Kamchatka: Boulders Anonymous

Kamchatka:

Boulders Anonymous

An ongoing addiction relating to a very special river of the Russian Far East has Christiaan Pretorius reminiscing about big rainbow trout behind firm structure.

By: CHRISTIAAN PRETORIUS

Hello everyone, my name is Christiaan Pretorius and I am a boulder addict. I have been hitting boulders for the last three years and I am a fullblown addict. For most of you who aren’t familiar with the term ‘hitting boulders’, this is a term that only a select few people know of. This is a term used frequently by the guides on the mighty Zhupanova River on the Kamchatka peninsula.

“The takes are usually visual and super aggressive”

We’ll get back to the finer details of the very special Kamchatka peninsula later, but first let’s talk about the boulders. It’s not uncommon to hear your guide tell you, “ooooh look at that nice boulder”, “Wow, look at that one over there” or “Hit that one over there”. These are all phrases you hear when floating down river, constantly fishing to structure.

On this river we don’t use egg patterns, we don’t nymph and we also very seldom do any form of technical dry fly fishing. What we do here is target big wild rainbow trout. We try get the most aggressive response from them and the two identified methods with most success is either moussing, yes, you heard right, we mouse for trout -or we play around with fishing big streamers.

BIG native rainbow trout

These fish are the apex predators in this body of water and aren’t scared of shit! We fish for big Rainbow trout pushing the 30” mark quite frequently. The biggest one we have ever got to hand being a gigantic 35” 14-yearold native wild rainbow trout. It’s not uncommon losing count of your 25” fish by 4 in the afternoon. The most ridiculous thing happened during one of my last seasons where a guest called a 28” fish “A small one”.

I didn’t quite know how to handle the situation, but my response was simple while lifting the beaut from the water “At what point in your life does this become a small fish I asked the guest??” he just smiled and replied “Sorry, that’s very true”.

Now back to the boulders

Unlike most rivers where trout like to sit in the slack water behind the boulders (downstream), in this river they hold mainly in front of the boulders (upstream). These fish are strong and far from lazy, they use the water pushing into the boulders as a cushion to just hang around and wait for food. These areas are easy to identify and I have a term “Knocking on doors”, which basically comes down to the more boulders you hit the more fish you will move and the more fish you will hook. These takes are usually visual and super aggressive.

“These fish will eat most flies as long as it’s big and fleshy, or a mouse”

This fishing reminds me of saltwater fly-fishing on the flats for GT’s, they are that aggressive. To give you an idea, I have hooked fish before, fighting them for 10 seconds before shaking the hook, I then put the fly straight back in there to only watch the same fish eat the fly again… Stupid right?!

The right gear

My favorite setup for this style of fishing is a 7wt fast action rod to be able to hit more of those spots, quicker. It’s a super fast style of fishing and line management is key to avoid getting tangles and letting boulders go by without “Knocking on the door”. A floating line paired a reel with sufficient drag and backing is also very important. Once again, these trout are bigger and stronger than any trout I have ever hooked elsewhere.

The next step is the leader setup, again not technical at all. We use 15lb Maxima, straight, no tapered needed. 7 ft is more than enough. Above the fly I attach a split shot depending on the depth, this doesn’t only serve as a sinking aid but also as extra movement. For some reason the jigging action drives these fish insane. The more erratic the movement, the better. Then finally we get to the flies, again not the most technical. These fish will eat most flies as long as it’s big and fleshy, or a mouse.

I personally love fishing white flies as they are very visual and the strikes are always memorable. Nothing better than seeing a 30” fish shoot from 10ft out to only engulf the fly a rod length away. And then there is the hook set, well let’s just say you can imagine what that’s like especially fishing with 15lb! And then last but not least, the moussing. These fish are tuned in on anything edible moving across the river. They go nuts for it and as long as you can avoid a rod lift these fish will keep attacking your fly as long as you give them a chance. Just give them a chance!

Boulder blasts

The mouse eats are always memorable ones. Although you seem to lose more, sometimes just seeing a fish explode on the fly is more than enough.

Either mouse or a streamer, doesn’t matter, if there is a fish sitting in front of the boulder you will know about it. There is some skill involved and that is hitting the boulders at the right angles.

A 45-degree angle downstream is the best as it allows you time to recover if you do screw up and get more than one shot. You want to slap that fly down about 15ft in front of the boulder, one big mend upstream and let that fly sink down. Often on that first twitch you will get line pulled through your fingers. As a guide you often hear the comment “I’ve snagged the rock” and often my response will be: “Nope that’s him, hit him, hit him!!!”.

Once you have caught one fish sitting in front of a boulder you will understand the addiction. Over three seasons I have had the pleasure of introducing many new guests to this drug. As far as trout fishing goes, this is so unique and special. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my 7x and small dry flies, but not here, not on the Zhupanova.

Where again?

So, I’m sure many of you are wondering where this place I call “Disneyland for fly fishermen” is. Kamchatka is the small little arm in the far east extending from the Russian

mainland. During our season July-September it’s a short little 4hr hop from Anchorage Alaska.

“Often on that first twitch you will get line pulled through your fingers”

For me coming from South Africa, it’s a slightly longer journey through Moscow, well worth it though. Kamchatka was closed to any person until the early 90’s. This is when some die-hard fly fisherman made the mission into the unknown only to stumble upon what is possibly the best rainbow trout fishery on the planet. There are thousands of rivers, most of them still un-fished, unexplored. Similar in size to California, Kamchatka is home to 330 000 residents, and most of them have zero interest in rainbow trout. They are after aalmon and their eggs, which there are plenty of for them to keep themselves busy.

Kundzha

Another very unique and special fish you will encounter towards the end of July is the rare Kundzha (Asiatic white spotted char). This specie is found in only a hand full of rivers around the globe, these fish are mainly land locked, with the Zhupanova being the exception. In this river they are sea-run, stretching the tape to 40+ inches.

And like most cases, as soon as a fish touches the salt it evolves to a much stronger creature. These Kundzha being no exception, once hooked there is no mistaking the massive headshakes and short powerful runs for any other fish. This is a truly special fish to target when fishing this river.

Then again not to forget all the other pacific salmon species to target, the coho being one of my favourite as they too are very aggressive and strong. I was fortunate enough to spend eight weeks a year on this river, without seeing another soul. This is the most removed from people that I have ever felt. We covered a stretch of 45 miles in 5 days, and this stretch would only get fished by six people a week.

There is very close to zero pressure on the Zhuponova River and that is one of the rarest things to find nowadays.