End of may, positive outlook.

                                      Salmon fishing in Russia, beginning of a season.

By the end of May, the water level in the rivers of Kola peninsula  was still unusually high. But the temperature rose to 6 degrees. It was warm, we fished dressed in a simple shirt. On the background of ice floes it looked strange. Salmon among the most active at this time were the Kelts, who spawn in the fall and getting ready to go to sea. They took their places on the reaches with a steady flow. We did not have much interest in catching the kelts. But the size of some fish  was impressive. The bulk of the catch were autumn salmon with purple backs. Their weight ranged from 2.8 - 3.5 kg. It was interesting to observe the hunting trouts. Sea trouts and local broun  trout suit entire presentation with jumping, hunting smolts, buyout migrated along the river. But the main part of the prey   were the pink salmon fries   that in a  huge number swam in the sea downstream.

Still most catchability flies were large products using hard fur, mostly bright orange color. 

Additive color flash heightened attractiveness of bait. The result was a 6-7 centimeter aggressive lure provoking salmon with slow  presentation at the bottom.

High water quickly freed from the banks of the river ice. Many places on the river became available for fishing. The first mapping was Cable  pool and Pokosy  Camp. Enter deep into  the water and cast the line was still difficult, but the speed of the river is allowed to  present the fly correctly . In the last days of May, the water level started to drop by 20-25 cm per day. Water has become noticeably cleaner and this has led to increased activity of salmon. Everything we had hoped that the first week of June will be a truly prime week of salmon season.

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First week of a season.

Salmon fishing season we opened as usual on May 15. Weather forecast is not alarmed us. Expect warm weather and 17 degrees Celsius. First concern I felt when I saw from the window of frozen lakes and snow in the woods. Befor our departure by helicopter   Umba was  snowed and turned cold. From the window you could see the frozen tundra and ice on the rivers. It was an unpleasant surprise for anglers. In the next few days, the situation is even worse. There was a dramatic warming and the snow began to melt quickly. This led to a catastrophic high level of water in rivers. On Srelne few days we  had to catch small rocks sheltered pools. On Chavan'ga main part of the river was unavailable for fishing. Despite all our attempts to find suitable places, with pockets of fish, most of the time we had to spend the estuary. Here, the river overflowed widely, for weakened. This gave us an opportunity to find a lot of salmon. Water temperature was kept around 3 degrees. Salmon managed to provoke by  large bright orange flies that carried out at the very bottom. Sometimes used  weights as  fast sinking lines and leaders  were not always effective.

Among the caught fishes  salmons of  3 - 3.5 and sometimes 4 pounds in weight dominated, which went into the river last fall. THey had characteristic violet back color that appears   in fresh water. Extremely high water levels in the river prevented the emergence of fresh sea salmon. Within a week, the water level rose and our chances of successful fishing were frankly low. Worked successfully only a few points on the rocks at the mouth of the river. There we could catch 3-4-5 salmons  during 3-4 hours. It is clear that not all anglers could satisfy such static fishing. Only toward the end of May the water level in the river began to drop, the water cleared, became transparent, water temperature went to 6-8 degrees  . This has led to a drastic change in status of the river and our mood.

Here are some Strelna river pics:

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