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
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
LIFE AT RYNDARynda diary for week beginning Saturday 21-June  Saturday and the MI-8 arrived with a mixed group of Rynda veterans and a few new faces sprinkled in between. Upon arrival, the first thing you do is go past the cabins and check out the river. We all like to know what height the river is running so that we can work out exactly what method to begin fishing with on the first afternoon. Neither web report nor word of mouth could have prepared our group for what they met when stepping off the MI-8. Yes, the Rynda was a formidable sight earlier this week and we don’t think anyone has ever seen it this high so late in the season. Most waxed lyrical, others simply didn’t know what to say. Fortunately everyone came well prepared and most brought with them an array of shooting heads, Skagit lines and J.T’s heavy stuff! The combination of this season’s late run of fish and unseasonably high water has had far reaching implications. What is particularly interesting to note, is how this paradigm shift has affected the big picture. Speaking to Nikitin down at Rynda village, it has become evident that everything from the budding birch trees to the arrival of the summer migrants has been affected by the conditions of a remarkably late spring. Only in the past few days have the smaller birds begun to arrive. The reindeer too are only just trickling in and should have arrived in numbers at least 10 days past. Be it on land, at sea or in the air, when one considers the greater scheme of things, it becomes quite obvious how acutely tuned into the environment all the beasts and bugs actually are. In nature, everything is exquisitely poised in equilibrium. The shifting of a single element could tip the scales this way or that. Some years will be early as others will be late. Rest assured that those of you fishing later this season will have a story or two to tell.
Fortunately, with the arrival of each successive tide, promising numbers of salmon appear to be building up in the lower parts of the system. Nikitin reports healthy numbers of fish in the estuary, although many of them appear to be moving both in and out of the estuary with the shifting of each tide. Perhaps the height of the rapids above sea-pool is the triggering mechanism to encouraging fish to enter the system. When the water temperature is low (below 8 degrees Celsius) and the flow regime high, the hydrology of the Rynda does not facilitate easy access of the 1 and 2 MSW salmon to the upper reaches. With the air temperature peaking at a very summery 27 degrees Celsius on Wednesday the water temperature escalated into the double fingers and so we have a rather unique set of circumstances; the water is unseasonably high yet the water temperature is now more or less what is should be at this time of year. The consequences of the conditions is that we suspect the larger fish are now well spread throughout the system. The first fresh fish was caught at the Fan pool on Thursday and several above Home Pool falls on Friday. We suspect someone will have a bonanza up at 3rd waterfall over the next few days. Given the nature of the upper reaches, the fish found in the upper parts now covered with almost twice the depth of water. Pools where large early running fish are likely to be found such as 2nd and 3rd Waterfall, will no doubt require specialist tactics such as depth charges and any other deep water explosive devices you can think of. Well maybe not quite but something ‘along the lines’ of 500-600 grain shooting heads might do the trick. It’s not so much a matter of finding these fish but rather getting the fly down to them in a presentable manner which is the trick. Our early season spring gurus seem to have mastered this technique which seems to extricate fish from any lie regardless of the depth. For those fishing the fall pools, these deep water tactics will only be required for another day or two as the river is now dropping consistently and we anticipate a significant drop in water levels over the following week and so hopefully by week 28 conditions should warrant ‘normal’ summer tactics on the upper river. However, as you are all too aware, faced with an arctic front, water temperatures have been known to plummet within a considerably short space of time. This is as a result of the hydrology of the upper catchment which consists of a number of relatively shallow interlinked lakes. The great surface area provided by the lakes facilitates both warming and cooling of the Rynda’s water temperature. It is not uncommon that while the air temperature of the lower Rynda – where we fish - may be well below that of the river, yet the water temperature continues to rise regardless. Here at Rynda, downstream of the lake systems, we seem to be affected by coastal weather while inland blue skies and sunshine predominate over the head waters. Thus, the Rynda has a unique system which produces conditions quite different to many of the other northern flowing rivers on this part of the peninsula.
