Kharlovka and Litza Montage

[greenbanks]

Just back from Northern Russia where conditions were tough. Like many rivers numbers were lower than hoped but enough big fish to give you cracking action. Some of us were spooled by huge fish that got away and thats an experience thats exhilerating and also numbing. Anyway enjoy the pics which I hope give a flavour of things.

[greenbanks]

Some more pictures from our week where we had regular snow showers and hellish strong winds-quite few rods bust by anglers casting into the winds.

[madkeen]

Cracking pictures Ken Whats the flee in the first pic?

[greenbanks]

[greenbanks]

More to come when I get images forwarded from other members of the group.

[greenbanks]

Jun 13, 2010 12:03:00 GMT madkeen said:

Cracking pictures Ken Whats the flee in the first pic?

Its a fly that Sean Stanton tied for me to try out there. Its called a Bertie Dastard. His website is www.theghilliesflybox.com
I also had good sport on MacD's Flies. Interestingly the two huge fish I hooked and lost were on Big Black Frances tubes fished in heavy fast water. These flies look good in strong water.

[madkeen]

Its hard to make out but I actually thought it was some sort on black frances. I take it the Loomis was up to the job

[greenbanks]

Jun 13, 2010 12:20:55 GMT madkeen said:

Its hard to make out but I actually thought it was some sort on black frances. I take it the Loomis was up to the job

Well I have to say I am really happy to use Loomis Stingers with shooting heads.They suit me and cope with the wind fine. I used mostly the guideline 3 d head inty/2/4 and Skagit with 15 feet of T17 - Not an elegant set up but did the job I wanted. The Bertie Dastard is a black and yellow fly with fluorescent tungsten head and was lightly dressed but had good weight to get down deep. The problem there is you need to fish deep and there are many huge rocks which mean you lose a lot of flies. I sadly lost many flies over the week which had been tied by both Sean and MacD.

The water temps fluctuated from 4 degrees to 7 degrees but often the air was colder than the water which made the fish a bit stiff. Quite a few guys took headers into the river which was quite alarming for them and made them really cold for the rest of the day.

[madkeen]

Jun 13, 2010 12:29:40 GMT @greenbanks said:

Jun 13, 2010 12:20:55 GMT madkeen said:

Its hard to make out but I actually thought it was some sort on black frances. I take it the Loomis was up to the job

Well I have to say I am really happy to use Loomis Stingers with shooting heads.They suit me and cope with the wind fine. I used mostly the guideline 3 d head inty/2/4 and Skagit with 15 feet of T17 - Not and elegant set up but did the job I wanted. The Bertie Dastard is a black and yellow fly with fluorescent tungsten head and was lightly dressed but had good weight to get down deep. The problem there is you need to fish deep and there are many huge rocks which mean you lose a lot of flies. I sadly lost many flies over the week which had been tied by both Sean and MacD.

The water temps fluctuated from 4 degrees to 7 degrees but often the air was colder than the water which made the fish a bit stiff. Quite a few guys took headers into the river which was quite alarming for them and made them really cold for the rest of the day.

I agree the stingers make s/heads easy and they don't have a habit of snapping like some other 'modern' rods. The wading does look as if it would be challenging with the amount of rocks in the pics.

[greenbanks]

You are not joking-I twisted my ankle whilst being spooled by a lunker. It was quite an awesome bit of sport. The fish took the fly in a strong flow and I slowly lifted into the fish and pulled hard a few times to make sure it was securely hooked. As I lifted into the fish the rod bent and bent and when you expect the fish to come to you this fish just hung in th water going thump, thump and I knew it was a lunker. Alex our guide, a great guy too I may add, said " Beeg Feesh-Speshiyal Kharlovka one"! well he was normally joking when you had fish on saying-its a kelt or a trout or a smolt when you had fish in the twenties. This thing just moved about slowly in the hard water as if looking for a rock to rub the fly off. After about 10 minutes it then decided to go back to the sea pool 1/4 of a mile away. I cranked the drag to the max and held on as this fish went for it-man alive this thing was just magnificent tearing off down the pool and was about 250 metres away when it cartwheeled twice. We both looked at each other and gasped. Alex said he would go for the dinghy as we were going to probably end up there. When the fish was about 300 metres away it slowed. I slowly but surely gained backing as I ran down the bank and snookered my ankle. The fish took about 15 minutes to swim back to about 50 metres away it then turned fired off like a torpedo and the line went slack. I reeled in with aching arms and checked the hooks-perfect they were too-alas it was just one of these things. They do get off.

The next day at the falls pool I hooked another lunker which bored deep and then shot off downstream. It was over 400 metres away when the hook hold seemingly gave way. Its really rough terrain there and you have to try to stand your ground. The pressure was too great and the 30 lb Seaguar hyad in fact snapped. I had been grimacing with my sore ankle and braid backing burning my hand as I tried to halt its run.It was just too much in the hard water and in reality I never had a chance with this fish it was just too big.

Thats why people go to these places to land these big ones-sadly for most anglers these lunkers get off. But what an amazing bit of action it is when its underway.It kind of gets etched on your memory and you keep mulling it over at night thinking what could I do? I think they go that hard and fast that slack line is not an option.

We were well pleased for Jim Coates who fished at night as we sat and enjoyed dinner and a few drinks. One of the other anglers came in and said he had foul hooked a Kelt that was haring off in the home pool. We walked down to the river to see him slug it out with a big fish. Some 40 minutes later they finally subdued a nice sealiced cock fish some 110 cms long and weighed 35 lbs. My 2 biggest fish were 103 cms and 97 cms-the smaller a Litza fish which are deeper than the Kharlovka fish and was a similar weight.

[madkeen]

An exciting trip by the sounds of it Ken pity you didn't land one of the big ones you'll be booked for next year already I'll bet!

[underghillie]

How many fish for the week ken? And did you bring me back a cap

[ballingall512]

Great Report Ken.

Well done on the fish landed and A real shame you never landed the 'Lunkers'.
still it must be an experience even to hook one that size in a river as powerfull and demanding as that.

Dave.

[hazeldub]

Great report Ken and theres me a right dafty during the week asking Jim C if he had heard how you were getting on. Congrats to Jim with his 35lber - What a fish. Looks a really strong river, that would be a battle pulling in anything in that flow - Great pics thanks for sharing

[greenbanks]

Jun 13, 2010 20:57:00 GMT underghillie said:

How many fish for the week ken? And did you bring me back a cap

There was 45 I think for the 18 rods Tony. I do have a Kharlovka cap so perhaps you would make a donation to Martins fundraiser and I can post it down to you! Its a green one too !!