Fly Fishing in Russia Kola Peninsula Salmon Fishing on Ponoi River.

Kola Peninsula, Russia Fly Fishing
Ponoi River Salmon Fishing

Kola Peninsula Ponoi River Fly Fishing

Salmon fishing in mother land Russia � unparalleled salmon fishing for the hard core salmon angler

Our Ponoi programs this season once again produced a huge number of fish (2400 Salmon) with roughly 40 percent MSW fish together with many twenty plus pound Salmon What superb fishing! I doubt there is anywhere else in the world where you can experience such prolific and reliable Atlantic Salmon fishing. The Ponoi will rarely let you down.

We are very pleased to announce that we will be able to offer single accommodations in 2009 as we are going to finish the last two cabins in Acha camp. All cabins will now have electric heat. Finally for 2009, we will have total exclusivity on our Acha camp beat. Really great improvements all around.

Wildlife is prolific and from May through the summer the area is practically invaded by a variety of birds of all kinds from ducks and songbirds to falcon and eagles. Actually one of our best pools on the beat below Acha camp is running close to a steep cliff where the falcon has made a fine penthouse-like nest construction hanging some 20 meters above a very nice salmon run - that's a view to envy.

The area is sparsely populated mostly by descendants of the ancient northern Sami people. A few miles west of Acha camp you will find a village with around 60 residents through the year. Their main occupation is in line with the ancient traditions of "Caribou - farming" and their trapping fences can be seen on the south side of the river below and opposite the village. The residents have permission to fish for salmon in certain areas, but this allowance is restricted to rod and reel fishing only. So in that respect we are in the "same boat" except for a small difference in choice of tackle!

1. Pacha camp!
Lax-a club will operate this newly built extremely luxurious timber camp. The main building is a communal building for eating and relaxing. Accommodation is in cabins with twin beds and heated by log burning stoves. The catch records show similar returns to those at Acha camp. Fishing is both from the bank and from stabile jet boats.

2. Acha camp
It is situated at the junction where the very productive Acha River enters the Ponoi and you will also be able to walk up and fish the beautiful lowest pools in Acha River just beside the camp.

There are 6 new wooden cabins wit-all with twin beds, stove and The dinning tent is the well know safari - style containing kitchen and separated cozy dinning room with bar, fly tying corner and sofa for relaxing.

3. Acha River boating program
The explorative alternative for the challenging guy, who likes a bit of sweat with his salmon! The helicopter will drop of the team with two welltrained guides and you will be able to fish the pools from about 30 km upstream of the Acha camp and all the way downstream to Acha Camp. These exploratory visits are highly successful and you will discover premium fly-fishing water with numerous holding pools in the most beautiful countryside with abundant wildlife. Accommodation will be in portable tents which our Russian guides will move regularly in rubber boats.

4. Porog camp
Porog camp located 15 km upstream Pacha camp consists of 5 Sami style timber huts with twin beds in each. The camp contains also a larger central dinning / socializing house plus Sauna shower. Daily fishing and transport from new jets boats.

Our Staff

Russia Salmon Fishing

In both our camps you will find a friendly and organized staff that will take care of you both when fishing and recovering in camp.

All our guides will have passed our own training program and furthermore carry between 3 and 9 years of guiding experience in their vest. They are all capable of communicating in English and they will surely have a genuine fly-fishing interest.

The daily organization of the fishing and guides is managed so that each of the guides is appointed to a certain beat and there they will show you the melody of the situation. This way you will rotate between the guides and you can rest assure that the guide will be on top of the actual situation on his home-court?

Fly Fishing in Russia

On the Ponoi you will encounter a week of Salmon fishing that you will never forget!

When you arrive you may think that this is one hell of a big stream, but after a few hours on the river you will soon discover that it is readable and very accessible water featuring all the classic salmon-domains from riffles, glossy glides to stream edges, bars and big rocks scattered in a curving pool. Okay there is no fall pool stopping the fish in a aquarium-like situation, but some days you may face so many fish that it feels like someone has sneaked a waterfall in above our beat during the night!

Each guide has his own spacious alu-boat and this is both for transportation and fishing - but if you prefer fishing from the bank or wading you will find this very possible on all our beats so just ask your guide for directions on that matter. Of course there are pools that are best covered from boat - but there is definitely equally many pools better covered from the bank or waders!

The lower part of the tributary Acha river that runs out in Ponoi in Acha camp will be included in the fishing rotation! So be ready with your single hand rod, dryflies and skaters - and be tuned for a short-lining salmon-rush.

There are rivers on the Kola where you have a chance of catching bigger fish and there are maybe also places where you can get bigger numbers of smaller fish - but the unique mix of quantity and quality that you will find on the Ponoi is unparalleled!

This doesn't mean that you just have to show up at any given time and situation and the just hurl fish out on a row. No - luckily this is still Atlantic salmon fishing with all the edges and challenges so water, weather, skills and good old fishing luck still influence the outcome of the day and week, but you will have to look hard for better odds than here.

