Flyfishing in Russia


The Ponoi River in Russia is without question the world's premier Atlantic Salmon fishing river, it is 475 km long and flows East through the Kola peninsula of North Eastern Russia into the Barents Sea. The quality of fishing is certainly the attraction to the Ponoi however, and there have been some extraordinary fishing tales over the years.

Guests have caught as many as 150 salmon to their own rod in a week with weekly totals reaching over 1400 fish, while others who have fished only skated and dry fly have landed 65 fish, attracting over 180 rises to their fly in the week. Of course, we all know that no fishing is always like this and therefore one also has to examine the downside to ask how reliable is the Ponoi? Our worst five-year average is 17 fish per rod per week, which, across an 18-week season, demonstrates great reliability. Compare this to other global Atlantic salmon destinations and this statistic comes into sharp focus.

Jonathan Boulton who has guided on the Ponoi River for three years will be hosting a trip to this magnificent fishery in 2009. It's not just the finest salmon fishery on the planet but the camp Raybaga has been described as the best fishing camp in existence, set amongst a beautiful silver birch forest one can walk from your luxury tent down to the home pool. Four course dinners prepared by an internationally acclaimed chef and unmatched Russian hospitality make for long festive evenings around the hand carved wooden bar, becoming parts of memories that will never be forgotten.

Season runs from May 23 to Sept 5th a week's fishing ranges from $12-$15000 ex Helsinki airport.