PPS Destinations Report 

KAMCHATKA, RUSSIA, 2006

Date:        August  2006

 Reported by Dr. Brian Griffith, DDS, New Jersey, USA

Each time I go to Russia the travel times get longer but the fishing gets better.  This year, due to the unforeseen bankruptcy of Magadan Airlines in June, the entire season was put in jeopardy.  After what seemed like a thousand phone calls to The Fly Shop an abbreviated season was cobbled together, however it did require flying through Moscow as opposed to the normal route through Anchorage.  The end result was a marathon few days of travel that was worth every minute spent in a plane or airport.

 I departed from Newark via KLM to Amsterdam then onto Moscow.  Due to close connections and my past experiences with Russian immigrations I opted to spend a night in the newly dubbed “most expensive city in the world”.  Its reputation is not undeserved as every service I used certainly rivalled or exceeded the cost in New York City.  I only had the afternoon of my arrival but got a chance to walk through Red Square and see St. Basil’s Cathedral, Lenin’s Tomb, and the Kremlin.  All were quite impressive (although Lenin looked a bit like a badly preserved onion) and were interesting considering how we all grew up with images of the Red Army marching through the square.

The next afternoon and night was spent on an eight and a half hour flight across the breadth of Russia.  It is truly mind boggling how large this country is.  Landing in Petropavlovsk we were met by Sasha Polunin, the face and English voice of IKS Outfitters.  Due to poor weather and needing to wait for the arrival of two more fisherman we spent the afternoon and evening in PK.  This was more than enough time to see all there is to see in the city.  The night was spent in a clean but Spartan hotel and provided some much needed sleep.

Our companions arrived the next morning and with the weather still bad we began the bus ride to the interior village of Esso.  After a flat tire and a broken front spring we were transferred to a helicopter near the midway town of Milkova.  The landing field was a pasture but little deters the Russian helicopter pilots. Fortunately it did save us another four hours of a very bumpy dirt road.  A quick refuelling stop in Esso and before nightfall we were dropped on the tundra next to the Takhaya River.

The Takhaya, which translates as calm, had never been fly fished before.  This was one of several exploratory trips set up by The Fly Shop to see if more rivers can be put into the rotation to allow some “time off” for the rivers already in use.  It is my belief these rivers are rather fragile fisheries and need less pressure to survive long term.  The Fly Shop provided excellent camping gear such as brand new MSR tents and camp was established quickly.  Dinner was prepared by our camp cook, Zhenia, in no time and we were all asleep quickly.

Morning broke and while breakfast was being prepared two of us opted for some fishing.  It did not take long to produce several rainbows, dolly vardens, kundzhas, and Cohoes.  The river at the start point was perhaps 60 to 75 feet across with a slow to moderate flow.  Too deep to wade across at this point there was a small tributary or side channel just downstream from camp that provided easier wading and good fishing.  Within less than 45 minutes we had caught a dozen or more fish on streamers and mouse patterns.

The first morning’s schedule was repeated throughout the week.  Those who got early would fish until breakfast was ready (one morning I caught 30 rainbows before breakfast), we would eat a very hearty meal, take down camp, and get on the river by 10.  The Takhaya was a beautiful small to midsize river for the first three days with ample structure and side channels.  In my experience the side channels held the larger fish although they were not as numerous as the main channel.  The fish in the main channel were keyed into salmon and egg-sucking leeches or flesh flies provided excellent action.  I personally prefer using a mouse pattern in Kamchatka and still had more than enough fish to deal with.  During the third day a couple of large tributaries entered the Takhaya and it grew to a rather good-sized river.  Structure was a little more difficult to find but anywhere you found a string of salmon there would be a lot of trout.

The numbers of rainbows were impressive.  Both of my fishing companions, Ted McVay and Rick Warren, and I experienced at least a couple of hundred fish days.  We estimated the three of us landed 1300-1400 trout in the course of the five-day float.  We all landed several Cohoes and a good number of kundzha and dollys.  The latter three species did diminish in number as we floated downstream.  The trout were not as large as I have found on other Kamchatka rivers.  Most were in the 14-17 inch range. That week I landed 5 trout that surpassed the 20” mark I have marked on my rod.  All these were caught in side channels.

I used a six weight Winston all week but a four or five weight would have been sufficient except for the possibility of a silver salmon taking your fly.  Almost exclusively I used a Moorish mouse, Mercer’s lemming, or a McGinnis extra stout streamer (in the early morning) on a floating line.  My companions did use sink tips and experienced equally good action.

