salmonjunky
New member
Although it is true, that every week is special here on the Northern Rivers, last week was one that none of us will soon forget!
Ever heard of the Loop Army? Well, we were all quite honored last week when their new fishing generals decided to helicopter into the Kharlovka camp to conduct their big board meeting!
(photos by Justin and Dmitry)
From those original breathable waders, to the large arbor loop reels, to their new and improved snappy Cross rods - there are very few fly fishermen in the world who have not been influenced by something that Christer hasn't masterminded. In addition, he was one of the original pioneers to the Kola Peninsula, setting up several camps on the different Kola rivers along his merry way, including going on to later further develop the Kharlovka and Rynda camps along with our original Trout programs with Peter during the late 90's. Due to Christer's creative foresight and innovative approach on life, Loop has managed to amass an Army of diehard fly fishing fans from around the world.
Also on the list last week was Tomas who has been the clever one responsible for interpreting Christer's crazy ideas and developing them into something great. And let's not forget about Rikard the other field general who as Christer's son, has traveled the world and also see it all before!
This whole private party first started back a few months ago when we received the call, "I like the new Loop Cross rods so much, I decided to buy the company." In addition to recently acquiring several wild Canadian AtlanticRivers and having now just completed building a couple of new remote helicopter camps, - it was obvious that Chris was serious and that he was going to need a few more generals on his new team including - Andy who looks after the choppers along with his buddy Dennis who assists with operations - Chris who runs the fishing books and Barry seemed to have several hidden talents. And of course, it certainly does not hurt to have Yngve, who is without question the world's greatest Nikon pro along with his talented girlfriend Ida (who can outcast most of the boys) to round off the dream team as well!
If you have been following the Kharlovka reports over recent years, you might recall the stories about our good buddy Chris - the Canadian Bomber man. Both he and his fish pal Brian reached legendary status around the Kharlovka table many years ago.
Once upon a time, Chris arrived to the Kharlovka camp with a simple fishing vest, his single handed rod and a fly-patch full of bright coloured bombers. From calmly walking straight off the helicopter and shrugging off any comments about the need for our longer rods or other flies, to choosing old Vasiliy to be his trusted and loyal guide for his next 6 Kharlovka visits (even though tundra Vasiliy still can't really speak English), to Chris confidently marching up the lower canyon pool with the biggest cigar bomber in his box that first memorable sunny afternoon on the Kharlovka to haul in a 37 pounder, to Chris somehow landing more than 20% of the total overall catch on any old bright summer week that he has the time to get away from his fishy routine to visit us on the mighty Kharlovka - this Newfoundlander has developed a secret method all his own!
And if good ole bomber Chris is now the big boss then his father Mort, who never seems to be too far behind, must be the captain of the team.
(photos by Dmitry)
The surprise guest of the week was Dmitry from Krasnadar. In our opinion, Dmitry is one of the top fly fishing personalities in Russia today. He is also a huge believer in Loop and is frequently spotted promoting the fly fishing movement on Russian TV. Dmitry gave us a call one day and said that he would do anything to come up to camp and be with the Loop boys. Thankfully, besides making sure that Mort (the 70 year old team captain) was smiling and having fun all the time, Dmitry was quickly recognised as a future international star for both the Kharlovka and new Loop teams.
We are also pleased to report that besides taking the serious time to meet to discuss the future of the company and their potential world domination in the fly tackle business, there were also several fishy episodes successfully shot on the Northern Rivers including one about our amazing tundra browns and another in extra slow motion about how the salmon take attack the bomber! Hopefully we will all be viewing them by the new year!
(all the other photos in this report were shot by Yngve Ask and Ida of www.scanout.com/Photos - Nikon)
In addition to all the fun we had exaggerating and drinking beer around the dinning room table, we also played in 14 salmon the first day on the Rynda - and then there was those 8 beauties we found that windy day over on the lovely Zolotaya - or that grey misty day we spent helicopter fishing with the RED and Nikon cameras for large brownies to 6 pounds on the upper Litza - or the fact that Christer now wants to spend weeks down by the sea at the mouth of the Kharlovka estuary fishing for sea trout - he was definitely stuttering when he returned after discovering during the last hour of the day that it was possible to throw greased muddlers into the surf quickly landing 6 hard fighting - jumping bright fresh sea trout ranging from 2 to 7 pounds! Splash and Prost!! Considering this team of pros arrived on a private aircraft and then had to return back to reality early Thursday morning, we were very pleased to land some 52 salmon along with many other large tundra and sea trout for the snapping cameras.
Did we forget to mention that Chris caught most of the fish here again last week and he also had the big 29 and 30 pounders! Besides being a really nice guy who invited all his friends - he is a single handed bombing machine!
On behalf of all the Kharlovka staff, we would seriously like to see this gang back again for their next so called board meeting as soon as possible!
* The Northern Rivers will be resting until we return again - 2 weeks later on the 25th of August for our sure to be stunning - 3 Rivers weeks.
All the best amigos!
Justin
More...