Testing of a new model of a trout-spey type fly rod

I have got a possibility to test a new rod of a Russian firm Kola Salmon.  This rod belongs to the type which is becoming popular - a trout-spey rod.  The rod is 5-6 wt 5 piece, 340 cm (11.1') long; weight 122 g (4.3 oz).   I have taken this rod along to a non-fishing trip to the northern Kamchatka. 

The first water which I was able to fish was Bering Sea near the abandoned village Korf.  

In this village there is a working airport of the district center Tilichiki. 

Korf is situated at the long spit between a marine bay and a shallow estuary. 

   

Fire-engine

 Old pier

Olyutorski Peninsula at the opposite side of the huge marine bay

I was using 5-weight line with 13' sink tip made out of Rio T8 material.  Most of the catch were 2 species of flounder. 

Starry flounder on shallow places is easy to catch with a fly.  The fly should move slowly, near the bottom.  

Comparing with flounder, greenling is rather spooky.  It is often following the fly, but rarely biting. 

The best "fly" to catch greenling is a bright wobbler-fly, retrieved with jerks in the middle layers.   

The biggest trophy of the day was huge marine sculpin. 

The rod which I was planning to use only as a grayling tackle appears to work well in marine conditions. 

To be continued..

Sakhalin Island, Evai R. & Chaivo Bay, Part 2

After catching some more flounder from the bottom I had a different bite - a strong jerk of the line just after its landing. This was kundzha of whitespotted charr (Salvelinus leucomaenis). The ecological niche of the species is similat to the one of bull trout on the North-American coast of Pacific.

This predatory charr can be as big as 15-18 kg, but it is reaching this huge size only in some waters. The biggest kundzha is found in some streams of the Eastern Kamchatka.

On the shores of the Chaivo Bay grows larch forest. At the background you can see the narrow sand spit which separates the bay from the Sea of Okhotsk. Fresh starry flounder was put on a grill with onions

Flowers of Labrador tea

Sakhalin Island, Evai R. & Chaivo Bay, Part 1

I had started to float the Evai River below the bridge - near the road from Nogliki to Okha. In its lower reaches the stream is deep & slow, it is meandering through the dark spruce forest. The fish population consists of salmon, sea-run taimen, charrs & Pacific redfin. In July the stream was almost enpty - all species of local fish are anadromous, and in summer they feed in the salt water.

Near Chaivo Bay there is no forest along the river, which is dividing into several channels

Chaivo Bay is shallow; in low tide it is less than 1 meter in many places, and in some areas there is no water at all. In the background of the image you could see marine sand-spit; behind it is Sea of Okhotsk. Along the coast of north-eastern Sakhalin in July marine water was cold - about 5*C. I have started to fish on high tide from the anchored kayak; the depth was 120-150 cm. My main quarry should be bottom-dwellers, so I was fishing with full-sinking line and pink wooly bugger. During retrieve the fly was crawling right on the bottom. The first fish was marine sculpin. Starry flounder is very numerous in the Chaivo Bay. In Russia this fish always lays with its left side on the bottom; both eyes are at the right, dark side of fish. Both sides of starry flounder are covered by spiny, round bone plates. In the hands it feels like sandpaper. Comparatively to its size it is a strong fish.

To be continued...