlovka Report: Week 27B – Mystic Pool Litza - Big Trout Kharlovka, ended Friday 06-Jul-07.
It wasn’t exactly a normal week on the upper Litza and Kharlovka. But then again, what – apart from big trout - is normal on the tundra?
Six hours before take-off from Arlanda. I’m checking the weather forecast. It was excellent 4 hours ago. Now it’s a different story. Northern winds, fog, rain and generally low temperatures. Not exactly what dry-fly dreams are made of.
The group is composed of Tore Silseth, Harald Bjerke Kristiansen, Dag Rune Rensmoen, Dag Rensmoen, Peter Wulf, tundra-veteran extraordinaire and token swede, and yours truly. Peter has more tundra experience than anyone I know of. Dag Rune has one week under his wading-belt. Tore, Dag and Harald have never been to Kola before, but they have done their share of fishing in the north of Norway.
After an uneventful flight we land at Murmansk Airport. Viktor and Yuri meet us. Yuri gives us the best news imaginable. The hatches started 2-3 days ago. I tell the rest of the group with wall-to-wall grinning as the result.
The ride to Tommani feels shorter than usual. I never once touch my book as we talk about our expectations for our fishing adventure. The cloud-cover is exceptionally low in some areas. I keep my worries to myself, only getting a telling glance and shake of the head from Peter as we drive through areas where the cloud cover is clearly below us. The group seems to be mixing nicely. No sense of friction at all.
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After a few minutes wait at Tomani we hear it. The big MI-8 comes flying shortly thereafter and only a few caps are blown off inexperienced heads. As the helicopter descends above Rynda Camp I am amazed again by the operation Peter is running up here. One thing is shuttling a few troutbums out on the tundra, another is coordinating all the salmon rods on The Rynda, Kharlovka and Litza, conserving and securing the wild fish populations from poachers, all the while making sure that our impact on the arctic environment is minimal.
No go. The helicopter cannot take us out. So we erect our tents near the heli pad, and pass the hours by getting to know each other over a beer or three. Even the odd bottle of vodka gets delivered to us by the hospitable staff at Rynda. There’s much worse places to be stranded we conclude, and tomorrow morning we will surely be at Mystic Pool.
I wake up in good time for breakfast. The cloud cover is the same. Some of the others are up, some heads sorer than others. We wait. Around noon Volodya offers to fly us to a lake nearby. I stay in camp with Peter to keep up to date on the weather. The cloud cover is still thick. Peter and I have been watching it rise and fall continuously, getting more and more convinced there will be no flying today either. Just as Peter and I decided to go up to The Rynda Cross to see if we could arrange some divine intervention, Volodya comes running. “We’re going now!”
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The rest of the guys are picked up from the lake, where they had some fun fishing, the MI-8 is packed and around 17.00 we are airborne. As we fly towards the interior of the ASR we can see more and ground beneath us. As we approach Litza, we see the sun. What a feeling. The guys are all grins.
MYSTIC POOL, LITZA: 13 C water temperature. Air temperature 8-16 C.
We land a bit further downstream than last year’s camp at Mystic Pool. This camp is a lot better. I give in to the urge to check out the river before I erect my tent, and the first thing I see is a heavy drift of small mayflies. Then I see the first rise, a slow head-and-wave-of-the-tail rise, the kind of rise that will stay with you through a long Scandinavian winter.
With the camp in order we hit the river. Peter and Harald gets the topmost neck, Dag and Dag Rune the pools below it, while Tore and I try our luck in the pool below the rapids. Harald with Peter as his eminent guide for the evening quickly gets a new personal best with a beautiful Litza trout at 2.1kg. The Dags catch quite a few up to 2.6kg.
Tore rigs his camera, I throw a high back cast over the birches behind Alf’s Rock, and miraculously hook up with a trout instead of a tree. First fish, 2.4kg. Litza delivers. 10 minutes later Tore hooks another in exactly the same place.
The first day is excellent. Lots of trout rising to the mayflies at daytime, then at night, the caddis gets going. The delay is soon forgotten.
The fishing continues in style. Even during the worst weather the bugs are on the water. Several fish around 3kgs are landed. I catch a 3.4kg hen on a size 16 parachute.
One morning as I pull in the thermometer a giant pike attacks it. Next time we’ll attach a hook to it…
We caught approx. 60 trout over 1kg in Litza. Big ones: 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.2 3.4. Average weight approx. 1.8kg
BIG TROUT, KHARLOVKA. 11.5 C water temperature. Air temperature 6-15 C.
So we sort the boats, and soon Dag Rune is in contact with a real lunker. Of course it goes downstream with him stuck on a small island. It all ends well, Dag Rune lands a gorgeous fatty at 3.7kg and 62 cm, the biggest fish of the week. And not the first time the dynamic duo has to jump in the dingy to follow a trout.
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As we arrive we see several big fish rising lazily. Tore manages to net a couple of good ones, but I have one of those days where nothing works. Seven takes and not one hooked properly! After a period of sulking, prayers to the trout-gods, and lunch, I finally get my act together and start catching up with Tore. It all comes together with an amazing run up- and downstream by a lovely 3.4kg trout. Soon after Tore gets to run downstream before we net a 3.2kg trout in a large eddy. The caddis hatch has intensified and we see more and more big fish on the neck.
Harald is grinning as we come back. After struggling a bit, he landed 3 trout with an average weight of 2.3kg in quick succession. Mission accomplished in Big Trout as well.
As we wait for the helicopter, which as you might have guessed by now, is delayed by fog, Tore hooks a real one. Unfortunately it breaks him off at the backing. We search for the line for as long as we can, but the helicopter is near, and we have to give up.
Two days in Big Trout, and six troutnuts have had more big fish action than most get in a lifetime. We caught around 40 trout over 1kg, the average weight was well over 2kg. Big Ones: Several fish around 3kg, with two at respectively 3.4kg and 3.7kg at the top.
Top flies: small dry or emerging mayfly patterns like CDC-Comparaduns or floating nymphs, Streaking Caddis, Elk-hair Caddis, Europea 12, Glitzpupa, Goddard’s Caddis, Klinkhåmer Special and variants thereof.
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It was a great pleasure to fish with this group, and I really hope we can repeat it. It felt like we had and gave each other enough space. There is some space to share on the Tundra after all… And next time we’ll glue Tore’s backing knot with Aquasure…
Vegard