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If you look at the map of the Kola Peninsula, you will see many salmon rivers. From my early ages, i was mostly interested in the White Sea rivers or south coast of Kola Peninsula. On the map, you can easily find big famous rivers such as Umba and Varzuga. You will also find little-known rivers that were not involved in big business. Each time, when we take off in helicopter from the village of Umba, we fly over Varzuga and see numerous bends and turns of the Kitsa River, roc

I would like to draw the attention of salmon fishing lovers to one river, which is undeservedly in the shadow of its famous neighbor. Both rivers are located in the north of the Kola Peninsula and belong to the Barents Sea basin. One of them, the Kola River, is known to all fans of giant Atlantic salmon, but the second, the river Kitsa, somehow escapes the attention of fishermen. I will give a very short description of this river and name its main positive and negative sides.

Chavanga river, week 09-16 June 2021 All anglers are looking forward to the start of Atlantic salmon season on Kola Peninsula. What to expect - no one knows. But its main features are known. Usually this time is characterized by high and cold water in the rivers, which determines the behavior of salmon and fishing technique. Difficulties begin to arise when the arrival of spring and summer does not fit into the usual seasonal norms. It may be late spring, when even at the beg

Over the last couple of years, many anglers interest in fishing on the Kola river, which is located near the city of Murmansk. River Kola and Kitsa got their reputation for big salmon. There are benefits to be found in a relatively convenient location of the rivers, near the airport. This greatly simplifies the journey to the river and back. There are also disadvantages. These include extremely high fishing pressure, which is associated with close proximity to the big city. Y

I think that the effectiveness of these two methods depends a lot on the pools you fish. Fishing a nymph is more detailed, compact and limited in distance. It takes a long time to explore large pools. And if the fish is not tied to the nature of the bottom and the current and can move freely, then the effectiveness of the nymph may be insufficient. Therefore, the nymph is good where we can accurately read the river, understand the bottom topography and guess the position of

Notes about Atlantic salmon fishing on the rivers of White sea The longer we fish for Atlantic salmon, more facts and experience accumulate in our heads but also more questions arise! We try to use a long season on the Kola Peninsula to observe the behavior of the fish, and we also use the experience and results of every angler from our groups. Thus, we try to put together all the facts and opinions of many anglers. It is not simple. As a rule, the experience and the result o

Chavanga river October 2019 It was always interesting to deal with Atlantic salmon fishing in cold water on Kola Peninsula. So it turns out that the highest concentration of fresh salmon in the river is observed precisely at the very end of the season, in October. Usually, a decrease in water temperature is associated with a decrease in the activity of salmon and its sluggish reaction to flies. This is probably true. And yet, in recent years I have the impression that the det

In Autumn, we always closely monitor the weather. By the end of September and October, temperature and water level largely determine the behavior of salmon and our catch statistics. According to my observations, for the late autumn period of salmon fishing, it is typical: - Rising water level in the river, - Decrease in temperature of the water - Increased number of fish in the river - Activity of fish is up and dow All these factors are closely related, their combination det

Chavanga river The beginning of September did not bring any changes to the state of the river and our catches. The water level was comfortable and stable, the water temperature was kept within 10-12 degrees. As before, the most in our catches were resident salmon. They were represented almost exclusively by males of small sizes, sometimes completely dark in color. But many of them were very energetic, vigorously resisted when fighting. Large males came up, reaching 82-88 cm i

Kola Peninsula, river Chavanga August can be considered the most comfortable month for fishing Atlantic salmon in the rivers of the White Sea basin. If you don’t have any special task or goal and you just want to relax and fish, then mid to end August may be the best time for this. If we remove all possible weather anomalies that periodically occur on any rivers, we can note several positive points for choosing this time for Atlantic salmon fishing. - the low water level in t

Immediately after the ice melted down on Kola Peninsula, the first salmon are caught in our records. Already at the beginning of May or in the middle of the month salmon can be caught depending on the rate of melting of the ice on all the rivers of the White Sea basin. Sometimes the weather allows you to fish from ice-covered banks, and local anglers sometimes practice salmon fishing from under the ice. At the same time, the fish with the same success attacks the fly not far

The reason for writing this article was the discussion of the Autumn season on the river Varzuga. Is it as good as spring? And what is the difference and why? It turned out that many of us have different information about the river and often some facts contradict others, which is, in general, a common occurrence not only in fishing. The best time here on the Varzuga river is considered by many is Spring. This is the end of May and the first half of June. Indeed, in licensed a

The main issue of the second week of October was salmon activity. We believed that if water temperature will continue to decrease, a likewise decrease in salmon activity should be expected. This is such a direct relationship between temperature and fish activity, it is not always indisputable, but it is difficult for us to rely on something else in our forecasts. Indeed, with a sufficiently large amount of salmon in the river, our results could be assessed as average. We were

On whole Kola Peninsula, from the first days of October, the temperature of air and water began to fall all over . First days of the week were still comfortable for fishing. Morning frosts were replaced by relatively warm sunny days with a water temperature of 5-6 degrees. The water level was stable high for Autumn standards. The behavior of fish has not changed. But the nights in October are already long and by the morning the water had cooled down to 4 degrees. Now, when ch

Last week of September seemed to be no different from the previous one. Then storm broke out over the sea on south of Kola Peninsula, heavy rains and strong wind followed. Then it got cold. All the puddles in the morning were covered with ice, which disappeared only by the middle of the day. The water temperature dropped sharply to 5 degrees and water level in the river began to rise gradually. It was interesting how this will affect run of fresh salmon and its activity. Acc

By the middle of September, the long-awaited rains had passed on the Kola Peninsula, the water level in the river rose in the rivers and the temperature began to drop. Daily measurements showed that the water cooled to 11-12 degrees. We assessed the condition of the river as optimal and expected much improvements in fishing for silver Atlantic salmon. Indeed, we noted the intensification of the movement of fresh fish throughout the river. Not far from the estuary and also in

Second week of September was characterized by a very slow decrease in water temperature to 12 - 13 degrees. Only by the end of the week after several night frosts the water cooled to 11 degrees. Probably this chills caused some revival of fresh salmon in the river. It was hard to say how resident fish reacted to this water changes as we still catching many of them in most of the pools. We could not accurately assess the intensity of fish movement from the sea, but our recent

This middle of June 2018 was already a summer over her on Kola Peninsula, few really hot days turned out only by the end of the third week. The water warmed up to 18 degrees, but quickly returned to a comfortable 16 degrees. The water level during those week was dropping constantly, but at the very close pace, so all of the days were comfortable for fishing. Grills weighing 2.5 - 3 kg have appeared in the river, as a rule, these are very lively males that just arrived from th

The ideal situation for the beginning of the season is fishing active fish in the winter holding pools. On some rivers of the Kola Peninsula this is a common practice. In the middle or upper parts of the rivers, large number of salmons gather in such pools to stay during the winter. Some camps are located near those places. The first weeks of the salmon fishing season, most fish are caught in those holding pools, often called as as aquarium, later the fish is spreading along

The beginning of salmon fishing season on the Kola Peninsula usually starts at the end of May. On the Chavanga river the season shifts sometimes for a week or two earlier but it happens once in two or three years. Usually the river is more or less accessible and comfortable to fly fishing at the end of May. The main question that arises when fly fishing salmon at this time - where is the fish? The choice of tackles or flies, in my opinion, is a secondary or even a matter of m