The next choice is a bit harder – do you want lots of solid 18-22″ fish on dries with a few fish each day over 25″ and a few each week at 28+++” or do you want less dry fly action but more streamer action, bigger fish ( 30″ +++) but less of them. No one river has everything so in general the bigger the average of fish is in a river the fewer fish there are. The other issue is how many char are in the rivers? – too many and the rainbow population is smaller.

With the new Air service from Anchorage to Kamchatka most of the outfitters offer 7 day trips or 14 day trips. My job is to help you decide which one is best for you and which ones to avoid. Kamchatka has a lot to offer to the fly fishing enthusiast – fly fishing the way it was in Alaska over 30 years ago is the best way to describe it. Stepping into a river that was off limits during the cold war means a river that has not been fished in 50 years. Russia is the last frontier for freshwater fly fishing for wild, native rainbow trout, steelhead and salmon.

Here are the best fly fishing rivers in Kamchatka – open up the drop downs for the different rivers below.

The Sedanka is one of the most remote rivers in Kamchatka. A 3 hour helicopter ride from Petropavlovsk is the only method of access, and once there the river is yours. Just 6 anglers per week share the Sedanka according to our outfitter’s lease terms with the Kamchatka government.

This program is fully guided and involves a combination of traditional walk and wade fishing, float days that utilize inflatable rafts to move downstream, and occasionally jet-motor skiffs are employed to access still more water. All fishing is by wading, with boats merely used as transportation from spot to spot. Because a portion of the week is spent walking and wading, this is the most physically demanding of our Kamchatka trips, though anyone in reasonable shape will be able to take full advantage.

Accommodations are simple and rustic, with double occupancy heated tent cabins, flush toilet outhouses, reliable hot water showers and food that is plentiful and good.

Compared to the other rivers of Kamchatka, the Sedanka stands alone as an immaculate dry-fly fishery with “blow-out proof” clear water. The Sedanka is a float trip that floats between 3 permanent tent camps spending 2 nights at each, flush toilets, hot showers and wood floored double walls tent cabins is pretty darn close to a lodge!

The Only Lodge in Kamchatka

This is the rive that started it all. The Zhupanova. It’s headwaters flow through a massive, immaculate valley framed by smoking volcanoes, snow capped mountains, ancient birch forests, and abundant wildlife. Anglers float 40 miles of the section’s finest fly fishing water to target the Zhupanova’s wild, native huge rainbow trout. Averaging two feet long and commonly reaching 27 – 32 inches or more, they are an exceptionally large and ancient genetic strain. Even more amazing, these river-giants love big skated mouse patterns, reminiscent of waking dry flies for steelhead. And there are endless opportunities to swing streamers on sink-tip lines for vicious, bone-jarring grabs.

Rainbow trout are the main attraction in the Zhupanova but from early August through October, the rare “super kundzha” make their annual run in from the sea. They average 26-28 inches, with exceptional specimens measuring a yard long. Silver (coho) salmon are present during late August and September. The aerobatic fight of a fresh coho is something every angler should experience.

The Zhupanova can be fished from three different types of trips:

The Lodge: The Zendzur Lodge (the only true lodge on Kamchatka) commands 50 miles of water – big water with big fish accessed by jet boats daily.

Zendzur Lodge itself is a beautiful, traditional Russian wilderness outpost, staffed with a combination of talented American and Russian professionals. Lodge amenities are surprisingly deluxe given the remote nature of the operation and include double accommodation suites and cabins, each with private bath and sitting rooms. One of the highlights of Zendzur is the fabulous on-site natural hot-springs, enclosed in a banya cabin just down from the lodge on the riverbank.

THE PROGRAM AT Zendzur utilizes “Alaska-style” 18′ aluminum skiffs, powered by 40hp 4-stroke jet motors. You and one other angler are shuttled from wade-spot to wade-spot by your guide. Most anglers prefer to wade-fish, but for those that prefer to fish from a boat, the guides are very accommodating.

Sample Day:
7 AM:  coffee and tea
8 AM:  breakfast
9 AM:  on the water
1 PM:  lunch on the river
6 PM:  back to camp for drinks and a soak in the hotsprings.
7 PM:  dinner
•  For midnight-sun junkies there is a modest sized home pool in front of the lodge.

Zupanova Float trips – float between 6 permanent camps: One Zhupanova float on the upper river incorporates six permanent river camps. Anglers will be able to relax at the end of each day in relative comfort, enjoying hot showers, cold drinks, permanent wood cabins or modern high-tech tents with beds and mattresses, and a well-equipped dining facility. You move to a new camp every  day.