The fishing starts in late may when the usual spring flood is running of and the white polar nights normally create a euphoric and exhausting fishing trance among our guests. As may moves into June we see a period that must be considered prime time. The fishing is extremely reliable as both the over wintering non-spawners and fresh fish from the sea start to respond to the increasing temperatures and steadily dropping water. If wind and weather also plays along these are weeks where the salmon-ceiling is popped of like corks from our Russian champagne.

Some guests have had up to 60 fish in June and we are not talking grilse on a string. The ratio salmon to grilse is about 2:1.

The fishing is mostly carried out with double hand rods or heavy single hand outfit and the usual choice of line would be intermediate or slow sinking, but as soon as you face a day of good rising temperature it will be very smart to get the floater sorted out and start to fish faster.

As June moves into July the summer will manifest itself with high-pressure weather and sunshine sometimes 24 hours pr. day.

Needles to say that these conditions will can affect the fishing, but you may be astonished to hear that it sometimes can improve catches.Dryfly tactics is very worthwhile and it can be absolutely essential in July

The amount of fish on our beats is probably peaking in July and the reason why the catch pr. rod is a bit higher in June is probably that weather and temperature is more suitable for the salmon to get hooked. Regarding the fish - two major things happen during July. We see an increase in fresh grilse so that the salmon to grilse ration moves towards 1:1 But we also face some of the over wintering fish that are bound to stay in the river for 1,5 years before spawning and you will not be in doubt when you hook one of them. Being up to 25 % heavier pr. length these bombs will make your lower jaw smack the bank.

The average summer-salmon will be between 7 and 15 lb. but every week there will be landed some bigger fish - usually males, sometimes well over 20 lb.

The Kola River was, as well, a major success in 2008. Our guests landed 2600 Salmon during 10 weeks of fishing. The most productive week saw 512 salmon landed during the second week of July. We had many high scoring rods with 30 to 60 salmon a week. Again, this year, we managed to land many Salmon well above thirty pounds, and some even bigger were lost. The spring was cold and fairly slow. By the middle of June things started to pick up and we had very strong runs of fresh salmon arriving, due to good water. We must admit that we had poachers around, and at times we found nets in the river. This is something that we have to work hard on for this winter and we will, of course, try our very best to solve this problem. As the fishing was so good during the later part of the season, we have decided to extend the 2009 season on the Kola to 8th August. The midsummer weeks are very reasonable priced and are great value for the money. The Kola program revolves around a luxurious timber camp with a communal building for eating and socializing. Single accommodations are in comfortable private cabins and you will have your own personal fishing guide for the entire week.
This non-helicopter program is especially interesting for those who highly value top accommodations and trophy salmon. AND... It is priced at only half to one third of other Northern rivers.

For 2009, we will also be adding new and very thrilling venues to our existing Russian programs... Lower Yokanga, Varzina River and the wonderful Umba River All programs represent extremely good value for the money All of our 2009 programs are substantially less expensive compared with other programs on the Kola.

Yokanga River for the hard core Salmon fishermen.

We have secured exclusive fishing rights for the entire season on the Lower section of Yokanga down at village Ostrovnoy. As many of you may know, Yokanga is one of the legendary rivers on the Russia Kola Peninsula for big trophy salmon.

Until now, this lower section of the river has not been accessible to any foreign anglers. Our base will be a newly highly upgraded tent camp. The camp has a communal Big Tent for dining and socializing. The sleeping accommodations are in 6 comfortable twin tents each with a wooden floor and electric heating system. There will be one guide for every 2 rods. The program is based on Friday to Friday. Daily transportation except on arrival day and Saturday will be by Helicopter (Because of very complicated helicopter logistics, fishing Friday and Saturday will be in walking distance of the camp). There will be 12 rods fishing the beats and all beats will have a Jet boat to cross the river.

Now you have an outstanding chance to be the first foreign angler allowed to fish this lower section of the famous Yokanga River.

Our Yokanga beat contains a large number of classic pools as well as strong, unmerciful rapid sections. Double handled rods and suitable big reels are a must here. We guarantee that hard core Salmon fishermen will not be disappointed. Test fishing this part of the river gave 6 rods in the beginning of July, 2008 a total of 165 salmon with some huge fish in in the mix. Grab this amazing opening and be first on the firing line to greet the celebrated and distinguished Monster salmon from Yokanga.is now back on the Salmon track... Low-priced and great Salmon fishing in the most gorgeous surroundings.

Lax-A is very happy to announce that we have secured a promising long term lease on the magical Umba River on the south side of the Kola Peninsula. The contract with our Russian partner contains a signed conservation plan which outlines specific initiatives that all pull in "THE FLY-FISHING DIRECTION". We feel confident that this action plan will improve the unique Umba resource and especially our opportunities to rebuild one of the most interesting salmon programs on the Kola. With last week's results in mind - everything looks very promising. Now we hope that both old and new Umba guests will back us up and consider visiting this pearl of a salmon river next season. As a special incentive in 2009 we are planning a new Combo-program in the June-July season, where you will have the opportunity to fish both the Umba and the famous Varzuga during the week. Transport between the two camps is by helicopter.

This answers everything a Salmon angler can ask for and really lifts quantity and quality onto a higher level. Our Umba Autumn program speaks for itself and offers the best opportunity on the planet for big fresh Fall run Salmon.

Angling Club Lax-a Russia
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