Kharlovka – finally made it to salmon heaven!
A little late due to military operations we can now share this post with you...
We came in as first group to a perfect river. 44 cm on the gauge and 10 degrees in the water. Almost too good to be true. It has been tough times with military closing two first weeks and threatening to close again after us. First afternoon I fished down in Julians and the 4 hours of fishing gave me a nice sea liced 21 lbs. I lost one and saw a few more, a good start! The fish took a Pahtakorva on a short line right in the surface, it’s the best to see them role over the fly and wait for the line to tighten. Second day the draw took me to lower canyon, Golden pool and Home pool – the world’s best Home pool. The Nasty Banana TTT in a quite small spring size got them to take. The weather changed and the river started to cool down again, that change for sure put the fish off. I managed a 14 lbs and a 10 lbs from Home pool. A slow sink and a 6 cm Nasty Banana TTT did the trick for me.
The group had a few but things was pretty tough, a couple of 25+ shows that this year will have big fish for sure. We are fronting cold weather that might do things hard. 2-5 degrees and even some snow, well I am not surprised, this is normal tundra spring where things change from one hour to the next. I am fortunate to share beat with Vladimir, owner of the ASR. He came in a bit late but immediately took a nice 26 lbs and one more nice fish from the tail of Home pool, the fly – Pahtakorva TTT! I wonder how many this fly now has taken…. thousands already!?