Last weekend heralded the arrival of stable weather and with it, glorious sunshine and comfortably warm southern latitude breezes. The tundra has come alive at last and over night the birch buds exploded into a whorl of greens and olives. Not long after my final words of ‘Bombers and bug dope’ were finally ‘penned’ into last week’s escapades of Life at Rynda, - much to our shock - the first blood sucking members of the chironomid family were spotted. So do bring all the necessary anti-bug paraphernalia, attire and repellent required to keep you fishing. If this warm weather persists, it won’t be long before the first clouds appear, but we do hope that – along with all the other fur and fin – the first serious hatches will be delayed. Speaking of bombers, Jim – bomber Jim to many – managed to raise several good fish to bombers throughout the week, although one has yet to be hooked and successfully landed on dry fly, no doubt it won’t be long. According to Jim, while fishing upper home, he managed to raise a fish 6 times to the surface, yet it just wouldn’t eat the dry fly. Jim kindly offered the now very excited fish to someone else willing to employ ‘non -purest’ tactics. Needless to say it was immediately hooked on a single spey fly. On that note, several great fish were taken on riffle tubes and hitched Sunray’s. Yesterday, fishing the right channel of 10 Islands, Tom’s sunray disappeared into a huge swirl and for a moment all seemed well… the line went taught, the reel began to turn over… and then that sickening feeling of the fly and fish parting ways. And so it was not to be and all that remains is the vivid memory of a giant silver flank disappearing into the depths. See you next year Tom!
Despite the volume of water, the rising temperature has encouraged fish to rise freely and the surface action has finally begun. In the quieter flows of Rock and 10 Islands, number 6’s and 8’s fished just below the surface seem to taking a fair number of fish, and some rods successfully employed full summer tactics throughout the week. However, the majority of this week’s fish fell to small conehead and templedog style tubes fished either on intermediate or slow sink tips. Although saying this, there may be a few pools which might require a touch of the heavier stuff. Based on the rate of drop over the last 2 days, a full floater matched with small doubles will soon be the order of the day. On the Zolotaya, the nature of its shallow runs and clearer water seem to favour this method long before the Rynda and most fish have been caught close to the surface. Conditions on the Zolotaya could be described as near to perfect as it gets and quite ideal for those of you who enjoy dibbling, skating, riffling and drifting stuff up top. A few more days of these warm southerlies and the Rynda won’t be far behind.  For those of you lucky few about to embark on your Tundran sojourn, don’t forget your sun-cream, bug repellent, bombers and skating tubes to boot. We look forward to seeing you all soon. Keep watching this space! Yuri Rynda diary for week beginning Saturday 14-June -08  This spring has to go down as one of the coldest on record. The repercussions of last week’s wintry conditions were far reaching. The melting of the thick ice on the lakes and vast snow banks along the river catchment was considerably delayed and spring only really arrived a few days past. With arrival of the Tryon and Douglas-Miller party the fickle scale of balance tipped in our favour, or so we thought. Dear Mother Nature began to flirt with us once again and through the undulations of her billowing skirts of relentless arctic squalls, we glimpsed a rare sight of blue skies, sunshine and glorious warmth! For the first time in weeks, the temperature rose into the double figures. The mood in camp became infectious, fervors and anticipation difficult to contain. However, the big question still remained. How would the sudden rise in temperature affect the river? With the lake ice over half a meter thick in places and cavernous snow banks throughout the catchment, the answer warranted little discussion.
