Rising Water

Date: 14 July

Air Temp: 12C to 18C

Water Temp: 17C

Water height: -14cm

Number of rods: 16

Number fish caught: 22

Biggest fish: 16lbs Steven Lodge

No 30+: 0

No 20-29: 0

No 8-19: 5

Grilse: 17

Weather: 
Heavy showers in the morning with grey skies. It all began to clear in the afternoon leaving us with blue skies by the evening.

Manager's Comments: 
Although we struggled to get hold of the many salmon today the grilse where certainly happy to play, and most of the team managed to get stuck into the them. The water came up 6inches last night and has been rising all day, perhaps another two inches. Hopefully this fresh water will stir up some of the salmon over the next 24hrs.

Peter E and Ian E had a good day on Island, landing six fish between them, all large grilse up to 7lbs apart from one salmon at 13lbs.

The fish caught today have been evenly scattered over all the beats on the river, unlike previous days this week, where we have been seeing that a lot of the fish were being caught on just two or three of the beats per day. But nice to see the fishing slightly mire evenly spread.

Christian J with his fish from Island

Well done to Steven L and Rob W who had five yesterday biggest at 16lbs. A mixture of stoats tails and Red Francis’ used to great success.

Hopefully this rise in water might just tickle up some of the fish and start to move them about.

Toby Burrell

All Weathers

Date: 13 July

Air Temp: 11C to 18C

Water Temp: 17C

Water height: -30cm

Number of rods: 16

Number fish caught: 25

Biggest fish: 21lbs Christian Jennelius

No 30+: 0

No 20-29: 2

No 8-19: 14

Grilse: 9

Steven Lodge with a nice fish from the top beat

Weather: 
A day of all seasons; bright sun shine, heavy rain, strong winds, hail storms... you name it, we had it all.

Manager's Comments: 
The day began with a layer of black cloud cover, and some very heavy rain showers. Giving us a good morning's fishing. Turo L had a good session down in Crows Nest landing four fish of 20lbs, 15lbs and two 6lbs grilse. His team mate Jukka also managed a 12 and a 14lber.

Christian J had a good fish out of Island today (21lbs). The fish took him above the island and it took hard and Christian did his best to stop it entering the rapids but the strength of the fish was too much. It steamed off down through the rapids with Christian and his guide, Young Vova, trailing behind. Half way through the rapids the fish stopped and began to move slowly upstream whereupon it wrapped itself around a rock mid-stream. Vova, the guide, waded out into the heavy rapids to where the fish was and took a blind scoop into the water with the net and by an absolute miracle managed to get the fish. A heroic moment. How he then managed to wade back to the shore through heavy rapids with a 21lbs fish in the net will remain a mystery forever. But a very exciting experience for Christian and a fantastic fish to catch. Well done to both Christian and his guide, Young Vova!

Rob W with a beauty out of Cliff

Rob W and Steven L had a great result in Cliff this morning - two 18lbs for Rob and a 19 1/2lber for Steven. There are not many places you can do that in a morning fishing between two. People are generally catching fish on smaller line, 20/22lbs leader, with anything from a size 8 fly to size 14. The bigger fish are tending to be caught on the smaller flies. As always the grilse are being far less fussy and taking anything that is presented correctly. All rods are using sink tips or intermediate, apart from the odd bomber or sun ray shadow that are both being thrown out on full floating lines.

Fish on! 

Toby Burrell

A 25lber

Date: 12 July

Air Temp: 11C to 18C

Water Temp: 19C

Water height: -37cm

Number of rods: 16

Number fish caught: 24

Biggest fish: 25lbs Ian Eckersley

No 30+: 0

No 20-29: 1

No 8-19: 11

Grilse: 12

Henrik J with fish on in Lower Norcamp

Weather: 
A grey windless day for most of us down the bottom half of the river, a few rain showers and a little bit of thunder up at the top two beats.

Manager's Comments: 
Another successful day on the Yokanga. 24 fish for the day is a fine result and a handful of these fish really were fantastic salmon. Ian E caught the fish of the day (25lbs) in Upper Cliff on a small size 14 Ally shrimp. A reasonably fresh fish which had perhaps been in the river for five days or so. He also managed a 11lbs bar of silver out of Cliff, and rounding his day off nicely with two grilse in Lyliok after supper.

Ian's 25lber from Cliff

Lyliok pool has lived up to its reputation today by providing the team with 8 fish, three of which were grilse and five salmon. Steven L had a nice 18lber from the top end of Right Bank above the Lyliok stream. Peter E also managed a 17lber, his largest Atlantic salmon to date - congratulations Peter! The fish took him on his last cast this evening right in the very tail of the pool. It immediately turned and headed off down the rapids... a tremendous fight that certainly won't be forgotten anytime soon.

Peter E with a good fish out of Lyliok Rapids

Henrik J managed a fish today without actually holding his rod! After a quick fly change he decided to walk back up the bank to collect his bag and coat, leaving the rod on the bank and fly floating in the river. To his complete amazement, when he returned to his rod the line was moving upstream and, believe it or not, a 6lbs grilse on the end it. The fish was successfully netted and successfully logged in the book. Well done Henrik!

In summary, another good day on the river. The numbers are starting to increase slightly from the last couple of weeks, probably due to a dramatic drop in temperature. However, the water is still at 19C which is not ideal. I sit here now listening to loud cracks of thunder upstream and a steady fall of rain visible out the window so let's hope it helps.

