The Kola Peninsula: A New Kid on the Block

Russia’s Kola Peninsula is Europe’s last great wilderness. This vast region straddles the arctic circle to the east of Murmansk, and it is a wild, untamed land, untouched by all the man-made havoc and pollution that has desecrated so much of our modern world. Few roads encroach onto the peninsula, and apart from a handful of small, remote villages, the terrain is inhabited by only bears, reindeers, foxes, mink and wolverine.

By: MATT HARRIS

“The fish were, as the project had hoped, big, brawny and plentiful”

For the salmon fisherman, the Kola’s untamed wilderness is a wonderland. Unimpeded by man-made obstacles and pollution, the salmon of the Kola still flourish as they once did across the entire North Atlantic Seaboard. They continue to come barreling into the wild, crystalline waters of the Kola in numbers reminiscent of earlier times, before man’s relentless progress had so heavily impacted on their numbers elsewhere.

The salmon of the Kola have evolved to tackle their singularly rugged freshwater environment, and as a result, they are broad-shouldered, deep-set and remarkably strong. This has marked the salmon of the Kola out as perhaps the ultimate prize for the avid salmon angler. Their prowess as aggressive, hard-fighting fish is second to none, and the fish are revered above all others by those that have been lucky enough to tangle with them.

Anglers new to the Kola are often astonished by the savage way in which the Kola fish attack their flies, and the subsequent violent mayhem and spectacular acrobatic displays that they provide once hooked.

Conservationism

While the Kola remains pristine, it is, like every corner of the globe, coming under increasing scrutiny from those wishing to profit from the Atlantic salmon and the other potential riches that it can offer.

Those that recognise the importance of sustaining this wilderness are keen to find ways to preserve it, and many believe that conservation-minded catch and release fly anglers have an important role to play.

The Kola Reserve is the brainchild of a passionate Russian fly angler and conservationist and his proposition is to create a protected sanctuary for the wild Atlantic salmon of the Lumbovka and Kachkovka rivers. The aim of the Reserve is to conserve these precious fish for generations to come, and the small number of fly anglers that will be invited to visit the Reserve can play a big part in sustaining the fisheries, and indeed the wilderness of the Kola Peninsula.

The new kids on the block

The Kola Reserve is situated in the wildest and most remote corner of the Kola, on the far Northeastern tip of the Peninsula. Both the Lumbovka and Kachkovka have a thriving run of large Atlantic salmon. The two rivers could not be in a better place in salmon fishing terms, in what veteran salmon anglers might call ‘tiger’ country. Just to the west of the Lumbovka, the mighty Yokanga is feted for its huge trophy salmon – the largest on the Kola Peninsula - while the impossibly prolific Ponoi, a few miles to the south of the Kachkovka, is similarly celebrated for its impossible numbers of smaller but nonetheless good-sized fish.

Each river has its own charm – while these little gems may not consistently offer the monsters of the Yokanga or the huge numbers of the Ponoi, the Lumbovka and the Kachkovka are both intimate in scale and manageable enough to be comprehensively covered with light gear by competent salmon anglers fishing from the bank. Using their skills to wade the rivers and deploy classic spey-casting techniques, anglers can tackle the water proficiently without any recourse to ultra-long casting or fishing from a boat, making the rivers particularly attractive to the discerning salmon angler.

There is no need for ultra-heavy tackle, and a light, thirteen foot eight-weight rod will cover most of the water, and allow the angler to really get the best out of the fish.

Exploratory Efforts

I joined a small group of veteran fly anglers on an exploratory season on the Kola reserve in 2019, charged with analyzing and evaluating the fishery. Despite many years of experience, the group came back to the makeshift camp every evening enthusing about the quality and quantity of the fish in both rivers. The fish were, as the project had hoped, big, brawny and plentiful.

Many good-sized fish were landed, including an excellent number of salmon weighing over twenty pounds. The biggest salmon recorded weighed in at thirty pounds exactly, and the river guards, who know the Lumbovka and Kachkovka intimately, regaled the group with stories of monstrous fish caught in previous years. The biggest authenticated fish from the Lumbovka so far weighed in at an impressive 37.5lbs

The exploratory group experimented with various techniques, and we found the salmon of the Kola Reserve to be particularly aggressive, attacking flies fished on or just below the surface with savage abandon, even in the cold water of the early season.

The fish were typical Kola fish: muscular, deep-bodied and hard-fighting, often cartwheeling high into the arctic sunshine before dashing downstream with the lucky angler in hot pursuit.

Despite the cold temperatures, I mainly fished a full floating line and a large Sunray Shadow and I was rewarded with exhilarating visual takes as the fish broke through the surface to take the fly. This all added up to thrilling and exhilarating fly-fishing. The anglers agreed unanimously that the prospects for the Kola Reserve appear to be extremely bright.

In 2021, the Kola Reserve will open for business for the first time.

A new fly fishing destination

Limited numbers of fly-fishermen, using only barbless single and double hooks and practicing a strict 100% catch and release policy, will be invited to fish the Reserve throughout the summer and autumn months.

