Amur Winter

The winter had come, and huge river is freezing over. This time a fishermen does not have much choice: either tying flies and dreaming on the summer, or ice-fishing. I like both.

 Amur pike

 See the new material at the   http://flyfishingrussia.com/

One more time on Amur skygazer - Oct 9 & 10, 2010

It was 2 day trip to Amur River near Khabarovsk with my friend's motorboat

We were fishing from anchored boat with 2-handed rods

The pool was 2-4 m deep with stronger current in the middle

 Average fish was about 1 kg

My friend Andrey was using mostly classic salmon flies; they were working well (photo ABond)

 He was also lucky to land a pike with red wobbler fly.  Amur pike in the fall is not biting "normal" streamers too often.  It prefers something with more action and vibrations (photo ABond).

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 I was testing new wobbler flies.  On that day different colors were working..

including blue ones

I have landed Amur whitefish; for a flyfisherman it is rare quarry.  

Locals catch whitefish with bottom-lines baited with small fish.  

 

 Our camp on a tiny gravel spit

 

Yesterday fishing - Petropavlovskoe Lake near Khabarovsk

On Saturday I was at the Petropavlovskoe Lake near Khabarovsk.  Now the water level is +350 cm, and the flood-plain of the river is flooded.  All fish including pikes is in side channels and in lakes, in flooded willows near the banks. 

Small Amur pikes (generation of 2008) are now very numerous in the Amur River.

 The best fly was red Mega-Diver with yellow tail. 

Pikes were also biting big black flies; other colors (white, pink) did not work well. 

 

Trip to the Bichi River, Udyl Lake, Amur River - Part 3 (Amur R.)

Lone young swan on the Bystraya channel on the way south from the Udyl Lake ourlet

Moving along the braided and twisted channels, I am nearing the Amur River upstream from the the town of Bogorodskoe. Huge bird-of-prey, Steller's sea-eagle, was the first who saw me coming to the main channel of a river, which is 3 km wide in this area. 

On a sand bar I have found a scull of something what should have been as big as a crocodile.  Kaluga sturgeon Huso dauricus is still common in the lower Amur, regardless to strong poaching for its caviar & meat. 

I have crossed the main river early in the morning.  I was feeling a lot like in the sea on a calm day - wide expance of water, big ships...

On a sand bar at the head of one of the islands I have spotted "double hunt".   A big school of  10-15 cm long Amur ide was feeding on some tiny fish.   Several tens of some bigger fish were preying upon ide. 

I have started to cast a streamer and lost it very soon - the line was bitten off.  After shifting to steell tippet I have started catching Amur pikes.  This was a strange habitat for any other pike - flat sand bar with 70 cm of water plus current.  For this species, Esox reicherti, it is a typical feeding area.    

Along the next island something different was feeding on the surface.  Thousands of big fish were "eating water".  These were silver carps (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix).  It is typical plancton feeder, which is catching ist food by filtering the water.  In out area it is considered "non-for-sports" fish; it is caught with only nets.  In in this place the fish were definitely trying to get as much surface film as possible - there were lots of tiny bugs in it.  I have decided to try catching one of these strange fish with a fly.  For hours I was moving through the schools of feeding carps, casting tiny dry flies on front of opening mouths.  If they are swallowing dead insects, sooner or later they should get my imitation instead...

In 2 hours I had a gentle pull (the fly was soaken wet and sinking) and hooked something very strong and fast

  The first silver carp in my life!  This 3 kg specimen was landed with a #16 dry fly.   It took me over 10 minutes to land it with 7 weight.

The last camp at the Amur River.  Tomorrow I will come to Bogorodskoe and take 14 hour red-eye bus ride to Khabarovsk.

Trip to the Bichi River, Udyl Lake, Amur River - Part 1 (Bichi)

I was floating the lower reaches of the Bichi River, crossed the Udyl Lake, and went down the channels to the Amur River.  The trip had ended in the Bogorodskoe village.  From here I went by regular bus to Khabarovsk. 

The MI-8 helicopter, which had to take a group of taimen fishermen back home, had brought me to the river. 

The helicopter is gone, and I had stayed alone on the river.

The plan was to move downstrean with inflatable kayak.  The main goal for the trip was to catch Amur whitefish with a flyrod (nobody did it before). 

I was fishing in the river on the first day.  After a strong rain it became murky, and I was limited to the sloughs and bays.

Big bright flies are the best for Amur pike (this one is called "Rainbow")

Amur pike

Smaller streamers were bringing "predatory minnows" - Amur minnow ...

... and Amur ide.

Good size pike

This pike is kept for the supper. 

The "anti-wobbler" fly is one of the best for pike.  The uright blade makes the fly both wiggle and come to the surface.  I will make a post on these unique flies a little later. 

To be continued...

Tym River, Sakhalin Island

Tym River is 330 km long, it is the second biggest stream of the Sakhalin Island after the Poronai River. Tym flows through the widest part of the island to the west, north, and north-east, and enters the Nyisky Bay of the Sea of Okhotsk. The fish fauna of the Tym is mixture of Amur fauna and anadromous fish of north-west part of the Pacific (Pacific salmon, charrs, sea-run taimen & Pacific redfin).

Middle reaches of the Tym River. The river is slow, wide, and in many places - deep.

Amur pike was caught not only in the bays and sloughs, but in the riffles as well.

Cherry salmon is found only on the Asian coast of Pacific ocean

It was cold and rainy, and big yellowish mayflies (#10 or even # 8) were hatching

Amur ide caught with the imitation of a mayfly

Pacific redfin were also feeding in the surface, eating hatching insects

Lower Tym R. has no riffles; it is wide and slow.