Monday morning a welcome southerly breeze known in many parts as the Chinook winds or ice eater, took its toll and the river began to steadily rise. Despite the ice sheets subduing the warming process, we saw a significant rise in water temperature and by Wednesday it peaked at 6.1 deg C. To give you an idea of temperature anomalies, it has been 42 % colder and the river level 56 % higher than it was last year. On Sunday everything looked set in motion for a steady fall from a considerable spate at the onset of last week. In spite of this, the sudden change from a Baltic northerly to a very summery southerly changed all that in a matter of hours. The week began at 1.18 m and steadily rose to a raging torrent of 1.5 m! Rock Island became known as Rockless Island and I think 10 Islands lost a few of its brethren as well. The significant rise in water level saw the left bank of sea-pool featuring once again. There are very few – if any – records of fish being caught on the left bank of sea-pool at this time of year but this week proved quite the contrary. Fresh off the MI-8, Susan, Byron and Martin were whisked off to Five Pools for their first afternoon sojourn. Within minutes of Sasha setting them down at Rupert’s Pool, Susan’s conehead Willie Gunn did the trick and accounted for her personal best – a lovely 20 pound Osenka. Martin and Byron were not far behind with two great fish taken further downstream. A great start by any standards.
Unfortunately lady luck was not on our side for the remainder of the week as high river levels made fishing conditions exceptionally testing indeed. Shunned by Mother Nature yet once again, the scales of fortune swayed against us. The Rynda continued to rise steadily, peaking at 1.5 m (0.68 m last year) and showed little sign of receding. Hats off and heads bowed to all of you, who - in the face of the most testing conditions on record – simply toiled on until the final hour. As someone pertinently pointed out - “Sometimes you eat bear and sometimes the bear eats you!” And yes there will always be days when salmon play no part in the proceedings of a day that is devoted to their pursuit. Such is the nature of salmon fishing.
Thankfully, the warm southerly did raise the water temperature a few notches and fish began to nose their way into upper home pool despite the falls making the falls almost unfishable. Robbie – aka cormorant – fishing a Snaelda ‘big boy’ in the depths of the raging torrents of upper home pool, hooked a lively 20 pounder emptying the reel in a matter of seconds. Just as the drum of the large Loop began to look a little anorexic for Robbie’s liking, the fish turned and the prospects of being reunited with his fly-line vastly improved. After several sensational runs, a sea-liced bar of silver was netted along side the Banya (Russian Sauna). During the early part of the week, Sea-pool accounted for its fair share of silver but as the week wore on, the beats closer to home began to produce the goods despite cool water temperatures and a rising river. Flooding certainly put a damper on the Zolotaya although several good fish were landed towards the end of the week. Henry landed his personal best – a silver bar of no less than 20 pounds. Yesterday, Hugo played out of his boots landing a brace of 20’s from Home pool and Rock Island respectively. The latter, was hooked at the top of the left bank of the Rock island beat and very quickly got the upper hand, entering the rapids below lonely island. A combination of judicious rod handling and dexterous foot work, culminated in a successful ending just short of 10 islands – a noteworthy feat accomplished by very few indeed!
When nature calls, the inconvenience of waders is indisputable and the rigmarole of having to unzip, unclip and peel away several layers has been experienced by all of us. The uncanny thing is, it always seems to happen at the precise moment when one is about to reach the hot spot of the pool. Yesterday, Anthony’s experience was no exception. The guide was promptly told to have a cast or two and yes the inevitable occurred, resulting in guest Anthony netting a 19 pounder for guide Jenya. That is salmon fishing for you! Although the prospects are looking good for the weeks to come, we do think that bombers and bug spray may have a week or two to come but up here in the far north the balance could sway either way and so come with flies big and small. The water temperature has just reached 7 degrees and Rock Island seems to have reappeared. With a fairly reasonable weather forecast – not that we pay any attention to them – our prospects at Rynda have suddenly become a whole lot brighter. Watch this space!  Yuri
Rynda diary for week ending Friday 13-June -08  Clichés in Fly-fishing as in everything else exist as they have some basis – no matter how remote – and despite the nature of where we fish – they are there, it is fact. Salmon fishing has its fair share of them; they show up here and there in various publications and other piscatorial literature. Hopefully in time - as with the nature of our pursuit – literature will evolve – they will die on the simply grounds that they bore us! However, there are some things that will never change and they are another matter entirely. The difference is that, they will remain timeless because of their fundamental realness and it is this which bears the weight of repeated telling. Whatever your passion or interest in life is, there are some things that you will discuss, page through, read, admire, contemplate and live through many times without your zest ever running thin. Here at Rynda, we marvel at the awesome beauty of one of the last remaining wilderness areas, angling takes on new perspectives. Perhaps for you it may be the delight of witnessing a large early season Springer porpoising into the tail of a pool and the anticipation which follows, the bow-wave behind a sunray shadow before the line goes tight, the seasons first salmon on an upstream dry-fly; while for others its that rare sighting of a wolverine or observing the idiosyncrasies of lemmings; experiencing the changing seasons – the greening of the birch buds or the arrival of the migratory birds, and finally for some, it’s merely the contemplative nature and philosophy of why we fish. The forces of nature – be it the arrival of spring or a river in flood; our experiences while fishing, the first fish of the season or the experience of a large fish lost, are as close as life gets to basic reality. These things are the cycle of life and reality. They can never be clichés! These are the recurring themes of which we will never bore. Such, is the Rynda way of life.
