Russia 2006
Ponoi salmon
Russia's Kola Peninsula Ponoi River needs no introduction. It is probably the best atlantic salmon fishery in the World. It is also very expensive. So as a harcode DIY fly fisherman it had not been on my list until Urs Bernhard from Switserland offered me an affordable opportunity to joint his group in spring 2006. My buddy Kees Trommelen joint me. It was an unforgettable trip as we enjoyed the luxery resort with excellent food and the great numbers of salmon in the river. It is true, if you want to catch salmon on fly, this is probably the best place in the World. We everaged about 6 fish each a day. My biggest being a 92cm crock. The river is wide but the guides are good. They know exactly where the salmon are. And to be honest that is the part I didn't like about the fishing. Making a snap T while the guide works the anchor is very boring to me. So we fished from shore a lot. If we would have listened to the guides we would have caught more fish. But to me, that's not what it is all about. However, if you don't mind fly fishing from a boat for salmon and you can spit a fly into the water you will catch salmon in the Ponoi. Guaranteed!