Toby Burrell

Better Day

Date: 11 July

Air Temp: 10C to 16C

Water Temp: 19C

Water height: -37cm

Number of rods: 16

Number fish caught: 25

Biggest fish: 16lbs Klaus Moisander

No 30+: 0

No 20-29: 0

No 8-19: 12

Grilse: 13

Fog in camp

Weather:
A much colder day today, cloud cover all day and thick fog all afternoon with a bitter upstream wind.

Manager's Comments:
Today brought us a real change in air which is no bad thing at all, in fact it is exactly what we have been praying for. However, the thick fog we could do without. It left our helicopter stranded at camp and out of action meaning all guests had to float back to the lodge from their beats.

The colder weather has certainly brought us some better fishing; the lower beats especially doing very well. Rob W had three out of Lyliok and his partner Steven L also taking a couple. Turo L had a fantastic day in Poachers, catching four fish all on a Yokanga Gold - two of 8lbs and two of 7lbs. All four fish took like steam trains, running hard upstream immediately after the take - perhaps with
this colder water the fish are running hard!

Ian and Peter E managed to find themselves some action down in Crows Nest this afternoon, Peter managed a couple on a small Ally Shrimp and Ian persuaded a handful of fish to come up for his bomber. Only a couple really committed properly and he landing one. Always fun to have a bit of action on the bomber and fantastic if you get one. Well done Ian.

Klaus M had a very good day, he managed to get four to the bank and all caught on his own special
design of fly - the Nuclear Cockroach. He told me that over lunch he saw a good 15/16lbs fish head and tail only a foot or so from the bank and he immediately jumped up and flicked his line upstream towards the fish. First time the fish came up for the fly but never touched it. Second time, however, it came up and walloped the fly, zooming off down stream. Sadly, the fish took one big leap and the fly came loose. Although disappointed to have lost his fish, Klaus said that it was tremendous fun to have such close action with such a good big fish.

A well-earned drink after a good day on the river

Hopefully the fog will clear tomorrow and we will get the chopper back in action. Forecast is for

more cold rainy days but not so much fog... Brilliant.

Toby Burrell

Promising Conditions

Date: 10 July

Air Temp: 18C to 20C

Water Temp: 20C

Water height: -37cm

Number of rods: 16

Number fish caught: 16

Biggest fish: 18lbs Mike Bowsher

No 30+: 0

No 20-29: 0

No 8-19: 5

Grilse: 11

Weather: We had much more promising conditions to the start of this week, a good layer of cloud cover and some heavy showers of rain soaking us through to the bone.

The team!

Manager's Comments:
A fine start for the guests on Saturday evening, Henrik J took two fresh fish from Lyliok and Mike B also had a nice fresh 18lber on the opposite bank, and he lost another of similar proportions. A fish on the Saturday evening after a long day of travel is always a bonus but never a guaranteed. However, it is very nice to be down on the river to get a taste of water levels, temperature and blow out any old cobwebs to get back in the swing things. But well done to Mike and Henrik for kicking the week off with a few good fish.

Today was another slightly colder day in comparison to the previous week, a good grey day with the odd break in cloud allowing the sun to pop out every now and then. We had some more rain showers that were really drenching and have actually made the water temp drop a degree which is fantastic news. Jenni J had a fantastic day down in Crows Nest hooking six fish and landing three of them.

I am told it was an action-packed afternoon. A good start to her week, let's hope it continues. Rob W managed three grilse out of Poachers providing him with a good bit of excitement for the day. His fishing partner Steven L had a nice fresh 14lber opposite him to round their day off with four fish.

So a good start to the week, we are forecast more of the shame weather, which is great news. Plenty of fish have been seen in the last 24hrs so let's hope this change in temperature brings them on and we can start getting stuck into them.

Toby Burrell

Week 2-9 July

Date: 2 - 9 July

Air Temp: 20C to 35C

Water Temp: 20C to 23C

Water height: -30cm to -36cms

Number of rods: 12

Number fish caught: 44

Biggest fish: 28lbs Simon Ringer

No 30+: 0

No 20-29: 5

No 8-19: 17

Grilse: 22

Weather: 
An unbelievable week weather-wise, temperatures soaring up to 35’C by mid week, but it began to cool down again by the end of the week.

Manager's comments: 
A very tough week indeed with weather and water temperatures certainly not in our favour. It is not often you put your waders on and go salmon fishing at 35’C, but hats off to the team who stuck at it all week and still managed to tick away with the odd one being caught every day - not an easy task by any means.

A special well done to Constantine H, Philip D and Leopold D who all managed to get their first ever atlantic salmon - a fantastic effort with a brilliant result in these harsh conditions! I hope it is the first of many to come and wish you the best of luck for your future days on the banks of salmon rivers. Another one to note is Simon Ringers best salmon to date, weighing in at 28lbs. A great fish to catch and a wonderful way to end a weeks fishing.

A quick mention to Colin J who was with us for two weeks on the Yokanga and caught 20 salmon, a good number of fish. Colin is a magician with a fly rod, never failing to put his name in the book. He had numerous fish 20lbs and over, a good handful in the high teens as well. His biggest at 26lbs and two 25lbers.

In summary, a very enjoyable week with a great fun group of guests. Sadly the weather once again was holding us back but it is something that is well and truly out of our control and we can only hope for a change in air soon.

Toby Burrell