Russian Rainbows

The giant helicopter’s turbines scream to life and the massive rotors begin spinning. With our mountain of gear stowed in the cavernous cargo hold, we’re all set to go, feeling the intense excitement of the high adventure that awaits us here in Far East Russia, on the fishing trip of a lifetime! The flight engineer gives the thumbs up, engines rev and we’re off!

Russian Rainbows

Kamchatka: Far East Russia’s Last Frontier of Wild Trout Fishing

The giant helicopter’s turbines scream to life and the massive rotors begin spinning. With our mountain of gear stowed in the cavernous cargo hold, we’re all set to go, feeling the intense excitement of the high adventure that awaits us here in Far East Russia, on the fishing trip of a lifetime! The flight engineer gives the thumbs up, engines rev and we’re off!

The powerful helicopter easily lifts off the tarmac, and soon we are cruising above the outskirts of town, heading west over fields filled with crops and cattle. Mountains crowd the horizon in all directions, and in no time at all, we leave the world of man behind, traveling through a landscape of stone-white birch forests, lush meadows of wildflowers, cascading streams and wispy, snow-capped volcanic peaks.

This is the Kamchatka Peninsula, a rugged and supremely wild 700-mile extension of Asia into the North Pacific that almost touches the fringe of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. For decades closed to all foreigners because of its strategic military significance, Kamchatka and its stupendous angling possibilities have barely been explored by westerners in the 15 years the country has been open for tourism.

Like Alaska, this isolated Northern Province has abundant salmon runs (six species) in nearly all its rivers, but its phenomenal rainbow trout fishing has garnered most of the attention among the world’s coldwater angling fraternity. Many call it the last great place for wild trout fishing and compare it to Alaska of 50 years ago. We are here now, in early September, to target these robust Russian rainbows (called “mikizha” by the natives) that we’ve heard so much about.

The massive chopper continues on a course west and south, through misty mountain passes, over extensive lava fields and around the slopes of immense volcanoes. Our destination is a rocky creek that is the primary headwater of a major river that flows off the west side of Kamchatka’s mountainous spine and empties into the Sea of Okhotsk. To my knowledge, no one has ever run this tributary and few, if any, have sampled the waters where we will be fishing.

Just how good is the trout fishing in Kamchatka and how does it compare with other great destinations? Make no mistake; our 49th state still has some of the best rainbow fishing on the planet, and Chile, Patagonia and New Zealand rank right up there as well. Kamchatka is unique for a few reasons. First, there’s the awesome country; because it’s located in the crucible of the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire,” it has one of the greatest concentrations of active volcanoes, geysers and hot springs on the globe. Second, and more significant for adventurous anglers, is the quantity and quality of its big trout water.

Unlike Alaska, where a significant number of rivers are too large or too silty to fish effectively with a fly rod, Kamchatka’s streams, almost all runoff or spring fed, are crystal clear and of just the right size and flow to offer perfect wade and cast conditions for the fly angler. If you’ve fished Alaska and other places in recent years, you know how difficult it can be to find solitude on some of the more popular and productive locations. Kamchatka has dozens, if not hundreds of streams on both coasts that have never been explored by anglers, with most of the tour operators presently concentrating on a handful of rivers within reach of the major hubs. What other region on the globe can offer fishermen a pick of streams where they can cast to big trout that have never seen a fly?

For our Kamchatka fishing adventure, my friends and I chose the most challenging option available and one with the least amenities: a “float and fish” expedition using rafts and tent camps. The other choices available for anglers at present are fishing programs run from a lodge or base camp, which use jet boats for access. I’ve been exploring Alaska’s wild rivers by raft for almost 30 years, and for a supreme adventure angler like me, there is no more intimate way to experience a country’s wild nature and its virgin fishing.

The helicopter descends onto a grassy meadow by the stream, and we all help unload the gear and food. With little fanfare, the chopper takes off, leaving us on our own in total wilderness for the next eight days. While we rig up rods and don waders to test the fishing, our Russian guides waste no time in setting up our deluxe camp and inflating the rafts. The only question now is who will be the first to catch a Russian rainbow?