Where to fish in the summer of 2010? Our initial idea was to spend two weeks fishing in the northern rivers
of Norway. All that changed when I found a great deal offering amazing fishing in Russia. A week from that,
I booked a trip for me and my friend.
On August 9th me and my good friend Miksu arrived to Inari after a week of fishing in Finnmark. It was time to start our voyage to mother Russia in search of the ultimate trout fishing in the world. Our destination was Varzinas subsidiary Penka and the newly established tent camp in the middle of nowhere.
We met four other finish anglers who would give us a ride to Lovozero where all of us would jump in to a chopper. The trip from Ivalo to Lovozero wasn’t that pleasant as the roads were in terrible condition but we
made through the customs and the long drive on the bumpy roads of northern Russia.
In Lovorezo we set up our tent in front of the deteriorating airport gate and went to sleep excitedly waiting for the chopper ride to the river. The next morning started in a poor note as the weather was no good for helicopter flying. We did try to get to the river but the sea mist was so bad that even when we arrived to
our campsite we could not land because the pilot was not able to see the landing spot. And let me tell that
in between the mountains you really do hope the pilot can see where he is flying and landing. So after three hours of pointless flying around we were forced to return to the airport and wait until the next day to try the flight again. This of course was poor news to a couple on the passengers who were suffering with a bad case of flight fear.
Wednesday morning begun with the same poor weather as there was only a little bit less mist. We waited the whole day for the flight that never came and were forced to spend one more night in Lovozero.
Thursday morning saw the mist finally clearing a bit and mid day we were able to backup the heli again and fly to our camp site. The flight fear of our two friends was not in any way diminished by the comment from our guide who in monotone voice stated “Welcome to the flight to hell in the middle of nowhere”. But this time the weather gave in when we got closer to the river and the flight went smoothly. We landed next to a beautiful mountain lake which was one the three bigger lakes which provide their waters to river Penka. As you can imagine after almost two days of waiting the tents rose fairly quickly and after some lunch we were of to the almost never before fished river Penka.
Our group of six divided in two as myself and Miksu headed down stream and the other guys went up stream. The first night we just fished the waters close to camp and were only able to land smaller trouts. The biggest fish that day was a big pike caught by our senior member.
After the first night and poor catch we reviewed our flies and came to the inclusion that the best results were on black thin streamers and silver surfboards. Me and Miksu tied black steamers to the end of our lines and head up the river in the chilly morning. The black streamers started working immediately and we were at last catching some nice sized trout. Nice size in Penka means over 50cm and under 65cm. We did though get to hold a couple real monsters that day but the fish won all the battles.
First three days of fishing the weather stayed nice on warm with mild winds but on the fourth this all changed to the worst in our case. A high pressure wave kicked in and the temperature dropped fast to almost zero. We knew the weather could be tricky this time of the year but I have to admit that I could
have never guessed that it could be +20c one day and snowing the next. That just shows you that when you’re going that far north you have to be prepared for anything. The cold weather didn’t really affect the fishing and we still caught some really nice trout. The biggest problem was when the air cooled the ground winds really picked up and were sometimes blowing with the force of 15 to 20 meters per second. This made fly casting a bit tricky as you were forced to cast downwind all the time or just wait the Puuska out.
Never the less we fished all day everyday. The last day was the only day when the fishing was really bad. Hard wind and the rising cold front scared the fishes somewhere and we no able to really catch anything that day. So we pretty much sat in our cooking tent eating our last food supplies and drinking “Tsaikka” or as it is better known Tea. The wait for the heli to arrive was a drag and yet again the mist played its part on our way back by delaying the flight by a day. Bad thing was that even though we were stranded on the beach of one of the best trout rivers in the world we could not go far from the camp because we had no idea when the heli would arrive. When it did at last arrive the flight back was fast and intense because of the monster winds blowing through the tundra. I have to say that I was not too envy with the guys who jumped of the heli in our camp. A week in the tundra with terrible weather is not nice even if you are an over eager fly fisher like those guys seemed to be.
All in all the trip was a once in a life time trip. I have only great memories of the guys I spent the week with and the great fishing in northern Russia. The trip was an adventure with a lot of things not going as planed but everything worked itself out and the fishing was the main point of the trip anyways. I really do hope I get a chance to go back some day maybe to Penka or even better would be the main trout camp on River Varzina. This place in any case is the place where fishing legends are born.