Speaking of which, the arrival of a late spring or perhaps you could call it a prolonged winter has become – to say the least – a phenomenon not all too uncommon to those who call these northern shores home. In a way, it has indeed become a recurring theme and one which certainly affects all who live and work here, and undeniably, all who arrive in pursuit of Salmo the leaper. The season underfoot has been thus far, without question, no exception. Two weeks past, the general outlook – meteorologically speaking – was looking rather good. This week the weather – a truly wild and wonderful child of Mother Nature – has certainly showed us just how wild her true colours really are. The sheer vicissitude of recent conditions bears little resemblance to anything - we at Rynda - have on record. Well, I’m sure if we had to dig around in the PINRO archives, we might then discover that the winter of 1963 was so severe that people were still sledging the way to work in mid-July. However, if you consider the mere fact that we are – according to those exceptionally astute individuals who don protective goggles and white cloaks – supposedly experiencing a paradigm shift of ocean temperature anomalies, which is – in theory – caused by global warming – then the change in recent weather patterns may come as a bit of a surprise. Perhaps it affects both sides of the coin, causing winters to become milder in some parts of the world or in our case, behave like Mother Nature with a bad hangover, reminding us that winter ain't over until she says so. Statistical analysis of data recorded over the last decade, suggests that we are at least 2 weeks behind average conditions for this time of year. Last weeks temperatures ranged from very cold to - complete loss of humour / head for the comfort of the lodge in order to save appendages from falling off kind of weather. Even Kola was reluctant to shut down the generator lest someone freeze in their bed at night! Blizzards were commonplace with temperatures remaining just shy of freezing for the most part. There was much celebration and fervent discussion when the water temperature inched its way over the 2 degree mark – jokes aside!
