PPS Destinations Report
Ponoi River (Ryabaga Camp), Kola Peninsula, Russia
Date: July 2006
Reported by Dr. Ernst 'Ernie' Schmidt, Vancouver, BC, Canada
If someone had told me thirty years ago that I would be
traveling to Russia to go fly
fishing, I would have told them they they were simply 'nuts'. Be that as
it may, three intrepid colleagues - along with myself - traveled to this
far flung corner of the globe to see if this was really the home of the best
Atlantic salmon fishing in the world. Before I go on about all the
interesting details of this adventure, I think I should jump out and tell the
reader that our group enjoyed record-breaking fishing during our week, nearly
doubling the past record for the week of July 22 - 29! The operators of
the Ryabaga camp, Shackleton
International, maintain accurate statistics of camp catches over
the years. Prior to our year, the camp record for the week was 450 fish
for 14 anglers. A few weeks prior to our week, warmer weather was
responsible for a catch record of only 140 salmon among 16 anglers. At
less than half the price of that particular week, the weather for our week
cooled down to 'quality salmon fishing weather'. Our week? Well, my
partner Bob and I released over 140 salmon between us during 6 days of
fishing. Our best day was 40 to the boat. In total, among novices
and experts, our catch tally topped 750 fish for the 14 anglers! Let's
face it, every once in a while, it just has to come together. Read on for
the trip details of this exciting adventure.
Before traveling on to Murmansk for the final leg of our
journey to the camp, I arrived in Helsinki for 2 days of sightseeing and to make
sure that my baggage had plenty of time to catch up with me. Helsinki is a
pleasant town with very friendly people, most of whom speak perfectly good
English. As one local told me, 'If we didn't speak English, no one could
understand us'. That must surely be the case since I could not understand
a single word of conversation among the locals. The Finnish language is an
a class of its own. Getting back to the travel, we rendezvoused for
breakfast at the Kamp Hotel at 6:00am on the Saturday and were transported to
the Helsinki Airport where we caught our charter flight to Murmansk. Being
a group of less than 20 people, I had imagined a small twin-engine plane
or something of that nature. I did not expect to be taking the 2 hour
journey in a near-empty Airbus 310. Be that as it may, the 3 flight
attendants took excellent care of our small group. Our first glimpse of
Russia was the Murmansk air
port.
It was night and day compared to any other Western airport. In fact, I
would venture to say that the airport in Ulannbataar, Mongolia was far more
modern that that of Murmansk. From Murmansk, we all crammed into the
reliable MI-8 Russian helicopter for the 2 hour near-featureless flight over the
Kola Peninsula to our final destination, the Ryabaga Camp on the most productive
stretch of the Ponoi river.
Our accommodations were pleasant wall tents, each equipped
with a wood stove, sink, bookshelf, two cabinets and a sink. In case
you're wondering what I meant by my previous comment of 'quality salmon fishing
weather', I simply meant that the fish bite better when the conditions are less
than 8 
degrees Celsius and
overcast. On some of the days, our conditions were windy, rainy and 3 to
5C (under 40F), necessitating a nice wood fire to take the bite off the salmon
fisher's day. Amenities, such as toilets, showers, infirmary, meal tent,
office and other outpost buildings were scattered around the tent camp. In
order to access the famed 'Home Pool' or to get to the fishing boats, a short
five minute walk was required. If I had one criticism to make of this
camp, it was that I wish the toilets and shower house were located much closer
to the tents. Being a fishing trip, complete with excellent food and
copious fluids, it was a tad inconvenient to have to don shoes and walk 100
metres to the nearest toilet or 'long-drop' (aka outhouse) in the middle of the
'night'. Oh well, I guess that's the closest we could claim to 'roughing
it'. On a positive note, there was little difference between the light at
3am as at 3pm on a cloudy day. One of the benefits of being above the
Arctic Circle I guess.
Our fishing protocol consisted of a leisurely breakfast at
8:00AM followed by rendezvous with our designated guide at our camp. At
precisely 9:00AM, we departed in our boats to our designated beat and arrived at
camp by 6:00PM. There were four beats above and four beats below the camp,
each one being designated a
particular guide for that week. Guides were a very interesting mix of
personalities. The Head Guide, Max, along with about a third of the guides
were Russian, the remainder were from Sweden, Scotland, Trinidad and Tobago,
South Africa and Argentina. Generally, the boat would be anchored in a
metre of water and a long rope would be let out so that we could cover the run
effectively. Using two-handed rods, we would cast perpendicular to the
boat and let the fly swing until it was completely downstream of the boat.