The guiding was excellent and as stated earlier the camping equipment and rafts were top notch.  The one jet boat motor we had was a little problematic and required a little better upkeep and preparation before the season which would have eliminated some streamside maintenance and repair.

The biggest surprise of the trip was the presence of local poachers.  We saw three boats pass us and one group shot and killed a bear just downstream from one camp we made.  We found the carcass the following day.  The final night on the river one group stopped and gave our camp a quick look over at 1 in the morning.  That was a little disturbing although nothing was touched or disturbed.

The transfer from the Takhaya to the Pirozhnikova was classic Russian.  The chopper was totally stuffed with gear and people and after 15 minutes of trying to gain enough lift off the gravel bar we were on the pilot decided to offload 8 of us, fly to a nearby field, offload the remaining people there, come back, pick us up, return to the field, load everyone aboard, and with a running start got enough lift to get airborne. 

I fished the Piozhnikova last season and knew what I was in for.  The new camp was quite an improvement over last year’s version and featured hot showers, a drying room, comfortable yurts with hard floors and cots, and a cook/dining hall.  There were even two flush toilets!  It was a pleasant step up in comfort after a week of sleeping on the ground.

The fishing program was the same as every one I have encountered in Russian camps.  Wake at about 7, breakfast about 8, and on the river about 9.  We would fish two to a raft and depending on the day’s destination the boat time could be anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour.  Fish until about 1-2, stop for lunch, fish until 7, back to camp for dinner at 8, campfire and cocktails until the wee hours.  While the camp was everything you could ask for in a wilderness setting-we even had a generator to recharge batteries and provide lights, the food was less than excellent.  There was always enough to eat and certainly no one went hungry but the quality was a little low even by Russian standards.

The guiding was superb and the two Russian guides, Vladimir and Slawa, as well as the American guide, Mike VanWormer, have been staples on the rivers of Kamchatka for years.  The fishing was off the charts.  The first day on the river I landed over 150 fish with an average size of 18-19 inches and 32 over 20 inches.  For the most part I used a mouse pattern and fished flats and riverbanks.  It was a little early on this river but everyone caught a Coho or two and the dollys and kundzha were numerous.

Even on the slowest day 50 fish are commonplace.  The lower river is a big river and offers more space although there are several small side channels that I found to be wonderful changes of pace.  The upper river is significantly smaller and often quite wooded.  The casting is a bit more challenging due to the brush and tighter quarters.  The number of fish is not nearly as high as the lower river but the fish are slightly larger in my estimation.

The Pirozhnikova has two main tributaries.  The lower one appears to have everything a trout could want but for some reason does not fish very well.  The same thing occurred last year so I assume there is some reason for the fewer fish although I don’t know what it might be.  The upper tributary is quite a different story.  It is in my opinion the perfect trout stream.  Anywhere from15 to 25 yards wide it is fairly easy to wade.  The amount of structure and side channels are amazing and the fish are both numerous and large.  An average day would be anywhere from 60 –75 fish and the average size is an honest 20-21 inches.  For some reason you simply do not catch small trout here.  Many of the fish are almost cookie cutter models 20 inches long and fat.  On my final day, which was spent further up the tributary than any previous exploration, well over half the fish were 20 inches long and I landed five fish in excess of 25 inches.  The largest was 27 inches and one of my fishing companions landed a 28-inch rainbow.  Once again, all these fish were landed on a mouse pattern or a Mormon cricket.  There should be a law against having that much fun.  This duplicated last year’s fishing so I am positive it is not a fluke.

The Fly Shop in Redding, California is to be commended for all of their efforts to make this trip happen despite Magadan’s demise.  Only 53 weeklong trips were actually taken this year (perhaps 25-30 fisherman) so despite not truly being profitable Mike Michalak and his staff did an incredible job of working out the logistics for so few people.  In addition they provided excellent advice on staying in Moscow.  Of the people who could not go this year The Fly Shop rolled their trips over to next year, put them on different trips this season, or aided them in filing insurance claims.  As Mike Michalak stated in an Angling Report article they saw to it that all their clients were made whole. I simply cannot say enough about their performance.  I have used them several times in the past and after this year would not use anyone else for any of the destinations they offer. 

Kamchatka simply has to be experienced to be appreciated. Prior to this trip I had figured I was done traveling to Kamchatka because I had been there three times and there are still a lot of places I do want to fish.  When I returned my wife asked me if I was done with Russia.  I had to answer that I was not.

The cost of the exploratory trip for 2006 was $4200 and for the Pirozhnikova was $4900.  It was worth every penny.  The Fly Shop can be reached at 1 800 669-FISH.

Anyone interested in more information can feel free to contact me, Brian Griffith,  at traydog@enter.net.