Salmon Junkies

Nothing about spey casting is rigid, making it key that one approaches casting in an easy and relaxed manner. Wade shallow and cast with the knees comfortably bent, in an athletic stance with the right foot forward (if you’re a right-handed caster). Casting with the knees bent facilitates better movement of the hips, to smoothly and efficiently generate maximum rod load during the sweep.  If the cast feels smooth and easy, you know it’s going to be a good one.

Don’t think that wading deep is the answer to getting a little extra distance on the cast. A deep wade decreases the vertical distance from the rod tip (while in the firing position) to your anchor, the place where the line grips the water at the bottom of the D loop.  The few feet you may gain by wading out further will often be lost in the cast, as the deep wade reduces the height of the D loop and negatively impacts its shape and size.  In most cases, wading to knee deep is the ideal compromise between getting out in the river and maximizing casting performance.

The Varzuga river is one of the most famous Atlantic Salmon rivers in the world and is well known for its “unrealistic” fishing. These fish are extremely aggressive taking swung flies on or near the surface. The Varzuga Salmon pulls like a train and are a blast on light spey and switch rods. The long broad runs and tailouts of our Grand Varzuga beat make it a great place to swing flies. This is dry line/”grease” line Salmon fishing at its best.

Grand Varzuga - Salmon Junkies have managed to get full exclusivity on a long termed lease of more than 30 km of the most attractive and enjoyable salmon fishing on the Kola Peninsula – the famous Varzuga River. One of the most popular and fantastic salmon rivers on Kola, this charming section of the river will give us access to the most prestigious and remote part of Varzuga from the Yzia tributary down to the junction with Pana River. The program will combine the best from the Varzuga watershed with a two day adventure, where you will float the river from Yzia river down to the Pana River
Join Salmon Junkies with our new Varzuga program, and believe us, when we say that you can learn more about Atlantic salmon fishing in a single week on the Varzuga than you will in a lifetime of fishing Norwegian or Scottish rivers. (more…)

I will most certainly take the word “maybe” out of that quote. Never have I believed in a quote about fishing more than this one. Partly because I had read it over and over again while researching my newest fishing adventure, a 6,500 mile journey to Umba River, in arctic Russia, northeast of Finland. In the end it felt like a last minute journey even though it was 7-years in the planning. I can’t even really recall how it all started, except that Josh Linn mentioned two months before we left Oregon for Murmansk how he was thinking of hosting a trip to Russia, and that he had been eye-balling the Kola, peninsula as the destination. We had talked about Atlantic Salmon fishing for years, tossing the idea around, almost believing that we may never have the money to do it—and even eastern Canada seemed out of our range. This time it was different. This time the idea had legs. We were going to Russia. I am always up for travel. “A rolling stone gathers no moss!”,another sage quotation. (more…)

I just received an awesome new stick for the upcoming season – A G. Loomis 12`½” #7/8 GLX Stinger. Perfect for surface fishing in Umba, and Varzuga

The 12`1/2” GLX is A surprisingly powerful 12’6″ two-hand rod that handles smaller flies on lighter lines. Under the old line rating system this would be a 7/8. It’s designed to fish smaller rivers where distance isn’t the primary objective, but don’t let that fool you. It will handle big fish and big water just fine. I’m sure we will have a lot of fun together in the years to come

For some reason, people equate spey rods to long casts. Sure you can cast a spey rod far but that is not the main advantage of using one.  Much of the time if you are casting too far, that is a disadvantage! The real advantage is that your fly stays in the water fishing longer, you can control your swing much better with the longer rod and you can cast using much less effort and with limited room behind you.

Some spots do require a long cast to fish effectively, but not many. Most spots the fish lay out of the heavy current not far off the shoreline. When you cast way out into the fast water, the fly doesn’t sink at all.  The heavy tension on it can wreck the speed of the fly when it swings into the softer holding water where the fish are more likely to be. More importantly, when you cast long the fly doesn’t swing effectively all the way in below you – meaning you aren’t even fishing the whole spot!

Finally, never underestimate the water right in front of you that can only be covered with a really short cast. The grab with only a few feet of line out is savage!