|
|
Post by castlikeaghille on Jun 7, 2007 18:57:06 GMT
Excellent report...looking forward to the next installment
|
|
|
|
Post by robmason on Jun 7, 2007 20:10:07 GMT
Fantastic report Wilbert, thanks for sharing it with us. Cracking fish in very challenging conditions.
By the way, I love your wading jacket, where do I get one?!
|
|
|
|
Post by salmonking on Jun 7, 2007 20:47:29 GMT
What dreams are made of.....superb.
|
|
|
|
Post by wilbert on Jun 8, 2007 8:37:05 GMT
robmason the wading jacket is a Vision Gillie and is available at most tackle shops, they retail at £180 but no one pays retail these days. Contact Frank I am sure he will do you a deal.
|
|
|
|
Post by salar76 on Jun 8, 2007 9:16:24 GMT
Great report Dave! Couldn't have put it better myself  |
|
|
|
Post by tynespeycaster on Jun 8, 2007 12:28:35 GMT
Wilbert, great report, photos etc, well done!!
|
|
|
|
Post by stoater on Jun 8, 2007 16:22:21 GMT
Excellent. No other word. Getting closer and closer to fishing away from "home", well GB anyway.
|
|
|
|
Post by greenalert on Jun 8, 2007 16:55:36 GMT
Great report & photos
Would love to do that trip
What sort of cost does that come in at?
|
|
|
|
Post by hornet on Jun 8, 2007 19:20:58 GMT
Excellent report Dave, and superb pics. Ya lucky b, Hornet |
|
|
|
Post by robmason on Jun 8, 2007 19:21:32 GMT
robmason the wading jacket is a Vision Gillie and is available at most tackle shops, they retail at £180 but no one pays retail these days. Contact Frank I am sure he will do you a deal. Vision Gillie, shall look out for one in that colour  |
|
|
|
Post by carrick on Jun 8, 2007 23:11:10 GMT
Hi guys,
new to the forum and was hoping for some advise on fishing Kharlovka wk 30. first visit and would be grateful for any info.
cheers
|
|
|
|
Post by teal on Jun 9, 2007 14:46:19 GMT
Nice report Dave, wish i was still out there! Just about recovering from all the vodka now.
All the best,
Rhodri
|
|
|
|
Post by tynetraveller on Jun 11, 2007 10:46:49 GMT
Just back from the following week. The weather was still pretty cold and the water didn't go down much, with temperatures still at 4.4 degrees c on the last day, still below the magic five. Despite this, some fresh fish were coming in and there was a big run on lower Kharlovka on the last afternoon. We managed 51 fish between 13 rods, Mikael Frodin accounting for 14 of these.. The weather was shocking, with gale force winds making it nearly impossible to cast on several days, but there were a few nice days too. I picked up three fish, weighing 25 and 19, both sea-liced, and then the smallest fish if the week, a 6lb osenka. There were five thirties caught and half of the fish were over 20lbs. Overall, crap weather and amazing salmon in a truly wild place, shared with a great team of fun-loving people. I will be back end of July for the summer version!  |
|
|
|
Post by macd on Jun 11, 2007 11:53:45 GMT
great stuff dave, really enjoyed your report.
bonny fish simon
|
|
|
|
Post by tynetraveller on Jun 11, 2007 15:46:59 GMT
The gloves are to protect the fish from thermal burns caused by hot hands touching very cold fish and to minimise removal of protective slime from the fish. They are very hard to get on when your hands are frozen! The guides are really strict on catch and release etiquette- The only time the fish comes out of the water is to have the picture taken and to be weighed in the net. They are measured and unhooked under water. We played them very hard and they usually were strong enough to give us a good soaking when we let go of them!