Despite the extraordinary conditions which this week’s rods faced, equally, there are several exceptional accounts of large fish caught in even more exceptional conditions. That pretty little stream a few valleys over just never seems to let us down. At the beginning of the week the Rynda remained high and very cold and so it was presumed that an early start on the Zolotaya was certainly out of the question. Nevertheless, our two early season Zolotaya specialists remained deferential to their ploy - to fish the Zolotaya as early as possible regardless of the prevailing conditions. Monday morning saw Tony and Simon – more akin to pioneering mountaineers – hoping on the MI-2 for an early season exploratory sojourn to the golden river. High and very cold it might have been, but lifeless it was not. Much to everyone’s delight, they did it again! This time Simon connected with his dream, landing his personal best and breaking the revered 30 pound mark with a magnificent newly cast bar of silver tipping the scales to 31 pounds! The mere fact that both Simon and Tony landed fish that very cold Monday morning was beyond belief, but the tactics they employed were even more remarkable. Instead of the accepted methods for this time of year – big, bright and heavy – they decided to go down a path less traveled and use tactics more associated with mid- summer conditions! Prior to their departure to Zolotaya, Tony’s talk of greased leaders and hitching sunrays made for a lively breakfast debate! Off the radar he is, some thought! There were even jokes along the lines of “you might just as well try upstream dry-fly fishing while you’re at it!” All hats off to Tony who - in all fairness - stuck to his guns and after two snappy kelts, landed a lively 12 pounder in the most exemplary fashion. Apparently the fish erupted behind the fly, taking it on its way back into the water! It must be noted that the water temperature was a mere 1.5 degrees! The armchair specialists better get back to those books and re-think their so called spring fishing tactics! Perhaps these early season fish have a genetic predisposition to cooler water temperatures characteristic of northern latitudes at this time of year, facilitating higher metabolism, more activity and taking salmon in frigid water. Simon’s approach too – although not as extreme as riffle hitching a sunray shadow – raised several eyebrows, as he successfully landed three fish including a 31 pounder on no. 8 and 10 doubles! Their experience most certainly warrants further reflection on spring fishing methods and when best to employ them. It must be mentioned that the Zolotaya is slightly cooler and about a week behind the Rynda in terms of fishability. Yet this past week, the Zolotaya far outperformed its big brother both in size and number of fish caught. To be perfectly honest, it is quite exceptional when you consider the hydrology of this small almost spate-like stream. At this time of year, its tenacity, vigour and sheer determination which pay dividends. Bill – a steelhead veteran from across the big pond – was duly rewarded with a beautiful sea-liced 28 pounder! Well done Bill! What a great start to a new chapter in your fly-fishing career!
On Tuesday, while fishing down at Rynda’s Sea-pool, Way hooked into what he referred to as “the fish of his life!” According to Way, the fish always had the upper hand and never really gave Way a chance to gain control. After a few minutes of shoulder wrenching head shakes, the leviathan turned and fled seaward. Despite being equipped with a drag system which could probably stop a Clydesdale at full gallop, the giant’s efforts to return to the sea were not impeded. After much rock hopping and hot bank-side pursuit of his silver dream - now 300 yards between them - Way and fish sadly parted company. Quite nonchalant, Way summed it all up by saying: “It is moments like these which keep me coming back for more” I think Way speaks for all of us. Wednesday evening at lower home pool saw a gathering of both guests and staff as guides took part in a long distance casting contest, Skagit style. Way who happens to be a master casting instructor in several fly-casting disciplines, kindly offered to invigilate the proceedings. We were treated to a truly impressive display of tight loops and awe inspiring distances. If only we could all cast like that! The contest was very tight, with only a few feet in it. What guide Yura lacks in mass he surely made up for in distance and his 45 yard + cast into the wind raised huge cheers and much applause from the bank side revelers! Way and Peter F. kindly donated an array of prizes and nobody went home empty handed. This is surely to become an annual event. You’ll find the fishing at this time of year attracts two types of fisherman; the first type, the gung-ho spring – fishing-aficionado, who laughs in the face of adversity and loves to cast powerful rods with heavy lines. Huge voluminous tubes - more akin to Christmas tree decorations - adorn 50 pound leaders attached to rocket sinking shooting heads. They will cast relentlessly, even when the cold prevents normal body functioning, and speech –usually the first to fail - may become garbled and incomprehensible! And then there’s the second type, the eternal optimist who may ‘cast’ you a line or two from Thoreau. He seeks solace and relaxation while plumbing the essential nature and mystery of the icy spring waters of our Northern Rivers. Stalking lemmings, prolonged lunch breaks and solving world peace are just a few of their in-between casting activities. Although each type visits for different reasons, they both seem to catch just as many fish!  The water level is now at a perfect height for this time of year, the weather forecast for the next week has caused a few sighs of relief. As you all know these forecasts are rarely infallible and so for those of you about to embark on your Northern River adventure please come prepared for anything and everything, albeit leave the bug dope at home for another week or two! Until next week, it’s back to life at Rynda. Yuri
Rynda diary for week ending Friday 06-June -08 A New Season Underway…  The Rynda rises in the recesses of barren rock strewn tundra with little else other than lichens and caribou moss seepages. It slowly meanders its way through a series of lakes and inter-joining streams. Below char pool, the gentle almost pastoral nature abruptly changes course, transcending into a cacophony of rapids and canyon waterfalls. Further downstream staircases of rapids are linked between pools which vary in size and character. No pool is the same. Such is the nature of Rynda. After an unusually cold and late winter, the Rynda has burst to life. Not several days past, it lay subdued and sullen under the solid grip of the long arctic winter. Now, after a few days of warmth, all that has changed. Tolstoi, The Race, Home and lower Home Pool have all merged into one! The river can now be heard thundering its way past camp. Although most of the large ice-sheets have now gone, there are now countless icebergs floating about in the recesses of lower home pool. Hopefully most of these will have cleared over the next few days.
