Sukpai River near Khabarovsk (Russian Far East) - June 6 - 10, 2010

Sukpai River is 150 km long; it is clear & swift mountainous stream, tributary to Khor River.  Khor joins Ussuri River, which is delimiting China and Russia and flowing into the Amur River near Khabarovsk.   We were floating the lower 100 km of Sukpai; the trip was 4 days long. 

At the starting point: 3 fishermen from Khabarovsk, 2 rubber boats and inflatable kayak.  

Tough job - selecting a proper fly out of thousands...

In the river we catch mostly Amur grayling and lenok(2 species).   This time grayling was not biting on the surface, and we were aiming at lenok.  Most of the fishing was done on the move - we were casting big weighted flies close to river banks.

  

Andrey has hooked something.  Big fish is necessary to bring to the bank for landing.

 

This was good size sharp-nose lenok, ...

... which was caught with a heavy "String Sculpin".  This fly is very efficient on our rivers.   

 I have tried a black Wooly Bugger from a moving kayak and caught some smaller lenok and a good grayling.  All fish were biting close to the shallow banks, where they were waiting for some food.   

Salmonfly (Pteronarcys) in Sukpai can be over 6 cm long.  Local fish love these huge stoneflies, which can be found in the stream around the year.  Lots of local flies are imitations of these insects.  The wingless nymphs crawl on the bank and then hatch.  Probably, the fish were waiting for these larvae on their way to the dry land.   

WE have decided to keep one lenok for food.  Its stomach content was a stonefly larva and a sculpin.  Now I can select good imitations of these animals!

 Sharp-nose lenok has bitten a big sculpin imitation.   

Siberian taimen is getting rare in Sukpai due to excessive fishing.   I had managed to land one small fish.  We release all taimen we catch. 

Chile, Tierra del Fuego, middle part of Rio Grande - part 2

Along the river there are only a few trees, sowe were able to drive with our rods ready for action. 

Guanacos are very common, and they are not afraid of people.  Stefan during his sleep was almost stepped on by a careless animal. 

Sea-trout is strong fish; for landing it you spend at least a minute per pound.  Most of the holding areas were hard to cover with single-handed rods, especially in strong wind.  I was using 15' 2-handed rod.   

This fish weights about 3 kg; it could be a good trophy for Northern Europe; in Rio Grande this is an average catch.  Sea-run trout are biting mostly rather small flies.  Rubber-leg nymphs are among the best patterns. 

The flies selection for fishing Rio Grande could be limited to small wet flies and nymphs on #12-8 hooks.  In low water conditions the sea-run trout is biting mostly little flies.  Bigger flies (Wooly Buggers, String Leeches, Intruders) are used in periods with high water, and in limited light conditions.  They are also catching the majority of resident trout.   

This 70 cm silver fish was caught with a #10 Red Tag. 

Puff-balls near the river

In summer and fall the ibis is quite common in the open pampa

Chile, Tierra del Fuego, middle part of Rio Grande

Famous Rio Grande begins in the western (Chilean) part of the Tierra del Fuego, crosses the island and flows into Atlantic Ocean.  On this shot Rio Blanco flows left to right and joins Rio Grande near a big beaver hut. 

Below the junction with Rio Blanco the Rio Grande becomes rather big; it is difficult to wade across it even in low water.

 The river meanders in wide open valley with only a few beech trees.  There are no willows in the floodplain. 

Flat terrases of the river allow driving with a 4WD truck. 

 

In the private stretches of the river there are not many fishermen. 

We were fihshing the Chilean part of Rio Grande - from the bridge at the Ruta 85 downstream to the border with Argentina.  The most numerous fish was resident brown trout.  The stream offers excellent trout fishing, but we were aimed at trophy sea-run trout.  This means, a bite of even good size resident trout was considereda nuisance...

Both resident and sea-run trout were biting black or other dark wet flies.  Most of resident fish were caught with big flies on #6-4 hooks.   

Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, Lago Blanco

Lago Blanco is a big water body - 24 km long and up to 8 km wide.  Same as other big Patragonian lakes, it is created by a glacier.  In its western part the lake is surrounded by the mountains.  Here it is more narrow and deep; its banks are indented, with coves and bays.  The eastern part of the lake, where the glacier was coming out into the plain, the lake hollow is more open and wide.  Lago Blanco is very clear.  It is populated by brown and rainbow trout.  The record brown trout from the lake was over 13 kg. 

On the first day there was no wind.  On such days Patagonian trout is becoming unusually wary, and requires light tackle and thin tippets.    

 

 Regardless to the fall (mid March), the day was hot.  We were able to catch some small trout, casting long lines with small dark wet flies. 

 

 In a long trip it is often necessary to replenish the stock of the flies.  The ones most popular among the local trout were the Wooly Buggers, which are easy to tie even without a vise. 

 

On the second day the weather at the lake was rather nasty, windy and rainy. 

 

The lake outlet (boca) of the Lago Blanco - this river is called Rio Blanco.  The first 200 meters of the stream below the lake is used for spawning by king salmon.  It is one of two known Atlantic stocks of this Pacific salmon.  This population has origin from the stray fish from Chilean waters, where king salmon was stocked in the end of 20 century.      

 

Rio Blanco is very clear.  The beech trees along its banks are killed by the beavers.  

 

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. 

 

Upper part of the famous Rio Grande (Tierra del Fuego)

World-famous Rio Grande (Tierra del Fuego island) is 220 km long.  The upper 120 km of the river belongs to Chile, and its lower part - to Argentina.   Most of the fishermen come here in search of the trophy sea-run brown trout, which can reach 18 kg.  This fishing occurs in the middle & lower part of the river, in Argentina.  It is also possible to catch sea-run trout in Chile, not far from the border with Argentina. In its upper part Rio Grande has good density of resident brown trout. 

This shot was made from a hill, 70 km from the source of the Rio Grande.  The stream is 12-20 meters wide; its depth is 30-150 cm.  The river floodplain is treeless, and the hills along the river valley are covered with beech trees.  The river is not deep and can be crossed by wading at most of the riffles.

In the river we were catching only one species, brown trout.  The fish were from 200 g to 1 kg.  The biggest fish density was below the riffles, but the biggest fish were found in the deep part of the pools, in the areas with cover (snags or submerged peat clumps). 

 

 It is always fun to catch brown trout.  The fishing was quite easy: the fish is not selective and (on windy days) not spooky.  Dark Wooly Bugger on #8 or #6 hook was a good choice for this stream.  

 

Calafate bush is protecting its tasty berries with inch-long spines

 

 Southern caracara

 

Lago Lynch, Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia

Lago Lynch is a big water body in the upper part of the Rio Grande drainage.  The lake surface is about 50 square kilometers.  It is posssible to reach the lake by 4 km of wet trail, coming off a remote logging road. 

Along the road there were lots of beaver dams.  Beavers were stocked into the waters of the island in 1920es; the animal has devastating effect at the beech forests of the island.    

Grey fox is one of the native animals of Patagonia 

 The trail was quite wet; in some areas we had difficulties to pass even in 4WD pickup. 

 

Guanacos along the road

 

 Along the east bank the lake is very shallow, and its bottom is flat.  We did not have a boat, and it was hard to find fish.

 

Finally I have managed to find a "structure" - a deeper area surounded by shallows.  It was situated over 100 meters from the lake shore. 

 

 In this place we have started catching fish.  These were mostly rainbows up to 1 kg. 

 

 The tackle: 15' 2-handed rod, floating line, clear slow-sinking leader, and 0,25 mm tippet.  The fish were biting small dark wet flies & nymphs on #10 & # 12 hooks.  Retrieve: pulls and pauses.   

 

 Ratio of rainbow to brown trout was 2:1.  Some brown trout were dark - they had normal "river" colors.

 

Other fish were almost silver, which is typical for the fish from big, clear waters 

 

 We have decided to keep 2 trout and prepare them in a foil with onions.  Calafate berries are adding special flavor.