Those lucky anglers will be required to leave only footprints, and take only memories.

The revenue that they generate will be used to maintain and sustain a sanctuary for the wild salmon, and along with permanently deployed river guards, the anglers and their guides will act as guardians for the Reserve, ensuring that any incursion by illegal poachers is reported and dealt with.

“On warm summer evenings, anglers will be able to enjoy an icy beer ‘al fresco’, while prime rib sizzles on the outdoor barbeque”

Anglers will be ferried to the pools on foot and by helicopter, and after long and exciting days on the water, will be able to unwind in the luxurious and comfortable, timber lodge, purpose-built in Finland and situated close to the banks of the Lumbovka Home Pool. Beautifully appointed, the lodge will offer elegantly furnished private rooms, featuring big, comfortable beds, ensuite showers and excellent drying facilities.

Having soothed away any lingering aches and pains in the banya, guests will be able to repair to the well-stocked bar to regale each other with tall tales of huge fish caught and lost, while sipping on a refreshing gin and tonic or a reviving shot of frosty vodka.

After aperitifs, the anglers will be well-fortified for the next day’s sport in the large, comfortable dining room, with delicious meals featuring locally sourced ingredients like reindeer steaks from the tundra, spider crab from the arctic ocean and other delicacies from further afield. These will be expertly prepared by Kristina Chernyakovskaya, the Reserve’s wonderfully talented head chef.

On warm summer evenings, anglers will be able to enjoy an icy beer ‘al fresco’, while prime rib sizzles on the outdoor barbeque. In autumn, the guests may choose to wrap up warm and huddle around the fire-pit to enjoy a nip of fine single malt whisky and gaze up at the northern lights or the sparkling stars of the northern sky.

The summer fishing should be dominated by the big fresh fish that run the river from early June until late July.

The Lumbovka River

The Lumbovka features wonderful fly water, with an excellent number of holding pools, including the stunningly beautiful Horseshoe Pool, the prolific Coliseum, and the long, boulder-studded tail-out of the Homepool, a short walk downstream of the camp. The glassy tail-outs are a feature of the Lumbovka, and they offer perfect water in which to fish riffle-hitched sunray shadow flies, perhaps the most exciting way to catch Atlantic salmon. Seeing these ferocious salmon burst through the surface to attack a hitched fly is a very special experience, and one of the absolute highlights of fishing the Kola Reserve. In one short session, one of the exploratory anglers caught five handsome salmon between twelve and twenty pounds using a full floating line and a large “Sunray shadow” fly, and described the day as one of the most exciting of his fly-fishing life

The Kackkovka River

A few miles to the Southeast, the beguiling Kachkovka weaves across the tundra before slicing through a deep but accessible canyon. It then tumbles into a series of beautiful pools before cascading into the wild waters of the Barents Sea. The Kachkovka is smaller and wilder than the Lumbovka. As well as prolific numbers of handsome salmon in the summer months, it offers an additional and very special fishery.

As summer fades, the endless carpet of sprawling tundra turns to a dazzling golden hue. In the low autumn sunshine, it is breathtakingly beautiful. Periodically, as the days shorten, this bewitching landscape lights up under the magic of the ‘aurora borealis’. It is then that the fabled Osenkas of the Kola start to run the rivers, and while it is early days to establish exactly what we can expect, the exploratory team established that both the Kachkovka and the Lumbovka see a number of these special fish return every year.

Osenkas are a rare strain of salmo salar. Chrome silver and chock-full of fat, these heroic fish come charging into the river a full year before spawning the following autumn. They then remain a second winter under the ice before returning to the sea, and are thus in the river for a remarkable twenty months without feeding.

“As summer fades, the endless carpet of sprawling tundra turns to a dazzling golden hue”

On entering the river, the Osenkas are obliged to carry enough muscle and body-fat to see them through not one but two of the Kola’s savage winters, and it makes these fish, pound-for-pound, as powerful as any Atlantic salmon that swims.

Despite the relatively small size of the Kachkovka, it appears to have an abundant run of these wonderful fish. Wading in a beautiful, boulder-studded pool at the bottom of the canyon, I managed to prize six hard-fighting autumn-run osenkas out of the Kachkovka in just ninety minutes fishing in late September 2019. There are few rivers on the planet that can offer such hectic and exhilarating sport for Atlantic salmon.

The Kola experience

There is much more to the Kola Reserve than just enjoying unforgettable salmon fishing with good friends.

A visit to the wild valleys of the Lumbovka and Kachkovka offers a rare chance to reconnect with the natural world, and to experience the beguiling beauty and solitude of the pristine tundra.

If you are interested in experiencing the wild, primal magic of the Kola Peninsula, and in fishing prolific salmon rivers that have barely seen a fisherman in decades, give the Kola Reserve some serious consideration.

If you are interested in fishing the Kola Reserve, contact Matt Harris at:

mattharris@mattharris.com