Ichanga Float trips – float with mobile camp: We scheduled two full exploratory adventures in 2013. The first trip landed about 12 miles up this right fork, led by Mike Michalak and a group of adventurous anglers from Alaska. During the first few days they found a beautiful river cascading through a rugged canyon. Each day they found a few spots holding some really big rainbows, but between each good “hole” was a lot of difficult terrain making access and fishing difficult. Once they left the canyon, however, they found several miles of idyllic water: it was shallow, easily waded, and full of huge rainbows and char.

Michael Caranci took the second group down the Ichanga a week later, starting at the base of the canyon where the terrain and fishing got really good, spending three days with only 4 anglers exploring every riffle, pocket, boulder, and overhanging tree branch in this small, intimate water. The fishing was incredible, with super aggressive rainbows from 20 to 26 inches attacking streamers and mice patterns with a ferocity not seldom seen in trout.

With this first exploratory season under our belts, we knew the quality of the fishery on the Ichanga, and also its limitations. Because it’s a small river, with a short section of perfect trophy trout habitat, we’ve custom built a program around this stream to minimize impacts to the fishery and guarantee a great fishing experience for the few anglers who will have an opportunity to fish it each year.

Beginning in 2014, the Ichanga will be limited to groups of 4 anglers, focusing 3 days on the Ichanga and ending their week with 2 more full fishing days on the main Savan. To limit pressure on the river and guarantee that it remains as good as we saw it on our first trips down, we will only float and fish it two or three times each summer, with a week or two rest in between trips. This means that literally only 8 or 12 people will have a chance to fish this beautiful stream each year.

The Ichanga and Savan River floats are set up exactly like our Northern River Wilderness Floats, utilizing hi-tech 4-season mountaineering tents and specialized cooking and camp equipment. A cook and camp assistant travel with the group, preparing tasty meals based on a combination of local fare and more familiar foods. Anglers are responsible only for erecting their two-man tents each day and breaking them down in the morning. Comfortable sleeping pads are provided, but you do have to bring your own sleeping bag and towel. For convenience of communication on the river and for a safety line to the outside world, each expedition is equipped with first aid kits, GPS, handheld radios, and a satellite telephone.

Savan Base Camp – Jet boats from Fixed Camp: 
Savan Base Camp is a new enterprise on the Savan River system. For the last 3 years we have been floating the Savan and the Ichanga rivers, finishing our trips at the comfortable base camp. The fishing has been consistently amazing all the way to the takeout, leaving us to wonder what was downstream from the Base Camp. What kind of river monsters lay undisturbed in the lowest reaches of the Savan? This last season we set off to find out, bringing in Jet boats to explore down river and return every night to the comforts of the permanent Base Camp. It could not have been better.

Every year we learn more and discover new secrets on our “NEW” river, the Savan, and this year, by adding the jet boat base camp, we were able to expand our reach to it’s maximum potential on this unbelievable system. Add to that the comfort of staying in the “lodge” all week, with flush toilets and hot showers, and you have Russian trout fishings version of luxury.

IN 2012, WE BEGAN our initial explorations of the river system with two separate week-long wilderness floats scouting out two different sections of the river. What we discovered was a place of awe-inspiring beauty and an incredible diversity of life, both in the water and along its pristine shores. The Savan River system has proven in a short period of time that it is a major contender among Kamchatka’s great trout river’s, with trout averaging 22-26 inches and several fish up to 30 inches hooked each season. At the Savan Base Camp, inflatable Jet Boats are used to access the lower rivers beats, allowing us to cover an amazing amount of excellent water below the Lodge. We still have not explored it all! Wading is relatively easy to moderate for most anglers, but slightly more technical than the upper river. The lower river is bigger water, like in most rivers, and can be deeper and faster in some spots. We tend to fish the softer water, as this is where the fish hide, but we still need to wade over to them, on occasion. There are many stretches of braided water, making the lower Savan feel much smaller than it actually is a lot of the time. Vast rolling mountains and volcanoes flank the broad valley as the river courses it’s way through the wild terrain.

The lower river we cover is over 15 miles of pristine, untouched water. If you counted every channel of every braid separately, it would have to be way over 60 miles of water, far more than we were able to explore in 2 weeks of fishing with 4 anglers a week. The diversity in this section was also amazing. Different than the upper river, the Lower Savan had big broad runs as well as hundreds of smaller side channels, providing an unbelievably healthy trout habitat, with unique water around every bend. We were ecstatic about the outcome of this first exploratory season, finding a larger average size fish than we had anticipated and plenty of them.