|
|
|
|
Post by tynetraveller on Jun 25, 2007 9:31:37 GMT
A few pics from my week - the one after Wilbert. On the first evening me and my partner Martin 'The Swedish Butcher' ( Two of his fish for the week were bleeding badly and had to be killed) flew to Litza and fished the right bank of Snowbank for a few hours. I was using Powertaper 3/4 for most of the week and very large brown and orange turbo cone and tungsten conehead templedogs. I landed a large kelt and then hooked into a good fish that was on for a couple of minutes and was gently clicking off a very heavy drag when the hook came out. That was all the action for day one. The fish had not reached the homepool on Kharlovka until the last Friday, so we did not fish after dinner. Sunday we fished the left bank of lower Kharlovka, and caught a few kelts each, but no fresh fish to report. The weather was quite pleasant, perhaps nine degrees and not too windy. On Monday we fished right bank of the lower Kharlovka. Starting in Julian's pool we blanked completely and didn't see a fish all morning, but moved up river in the afternoon to Rock Pool. There was a patch of static water perhaps forty feet wide out from the bank, then a strong stream about thirty feet wide. Big fish were showing every few minutes on the far side of the stream. Exciting stuff! It was a very tough place to fish, the water dropped to a considerable depth within a few feet of the bank, making wading out impossible, and there was a rock bank behind limiting space for the cast. With the wind pushing upstream a left hand up sigle spey was called for, not my best cast, and a cast of at least 30 yards, more for preference, was required to cover the showing fish. Just for added complication, as soon as the fly came out of the stream and into the wide patch of still water, it went for the deck and found a nice rock to permanently snag in. I fished for an hour or so, struggling to cover the lies and loosing a lot of tackle, so decided to fish slightly higher in the water. I changed to a 2/3 powertaper head and a 2" aluminium gold-bodied Willie Gunn and after a few casts I managed to nail a really good cast that went out a good thirty feet longer than my avaerage efforts had managed. As it came round it was snatched and a powerful fish surged out into the river, which was probably 300 yards wide at this point! Unfortunately, the hook fell out after only a few seconds. I started fishing again and after ten or so poor efforts again managed to fire out a long one. This time again the fly was snatched and this time the fish was on. For about fifteen minutes the fish sulked in the river about forty yards out and just below me. every now and then it would slowly power down stream and then I would haul it back. It finally moved in close to the bank and then jumped, a lovely big silver fish. For the last fivve minutes I had it on a short line trying to get its head up, but every time the net came near it powered back into the main flow. Finally we landed it, a 25lb cock fish with sea-lice on its back and gill plates.  A few minutes later, Martin saw a large fish move behind a large boulder at the neck of the pool and went up to cover it. After a few casts he was in and with his drag pretty much locked solid he skull-dragged the fish in in less than ten minutes. It was an awesome fish, sea-liced and weighing in at 32lbs.  That was the end of our excitement for the day. On Tuesday we were back on the Litza, left bank. We fished for a few hours in the lower river in the morning before moving down to Military Pool, the first pool above the tide at 2pm, half an hour before the high tide. There were another two rods on the far bank, and the four of us were fishing away for half an hour. I was fishing amongst massive rocks and as my line was grating over the top of a rock just below the surface everything locked solid. As I started pulling to free the snag, it made a good run! Looking over after a few minutes of ' keep the fish out of the boulder field' I saw one of the rods on the far bank also in to a fish, and looking behind me Martin was also well bent in. Triple hook up. I landed my fish, a sea-liced 19lber, then went to help Martin. he then landed a 28lber and to finish off the rod on the other bank landed a 25lber. All three sea-liced. This pattern at Military pool is still continuing now- Dead, dead, High-tide- half hour big fish bonanza-dead-dead.   This is the lie that Martin's fish came from. Check out the rapid!  That was the highlight of the week- After that the gales and cold weather moved in, and we caught a few more fish but nothing quite so spectacular. One mention of note goes out to Mikael Frodin, who caught five fish for 99lbs on the last day, but lost the last two whilst trying to break the 100lb mark! |
|
|
|
Post by salmonking on Jun 25, 2007 14:07:37 GMT
What can be said ,,"awsome fish"....you must have too much money.
|
|
|
|
Post by tynetraveller on Jun 25, 2007 14:49:57 GMT
Not anymore!  The first couple of weeks at Kharlovka are less scary than later due to the cold and risk of no fish having entered the river. The trip was substantially cheaper than the prices suggested for prime time Varzuga in the other thread. |
|
|
|
Post by salar76 on Jun 25, 2007 15:59:24 GMT
Great report Simon, and well done on those hard earned fish! This week's Kharlovka report, however, is enough to make you weep....
|
|
|
|
Post by tynetraveller on Jun 25, 2007 16:12:58 GMT
I saw it! Mind you, the biggest landed was a mere 32lb tiddler. Two rods had 27 fish in two days at Litza! 27big silver torpedoes.. Oh to be there. You haven't shared your battle with the forum yet! Are you still working through it with a shrink? There was a lot of talk of Lawrence and the unstoppable freight train |
|
The first couple of weeks at Kharlovka are less scary than later due to the cold and risk of no fish having entered the river. The trip was substantially cheaper than the prices suggested for prime time Varzuga in the other thread.