Conditions are particularly cold for this time of year and for the coming weeks it is well advised that you come well equipped for wintry conditions. Nature is constantly reminding us that winter wasn’t that long ago and so don’t hold back on the thermals! Fast sink tip, Skagit lines, and shooting heads will be the norm for the next few weeks. As many of you know, on any given day conditions can change drastically. Weather systems are much smaller and so the conditions at this time of year are extremely changeable. Come prepared for every eventuality. Gaudy voluminous temple dog style tubes will most certainly be the order of the day. The progression of Rynda’s new cabins is well ahead of schedule. Ivan and his team have done a sterling job, often working tirelessly long into the arctic nights. Yesterday, work continued through icy squalls and several flurries of snow. Today, arrivals imminent, Rynda’s new cabins are open for business.
On the piscatorial front, we welcome a new edition to the flat boat brigade and thankfully – for those of you who are familiar – the ‘Kirsk’ will remain on standby, hopefully for good! Yes, we have a brand new aluminum flat bottom boat which will facilitate the rotation of rods between the lower river beats. Stop Press! As I pen these ‘closing words’, the MI 2 brings great tidings of newly arrived bars of silver. Alex, with a bounce to his stride and a story in his smile, hopped merrily off the MI-2 and made it known that life was so good that he could eat a banana side ways! Thankfully for his sake we didn’t hold him to it. According to Alex, the inky depths of Sea-pool came alive with fish which suddenly appeared out of no where! As a result of the recent spring deluge, the right bank of Sea-pool became impossible to fish. It was then that their guide Yura suggested that they try the opposite bank instead. Under normal circumstances the left bank is almost never attempted and so Yura’s decision was an exception rather than the rule.
Between flurries of snow and large blocks of drifting ice both Way and Alex persevered. With the water temperature sub-one degree, their valiant efforts raised questions to many theories on the influence of temperature and when salmon will enter their fluvial domain. It turned out that both Alex and Way had several good pulls, with some fish hooked and several lost after short tussles. All in all, 9 fish were lost and three landed including Alex’s magnificent sea-liced 29 pounder! Well done to you both! Spring fishing is certainly not for the feint hearted. As my dear brother aptly sums it up; ":This is the kind of fishing that separates the fire-fighters from the flamenco dancers. It’s full on, inadvertent snot running, tear rolling, toe numbing, resolve breaking stuff.": This week was certainly no exception and our spring fishing aficionados were certainly pushed to their outer limits. Melting ice sheets sustained low water temperatures; rain, snow and polar squalls did little to help casting conditions and last and not least the general fishing morale, but our rods just battled on. Spring fishing is a casting petition into the unknown and the eternal wonder each day is: ":is there a salmon down there about to take my fly… is there a salmon down there at all?":  Well the ice has certainly been broken so to speak. We look forward to welcoming you all to Rynda in the weeks to come. Nostorovia! Yuri Click here for a nostalgic look at Rynda 2007
or telephone +44 (1865) 883063 Back to Top |