A huge part of the diet of the Savan river rainbow trout is eating mice. This is some of the most exciting trout fishing you will ever experience. Fishing with a mouse fly, you get the visual aspect of the surface strike, like in dry fly fishing, and the tight line grab of swinging, giving you the best of both worlds. When conditions change or the mouse bite dies a little, we can cast streamers, swinging across the current, to produce an aggressive take. As a spring creek system, there can also be ideal conditions for aquatic insect hatches. Though dry fly opportunities aren’t common-place, they do happen throughout the season. The season at Savan Base Camp begins in the middle of July, and runs through August. A variety of salmon runs enter the river throughout the season, including king, chum, sockeye, and silver salmon.

Our Savan River Base Camp is set up exactly like a stationery “lodge”. Everyone will get a double occupancy room in the spacious “Basecamp Lodge”. The lodge has 5 bedrooms and everyone shares an indoor hot shower and flush toilet. We are only taking 4 person groups at the Savan Basecamp in 2015, to insure we are not crowded in the lodge or on the water. A cook and camp assistant are ever present at Base Camp, preparing hearty meals based on local Russian fare. Anglers are responsible only for opening a beer at the end of a long day of fishing, and the guys will even do that for you, if you ask nicely. Comfortable beds with mattresses are provided, with a comforter and pillow, but we suggest you you do bring your own sleeping bag and towel. For convenience of communication on the river and for a safety line to the outside world, Savan Base Camp is equipped with first aid kits, GPS, handheld radios, and a satellite telephone.

These expeditions are organized to be flexible based on the conditions, the group, and the nature of the fishing. This is the beauty of a jet boat camp, being able to be flexible and go to where we think it will be best. There are several sections of braided river where we may spend multiple days exploring the many channels. Other sections may be fished quickly, covering the water, looking for the types of water that consistently hold the Savan’s massive resident rainbows. The jet boats are used exclusively for transportation, with all of the fishing being done on foot, wading.

The Savan River system shows the sort of promise that we first saw on the Zhupanova in the mid 1990s, with trout averaging 22-26 inches and several fish up to 30 inches hooked each season. It is a spring creek system, similar to Sedanka in its crystal clear flows and vibrant ecosystem. The Savan is easily floated and the wading is simple, mostly flat, shallow and wide with a pumice and gravel bottom strewn with a few obvious boulders. Overall the terrain is gradual, making getting around a breeze. Vast rolling mountains and volcanoes flank the broad valley it courses through, and partway down the river is a system of idyllic hot springs, perfect for midweek relaxing and soaking.

The river runs for over 70 miles, and features countless springs and one major tributary. In 2013, we continued our exploration of the river system over the course of a 5 week season, pinpointing the most productive sections, the most idyllic camp sites, and the best landing zones. We continued to investigate this remarkable angling paradise in 2014 with a 6 week season, with boatloads of happy anglers and more photos of trophy rainbows than we know what to do with.

Fish readily take streamers swinging across the current, and as with other rivers in Kamchatka a mouse will almost always produce an aggressive take. As a spring creek system, there are ideal conditions for aquatic insect hatches, too, though dry fly opportunities aren’t common-place, they do happen throughout the season.

The season at Savan and Ichanga begins in the middle of July, and runs through August. A

variety of salmon runs enter the river throughout the season, including king, chum, sockeye, and silver salmon. Because it is a spring-fed system, the river is always clear, and always wade-able.

Our Savan River floats are set up exactly like our Alaska Floats, utilizing hi-tech 4-season mountaineering tents and specialized cooking and camp equipment. A cook and camp assistant travel with the group, preparing tasty meals based on a combination of local fare and more familiar foods. Anglers are responsible only for erecting their two-man tents each day and breaking them down in the morning. Comfortable sleeping pads are provided, but you do have to bring your own sleeping bag and towel. For convenience of communication on the river and for a safety line to the outside world, each expedition is equipped with first aid kits, GPS, handheld radios, and a satellite telephone.

These expeditions are organized to be flexible based on the exploratory nature of the fishing. There are several sections of braided river where we may stay in camp for multiple days to explore the multiple channels on food from a home base. Other sections may be fished quickly, covering 10-15 miles of water in a day to focus on the types of water we find that consistently hold the Savan’s massive resident rainbows. The boats are used exclusively for transportation, with all of the fishing done on foot.

Kamchatka is the last frontier of unexplored, wilderness fly fishing. For truly adventurous souls, an exploratory expedition to one of Kamchatka’s virgin trout rivers will be the holy grail of fishing trips.