When fishing was hot, we would have takes as soon as the fly hit the water and
when it was slower, it would usually be at the end of the drift. Once the
fish was hooked, it usually helped matters by swimming up to the boat and then
doing its best to avoid being netted. Approximately 10% of fishing was
done by wading - simply because the majority of places were not conducive
to wading - and when a fish was hooked, I found the fight to be much better as
when fighting the fish from the boat. My theory was that the fish used the
boat as cover and to rest in the backdraught and did not understand the threat
of the boat. On the other hand, fish hooked from shore had not trouble
realizing the threat and fought much harder.
The
Ponoi River is much larger than I had anticipated. I think it would be
best to describe the river as being 50 to 100 metres in width, yet a fairly
shallow river, less than 2 metres in most places. During our week, which
was considered a 'shoulder' week between the two main runs, most fish had been
in the river for over a month and were definitely 'coloured'. Each day,
fresh fish were caught, but these were grilse ranging from 2 to 6 pounds at the
most. During my week, of the 70 salmon I released, I estimate that 70%
were grilse (anything under 8 pounds) and I boated four fish over 10
pounds. The largest caught during our week was 21 pounds and the second
largest, at 18 pounds, was caught by my partner, Bob Tacy of Sunnyvale
California. Every day, incidental catches of grayling and resident brown
trout - mostly in the 1 to 2 pound range - were caught while fishing for
salmon. In any event, I consider my tally fantastic considering that
this was only my second crack at Atlantic Salmon. Just for the record my
first experience, netted me 2 grilse of four pounds over 7 days of hard fishing.
While fishing on the river, the surrounding countryside was flat to hilly once you climbed the river bank. Very little wildlife was seen on the tundra other than a few birds. One of our members saw one Caribou and there was a report of a fox on one of the beats. In short, this is a pretty bleak landscape softened by the Russian birches, moss and lichen covered groundcover.
Aside from the reputation for amazing salmon fishing,
another benefit to the camp were the staff. Being outnumbered by more than
1.5 to 1 makes for an excellent situation. Attention to detail was
certainly evident and no request was unanswered. Food quality was another
highpoint of camp life. The American chef and his three Russian helpers
made sure that we had plenty of excellent food. I would rate the meals to
be on par with a four star restaurant. Special mention were some of the
desserts as well as some of the appetizers and main course. Of note, one
day featured a smoked/glazed portion of Atlantic Salmon (Hmm, wonder where that
came from?) which was remarked upon by practically ever guest at the
table. At first, I could not understand how such a delicious course could
be served without any
vegetables or accompaniments. It was so good, I had another piece (trust
me, I wasn't alone here). Imagine my amazement when I found out that it
was just a starter and full meal was yet to be served. I did not want to
'offend' the chef and quietly ate another sizeable portion of the delicious main
course. The second noteworthy appetizer was King Crab. Personally, I
have never seen a crab this large. The forearm of the beast on my plate
overlapped my plate. After removing 90% of the meat from this portion, I
felt that I was looking at a piece of flesh the size of a small adult's
forearm. Again, taking one for the team, I sucked it up and ate my fair
share of the rack of lamb which was the actual main course. In short,
dieting is not an option when visiting this camp.
Before I knew it, the week had flown by - just as my Spey casting was becoming acceptable - and it was time to fly home. Due to inclement weather in Murmansk, our helicopter took off with a one-hour delay causing me to miss my connection and spend another day in Helsinki. In short, be prepared for anything when traveling to this climate. On another note, two of my fellow guests were in it for a two week stint. David, the Scotsman spent both weeks at the Ponoi Camp whereas Richard, the Englishman, spent the second week at the sister camp on the Yokanga River. Upon returning home, he reported to me that they also had a spectacular week. Horrendous wading on faster waters, produced 40 fish up to 25 pounds for himself. Larger were hooked but not landed. It seems that whatever factors were in place, were probably affecting all the rivers on the Peninsula.
For Adventure travelers looking for what has been described as the most 'bullet-proof' Atlantic salmon fishing on the globe, the Ryabaga camp is known as occupying the best waters on the river system. Ryabaga is booked by Frontiers International and prices vary depending on the time of booking. Peak runs command 10K per week yet space is generally not available to the newcomer.
If you, the reader have any questions, please feel free to contact me at pps@shaw.ca or call Mollie at Frontiers International