Salmon fishing, Varzuga river

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Vasil Bykau 

Several years ago we used the free time available for a salmon trip to Varzuga river. What has come of it -look here! I thank John for these wonderful photos !!

Yes - it was fun just to be there!!

 A little better view of the church

 After dinner, we would retreat to the banya, a type of steam bath - Fiodr has lit the fire, and its heating up

 After taking his daughter across for school, Fiodr comes back to take us upriver as far the shallow water will allow

 And a boat ride back to Varzuga village

 And the church in Kozumen was getting a facelift, too

Varzuga river

 Another fishing camp

 At the end of every day of fishing, Fiodr's dog, Jackson (named after Michael you-know-who), would meet us at the beach. The town was full of big, sturdy and very friendly dogs

 But the dry summer and Fall seems to have set the foliage on fire

 Close-up of ground lichen that covered the florest floor in places

 David is going to try the other side of the river...

 David's last fish

 Day 3 - David and I hiked back into the illegal honey hole alone; John casting as taught by Vasyl

 Didn't find out how old this house is, but no matter how worn, they all seemed occupied

 End of the day

 Except for a couple fishing camps for town residents, once you leave town, there is nothing but forest along the river

 First stop in Kozumen - Vasyl wanted to buy some vodka and orange juice; which we later drank Russian style - on a side street, from the bottle, under Vasyl's tutelage. It didn't take long.

 Fish (almost) Gone!

 Fish On!

 From the bedroom window - the town gets its electricity from a local diesel-powered generator (which had quit running the night we arrived)

 Heading home. 3 hours (in that van parked across the river) to the paved road, then 6 more hours in a more comfortable van to Murmansk

 heading upriver

 Here's the town fishing camp - apparently when the fish are really running, people from town come out here and stay till they've caught their catch

 Home sweet home

 Lichen as far as you can see

 Looking upriver toward our fishing grounds

 Main Street, Kozumen, Russia

 A Kozumen house - yes, still occupied. That bump-out in front, on the left side  - an indoor pit toilet

 Mike and Scott, and Fiodr at the helm (most of the men in the village wore cammo as everyday clothing)

 next

 No luck here...

 Not sure what kind of berries these were

 off to slay some fish

 Oh yeah - dry or scorched . Either way - back in business

 One iconostasis inside the church

 Our daily lunch spread  tea or coffee, bread, lunchmeat and cheese

 Scott got his shirt and coat sleeves wet - so the fire was a handy drier; Vasyl heated water for tea or coffee at lunch

 Scott wanted a grilled cheese sandwich

 See you   Fiodr....

 So we headed further upstream to a place Vasyl said was the best spot on the river - just a few more km's

 Some types of lichen in this area also grows on slower humans

 Sometimes they have to be relit - this is how we do it in Russia

 That's better!

 The berries were thick in places

 The best firewood stacking job I've ever seen; that's a new building on the church's compound in the background.

 The Bro's enjoy a fire and cigar after lunch

 The Fall colors were at their best that week

 The first fish!!!

 The fishing wasn't so good, but the scenery was great

 The fly fisherman's view... gotta love those waders

 The little boat is a local taxi service - including taking kids across the river for school every week day

 The locals said they could not recall a drier summer and Fall, nor could they recall lower river levels

 The low water meant that the salmon were held up out in the White Sea, and not coming upriver as they normally would this time of year

 The market - everything from Varzuga coffee mugs to fresh meat and Snickers; note the only car on this side of the river in the garage. It ran merchandise from the boat to the store

 The only vehicular commuter on our side of the river... he would park his bike on the beach each morning, and take his boat to the other side

 The Port of Murmansk, which is fed by the Kola River. Murmansk was a very nice city with a bit of a European feel and look.

 The Varzuga shore at Kozumen had a large number of derelict boats.  Russians tend to be very superstitious, and they believe that it is bad luck to burn or otherwise destroy an old boat

 The Varzuge River just above the mouth

 The view from our bedroom window

 There was a nice herd of wild horses in Kozumen - who were happy to receive a scratch between the ears when offered; to survive the winters here, these guys must be really tough

 There was one other fishing party staying in town, but they seemed to be Russians; apparently no Americans stay in town like we did

 This is it - the   stretch of river where the only fish were caught

 This place was also quite scenic

 This water is really shallow...

 To find some fish, we hiked into the 'sweet spot'

 Uh oh - someone slipped into deep water and got rolled by the current; fortunately Scott had decided to tend the fire instead of fish, and volunteered to dry David's wet sweats

 Vasyl and John - taking a break by the fire (I got cold from standing in the river for a couple hours).

 Vasyl, our guide, and David lead the way

 Waiting for his fare...

 we all caught a good number of small grayling

 We walked by this house on our walk from water to home

yes - it was fun just to be there!!