We’ve had great luck finding stellar fishing on our exploratories because the rivers we choose are not picked willy-nilly. They are carefully selected based on the best available scientific and local anecdotal knowledge, gathered and honed by The Fly Shop staff over the course of 13 years fishing and exploring on the Kamchatka Peninsula. But our pre-trip preparations go even further than that: We attempt as much helicopter reconnaissance of the drainage as is possible to reduce the potential of setting down on a log-jammed, flooded, or otherwise impossible-to-fish river. We are interested only in systems that exhibit the highest potential for world-class rainbow trout fishing, stable water conditions, and floatability.

All that being said, these trips are definitely not for everyone. In order to be a candidate for an exploratory expedition, you need to be physically and mentally prepared for the host of uncertainties that come with stepping into the unknown. Whether it’s chipping in with an axe to cut out log jams, flattening a boulder-bar to pitch a tent, or humping gear to and from the chopper or around un-navigable water, you need to be prepared to burn a few hours or a half-day of fishing here and there if the situation requires it. But hey, you never know, chopping though that log jam may be the ticket to trout nirvana. It’s happened before!

Maybe you’ve had a day or two in Alaska, Canada, Patagonia, or even the remote Rocky Mountains, where everything is perfect – the crowds are gone, your surroundings are mind-blowingly beautiful and the fishing is hot. Now imagine a day where on top of that, no one else has ever fished the river you are standing in.

These are not once-in-a-lifetime trips; these are once-in-history trips.

Mouse: Real mice slip and fall into the river from overhanging limbs and grass and then swim like a cork at a down-and-across angle. As they swim, they throw small V-wake contrails off their back end which the trout key to. Anglers replicate this action by plopping their flies against the opposite bank and skittering them across the river, on tension and under control. What follows has got to be the most exciting thing in freshwater fly fishing. Since a live mouse in the stomach of a rainbow trout can do some damage, they tend to take the fly with a ferocious, bone-crushing chomp with the intention of killing the mouse before they swallow it. This behavior is obviously on the surface, totally visible to you. The skill comes in controlling your nerves trying NOT to set the hook when the fish merely swirls behind it – sometime 2, 3, 4 or more times – before actually committing.

Dry Fly: Traditional floating line and size #10-18 gray bodied caddis and mayfly imitations are used with staggering success on KamchataRivers, especially in July, less so in August, and again quite successfully in September. The fish tend not to be picky on the specific pattern. However, with so much food floating past their feeding lies, it is sometimes critical to deliver a reasonably accurate and truly dead drifted presentation. If the fly floats within an inch or so of the trout’s nose the chances of it rising are very good.

Streamer: Salmon smolt and other juvenile fish make up a significant portion of Kamchatka trout and chars’ diets. Clousers, woolly buggers, string leeches, baitfish and sculpin patterns all work very well on the Sedanka throughout the season. Small fish elicit a chase response from their predators, so often it is best to give the fly a little movement as it swings through the water column. And like with the mouse, it’s best to learn to identify likely structure in the river (tree roots, riffle-pools, rocks, undercut banks, etc.) that offer rest areas for the fish adjacent to heavier currents where they can surprise-attack their food.

Here is a list of the basics you will need for your trip. Many of our destinations are pretty remote with no chance to buy things on site.

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Why book through flyfishingheaven.com?

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Our Pledge

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http://youtu.be/yignZc2JtoE

Typical itineraries have anglers arriving to Anchorage on a Wednesday, overnighting, and hopping the 4 hour flight to Kamchatka on Thursday morning. While in the air over the middle of the Bering Sea, the airplane crosses the International Dateline, arriving to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on Friday morning at 9 a.m. From there, an immediate ground transfer and helicopter flight brings anglers into camp, deep in the wilderness. On the return leg, departure from Kamchatka is at 8 p.m. on Thursdays. Crossing the dateline again, arrival back to Anchorage is at 4:10 a.m., also on Thursday. This leaves the rest of the day to continue home.

Anglers bound for Kamchatka may also realize that side trips in Alaska are easily linked to the Vladivostok Air schedule in/out of Anchorage.

Sample itinerary for one week Kamchatka Trip:
(8 nights away from home – 5.5 days fishing)
• Wednesday – travel to Anchorage, overnight
• Thursday – Depart ANC 6:00 a.m.
• Friday – 4-hour flight. Cross int’l dateline. Arrive Kamchatka 9:00 a.m. Helicopter to river. 1/2 day fishing.
• Saturday – Fishing
• Sunday – Fishing
• Monday – Fishing
• Tuesday – Fishing
• Wednesday – Fishing
• Thursday – Depart camp midday. Flight departs 8:00 p.m. Arrive Anchorage 4:10 a.m. Spend time in Alaska, or continue home.

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